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The Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the name for the physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West and its allied states. -
Baruch Plan for Atomic Control
The United States presents the Baruch Plan for the international control of atomic weapons to the United Nations. The failure of the plan to gain acceptance resulted in a dangerous nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. -
Truman Doctrine
Announced on March 12, 1947, to Congress by President Harry S. Truman, was the Truman Doctrine. This was put into effect to contain threats in Turkey and Greece. This also acted as a barrier, not allowing the Soviet Union to expand during the Cold War. -
Spruce Goose
In May of 1947, a man by the name of Howard Hughes began building the largest aircraft. This beast of an airplane could hold 700 troops and had a wingspan of 320 feet. Hughes spent $7 million of his own money, leaving the government to spend $17 million money on the aircraft. This plane was a huge technological breakthrough, but it only took flight once. The Spruce Goose was able to fly for a solid mile across the harbor before landing back on the ground. -
Taft-Harley Act
The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 29 U.S.C. § 141-197, better known as the Taft–Hartley Act, (80 H.R. 3020, Pub.L. 80–101, 61 Stat. 136, enacted June 23, 1947) is a United States federal law that restricts the activities and power of labor unions. -
Yeager Breaks Sound Barrier
On October 14, 1947, American pilot Captain Chuck Yaeger broke the sound barrier. He was flying new test plane named the "Bell X-1". Yaeger reached an outstanding seed of 670 miles per hour at an altitude of 42,000 feet. -
B-47 enters service
On December 17, the first Boeing B-47 flew. It was the first all-jet bomber. It carried a crew of three. The B-47 had a revolutionary design. It was the first bomber built with a swept wing. A total of 2,040 B-47s were delivered to the Airforce. -
MIG-15
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate swept wings to achieve high transonic speeds. -
Apartheid in South Africa
After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, its all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation under a system of legislation that it called apartheid. This lasts until April 27, 1994, where it was ended. -
Improved Theory of Quantum Dynamics
The Improved Theory of Quantum Dynamics was developed by Richard Feynman. The theory predicted the effect that electrically charged particles would have on one another. -
Czechoslovakia is taken
Czechoslovakia soon fell under communism after WWII. When the government started to raise the possibility of the nation's involvement in the United State's Marshall Plan, the communists organized strikes and protests and began clamping down on opposition parties. President Eduard Benes tried to hold the government together, but by February 1948, the communists have pushed all other parties out. Benes then gave in to communism control and the nation was now a single party state. -
OAS
The Organization of American States or the OAS or OEA is a continental organization that was founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperation among its member states. Headquartered in the United States capital Washington, D.C., the OAS's members are the 35 independent states of the Americas. -
State of Israel
On May 14, the Jews of Palestine declared themselves independent. This created the State of Israel, with David Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister. Immediately, the neighboring Arab nations attacked, leading to a war. Once the war was over Israel was a bigger territory than the original territory assigned. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major act of crises during the Cold War. No agreement could be made on the Soviet's continued control of Germany. When the Allies tried to jump in by introducing a new currency in West Germany to counter inflation, the Soviet Union made the move. The Soviet's then blocked all possible railways, roads, and canal access to all Western Allies to the parts of Berlin under Western control. -
NATO Founded
After the Berlin Blockade, a protection against communist forces was needed. On April 4, 1949, the foreign ministers of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States formally signed the North Atlantic Treaty. It stated that "an armed attack against one or more of the European signatories or the North American signatories would be considered an attack against all of them." -
A-Bomb Detonates
On September 23, the Soviet Union had successfully detonated an atomic bomb. As a result, this started the nuclear arms race, that was to last until 1990. -
Thirty Year Pact
Mao Tse-Tung signed a 30-year Treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union. The treaty was one of alliance and mutual assistance. A series of economic agreements followed. -
Korean War
The Korean War began with an attack made by North Korean forces across the 38th parallel dividing North and South Korea. The attack took place on June 24, 1950, and was a complete surprise to the American administration. It was feared that this attack heralded the beginning of World War III. US President Truman announced a national emergency to aid the war, leading to him having great economic power.
