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Japan Invades Manchuria
This time frame was known as Japanese aggression. Japan was trying to solve economic problems through expansion. The US was limited by isolationist policies, limited to imposing trade restrictions such as embargoes on gas and iron. Japna thought that embargoes were a threat to their territorial aspiration. -
Munich Pact
Conditions in Germany resulting from the treaty of Versailles created the conditions for Hilter to rise and consolidate power. He wanted European domination and allied with Mussolini in Italy. When Hilter announced that Germany will no longer obey the Treaty of Versailles, Britain and France created a policy of appeasement "Munich Pact." WHich allowed Hilter to take more land in exchange for Hitler's agreement to seek no more territory after concession. But in six months he broke it. -
Kristallnacht
Soon after Adolph Hilter became Germany's chancellor, he began instituting policies that isolated German Jews and subjected them to persecution, which led to Kristallnacht aka "night of broken glass," which was an incident when Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools, and business and killed close to 100 Jews. -
Germany invades Poland
Breaking the Munich Pact, Germany invaded Poland with led France and Britain to declare war on Germany. Germany used a strategy of Blitzkrieg ( lighting war- quickly overwhelming the enemy) then invaded France and launched air raids on Britain. Germany aggression led FDR to amen the Neutrality Acts and change the policy from isolationism to international involvement -
Neutrality Act of Poland -1939
Neutrality Acts aka Cash and Carry allowed nations of war to buy goods from the US if they paid cash upfront and carried the merchandise on their own ships. This also helped the US get out of the Great Depression by putting money back in the economy and creating more jobs. -
D-day (Invasion of Normany)
The invasion of Normandy finally provided the long-awaited western front. The invasion was the largest Military operations ever staged. More than 156,000 Americans, British and Canadian troops stormed 50 miles of Normandy's fiercely defended beaches in North France that allowed the Allied powers to get ahead of the Nazi forces. -
Exec Order 8022
During the War, African Americas served in segregated units and faced discrimination as they trained on military bases. Young Northern African Americas experienced the humiliation of the Jim Crow laws for the first time. Which led an African American leader of a labor union to threaten to organize a march on Washington demanding equal access to wartime jobs. This led to the Exec orders 8802 banning ethnic/racial discrimination in the nation's defense industry. -
Atlantic Conference
After signing the Atlanic Charter, FDR, and Churchill attended the Atlantic Conference on Aug 14, 1941, to strengthen the alliance between the US and Great Britain. The Meeting was to plan their strategy and later post-war plans -
Atlantic Charter
Atlantic Charter was signed by the United States and Great Britain (FDR, Prime Minister Winston Churchill) that set the vision for the post-war world. The Atlantic Charter endorsed self-determination and an international system of general security. This showed FDR's commitment to opposing German and Japanese aggression. -
Lend- Lease Act
Lend-lease was an Act that Congress authorizes Roosevelt to sell, transfer title to exchange lease, lend or otherwise dispose of any such government and defense article that they thought was necessary for the interest of the defense of the United States. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack launched by the Japanese. They attacked Pearl Harbor Naval Base as well as nearby airfields. The reason why Japan bombed Pearl Harbor was that they saw the US embargoes and the US fleet as a threat. This event caused the US to declare war on Japan involving the United States in the war. -
Exec Orders 9066
Prior to Pearl Harbor, many feared Japanese people would make another surprise attack, so they showed their ethnic prejudices and urged FDR to take action against Japanese- America's citizens, which made FDR issue Exec Orders 9066, which authorized the internment of Americans of Japanese descent and resident aliens from Japan and send them to deportation camps. -
Battle of Midway
The Victory at Midway stopped the Japanese advance and put them on the defensive. The tenacity of Japanese soldiers at Iwo Jima and Okinawa demonstrated that the Japanese were not going to give in. Then the US was determined to have the Soviet Union agree to not participate in any invasion of Japan. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was an important WWll Event. The Operation Torch plan was to invade North Africa to free the Mediterranean Sea from German control and protect the Middle East's oil fields. Operation Torch was the most important strategic decision that the Allied leader made. It allowed the US to complete the mobilization of its immense industrial and manpower. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the last of the German offensive and the beginning of the end for the Nazis. This Battle lasted about 4 weeks and was the second deadliest battle in American history. When Germany attacked they used over 200,000 troops and nearly 1,00 tanks to break through the US lines. The US was not ready for the attack so the Germans broke through the line and killed thousands of American troops. -
Korematsu v United States
Fred Korematsu was a Japanese- American who refused to leave his home that was issued because of the Exec Orders 9066. So he took his case to the Supreme Court where he stated that the internment violated his Constitutional rights, but he lost by Congress saying that the internment was constitutional. -
Yalta Conference
Churchill, FDR, and Stalin attended the Yalta Conference for the final plans for the defeat of Europe and began a discussion of post-war European Plans -
Bombing of Hisroshima and Nagasaki
When the war in Europe ended, President Truman decided to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prevent the necessity for landing and fighting on the Japanese Islands; He didn't want any more Americans' lives lost. This bombing led to Japan surrendering. After the bombing, there were no invasions, and the US later helped rebuild Japan, creating an ally. -
United Nations
The United Nations was an intergovernmental organization tasked to promote international cooperation and create and maintain international order. When created, their ideas were based or inspired by the League of Nations originally by Woodrow Wilson. -
Nuremberg Trails
After the war ended, the death camps of Hitler's Final Solution horrified both soldiers and the public. Responding to war crimes committed during WWll by identifying the war criminals and putting them on trial. Before protection, Hitler committed suicide while the other officers and civilians were charged with crimes against humanity at what is known as the Nuremberg Trials. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine pledged to contain communism in Europe and was first applied when the United States supplied military and financial aid to Greece and Turkey to resist the communist-backed rebel forces there. They feared a war-torn and economically weak Western Europe would elect a socialist-communist government. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was proposed by the Sectraory of state of Gregory Marshall on April 3, 1948. This was an attempt by the United States to offer financial aid to promote the economic rebuilding and prevent the fall of European countries to communism. The Marshall Plan was one of the many economic recovery plans passes in 1948, they were designed to help people that needed it most. -
Israel is Established
Because of the self-determination of the Jewish people with the creation of the Jewish state of Israel the US recognized and supported Israel. Because the US demonstrates the impact of German war crimes on the conscience of the US and the World. -
Berlin Airlift
The first test of US policy by the Soviet Union came when the Soviets blockade Berlin. The US won the first Cold War confrontation with the Berlin Airlift. The US supplied the people of Berlin with food, water, and other supplies via airdrops. -
US established NATO
The US established NATO on July 35, 1949. NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was meant to establish a military alliance with the Soviet Union. In 1955, the Soviet Union organized the Warsaw Pact that was a military alliance of Eastern European nations against the Soviet Union. -
Soviet Union Tests Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union tested the first atomic bomb on Aug 29, 1949. This led the United States to speed up the development of the hydrogen bomb and it started a nuclear arms race. I learned that China fell to communism under the leadership of Mao Zedong -
Korean Conflict (War)
On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. Truman's administration believed that the Soviet Union had planned it and urged the United Nations to take action. The United Nation voted to demand a ceasefire and support "police action" to defend South Korea. The majority of troops and financial support for the Korean War came from the United States. -
Soviet Launches Sputnik
This time period was known as the "Space Race." The Soviet Union launched Sputnik on Oct 4, 1957, as a result, US Congress passed the NDEA to promote science and math skills, Americans fear of communism and the competition about who would win the arms race. The arms race increased the fear that the Soviet Union would send a bomb down from space killing innocent people. In schools, kids had to learn bombing drills in case of an unexpected fatality. -
National Defense Education Act
The United States wanted to beat the Soviet Union in the arms race so the US Congress passed the National Defense Education Act to promote science and math skills. Then eventually the US took the lead in the space race when the first man landed on the moon in 1969. -
Rise of the Berlin Wall ( Construction begins....)
Construction of the Berlin Wall began on Aug 13, 1961. It became a symbol of the Cold War to separate East and West Germany and keep people of the eastern block from escaping in the west through Berlin in 1962. The Soviets controlled East Berlin and the US, Great Britain, and the French-controlled the west part. -
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on Dec 24, 1979. The US supported the Afghan resistance because of the containment policy. The Soviets withdrew in 1989 and Afgan rebel groups evolved into the Taliban, which aided and sheltered Osama -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
During this time, the Cold War ends. After the cold war, there were changes in the Soviet Union. The strain of the arms race and Afghan war on the Soviet Union, the movement for liberation in Eastern Europe. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was considered the end of the Cold War also the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union.