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Japanese Invasion of China
As Japan continued its revisionist expansion, it saw China as essential to its efforts. Japanese troops took Beijing and then Shanghai and then Nanjing. They conducted mutlitudes of aerial attacks as well as committed the Rape of Ninjing, shattering the will of women and men alike in China. This also sparked or intensified the hostility between China and Japan that lasts to this day. -
Germany invades Poland
Using its new strategy of surprise, stealth, and swiftness, Germany takes over Poland with its air force's ability. -
Battle of Britain
This attack was led by Germany's airforce - the Luftwaffe as Germany hoped to defeat Britain solely through air attacks. They rained bombs everywhere but Britain's Royal Air Force managed to stave off defeat. -
Tripartite Pact
Japan, Germany, and Italy sign a ten-year military and economic pact and stay aligned as revisionist powers. -
Lend-Lease Act
The United states lent war supplies and goods to Britain for the lease of naval bases -
German Blitzkrieg on the Soviet Union
Hitler was so sure that his Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics would work on anyone that he advanced upon the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union just continued to retreat farther inland as Hitler pursued until winter came and Hitler suffered great losses as he was unprepared for winter. It ultimately led in German loss. -
Leningrad Blockade
Also called the Siege of Leningrad, this was the invasion of the city Leningrad in the Soviet Union by German forces. It lasted almost 900 days. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Japanese forces engage in an aerial attack on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor, causing the US to declare war on Japan. -
Wannsee Conference
Conference held at Berlin where the Nazi leadership committed to the final solution of exterminating Jews by evacuating them to concentration camps in eastern Poland and them working them to death or executing them. -
Battle of Midway
Discovered by the US as a Japanese attempt to take Midway using the code-breaking operation known as Magic. Japanese introduced the kamikaze, which were jets that dive-bombed American ships. -
D-Day
Also called the Battle of Normandy, British and Us troops landed in Normandy and overwhelmed the france. This ultimately led Germany to surrender in May 8, 1945 -
Yalta Conference
A conference hosted by the Allied powers discussing how Germany will be divided and also how to deal with the defeated easter European countries -
Iwo Jima, and Okinawa
The US, after retaking the islands of Marianas and Phillipines, conquered Iwo Jima and Okinawa in a mission to get closer to Japan's core and Tokyo. -
Hitler's suicide
Hitler commits suicide a week after Germany's surrender and doesn't get to see the Soviet Union flag fly over the Berlin Reichstag. -
VE day
Victory in Europe -
Potsdam Conference
The last wartime conference of the Allies where they discussed the occupation of Austria, Allied control of Germany, adn Demarcation of the boundaries of Poland -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
In an attempt to end the war, the US drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing massive amounts of damage. Because of this, Emperor Hirohito eventually surrenders. -
VJ day
Victory in Japan -
Formation of the United Nations
The United Nations was established in an attempt to create world peace. Faltered slightly as the cold war dominated postwar reconstruction efforts. -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide aid to all non-communist regimes to resist the spread of communism. -
Marshall plan
Policies implemented by the United States to help European countries rebuild after the devastation of the war (European Recovery Program). It provided more than $13 billion to help reconstruct western Europe. -
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization - An organization created by the US as a military alliance against the Soviet Union -
Mao Zedong proclaims China as a republic
Mao Zedong names himself head of the state and officially proclaims the People's Republic of China, a challenge to China's Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek. -
Korean War
Korea is divided into North (People's Democratic Republic of Korea) and South (Republic of Korea). The North is controlled by communist Soviet Union while the South is controlled by the US and the Allied Powers. War started when Pyongyang ambushed South Korea and Seoul and the US intervened to try and stop the spread of communism. Eventually this got China involved too -
Stalin's death
After being a leader of the Soviet Union for about 30 years, Stalin dies of a heart attack. He is greatly honored and mourned by his people. Khrushchev comes into power and is the leader of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. -
Warsaw Pact
A Pact created by the Soviet Union as countermeasure to the United States' NATO that matched the defensive and offensive policies of NATO. The creation of these two signaled the militarization of the cold war. -
Vietnam War
Conflict between the communist regime of North Vietnam and South Vietname, who was an ally of the US. It ended in US retreat and the communist domination of Vietnam. -
Sputnik
The first satellite the Soviet Union launched into space shortly after its invention of the ICBM in the Soviet-US space arms race. -
Bay of Pigs
An invasion by the anti-Castro Cubans enforced by Kennedy and the CIA to try and overthrow Castro. It ended in failure and Castro exterminated the invasion force. -
Berlin Wall
A wall gets erected with watch towers and guards between Germany, splitting it into a Soviet-controlled communist East Germany and a Allied-controlled capitalist West Germany. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The US discovers nuclear missiles poised to launch at major cities in Cuba. Kennedy calls the Soviets to withdraw the missiles and in return the Soviets ask that the US never invade Cuba. -
Gorbachev
Mikhail S Gorbachev arose to help bring an end to the cold war. He also wants to democratize the Soviet Union's political system and his efforts to decentralize its economy eventually led to the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991. -
Soviet Union Falls
Mikhail Gorbachev is credited in causing the fall of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev's former friend Boris Yeltsin dismantles the Communist Party and changes it into a market-oriented economy.
