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Jap Invasion of China
Invaded China spurring the Second Sino-Jap War -
Germany Invades Poland
Betrayed non aggression pact and invaded Poland -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the German air force's attempt to gain air superiority over the RAF (Britain's Air Force) -
Tripartite Pact
Pact that established the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) -
Lend-Lease Act
Authorized president to transfer arms to other countries -
Blitzkreg on Soviet Union
Lightning war - designed to disoraganize enemy forces through mobility and localy concentrated firepower -
Potsdam Conference
The Big Three—Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (later Truman) met in Potsdam, Germany to negotiate terms for the end of World War II -
German Seige of Leningrad
German bombers blast through Leningrad's antiaircraft defenses, and kill more than 1,000 Russians -
Pearl Harbor
Jap kamakazi bombers attacked naval base at Pearl Harbor Hawaii -
Formation of UN
Representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington to sign the Declaration of the United Nations -
Wannsee Conference
High ranking Nazi party officials gathered to discuss how to eliminate Jews -
Battle of Midway
Decisive battle of war in Pacific, sank 4 of the Japanese carriers -
D-day
156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along the heavily fortified coasts of Normandy -
Yalta Conference
Big three made decisions on progression of the war -
Iwo Jima/ Okinawa
Turned back the Japanese in the Pacific and had re-took a groupp of islands that surrounded the enemy nation -
Hitler's Suicide
Committed suicide along with his wife and "beloved" dog and her pups -
Victory In Europe
Crossed the Rhine after going through the strongly fortified Siegfried Line and overran West Germany -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the two cities, killed approx 80,000 in Hiroshima alone -
Victory Over Japan
Japan surrendured unconditionally to the Allies -
Truman Doctrine
Truman asked Congress to support the Greek Government against the Communists -
Marshall Plan (ERP)
European Recovery Plan, Shared with the world on 5 Jun 1947, provided aid to European countires on the brink -
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization - military alliance between most North American and European countries -
Mao Zedong and PRC
People's Republic of China was proclaimed on this date by Mao -
Korean War
Start date of war in Korea between northern communists supported by China and Soviets and southerners in support of a democratic republic -
Death of Stalin; Khruschev
Stalin dies, Khrushchev begins his rise in Communist party -
Warsaw Pact
Political and military alliance between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries -
Vietnam War
(Second Indochina War) struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government, US involvment was met with lots of home opposition, ended 1975... iconic photo is of Trang Bang after Napalm Attack -
Sputnik
World's first artificial satellite -
Bay of Pigs
Cuban exiles launched failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba -
Cuban Missle Crisis
For thirteen days the world waited, on the verge of a nuclear war with the Soviets (October Crisis), US had naval blockade on Cuba, JFK was president -
Berlin Wall
Built in 1961 to cut off West Berlin (Allied controlled) from surrounding East Germany and East Berlin (Axis controlled). Demolished in 1989 after Reagan instructed Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" -
Gorbachev
Seventh and last undisputed leader of the Soviet Union -
USSR falls
Split into 26 different countries as the world watched in amazment. Coup in Red Square.
