Ww2 picture

World War II & Cold War Timeline

  • Mao Zedong and the People's Republic of China

    Mao Zedong and the People's Republic of China
    Mao Zedong was a Chinese communist and the founding father of the People's Republic of China.
  • Gorbachev

    Gorbachev
    He was the seventh and last undisputed leader of the Soviet Union.
  • Japan's Invasion of China

    Japan's Invasion of China
    A military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from 1937 to 1941.
  • Germany Invades Poland

    Germany Invades Poland
    Invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union which ended on October 6th with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland.
  • Battle of Britain

    Battle of Britain
    Air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom in July of 1940.
  • Tripartite Pact

    Tripartite Pact
    A pact signed in Berlin, Germany which established the Axis Powers of World War II.
  • Lend-Lease Act

    Lend-Lease Act
    A program under which the United States supplied Allied nations with materials.
  • German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union

    German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
    At first, the German Blitzkrieg seemed to succeed, however, the Soviet Union launched a counteroffensive trapping and destroying an entire German army at Stalingrad.
  • Germany takes Leningrad

    Germany takes Leningrad
    A prolonged military operation undertaken by the German Army against Leningrad.
  • The Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
    Surprise attack on Pearl Harbor conducted by the Japanese Navy.
  • Formation of the U.N.

    Formation of the U.N.
    Representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington to sign the Declaration of the United Nations.
  • Wannsee Conference

    Wannsee Conference
    A meeting of officials of Nazi Germany to ensure the cooperation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of the final solution to the Jewish question.
  • Battle of Midway

    Battle of Midway
    The Battle of Midway in the Pacific Theater of Operations was one of the most important naval battles of World War II.
  • D-Day

    D-Day
    The WW II invasion of Normandy, France.
  • The Yalta Conference

    The Yalta Conference
    World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to discuss Europe's post-war reorganization.
  • Iwo Jima/Okinawa

    Iwo Jima/Okinawa
    Major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima and Okinawa from the Japanese Empire.
  • Hitler's Suicide

    Hitler's Suicide
    Germany's military situation was on the verge of total collapse by 1945 and Adolf Hitler had no where to run to so he and his wife committed suicide in Berlin.
  • Victory in Europe Day (VE Day)

    Victory in Europe Day (VE Day)
    The day that marks the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.
  • Potsdam Conference

    Potsdam Conference
    Conference in Potsdam occupied Germany where leaders gathered to decide how to administer punishment to the defeated Nazi Germany.
  • Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

    Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
    Two atomic bombs were dropped by the US on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards the end of WW II.
  • Victory over Japan Day

    Victory over Japan Day
    The day Japan surrendered in World War II.
  • Truman Doctrine

    Truman Doctrine
    International relations policy set forth by Harry Truman which stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere.
  • Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan
    American initiative to aid Europe in rebuilding their economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism.
  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

    North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
    A system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
  • Korean War

    Korean War
    The result of the political division of Korea at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II.
  • Stalin's Death; Khrushchev

    Stalin's Death; Khrushchev
    Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Stalin's death triggered a power struggle but after several years Khrushchev took over as the leader of the Soviet Union.
  • Warsaw Pact

    Warsaw Pact
    A collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War.
  • Sputnik

    Sputnik
    Sputnik was the first successful artificial satellite launched by the Soviet Union.
  • Bay of Pigs

    Bay of Pigs
    A failed military invasion of Cuba.
  • Berlin Wall

    Berlin Wall
    A barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and East Berlin.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis
    A 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba against the United States in the middle of the Cold War.
  • Vietnam War

    Vietnam War
    This war was fought between North Vietnam—supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies—and the government of South Vietnam—supported by the United States and other anti-communist allies.
  • Soviet Union falls

    Soviet Union falls
    The Soviet Union formally ceased to exist on December 26th 1991.