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Japan's Invasion of China
After creating an explosion at the South Manchurian Railway in order to create a reason for Japanese occupation of Manchuria, they created a Japanese dominated state, Manchukou, in order to strengthen their control over China. -
Germany invades Poland
After ordering German troops to invade Poland, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany(result of Poland signing a mutual treaty of assistance with Great Britain), essentially beginning World War 1. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the battle launched by the Germans against the British. Germans led mostly by their airforce, hoping tactics of "Blitz" warfare would allow them success, however British Royal Air Force staved off defeat. -
Tripartite Pact
This pact pledged Germany, Italy and Japan to assist each other with all military, political and economic means if any one of them were attacked by, "a Power at present not involved in the European War or in the Sino-Japanese Conflict." -
Lend-Lease Act
FDR's way of supporting the allied war effort without sending american soldiers in to fight was the lend lease act, which supplied mostly Britain with armaments and other war supplies. -
Germany Takes Leningrad
One of the cities to be attacked in Hitler's Operation Barbarossa. Many people ended up dying due to starvation. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in response to the trade embargoes put in place by the US government. -
Wannsee Conference
A meeting in a suburb of Berlin, Nazi officials gathered to discuss the "final solution" of the Jews. -
Battle of Midway
One of the most important battles in the Pacific theatre. allowed for the freedom the of the phillipines. -
German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
German Blitzkreig tactics were unsuccessful in the battle of Stalingrad against the Soviet Union due to the vastness of the land, not being prepared for weather conditions and the hard fight of the Soviets -
D-Day
The Allied invasion of Normany France, also named Operation Overlord, destroying the Nazi holdings in France. -
Yalta Conference
Held in Crimea, this conference was between the US (FDR), Great Britain (Churchill) and the USSR (Stalin) to decide how the postwar world would be divided up. -
Iwo Jima/Okinawa
Marine attack on Japanse islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. -
Hitler's Suicide
After hearing the fate of Mussolini and with the Russians encircling Germany, Hitler and his wife Eva decided to kill themselves with cyanide and a gunshot to the head in his Fuhrerbunker. -
Warsaw Pact
The soviet union signed this pact with seven other European countries in response to the Allied NATO pact. -
Potsdam Conference
Held in Berlin, the Potsdam Conference was held to discuss peace proceedures following the war. Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin were the main leaders who discussed peace and left the actual writing of the treaty to a Council of Foreign Ministers. -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On this fateful day the U.S. first dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands, and three days later, they dropped "Fat Man" over Nagasaki causing the conditionless surrender of Japan. -
Formation of the U.N.
Formed after WWII, its purpose and goal was to be more effective and permanent that the League of Nations had been and maintain world peace. -
Truman Doctrine
Presented by president Harry S. Truman, it laid down the guidelines of an interventionist policy in order to stop the spread of communism in Europe and Asia. -
Mao Zedong & People’s Republic of China
After leading a revolt at Tiannamen Square, Mao Zedong was able to take power in China. Turning it into the Communist, People's Republic of China. -
Stalin’s death; Khrushchev
After Stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev took control of the Soviet Union. His rule resulted in a relaxed political climate, especially along the lines of censorship. It was referred to as the "thaw" of the USSR. -
Vietnam War
Nationalists of Vietnam tried to forcibly bring all of Vietnam under communist control. In the fear that communism would spread further if Vietnam became communist (domino theory), the US intervened on Vietnam's behalf. This war did not end until 1975 and utilised guerrila warfare insistently. -
Sputnik
The first artifical satellite sent into space by the Soviets during the Cold War. -
Gorbachev
He became the leader of the Soviet Union and the first president of the soviet union in 1990. -
Bay of Pigs
Cuban exiles financed and trained by the US's CIA were sent in to Cuba's Bay of Pigs in the hopes of toppling the communist government. When air support didn't arrive, however, the mission failed. -
Berlin Wall
This wall was erected to prevent the emigration of Germans from Soviet controlled Eastern Germany. It was edvetually demolished in 1989 -
Cuban Missile Crisis
An american spy plane spotted muba aimed at the US. President JFK was fearful of the potential threat to the wellbeing of America, so he demanded the Soviet Union to destroy the missiles in Cuba and not to bring any more there. -
Soviet Union falls
After Krushchev's rule, Gorbachev tried to bring the USSR out of ecoomic stagnation and political conflict by instituting freedom of speech and economic reforms. However, freedom of speech promoted outspoken revolts against soviet government. Public dissatisfaction cause the USSR to dissolve into several separte states. -
Korean War
Conflicts between communist supported North Korea, and American and British supported South Korea after North Korea attempted forceful unification resulted in this war. It did not help find a solution to unification of Korea after its end. -
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organziation formed by US and 11 other European nations in order to procure aid in the prospect of communist conflicts.
