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Japan invasion of china
The Japanese Kwantung Army turned a small incident into a full-scale war. Chinese forces were unable to effectively resist the Japanese. -
Germany invades Poland
German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begins. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the German air force's attempt to gain air superiority over the RAF from July to September 1940. -
Tripartite pact
The Axis powers are formed as Germany, Italy, and Japan become allies with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. -
Lend-Lease Act
The Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. -
Germany takes Leningrad
As part of their offensive campaign in the Soviet Union, German bombers blast through Leningrad's antiaircraft defenses, and kill more than 1,000 Russians. -
German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
turning point on WWII when Hitler failed. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. -
Formation of the U.N.
Representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington to sign the Declaration of the United Nations endorsing the Atlantic Charter, pledging to use their full resources against the Axis and agreeing not to make a separate peace. -
Wannsee Conference
Nazi Party and German government officials gathered in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." -
Battle of Midway
One of the most important naval battles of World War II. -
D-Day
The day in World War II on which Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Iwo Jima/Okinawa
both fought in the Pacific War in WWII -
Hitler’s suicide
Dictator of Germany shoots himself. -
VE Day
The day marking the Allied victory in Europe -
The Potsdam Conference
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Harry Truman; met in Potsdam, Germany to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. -
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The United States used a massive, atomic weapon against Hiroshima, Japan killing tens of thousands of civilians. -
VJ Day
The USS Missouri hosts the formal surrender of the Japanese government to the Allies. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a very simple warning clearly made to the USSR that the USA would intervene to support any nation that was being threatened by a takeover by an armed minority. -
Marshall Plan
Channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe -
NATO
an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty -
Mao Zedong &People’s Republic of China
Naming himself head of state, communist revolutionary Mao Zedong officially proclaims the existence of the People's Republic of China; Zhou Enlai is named premier. -
Korean War
Cold War between North and South Korea -
Stalin’s death; Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev has been selected as one of five men named to the new office of Secretariat of the Communist Party. -
Vietnam War
a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states -
Sputnik
The world's first artificial satellite launched by the Soviet Union. -
Bay of Pigs
1400 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was both the physical division between West Berlin and East Germany and the symbolic boundary between democracy and Communism during the Cold War. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
was the most dangerous passage of the Cold War -
Gorbachev
He became the first president of the Soviet Union -
Soviet Union falls
the cold war ended resaulting in the fall of the Soviet Union.
