WW2, Cold War Event/Date+Significance

Invasion of Manchuria

1931.09 Japan begins expansion in Asia

Hitler becomes Chancellor

1933.01 Rise of Nazi power in Germany

Italy invades Ethiopia

1935.10 Weakness of League of Nations exposed

Spanish Civil War Begins

1936 Testing ground for WWII technology

Invasion of China

1937.07 Start of WWII in the Pacific

Rape of Nanking/Nanjing

1937.12 Why so many Chinese hated the Japanese

Munich Agreement

1938.09 Failure of "appeasement" policy

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

1939.08 Nazi-Soviet non-aggression treaty

German Invasion of Poland

1939.09.01 Official start of WWII in Europe

Battle of the Atlantic

1939.09.03 Lasted until 1945, necessary to feed and arm the UK

Soviet invasion of Poland

1939.09.17 led to the Katyn massacre

Fall of France

1940.06 Germany occupies Western Europe

Battle of Britain

1940.07 First major German military defeat

Operation Barbarossa

1941.06 Germany invades the Soviet Union

Attack on Pearl Harbor

1941.12 United States enters the war

FDR's Executive Order

1942.02 Internment of Japanese-Americans

Battle of Midway

1942.06 Turning point in the Pacific

Battle of Stalingrad

1942.08 Turning point on the Eastern Front

Operation Torch

1942.11 Allied invasion of North Africa

Surrender of Italy

1943.09 First Axis power to collapse

D-Day (Normandy)

1944.06 Allied liberation of Western Europe

Liberation of Paris

1944.08 French capital freed from Nazis

Battle of the Bulge

1944.12 Last major German offensive

Yalta Conference

1945.02 Planning post-war world order

Battle of Iwo Jima

1945.02 High-casualty Pacific island fighting

V-E Day

1945.05 Germany surrenders; war in Europe ends

Potsdam Conference

1945.07 Escalating tensions between US/USSR

Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima

1945.08 First use of nuclear weapons

V-J Day

1945.09 Japan surrenders; WWII concludes

Iron Curtain Speech

1946.03 Division of Europe formally identified

Viet Minh fight French

1946.12 Start of First Indochina War

Truman Doctrine

1947.03 Policy of containment established

Marshall Plan

1948.04 US aid for European recovery

Berlin Blockade

1948.06 First major Cold War confrontation

NATO Formed

1949.04 Western mutual defense alliance

USSR Atomic Test

1949.08 End of US nuclear monopoly

PRC Established

1949.10 Mao Zedong's communists win in China

Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan

1949.12 Nationalists retreat; China remains divided

Soviets boycott UN Security Council

1950.01 Protest over PRC exclusion; enables UN Korean intervention

Korean War Begins

1950.06 Cold War turns into a hot war

Battle of Inchon

1950.09 Successful UN counteroffensive

China crosses Yalu

1950.10 China enters Korean War

Death of Stalin

1953.03 Shift in Soviet leadership

Korean Armistice

1953.07 Fighting pauses; DMZ established

Battle of Dien Bien Phu

1954.03 French defeat in Indochina

Geneva Accords

1954.07 Vietnam divided at 17th parallel

Ho Chi Minh Trail established

1959.05 North Vietnam begins supplying southern insurgency

US advisors exceed 1,000

1962.02 Significant expansion of US military role in Vietnam

Battle of Ap Bac

1963.01 Viet Cong military capability shown

Buddhist Self-Immolation

1963.06 Protest against Diem's religious policy

Diem Assassinated

1963.11.02 Collapse of South Vietnam's first regime

Kennedy Assassination

1963.11.22 Lyndon Johnson assumes presidency

Gulf of Tonkin

1964.08 Legal basis for US war escalation

US forces exceed 500,000

1968 Peak of American military commitment to the war

Tet Offensive

1968.01 Turning point in US public opinion

Democratic Convention

1968.08 Anti-war riots in Chicago

Nixon takes office

1969.01 Promised "Peace with Honor"

Vietnamization begins

1969.06 US starts transferring combat to ARVN

Invasion of Cambodia

1970.04 US/ARVN attack communist sanctuaries

Kent State Shooting

1970.05.04 National Guard kills student protesters

Jackson State Shooting

1970.05.15 Police kill black student protesters

US Combat Troops Leave

1973.03 Final withdrawal after Peace Accords

Nixon Resigns

1974.08 Result of the Watergate scandal

Fall of Saigon

1975.04 End of war; Vietnam unified