Ww2

WWII & Cold War Timeline

  • Mikhail S. Gorbachev

    Mikhail S. Gorbachev

    He helped bring the end of the Cold War.
  • Japan’s invasion of China

    Japan’s invasion of China

    Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China because they believed territotial control was an essential part of survival.
  • Germany invades Poland

    Germany invades Poland

    Began WWI. Great Britain and France promised to help Poland in case anyone invaded. When Germany invaded, these countries declared war on Germany.
  • Battle of Britain

    Battle of Britain

    It was an air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the Inited Kingdom that lasted from July to October.
  • Tripartite Pact

    Tripartite Pact

    Pledged that the Axis powers woud “assist one another with all political, economic and military means” when any of them were attacked by “a Power at present not involved in the European War or in the Sino-Japanese Conflict”.
  • Lend-Lease Act

    Lend-Lease Act

    Act under which the US provided military aid to “the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.”
  • German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union

    German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union

    Meant "lightning war"; rapid attack through the use od armor and air power. Germans failed because they underestimated Soviet personnel reserves and industrial capacity.
  • Wannsee Conference

    Wannsee Conference

    Discussed the final solution of what to do with the Jews
  • Germany takes Leningrad

    Germany takes Leningrad

    Germans caught the Red Army off guard and captured the Russian heartland.
  • Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    Pearl Harbor was a surprise aerial attack on US territory which led to the US entering WWII.
  • Battle of Midway

    Battle of Midway

    Ended the threat of the Japanese further invading the Pacific
  • D-Day

    D-Day

    Famous invasion in Normandy between the Allies and the Axis powers. Allied troops won and gained a foothold in Normandy.
  • Yalta Conference

    Yalta Conference

    This was the conference between the three Aliied leaders which planned the final defeat and occupation of Nazi Germany.
  • Iwo Jima/Okinawa

    Iwo Jima/Okinawa

    The Americans first attacked Iwo Jima and barely were able to win and plant their flag. Later, they attacked Okinawa and again had a difficult time winning.
  • Hitler;s Suicide

    Hitler;s Suicide

    Hitler said goodbye to some people, went to his suite, and shot himself. His wife also committed suicide by drinking poision.
  • VE Day

    VE Day

    Marked the end of the war; "victory in Europe" day
  • Potsdam Conference

    Potsdam Conference

    This was an Allied conference of World War II held at Potsdam where they discussed peace settlements.
  • Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

    Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

    US dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which killed/hurt tens of thousands of people which led to Japan surrendering.
  • VJ Day

    VJ Day

    This is Victory Over Japan Day, the day that Japan surrendered which consequently ended WWII.
  • Formation of the UN

    Formation of the UN

    The major Allied powers agreed to establish a new global organization which would help manage international affairs. This agreement was first articulated when the Atlantic Charter in August 1941 was signed.
  • Truman Doctrine

    Truman Doctrine

    The Truman Doctrine declared immediate aid, economic and political, to Greece and Turkey.
  • Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan

    US program designed to rehabilitate 17 European countries to create stable conditions
  • NATO

    NATO

    North Atlantic Trade Organization; "an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense"
  • Mao Zedong & People’s Republic of China

    Mao Zedong & People’s Republic of China

    Mao Zedong, who was the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
  • Korean War

    Korean War

    Conflict between North and South Korea; reached international proportions when North Korea (aided by the USSR) invaded South Korea (who were aided by the US).
  • Stalin’s death; Khrushchev

    Stalin’s death; Khrushchev

    Conditions improved after Stalin's death. Khrushchev had introduced reforms that other Communist party leaders did not agree with and lost power
  • Vietnam War

    Vietnam War

    North Vietnam wanted to unify the country under single communist rule while south Vietnam wanted to preserve the close alignment with the west. US was a principle ally
  • Warsaw Pact

    Warsaw Pact

    Treaty establishing a mutual-defense organization originally between Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
  • Sputnik

    Sputnik

    Sputnik was a series of Earth satellites launched by the Soviet Union which inaugurated the space age.
  • Bay of Pigs

    Bay of Pigs

    Failed invasion by 1500 Cuban exiles that was financed by the American government.
  • Berlin Wall

    Berlin Wall

    Barrier between East Berlin and West Berlin, blocking East Germans' fleeing to West Berlin
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis

    Closest the cold war came to turning into a nuclear conflict
  • Soviet Union falls

    Soviet Union falls

    Fell largely due to the radical reforms that Mikhail Gorbachev had implemented