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Period: to
19th - 21st Century: Russian Imperial Ambitions
• 1721: Russian Empire founded (Peter the Great).
• 1853-1856: Crimean War (against the Ottoman Empire and Western allies).
• 1917: Russian Revolution and collapse of the empire.
• 1922: Formation of the Soviet Union (expansion into Central Asia and Eastern Europe).
• 1945 - 1991: Cold War and Soviet control over Eastern Europe and parts of Asia.
• 1991: Collapse of the Soviet Union.
• 2000 - Present: Russian expansion in the Caucasus, Crimea (2014), and Ukraine (2022). -
Period: to
19th - 20th Century: American Imperialism
• 1868: Meiji Restoration (Japan modernizes and becomes a major power).
• 1894-1895: First Sino-Japanese War (Japan gains Taiwan).
• 1904-1905: Russo-Japanese War (Japan defeats Russia and expands influence in Manchuria and Korea).
• 1931: Invasion of Manchuria.
• 1937: Second Sino-Japanese War.
• 1941-1945: World War II (Pacific expansion, defeat, and U.S. occupation of Japan). -
Period: to
19th - 20th Century: Japanese Expansion
• 1823: Monroe Doctrine (U.S. warns against European intervention in the Americas).
• 1898: Spanish-American War (U.S. gains control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines).
• 1903: U.S. supports Panama’s independence; begins construction of the Panama Canal.
• 1945 - Present: U.S. global influence during and after the Cold War (interventions in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia). -
1898: Spanish-American War
• February 1898: USS Maine explosion in Havana.
• April - August 1898: War between Spain and the U.S.
• December 1898: Treaty of Paris (Spain cedes the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the U.S.). -
1991: Fall of the Soviet Union
• 1985: Gorbachev’s reforms (Perestroika and Glasnost).
• 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe.
• August 1991: Failed coup against Gorbachev.
• December 1991: Dissolution of the Soviet Union; Russia emerges as its successor.