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Big 3 at Yalta
Held from Feb 4-11th, 1945. It was the WWII meeting of the heads of the government. The reason for the conference was to create a post war peace. But mainly was to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. -
Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemned the Soviet Union policies in Europe and declared, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, and iron curtain has descended across the continent." His speech is considered one of the announcing's of the Cold War starting. -
Truman Doctrine
Was the principle that the United States should give support to other countries or people threatened by the Soviet Union. It was first expressed in 1947 by United States president Truman in a speech to congress seeking aid for Greece and Turkey. The communists saw this as an open declaration for the Cold War. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under West control. -
NATO Founded
It is often said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union. This was just partially true, it was for three other broader purposes, Deterring the Soviet expansionism, Forbidding the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe, and Encouraging political integregation -
Korean War Starts
The Korean War began when 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People's Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western republic of Korea to the south. First military action of the cold war. -
Truman fires MacArthur
Problems with the flamboyant and egotistical General MacArthur had been brewing for months in 1951. At the beginning of the war in Korea which had began in June 1950, general had devised some brilliant strategies. MacArthur argued for a policy of pushing into North Korea to completely defeat the communist forces. In April 1951 President Truman fired MacArthur and replaced him with General Matthew Ridgeway. -
Hydrogen bomb explodes in the Pacific
The United states conducted their first airborne test of an improved hydrogen bomb. They dropped it from a plane over the tiny island of Namu in the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific ocean. The test was successful. -
Stalin Dies
On March 5th, 1953 Joseph Stalin dies. He was 73 years of age and had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at 9:50 PM. A nurse washed Stalin's body and carried it to a white car to the Kremlin mortuary. He had been the leader of the Soviet Union since 1924, died in Moscow, Russia. -
Geneva Conference
Was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to settle outstanding issues in the Korean peninsula and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina. -
McCarthy censored by Senate
The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Senator Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct unbecoming of a senator. The condemnation which was equivalent to a censure, related to McCarthy's controversial investigation of suspected communists in the United States government, military, and civilian society which is unacceptable. -
Rebellion in Hungary
The problems in Hungary began in October 1956. Thousands of protesters were on the streets demanding a more democratic political system and freedom of Soviet oppression. Communist party officials appointed Imre Nagy, a former premier who had been dismissed from the party for his criticisms of Stalinist policies, as the new premier. He tried to restore peace but did not work. -
Suez Canal Crisis
Was an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by the U.K. and France. The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal and to remove Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser from power. -
McCarthy Dies
Senator Joseph McCarthy dies to an illness exacerbated by alcoholism and passed away at the age 48. McCarthy had been a key figure in the anticommunist hysteria popularly known as the "Red Scare," that engulfed the US in the years following WWII. -
Sputnik launched
On October 4th, 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. It was the worlds first artificial satellite, and was about the size of a beach ball. It took 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. It was named Sputnik after the Russian word for Satellite. -
NASA Created
In 1958 The US Congress passed the legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America's activities in space. -
Cuban Revolution
An armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and it's allies against the authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The 26th of July Movement later reformed along communist lines, becoming the Communist Party in October 1965. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the US and Soviet Union were in a long 13 day political and military standoff in October. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to agree to Cuba's request to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter future harassment of Cuba. -
Kennedy Assassinated
Afternoon on November 22, 1963 president John F Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas.
