In 1945, after World War II, Germany was divided by the victors into two countries. East Germany was controlled by the communist regime of the Soviet Union. West Germany was a democracy supported by the U.S. The former capital city …[Continue]
Cold War
The Cold War (1947-1991) was an era of hostility between the United States (and our democratic allies) and the Soviet Union (and their communist allies) that began after World War II. During the fifties and sixties, the threat of a …[Continue]
Victory in Europe
The Allied Armies’ World War II victory over Nazi Germany occurred on May 7, 1945, when the German Instrument of Surrender was signed in Reims, France. This victory was celebrated as VE Day (a.k.a. V Day and V-E Day) throughout …[Continue]
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis (October 14, 1962 – October 28, 1962) was a two-week escalation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles deployed in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida. The crisis nearly escalated into …[Continue]
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising began on August 1,1944 when the Polish Home Army, consisting of about 40,000 resistors, began shooting at German troops in the streets during World War II. The Polish resistance fighters were hoping to be relieved by the …[Continue]
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project (1939 – 1946) was a secret military research and development project to produce a nuclear weapon during World War II. The project began because it was feared that Nazi Germany was working on a similar plan. Some …[Continue]
Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) rose to power during the French Revolution (1789-1799), and declared himself emperor of France in 1804. After a tumultuous decade, during which Napoleon was exiled, he returned to Paris in 1815, and embarked on a military crusade …[Continue]
Nazi Plunder
During World War II, the Nazi party stole thousands of pieces of European artwork and other items of cultural significance. Some were destroyed, but after the war, many treasures were recovered by the Allies’ Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program …[Continue]
German Reunification
Forty-five years after the country was split in two in 1949, Germany was reunited in 1990 when East Germany joined West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) to form a united Germany. Also united was the city of Berlin, which had …[Continue]
The Holocaust
The Holocaust (1933 – 1945) was Nazi Germany’s state-sanctioned persecution of Europe’s Jews during World War II. Before the Allies conquered Adolph Hitler’s war machine, his “final solution” took the lives of six million European Jews. Holocaust Remembrance Day (also …[Continue]
