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WWII & Cold War Timeline (AP)

  • Gorbachev

    Gorbachev

    He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
  • Japan’s invasion of China

    Japan’s invasion of China

    The Japanese launched a full-scale invasion of China using the conquered Manchuria as a launching base for their troops
  • Germany invades Poland

    Germany invades Poland

    1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory
  • Battle of Britain

    Battle of Britain

    The German Luftwaffe's attempt to gain superiority over the RAF was called the Battle of Britain
  • Tripartite pact

    Tripartite pact

    It was a defensive military alliance that was signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
  • Lend-Lease Act

    Lend-Lease Act

    Lend-Lease Act was the main way for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II
  • Leningrad Blockade

    Leningrad Blockade

    The Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation undertaken by the German Army Group North against Saint Petersburg in the Eastern Front of World War II
  • Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii in order to pull the U.s into WWII.
  • Wannsee Conference

    Wannsee Conference

    On this day, Nazi officials meet to discuss the details of the “Final Solution” of the “Jewish question.”
  • Battle of Midway

    Battle of Midway

    United States Military was able to decode a Japanese message and counter attack Japan's naval fleet.
  • German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union

    German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union

    Considered by historians as a decisive turning point of World War II, German forces were defeated after five months of combat in the Soviet Union.
  • D-Day

    D-Day

    The beginning of the Battle of Normandy in which some 156,000 troops landed on French beaches in order to defeat the Germans.
  • Yalta Conference

    Yalta Conference

    The second wartime meeting between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt to discuss the demand of Germany's unconditional surrender.
  • Battle of Iwo Jima

    Battle of Iwo Jima

    Major battle in which the United States captured a major island that previously belonged to the Japanse Imperial Army.
  • Hitler's Suicide

    Hitler's Suicide

    Adolf Hitler burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule, then shot himself with a pistol.
  • VE Day

    VE Day

    Known as Victory in Europe day, the Allies celebrate the defeat of the Nazi war machine.
  • Potsdam Conference

    Potsdam Conference

    The Potsdam Conference was a meeting between the big three to discuss terms for the end of WWII.
  • Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

    Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

    2 massive atomic bombs were dropped onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in order to confirm an unconditional surrender from Japan.
  • Formation of U.N.

    Formation of U.N.

    The Senate approved the UN Charter on July 28, 1945, by a vote of 89 to 2.
  • Truman Doctrine

    Truman Doctrine

    President Truman's decision to provide major assitance to all democratic countries that are under authoritarian attack.
  • Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan was an American plan to aid Europe, in which the United States gave $17 billion to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II.
  • NATO

    NATO

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty
  • Mao Zedong & People’s Republic of China

    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
  • Korean War

    Korean War

    The Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel.
  • Stalin’s death; Khrushchev

    Stalin’s death; Khrushchev

    The Soviet government announces that Nikita Khrushchev has been selected as one of five men named to the new office of Secretariat of the Communist Party.
  • Warsaw Pact

    Warsaw Pact

    Mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of any member states
  • Vietnam War

    Vietnam War

    The Vietnam War was a conflict between the communist regime of North Vietnam against South Vietnam.
  • Sputnik

    Sputnik

    The first man-made object to be launched into space was called Sputnik, and it was made by the Soviets.
  • Bay of Pigs

    Bay of Pigs

    The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government. The attack was an utter failure.
  • Berlin Wall

    Berlin Wall

    The Communist government of the German Democratic Republic began to build a barbed wire and concrete wall between East and West Berlin.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis

    Leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba
  • Soviet Union Falls

    Soviet Union Falls

    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.