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Japan’s invasion of China
Japan's invasion of China was due essentially to Japan's desire to be an imperial power. -
Germany invades Poland
The action by Germany that began World War II -
Battle of Britain
The Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom. -
Tripartite pact
On this day in 1940, the Axis powers are formed as Germany, Italy, and Japan become allies with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. -
Lend-Lease Act
It provided that the president could ship weapons, food, or equipment to any country whose struggle against the Axis assisted U.S. defense. -
German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
The largest German military operation of World War II. -
Leningrad blockade
a prolonged military operation undertaken by the German Army Group North against Leningrad -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States -
Wannsee Conference
a high-level meeting of Nazi officials that took place in Berlin -
Battle of Midway
A naval and air battle fought in World War II in which planes from American aircraft carriers blunted the Japanese naval threat in the Pacific Ocean -
D-Day
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Yalta Conference
a meeting of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt as World War II was winding down. -
Iwo Jima/Okinawa
Key Campaigns and Battles of World War II The Pacific and Far East Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. -
VE Day
the day marking the Allied victory in Europe -
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
Hiroshima was almost completely destroyed by the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a populated area followed by the bombing of Nagasaki. -
VJ Day
When Japan formally surrendered. -
Formation of the U.N.
an intergovernmental organization established to promote international co-operation. -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal forces. -
Marshall Plan
An American initiative to aid Europe -
N.A.T.O is Created
An intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty -
Mao Zedong & People’s Republic of China
Former Chairman of the Communist Party of China -
Korean War
A war, also called the Korean conflict, fought between the United Nations -
Stalin’s death; Khrushchev
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union, often with extreme brutality, from the death of Lenin until his own death. -
Warsaw Pact
A military alliance of communist nations in eastern Europe -
Vietnam War
a Cold War conflict pitting the U.S. and the remnants of the French colonial government -
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. -
Bay of Pigs
In April 1961, the United States attempted to invade Cuba and overthrow premier Fidel Castro. -
Berlin Wall
The Communist East German authorities built a wall that totally encircled West Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War -
Hitler’s suicide
The final days of the German dictator in his underground bunker, leading up to his suicide on April 30 by swallowing cyanide and shooting himself in the head. -
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 from 1985 until 1991 when the party was dissolved. -
Soviet Union's Collapse
The collapse of the Soviet Union started in the late 1980s and was complete when the country broke up into 15 independent states this signaled the end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States.
