| AN EVENT IN HISTORY |
| 1941 - 1960 |
| 1941 |
| Bulgaria joins Axis. |
| First units of Rommel's German Afrika Corps arrive in North Africa. |
| Germany defeats Greece and Yugoslavia. |
| British sink the German battleship, Bismark. |
| Germany invades Crete by air. |
| Germans invade USSR (Operation Barbarossa). |
| Japan attacks Pearl Harbor bringing, the USA into World War II. |
| Japanese forces land in Philippines. |
| Joe DiMaggio achieves 56 consecutive game hitting streak. |
| 1942 |
| Declaration of United Nations signed by 26 Allied Nations. |
| SS leader Heydrich holds Wannsee Conference to plan the "Final Solution" (Holocaust of Jews). |
| Japanese forces take Manila, Philippines. |
| General Douglas MacArthur leaves Philippines, arrives in Australia. |
| US forces on Bataan peninsula surrender April 9th. "Bataan Death March" |
| Heydrich attacked and fatally wounded in Prague. Nazi's destroy town of Lidice in reprisal. |
| Battle of Stalingrad begins. |
| British under Montgomery defeats Rommel's German Afrika Corps at El Alamein. |
| Allied invasion of Northwest Africa (Operation Torch) |
| Enrico Fermi sets up first atomic reactor at Chicago. |
| 1943 |
| Battle of Stalingrad ends with Soviet victory. |
| Allies defeat Germans in North Africa. |
| Jews launch anti-German uprising in Warsaw Ghetto. |
| Allies land in Sicily, later Italy. |
| Italy surrenders to Allies, Mussolini deposed. |
| Germans occupy Rome. |
| 1944 |
| Allies land in France (D-Day). |
| Hitler survives assassination attempt. |
| Rommel forced to commit suicide for alleged involvement in plot to assassinate Hitler. |
| Polish Home Army rises against Germans. |
| Rome liberated by allies. |
| Germans use V1 and V2 rockets against England. |
| Battle of the Bulge (German attack in the Ardennes) won by Allies. |
| US forces invade Philippines. |
| 1945 |
| Soviets liberate Auschwitz concentration camp. |
| Hitler dies in his Berlin Bunker. |
| Allies and Soviets defeat Germany. |
| US forces retake Philippines. |
| US drops first atomic bombs on Japan ending World War II. |
| Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal begin. |
| 1946 |
| The Philippines becomes independent from the United States. |
| Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech. |
| 1947 |
| Aviator, Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the X-1. |
| Greek Civil War (1947-1949). |
| India and Pakistan independent from Britain. |
| Invention of transistor. |
| Marshall Plan for reconstruction in Europe. |
| 1948 |
| Berlin Airlift (1948-1949) when Soviets cut off ground transportation to West Berlin. |
| Foundation of State of Israel. |
| India leader Mahatma Gandi assassinated. |
| Communists take over Czechoslovakia. |
| Organization of American States founded. |
| National Party wins South African elections and introduces Apartheid (racial segregation) system. |
| 1949 |
| Formation of NATO. |
| USSR tests its first atom bomb. |
| Indonesia becomes independent from Netherlands. |
| Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) formed from British, American and French occupation zones. |
| German Democratic Republic (East Germany) formed from Soviet occuption zone. |
| Chinese communists win Chinese civil war. |
| 1950 |
| Korean War begins when Communist North Korea invades the South. |
| Uruguay wins soccer World Cup. |
| 1951 |
| Julius and Ethel Rosenberg convicted of passing US atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, sentenced to death (executed in 1953). |
| General Douglas MacArthur replaced as US commander in Korea. |
| 1952 |
| First British atom bomb test. |
| US test first Hydrogen bomb. |
| 1953 |
| Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dies. |
| Korean War ends. |
| Watson and Crick publish the structure of DNA. |
| 1954 |
| US Supreme Court rules against racial segregation in schools. |
| French army defeated by Vietnamese by DienBienPhu. |
| Vietnam independent from France.Vietnam split at 17th Parallel into Communist North, and non-Communist South. |
| West Germany wins soccer World Cup. |
| 1955 |
| West Germany joins NATO. |
| Warsaw Pact formed by Communist states in Eastern Europe and USSR. |
| 1956 |
| SuezCrisis, Israel, Great Britain and French attack Egypt. |
| Soviets invade Hungary to crush anti-communist revolution. |
| Beginning of rock and roll music. |
| 1957 |
| Soviet Union launches Sputnik I - first artifical satellite. |
| FORTRAN, the first high-level computer-programming language, introduced. |
| Nine black students are barred from entering a formerly all white school in Little RockArkansas. President Eisenhower uses troops to secure their entry. |
| Treaty of Rome establishes European Economic Community. |
| Beginning of African decolonization: Ghana independent. |
| 1958 |
| US launches Explorer I (first US satellite). |
| Brazil wins soccer World Cup. |
| US nuclear submarine, Nautilus, travels to North Pole. |
| 1959 |
| Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro becomes Prime Minister of Cuba. |
| Xerox manufactures the Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier. |
| Soviet's Luna 2 is first spacecraft to impact moon. |
| Soviet's Luna 3 takes first pictures of the far side of the moon. |
| Soviet leader, Nikita Khruschev, visits USA. |
| 1960 |
| American U-2 spy plane shot down over Soviet Union. |
| Sharpeville Massacre: Africans protesting against the Apartheid "Pass Laws" are shot in South Africa at Sharpeville. |
| France tests her first atomic bomb. |
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