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Japan invaded Manchuria after staging the Mukden Incident, where the Japanese initiated a small explosion and blamed it on the Chinese.
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Also known as the September Campaign, the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union resulted in Axis vicotry and the beginning of World War II.
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The Battle of Britain was the first to be fought entirely by air strikes, and it was won by the British against the Germans.
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The Tripartite, or Berlin, Pact was a miliary alliance between Italy, Germany, and Japan.
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The Lend-Lease Act was a policy initiated by the United States to give aid to Britain and China during WWII.
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One of the longest most fatal sieges in history, the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Blockade was a German attack on the Soviet Union that resulted in a Soviet victory.
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The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise air strike facilitated by the Japanese Navy. This was the catalyst for the US entering WWII.
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The United Nations was formed in order to encourage international togetherness.
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The Wannsee Conference was a gathering of senior Nazi officials to insure the cooperation of different branches of the government.
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Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated a Japanese naval fleet in the Pacific Ocean.
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The German Blitzkrieg, or Lightning War, against the Soviets was a failed attempt to invade Russia during WWII.
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The Normandy landings were an Allied invasion of the coast of France, resulting in the deaths of many.
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The Yalta Conference was the second gathering of the leaders of the US, UK, and USSR for the discussion of post-war reorganization.
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The Battle of Iwo Jima was an American victory over Japan in which they captured the island of Iwo Jima.
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After Nazi military decline, Hitler and his partner, Eva, retreated to his Fuhrerbunker where they married and committed suicide together, Hitler by gunshot and Eva by cyanide.
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Victory in Europe Day was when the Allies official accepted Germany's surrender.
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Mao Zedong (or Tse-tung) was the 1st Chairman of the Communist Party of China.
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The Potsdam Conference was a gathering of the leaders of the US, UK, and USSR to decide how to punish Germany.
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The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities in Japan, were a way for the US to force Japan to surrender. Despite Japanese surrender days after the attack, the connection between the bombings and the Japanese surrender is still disputed.
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V-J Day, also known as Vicotry over Japan Day, is the day on which Japan surrendered.
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The Truman doctrine was implemented to help stop communist expansion by the Soviet Union.
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The Marshall Plan was an American aid policy which gave $13 billion ($120 billion in today's value) to Europe to help rebuild their economy.
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed under the requirement that all members must mutually come to the aid of another member if that member is attacked.
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The Korean War was a war between North Korea and US-aided South Korea, resulting in a stalemate and an on-going cease-fire.
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After Stalin's heart attack on March 2, he dies on March 5 and Nikita Khrushchev takes over.
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The Warsaw Pact was the unification of several communist countries after World War II.
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The Vietnam War was fought between communist-backed North Vietnam and anti-communist South Vietnam, supported by the United States. It lasted for 19 years until the fall of Saigon in 1975, resulting in a North Vietnamese victory.
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Sputnik 1 was the first Earth satellite, deployed by the Soviet Union and orbiting for 3 months.
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The invasion of the Bay of Pigs was a failed attempt to occupy Cuba, ending in a Cuban victory over the CIA.
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The Berlin Wall divided the Soviet-occupied Berlin and Allied-occupied Berlin and wasdemolished in 1989.
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The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that almost resulted in a full-on nuclear war.
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Mikhail Gorbachev was the last president of the Soviet Union before it dissolved in 1991.
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After Ukraine voted for independence, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine declared the Soviet Union dissolved.
