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Japan's Invasion of China
The Japanese claimed that ther were attacked by chinese troops and using this as an excuse, launched a full-scale invasion on them. The Japanese did no tface much resistance and soon Shanghai fell, and so did Nanking. The Japanese continued to slaughter tons of Chinese people and put up a brutal and merciless fight. -
Germany invades Poland
Germany invades Poland because they were trying to recover land that they felt was theirs but was under Poland control. They attacked Poland via land and air using the blitzkrieg strategy which meant they attacked at such a fast speed that their opponents would not be prepared. -
Battle of Britain
From July of 1940 through September of 1940, German forces, known as the Luftwaffe tried to air raid Britain and in response Great Britain was able to defend themselves by using the Royal Air Force (RAF) to defer the attacks and because of this they prevented an invasion and political/economical collapse. -
Tripartite Pact
Japan was very upset about Germany's non-aggresion pact with the soviet union and after creating their own pact, they were later quelled by the Tripartite Pact that pledged Germany, Italy and Japan to assist eachother with economical, political and military needs. -
Lend-Lease Act
President Franklin D. Roosvelet passed this act to help the British pay off their loan debts to the US. The US would aid any country that they believed was vital to the defense of the US and for repayment they woul dpay them in property or in something else that would be useful to the US other than money. -
German Blitzkrieg on the Soviet Union
The invasion of the Soviet Union was initiated because Germany wanted to eliminate any communist threat to them. The non-aggresion pact made with the Soviet Union was simply a tactic for Hitler. -
Leningrad Blockade
After Germany had invaded the Soviet union they had reached Leningrad and proceeded to beset them from the western and southern sides while Finland, their ally, approached from the north. In response, the population of Leningrad built tank protection along the perimeter and by early November, their protection was stabalized and allowed them to block out these forces. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack on the US Naval base located on Oahu Island in Hawaii. This attack was by the Japanese because they wanted to avenge the United States' entry into the World War. -
Wannsee Conferenece
This conference was held between Nazi officials. This was held in the suburb of Wansee. They were trying to figure out the final solution to their Jewish problem. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a battle in World War II that was fought mostly with aircraft. The United States destroyed Japan's carriers and planes. With the help of the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Battle of Midway helped ensure the Japan would not invade the Pacific again. -
D-Day
On this day 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on the coast of Normandy and invaded it. This was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of war. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta conference was a conference between the three allied leaders: Franklin D. Roosevelt (US), Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union) and Winston Churchill (Great Britain). The conference was held in Yalta which a city in Crimea; this conference was about planning to finally defeat Germany and occupy it. -
Iwo Jima/Okinawa
Iwo Jima and Okinawa were crucial points for the United States to attack Japan from. Iwo jima was the first to be attacked They finally were able to capture the island. They suffered many casualties, but the Japanese captured more. Okinawa was attacked second, but itwas much harder to capture. Eventually, the Japanese started doing suicidal warfare and escaped being captured and the US captured Okinawa. -
Hitler's Suicide
Adolf Hitler was said to have swallowed cyanide before he shot himself. At this point, the World War was over and the Russians were out to get him. -
VE Day
VE Day is celebrated to remember the end of the World War in Europe. VE Day was the day that Nazi Germany surrendered its armed forces to the Allies. -
Potsdam Conference
U.S President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin all held a conference in Potsdam which was a suburb of Berlin from July 17-Aug 2nd in 1945. Although they did not try to write any treaties, they discussed peace in Europe. The major concerns were Germany, demarcation of Polish boundaries, Austria and determining the Soviet Union's role in Eastern Europe. -
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
An American B-29 dropped the first atomic bomb ever on Hiroshima on this day and three days later they dropped an A-bomb on Nagasaki.The explosion in Hiroshima wiped out 80% of the population and 80,000 people were instantly killed. In Nagasaki,40,000 people were killed. -
VJ Day
VJ Day is the day that Japan surrendered. When Japan surrendered, this in essence, ended the war. On this day, on the USS Missouri, a surrender ceremony was done in Tokyo Bay. -
Formation of the U.N.
The United Nations was established so that we could achieve worldly peace and security. In addition to this, they wanted to create friendly relations among countries and achieve worldwide cooperation to solve worldy problems. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a pronouncement by President Truman declaring that Greece needed immediate economic and military aid because they were being threatened by communism, turkey, and pressure from the Soviet Union. Since Great Britain could no longer support the meditteranean countries, the US congress gave $400,000,000 to aid them. -
Marshall Plan
This was a rehabilitation program sponsored by the US to help 17 western and southern European countries stabalize themselves so that they could adopt democracy and democracy could flourish. -
NATO
NATO is an acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The NATO is a military alliance between Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Norway, UK, US, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia and Germany and France. -
People's Republic of China
Maozedong proclaimed himself chairman of the People's Republic of China on October 1st of 1949. After this, he quickly built up alliance with the Soviet Union who were communist. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war fought between North and South Korea. The United States were allies to South Korea while China was an ally to North Korea and they were also assisted by the soviet union. -
Stalin's death and Khrushchev
After Stalin died, there was a lot of room for leadership. The rightful predecessor was Malenkov but Khrushchev was not very happy about this decision. In response to this Krushchev plotted against the vulnerable Malenkov and eventually gained power and became premier in 1955. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a pact between the Soviet Uniom Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. This pact was made so that the Soviet Union maintained all military units on the lands of the participating countries. -
Vietnam War
North Vietnam wanted the whole country to become one communist regime that modeled the Soviet Union and China. South Vietname wanted a Vietnam that resembled the US. The Soviet Union and China supplied weapons and militia to the North while the US did the same for the South.The US had to withdraw for financial reasons and the South fell to the North. -
Sputnik
Sputnik(s) were a series of 10 satelittles launched by the Soviet Union which ignited the space race. Sputnik was the first satellite to ever be launched by man and achieved many great things in space. -
Bay of Pigs
This was the invasion of the united States on Cuba. The United States bombed cuban air bases and Cubans trained by the US positioned themselves at several locations. The main invasion took place at the Bay of Pigs and the US forces were able to defeat and capture most of Castro's forces whow ere outnumbered/ -
Erection of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin wall was a wall that seperated Eastern Germany from WEstern Germany. Many people were fleeing from Eastern Germany to Western Germany and many of these people were skilled professionals. This was hurting the economy of Eastern Germany, so in response they built the Berlin wall to keep people from fleeing to one side or the other. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union has nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba and because of this the Soviet Union and the United States were close to coming to war. The Soviet Union claimed they were installing these missiles in order to protect Cuba like they promised and they believed this would not be of any problem to the United States. The United States then quarantined Cuba and the Soviet Union diverted all shipments around the blockade. -
Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev became the president of the Soviet union on this date. Under his rule, he agreed to reunify Eastern and Western Germany and for Germany to join NATO. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize for his achievements in international relations. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
With the appointment of Gorbachev as the new leader of the soviet union, that brought about many changes that he was not able to fix. There was ethnic unrest amongst the people of different backgrouns, the economy was suffering froma socialist system and Gorbachev's means of reforms were ineffective and the people in essence revolted.
