In the final year of World War II, the Allies were preparing to launch a costly invasion of mainland Japan. The United States previously carried out a bombing campaign that devastated many Japanese cities. The war in Europe ended after Nazi Germany signed the instrument of surrender on May 8, 1945. However, Japan refused to comply with Allied demands for unconditional surrender. The Pacific War continued. Together with Great Britain and China, the United States demanded that Japanese troops surrender in the Potsdam Declaration of 26 July 1945 or face "quick and great destruction". Japan ignored the ultimatum.

In July 1945, the Manhattan Project initiated by the Allies succeeded in carrying out an atomic bomb test in the desert of New Mexico. They produced nuclear weapons based on two designs in August.

On August 6, the US dropped a gun-type uranium atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima. United States President Harry S. Truman called for Japan's surrender 16 hours later and warned of an "unprecedented rain of debris from the air on earth." Three days later, on August 9, the US dropped an imploded plutonium bomb (Fat Man) on Nagasaki. Approximately half of the victims in each city died on the first day. In the months that followed, many people died from the effects of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries along with illness and malnutrition.

On August 15, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet Union declared war, Japan declared its surrender to the Allies. On September 2, Japan signed the instrument of surrender that automatically ended World War II. The effect of this bombing on Japan's surrender and its ethical reasons are still debated today.

 

After the Qing Dynasty was dissolved, the provisional government of the Republic of China was formed with Sun Yat-sen as its first president. However, Sun Yat-sen had to compromise with Yuan Shikai as the strongest warlord in China at the time, and the government gradually controlled Yuan Shikai who was unable to lead effectively and China was plunged into a period of civil war, first between the warlords, and then between the Kuomintang (nationalist party) and Gongchangdang (communist party). The Revolution in China, also referred to as the Xinhai Revolution (meaning Metal Pig in the Chinese calendar), was a series of events that took place from October 10, 1911 with the Wuchang Uprising led by Sun Yat-sen of the Tongmenghui nationalist movement, and ended with the abdicating of Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty on February 12, 1912. This revolution occurred due to the failure of the Qing Dynasty in modernizing and dispelling foreign influence in China.

 

After the Qing Dynasty was dissolved, the provisional government of the Republic of China was formed with Sun Yat-sen as its first president. However, Sun Yat-sen had to compromise with Yuan Shikai as the strongest warlord in China at the time, and the government gradually controlled Yuan Shikai who was unable to lead effectively and China was plunged into a period of civil war, first between the warlords, and then between the Kuomintang (nationalist party) and Gongchangdang (communist party).

Japan intended the attack as a preventive action. Its aim was to prevent the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and those of the United States. Over the course of seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. 

The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time or 18:18 GMT. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft (including fighters, level and dive bombers, and torpedo bombers) in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. Of the eight U.S. Navy battleships present, all were damaged, with four sunk. All but USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, dry dock, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building , also home of the intelligence section were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. Kazuo Sakamaki, the commanding officer of one of the submarines, was captured. 

Japan announced declarations of war on the United States and the British Empire later that day (December 8 in Tokyo), but the declarations were not delivered until the following day. The British government declared war on Japan immediately after learning that their territory had also been attacked, while the following day (December 8) the United States Congress declared war on Japan. On December 11, though they had no formal obligation to do so under the Tripartite Pact with Japan, Germany and Italy each declared war on the U.S., which responded with a declaration of war against Germany and Italy. There were numerous historical precedents for the unannounced military action by Japan, but the lack of any formal warning, particularly while peace negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was later judged in the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime. 

     The Korean War is a Civil War. Korea was once a unified kingdom that had stood for centuries. Until finally the system began to collapse, when Japan occupied Korea during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). The United Dynasty period in Korea ended in 1910. And Japan ruled Korea from 1910-1945.

      When North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, they received direct assistance from seasoned war veterans from the Chinese Civil War which had just ended in August 1949. North Korean troops then dominated the war, letting the world watch what happened next. .

     The United States initially did not want to be involved in any invasion. They didn't want to get involved with North Korea, let alone China or the Soviet Union. But a momentous event on the world stage then made the US change their course.

     On April 14, 1950, the 33rd US President, Harry S. Truman, received a document called National Security Council Paper Number 68 (NSC-68). The document was produced by the Department of Defense, State Department, CIA, and other agencies, the content of which was to advise the president to develop the defense industry: to counter what they saw as the threat of global communism. This suggestion then influenced Truman to take the next step.

So, on June 27, 1950, President Truman ordered US troops into South Korea to resist the invasion from North Korea. He stressed that democracy must be seen as far superior to communism.

      And on December 16, 1950, President Truman declared communist imperialism a grave threat to democracy.The armistice for the Korean War signed on July 27, 1953 gave rise to a new border between North and South Korea. South Korea gained some additional territory and a demilitarized zone between the two countries. Even so, a formal peace agreement was never signed by either side.

 

However, the United States had plans to divide the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel into two military operation zones for the United States and the Soviet Union. Furthermore, the real plan of the United States was not to make Korea an independent state as soon as possible after independence. In fact, Roosevelt wanted to make Korea a state under the Allied Trust for 35 years after it separated from Japan. General R. Hodge, the US commander in Korea, deployed the US Army Military Government and made southern Korea an area under US military rule. Koreans are very disappointed and angry. Their sympathy for the United States immediately cooled. 

 

 

 72 AD Construction of the Flavian Amphitheater began under Emperor Vespasian. 80 AD Titus, Vespasian’s son, officially dedicates the Amphitheater, also knew as the Colosseum, and decrees 100 days of games for its inauguration. Construction would be finalized completely under Titus’s younger brother and successor Domitian in 83 AD. Mid 5th century No exact date is known, but the last reports of gladiatorial combat in the Colosseum date from this period, although it continued to be used for hunts of wild beasts for some time afterwards. Around this time a chapel is affixed to the building, the arena floor is used as a cemetery, and the vaulted spaces that make up the building’s walls under its seats are used as houses and workshops.

             12th century The Frangipani family, a powerful Roman patrician clan of the time, took over the building and converted it into a fortified castle. 14th to 18th century The Colosseum undergoes progressive degradation as its building materials are stripped to be used elsewhere in Rome. Some of the marble that decorated its façade was used in the construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica.19th and 20th centuries The Colosseum undergoes successive restoration projects at the instance of various Popes, governments, and the city of Rome. 2013 to 2016 The Colosseum undergoes a major restoration project. The entire facade of the building is cleaned, removing grime and soot accumulated from decades of Roman traffic. 

 

            From the date of its completion in 80 AD, when it was still knew as the Flavian Amphitheater, it is one thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven years old, making it one of the oldest and best preserved human-made structures in the world. The monument remains one of the most famous landmarks in Italy.

        On August 6,1945, The first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, at approximately 8:15 a.m. Nicknamed Little Boy, the bomb is released from the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber piloted by Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets. It explodes 2,000 feet above ground, and killing 80,000 people instantly. One of the main arguments for use of the bomb by U.S. officials is that it would force Japan to surrender unconditionally.

     On August 9, 1945: An atomic bomb is dropped over Nagasaki, Japan, by a B-29 bomber piloted by Major Charles Sweeney. It explodes 1,540 feet above the ground. The original target for the bomb, nicknamed Fat Man, is Kokura, Japan. Due to cloud cover, the bomb is instead detonated over Nagasaki, the alternate location. It is estimated that 75,000 people are killed immediately. And finally in August 15, 1945, Japan surrenders, and ending World War II.

Historical records have led most scientists to believe that the Black Death was an attack of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by flies with the help of animals such as the house mouse (Rattus rattus).  There are several theories regarding the origin of this epidemic.  One of the oldest theories is that the black death originated in the steppes of central Asia.  From this area, it spread to Europe via the Silk Road brought by Mongol armies and traders.  This epidemic spread in Asia and spread in Hubei Province, China.  In 1334. The Black Death in Europe was first reported in the Crimean City of Caffa in 1347. 

The Black Death had drastic effects on the European population, and changed the social structure of Europe.  This epidemic resulted in hunting and killing of minorities such as Jews, immigrants, beggars, and lepers.  The uncertainty of survival creates an unhealthy tendency in society to live only for the present, as described by Giovanni Boccaccio in The Decameron (1353).

 

By 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union had begun to emerge as ideologically opposed 'superpowers', each wanting to exert their influence in the post-war world. Germany became a focus of Cold War politics and as divisions between East and West became more pronounced, so too did the division of Germany. In 1949, Germany formally split into two independent nations: the Federal Republic of Germany (FDR or West Germany), allied to the Western democracies, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany), allied to the Soviet Union. In 1952, the East German government closed the border with West Germany, but the border between East and West Berlin remained open. East Germans could still escape through the city to the less oppressive and more affluent West.

In 1961, rumours spread that measures would be introduced to strengthen the border and stop East Germans from leaving for the West. On 15 June, East German leader Walter Ulbricht declared that ‘no one has the intention of building a wall’, but on the night of 12-13 August a wire barrier was constructed around West Berlin. Established crossing points between the Western and Soviet sectors were closed, dividing neighbourhoods and separating families overnight. From this barbed wire barricade, the Wall would eventually develop into a fortified concrete structure encircling West Berlin and isolating it from the surrounding East German territory.

The Berlin Wall was not one wall, but two. Measuring 155 kilometres (96 miles) long and four metres (13 feet) tall, these walls were separated by a heavily guarded, mined corridor of land known as the ‘death strip’. It was under the constant surveillance of armed East German border guards who were authorised to shoot anyone attempting to escape into West Berlin. By 1989, the Wall was lined with 302 watchtowers. More than 100 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall over the course of its 28-year history. But the Wall was just one part of the larger ‘inner German border’ that separated East and West Germany, and hundreds more were killed trying to cross other fortified border points.

In 1989, political changes in Eastern Europe and civil unrest in Germany put pressure on the East German government to loosen some of its regulations on travel to West Germany. At a press conference on 9 November, East German spokesman Günter Schabowski announced that East Germans would be free to travel into West Germany, starting immediately. He failed to clarify that some regulations would remain in place. 

Western media inaccurately reported that the border had opened and crowds quickly gathered at checkpoints on both sides of the Wall. Passport checks were eventually abandoned and people crossed the border unrestricted. East and West Berliners came together in celebration. The fall of the Berlin Wall was the first step towards German reunification. The political, economic and social impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall further weakened the already unstable East German government. Germany reunited on 3 October 1990, 11 months after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

              The collapse of the Soviet Union began with the economic downturn around 1980. The economic downturn had a negative impact on all aspects of the life of the Soviet Union. In particular, the following factors caused the collapse of the Soviet Union: The emergence of middle class and elite dissatisfaction with the implementation of the communist system, The centralized economic system that was implemented made it difficult to distribute welfare and regional economic development, Corruption among the communist party and government, The emergence of separatist movements in the region, vassal states of the Soviet Union, Presidents Michael Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin failed to reform the communist system of government in the Soviet Union.

              In the book History of Europe: From Ancient Europe to Modern Europe (2012) by Wahjudi Djaja, Mikhail Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union implemented Perestroika (political and economic restructuring) to remedy the Soviet Union crisis in 1985. In general, Perestroika's policy attempted to change the communist system. become more democratic. The Perestroika policy has three main principles, namely Glasnost (political openness), Democratizatsiya (democratization) and the Rule of Law.

              The Perestroika policy in its development was considered a blunder that accelerated the collapse of the Soviet Union. This policy caused opposition between moderate, conservative and radical groups about the communist system in the Soviet Union.

              In addition, the Perestroika policy also gave rise to the desire of the states to become independent from the Soviet Union. In 1990, communist rule began to crumble in the states of the Soviet Union. They assume that the communist system has been destroyed because it is unable to adapt to the times.

              Finally these countries began to break away in mid-1991. The Soviet Union was officially dissolved on December 25, 1991 marked by the resignation of president Mikhail Gorbachev.