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Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev was the Soviet Premier who ended the Cold War by dissolving the Communist Party in Russia in 1991. -
Japan's invasion of China
Japan starts expasion into China's territory of Manchuria. -
Germany invades Poland
The real start of World War Two when Germany unleashed the blitzkrieg by invading Poland. -
Period: to
WWII and The Cold War
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Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was Britain's successful defense against ruthless Germany's destructive and unletting air raids. -
Tripartite Pact
Germany, Itlay, and Japan's pact that pledged "to assist one another with all political, economic and military means” when "a Power at present not involved in the European War or in the Sino-Japanese Conflict" attacked. -
Lend-Lease Act
The Lend-Lease Act gave the president (President Roosevelt) authority into which he could decide to aid any nation whose defense he believed vital to the United States and to accept repayment “in kind or property, or any other direct or indirect benefit which the President deems satisfactory.” -
German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
German lightning war against the Soviet Union that was to prevent a long, drawn out war. It failed because of stiff Soviet resistence and America's entering of the war in December 1941. -
Leningrad Blockade
The German army successfully surrounded the city of Leningrad, Russia placing it under seige. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Because the United States began to rerstrict trade with Japan (due to their joing of the axis powers with Germany and Italy), the Japanese tried to negotionate with the United Sates to restore these supplies. When these negotiations failed, Japan started to plan their attack. Unexpectedly, the attack was a bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. -
Wannsee Conference
The Nazi officials met on this day to figure out the "final solution" to the "Jewish question". The final solution was to round up all the Jews throughout Europe and send them eastward to be organized in labor gangs. -
Battle of Midway
Ending the threat of further Japanese invasion in the pacific, a naval battle called the Battle of Midway was almost fought enitrely with aircraft. The United States managed to destroy Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of their best trained naval pilots. -
D-Day
United States and British troops invade Hitler's Fortress Europe on the beaches of Normandy, France. -
Yalta Conference
Meeting at Yalta in Crimea, the three cheif Allied leaders ( President Franklin D Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain, and Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union), discuss and plan the final defeat of Nazi Germany. -
Iwo Jima / Okinawa
Two pivital battles in the Pacific Theater that showed the United States getting close to the Japanese home islands. -
Hitler's Suicide
Dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, commits suicide to avoid being captured knowing that the war was almost over. -
VE Day
VE stands for victory in Europe. It is the day Germany surrendered to the Allies. -
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin, held the Allied conference of World War Two. The substance and procedures of settling peace in Europe were discussed, although there were no attempts to write any peace treaties. -
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States drops the stomic bomb on Hiroshima and a few days later, Nagasaki to make the Japanese surrender without having to invade the Japanese home islands. -
VJ Day
VJ day (victory over Japan) is the day of the formal Japanese surrender ceremony on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. This is the official World War Two. -
Formation of the U.N.
Formatiom of the United Nations to promote international cooperation to prevent a third world war. -
Truman Doctrine
Decalred by U.S, president Harry S. Truman. the Truman Doctrine declared immediate economic and militray aids of Greece (due to the threating of the Communist insurrection) and Turkey (who was under pressure from Soviet expansion in the Mediterranean area). -
Marshall Plan
The poverty, unemployment, and dislocation in Europe because of post-World War II had made the United States fear that communism would appeal more to the people. In order to make sure that democratic institutions could survive, the United States sponsored a program called the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) in which rehabilitated 17 European countries' economies. -
NATO
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a military alliance the was established by the North Atlantic Treaty (the Washington treaty). After World War Two, this alliance sought out to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed throughout central and eastern Europe. -
Mao Zedong and People's Republic of China
Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China as a communist country. -
Korean War
There were at least 2.5 million people lost during this conflict between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The Soviet Union supplied and advised the north to invade the south in June 1950. The United Nations joined on the side of the south but the United States was the main participant. The People’s Republic of China came to the aid of the north. -
Stalin's death; Khrushchev
In years following Stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev was highly critical of Stalin's policies and actions. -
Warsaw Pact
Also called the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, this was a treaty that established a mutual-defense organization called the Warsaw Treaty Organaization. The countries involved originally included the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Albania withdrew in 1968 and East Germany in 1990. The treaty was renewed on April 16th, 1985. -
Vietnam War
After defeating the French colonial administration of Vietnam in 1954, North Vietnam desired to unify all of the country under communism modeled after the Soviet Union and China. The government of South Vietnam fought to be more aligned with the west. The United States was an ally of the south while China and the Soviet Union were allies of the north. -
Sputnik
The Soviet Union launched 10 artificial earth satellintes, inaugurating the space age. -
Bay of Pigs
Since Cuba and the United State's relations had begun to deteriorate (due to Fidel Castro's dictatorship), The United States financed and directed an invasion on Cuba. -
Berlin Wall
This was a barrier that surrounded West Berlin in an attempt to prevent access to it from Easter Berlin and other adjacent parts of Eastern Germany between the years 1961-1989. The wall was built due to so many East Germans (about 2.5 million) fleeing to West Germany (some of which were skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals). This threatened to destroy the economy of East Germany. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis almost brought the United States and Soviet Union to war due to the known presence of Soviet nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba. -
Soviet Union Falls
The dissolution of the Soviet Union and its satellite states due to the increasing pressure for economic and political freedom for the satellite states.
