WWII & Cold War Timeline (AP)

By jfwamba
  • Gorbachev

    Gorbachev

    Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman. Lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.
  • Sino Japanese War

    Sino Japanese War

    Conflict broke when China banned any Japanese influence in their terriotory. Japanese took over large Chinese area in an effort to over throw Chiang Kai-shek.
  • Germany invades Poland

    Germany invades Poland

    German forces bombed Poland. This was caused by Adolf's need to regain lost territory and in the end rule Poland.
  • Battle of Britain

    Battle of Britain

    The Battle of Britian erupted from July through Septemeber of 1940. The battle was between the German Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt Bf109E and Bf 110C against the British RAF’s Hurricane MKI and the Spitfire MKI.The Battle was won by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Righter Command. The battle erupted by Hitler's fear of them getting invaded.
  • Tripartite Pact

    Tripartite Pact

    This pact included any axis power countries - Germany, Italy, and Japan have thr rights to mutual assisatance if attacked by any nation not already involved in the war.
  • Lend-Lease Act

    Lend-Lease Act

    The legislation gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the powers to sell, transfer, exchange, lend equipment to any country to help it defend itself against the Axis powers.
  • German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union

    German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union

    Campaign from Germany that goes against the Soviet Union. Operation Barbossa was affective that left the Sovient Union in shock.
  • Siege of Leningrad

    Siege of Leningrad

    Military operation to capture Leningrad. It was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history and overwhelmingly the most costly in terms of casualties.
  • Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    Japanese launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack at Pearl Harbor so outraged Americans that the U.S. abandoned its policy of isolationism and declared war on Japan the following day -- officially bringing the United States into World War II.
  • Wannsee Conference

    Wannsee Conference

    A meeting held in Wannsee, Berlin in which the "Final solution" and use of concentration camps were decided in 1942, Heydrich was the chief executor of the "Final Solution".
  • Battle of Midway

    Battle of Midway

    The American navy destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers and lost only one of its own. The US took back control of the central Pacific.
  • D-Day

    D-Day

    June 6, 1944-Western Allies landed in Northern France to open a Second Front against Germany. The Normandy Invasion drove the Germans out of France.
  • Yalta Conference

    Yalta Conference

    Conference held to make important decisions regarding the postwar world. FDR, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta.
  • Iwo Jima/Okinawa

    Iwo Jima/Okinawa

    Iwo Jima and Okinawa were both won by the allies. Iwo Jima was which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders. First Japanese Home island to be invaded in the Okinawa battle. Lots of lives were lost.
  • Hitler’s suicide

    Hitler’s suicide

    Died by gunshot. Wife also committed suicide with him by ingesting cyanide. The bodies were burned and put in a shallow grave by SS troops.
  • VE Day

    VE Day

    This day was marked as the day WW2 ended in Europe.
  • Potsdam Conference

    Potsdam Conference

    Allied WW2 coference that included President Truman, Churchill, and Stalin. Basically a coference that laid out the reperation and actions that will taken for each country. Created the Postman Declaration towards Germany.
  • Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

    Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

    An American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first atmoic bomb over Hiroshima - wiping out 90% of their population. Three days later, a second B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki - killing 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito surrendered.
  • VJ Day

    VJ Day

    On this day Japan surrendered to the Allies, ending WW2. Since that day August 14 and 15 is known as Victory over Japan Day.
  • Formation of the U.N.

    Formation of the U.N.

    The UN was a replacement for the ineffective League of Nations. Germany was part of it. Created to stop any other distarious wars from erupting again.
  • Truman Doctrine

    Truman Doctrine

    President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology.
  • Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan

    Plan that stated U.S as a helping ait to Europe. This lead to increase in foreign trade and the hopes of stopping communism.
  • NATO

    NATO

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
  • Mao Zedong &People’s Republic of China

    Mao Zedong &People’s Republic of China

    The proclamation of Mao Zedong over China was the climax of years of battle between Mao's communist forces and the regime of Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek
  • Stalin’s death; Khrushchev

    Stalin’s death; Khrushchev

    Stalin died on March 1953. Officials in the United States, badly underestimated Khrushchev, who was trying to withold Stalin's lost position. Soon, however, the blunt and unsophisticated Khrushchev was a force to be reckoned with in Soviet politics. Despite their concern, Khrushchev's rise to power did initiate a period in which tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union began slightly to ease, as he called for "peaceful coexistence" between the two superpowers.
  • Korean War

    Korean War

    North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel and all hell broke loose. War ended on July 1953. The Korean peninsula is still divided today.
  • Warsaw Pact

    Warsaw Pact

    An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations due to communits reasons.
  • Sputnik

    Sputnik

    The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. This forced the Eisenhower administration to increase defense spending and accelerate America's space program.
  • Vietnam War

    Vietnam War

    Struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States wanting non of that.
  • Bay of Pigs

    Bay of Pigs

    A group of Cuban exiles, organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. The invasion ended in disaster, happened under President Kennedy.
  • Berlin Wall

    Berlin Wall

    Barrier constructed in 1961 to separate East Berlin from West Berlin and East Germany.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis

    Crisis between US and Soviets over secret Soviet attempt to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba.
  • Soviet Union falls

    Soviet Union falls

    The Soviet Union's collapse into independent nations due to many reasons whether it was lack of foreign exchange or failed attemps to reformation.