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Japan’s Invasion of China
The Japanese claimed that they were initially attacked by the Chinese. So they fired back, launching a full-scale invasion of China using the conquered Machuria as a launching base for their troops. -
Germany invades Poland
On this day, German forces bombarded Poland on land and also from the air; as Hitler regain lost territory and entirely rule Poland. Starting WWII. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain began after the the Battle of France when France surrendered to Germany. Then Hitler started truning his attention to Britain. Initially it was attacking coastal towns and defences then they attacked air fields and radar bases. -
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite pact, also known as the "Berlin Pact" was the formation of the Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan. The pact provided mutual assistance when any is under suffer attack by another nation not already involved in the war. -
Lend-Lease Act
This act was the principal means for for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during WWII. It authorized the president to send defense materials and arms. -
German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
Summer of 1941, Hitler decided to attack and Germany invaded the Soviet Union. By October 1941, about 3 million Soviet soldier were prisoners of the war. -
Leningrad blockade
The seige of Leningrad lasted about two and a half years. German troops completed their encirclement of the city. Hitler made the decision to bypass Leningrad and strangle the city into submission rather than attacking Moscow directly. It costed about one million lives of city residents. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Hundred of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed about 20 American naval vessels, 8 battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 American soldiers/ sailors dies and about 1,000 wounded. -
Formation of the U.N.
The representatives from 26 different nations that were at war with the Axis powers gathered in Washington to sign the Declaration of United Nations. Pledging to use all resources against them and agreeing not to make separate peace. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was held in a villa owned by he SS-Nordhav Foundation in the attractive Berlin lakeside suburb of Wannsee. It was a high meeting of Nazi officials to discuss the "final solution" of the Jewish question. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most naval battles of WWII. IN major part of the U.S's code breaking, they were able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft. -
D-Day
D-Day, the Battle of Normandy had the otcome of the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany's control. About 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along the stretch of the coast of France's Normandy region. -
Yalta Conference
It took place in a Russian resort town in Crimea during WWII. U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill, Joseph Stalin compromised on decisions about postwar world. -
Iwo Jima/Okinawa
The Battle of Iwo Jima/Okinawa was between the Japanese army and the U.S. Marin Corps. -
Hitler’s suicide
Adolf Hitler, Germany's dictator, hid and burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, then commits suicide by shooting himself with a pistol. -
VE Day
VE Day stands for Victory in Europe Day. Both Great Britain and the United Staes celebrate victory by putting out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine. -
Korean War
The Korean War started when about 75,000 North Korean soldiers poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between SOuth and North Korea. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. -
Potsdam Conference
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. president Harry Truman all met up in Potsdam, Germany from July 17 to August 2, 1945 to compromise about ending WWII. -
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
During WWII, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. It killed 90 percent of the population of the city. Then three days later a second B-29 bomb dropped onthe Japenese city of Nagasaki. -
VJ Day
Japan announced that they surrender to the Allies, which effectively ending WWII. August 14-15, 1945 is known as "VJ Day" which stands for "Victoryover Japan Day." -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry Truman established that the U.S. would provide political, military, and economic help to all democratuc countries under the control of external or internal authorian forces. -
Marshall Plan
Immediately after WWII, Europe stayed ravaged by war and made susceptible to exploitation by an internal and external Communist threat. The plan was an American attempt to aid Europe. -
NATO
NATO stands for The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance. The prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 11 other Western nations to form this treaty. -
Mao Zedong & People’s Republic of China
Mao Zedong was a Chinese communist leader and founder of the People's Republic of China. He was the cause for the disastrous policies of the 'Great Leap Forward' and the 'Cultural Revolution'. -
Stalin’s death; Khrushchev
Stalin's death was on MArch 5, 1953; creating an enormous vacuum in Soviet leadership. Khrushchev has always been an active member in the Communist Party and became a loyal follower to the brutal dictator. After Stalin's death, he began his rise to power. -
Warsaw Pact
This pact was a collective defense treaty between eight other communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a long, armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, against South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States. -
Sputnik
The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I; which is the world's first artificial satelitte. It was about the size of a beach ball, weighed 183.9 lb., and took 98 min. to orbit the Earth. -
Bay of Pigs
A Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro drove his guerilla army into Havana and overthrew the pro-American dictator, General Fulgencio Batista who was known to be an ally to U.S. companies. -
Berlin Wall
The Communist government of the German Democratic Republic built a barbed wire and concrete “antifascist bulwark" wall between East and West Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During this crisis, leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union fought in a tense 13-day political and military standoff over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles of Cuba which is just 90 miles from U.S shores. -
Gorbachev
Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His dual program of restructuring and openess introduced huge changes in economic practice, internal affairs, and international connections. -
Soviet Union falls
The Soviet flag flew over the Kremlin in Moscow for the last time. A few days earlier, representatives from 11 Soviet republics met in the Kazakh city of Alma-Ata and announced that they would no longer be part of the Soviet Union.
