-
Espionage- Igor Gouzenko
Gouzenko was a cipher clerk for the Soviet embassy in Canada in Ottawa. While working he defected 109 documents on Soviet espionage in the West. This forced Prime Minister King to call an investigation on this situation. Gouzenko exposed Stalin's efforts to steal nuclear secrets and the planting of sleeper agents. This event was the trigger to the cold war. -
Berlin Airlift
This wasthe first major international crisis of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of Germany. Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' acess to the secotrs of Berlin under Allied control Their aim was to force Western powers to allow the soviet zone to start supplying all of Berlin with food and fuel giving them complete control. In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to people in West Berlin. This caused the divide among Berlin. -
NATO Formation
This intergovernmental military alliance was created under the North Atlantic Treaty. This organization consitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack to any external party. This organization contains 28 states across Europe and North America. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China with its capital at Beijing. Chiang Kai-shek and approximately 2 million Nationalist Chinese retreated to the island of Taiwan. These people were the ones who still believed in democracy and did not want that to change. This Communist revolution was the start of the Soviet's sphere of power. -
Korean War
This war was primarily between Republic of Korea (supported by the United States and other allied nations), and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (supported by People's republic of China and the Soviet Union). Thses two nations were divided after WW2 and the North was trying to take the South and turn into communism. Canada sent 6,000 soldiers and 300 died. -
Colombo Plan
This plan was a regional organization that embodies the concept of collective inter-governmental effort to strengthen economic and social development of member countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The primary focus of all Colombo Plan activities is on human resources development. This helped prevent troubled nations from turning into communism and support the Soviet Union. -
Vietnam War
This war was fought between North Vietnam supported by the communist allies, and South Vietnam supported by the United States and other non-communist countries. This war was viewed as important because if the country fell into communism, the rest of South-East Asia could turn into communist countries as well and this would fail the colombo plan. -
Hungarian Revolution
This revolution started as a student demonstration in Budapest (capital) and this attracted thousands into the streets to try and take down the communist government that was run by the Soviets. The Soviets acted quickly and eventually crushed the protesters and the government continued. Many Hungarians seeked refuge from the fighting and government and went to Canada. -
Suez Crisis
Also known as the Sinai War. This began because of the shutdown of the Suez Canal by Egypt, that was used by the British and French to get to the Indian Ocean quicker. Egypt demanded money to build a hydroelectric dam to increase profit to the country. But this dam could have been used for power to make weapons for the Soviet. France, Britain, and Israel all declared war to regain power of the canal. -
Avro Arrow Flight
This aircraft was considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry. The plan was to use these as interceptors for the Soviet long-range bombers to protect the country in case of an attack. -
North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD)
This is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. This divided into different sectors across these two nations so it would be easier to protect the countries from incoming threats from the Soviets. -
Rise of Berlin Wall
This wall was built to separate the communist East Germany from the democratic West Germany. It also prevented the massive emmigration and defection from the Eastern side. Anybody caught trying to leave would be killed. This solidified the birth of the two new nations. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was a thirteen-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other. The Soviets began building bases to store nuclear weapons to later be used upon the United States. The Americans acted quickly and began to blockade Cuba to stop weapons from entering. So the Soviets were forced to dismantle the weapons and remove them. This was the closest event that could have turned into a nuclear conflict. Further negotiations took place between them after -
Cyprus Peacekeeping Mission
This mission was established to prevent a recurrence of fighting between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and to contribute to the maintenance and restoration of law and order and a return to normal conditions. Many of the Turkish Cypriots were being treated unfairly about their rights and demanded change. Canada played a major role in this peacekeeping mission. -
Summit Series
The Summit Series was the first competition between the Soviet and an NHL-inclusive Canadian national ice hockey teams. This eight game series helped the Soviets gain respect for Canada and was known as the Friendship Series by many. -
Strategetic Arms Limitation Talks
These talks and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union (the Cold War superpowers) on the issue of armament control, which would help slow down the production of nuclear weapons and try to sort out peace plans. -
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
This invasion was spearheaded by the Soviets to help the democratic party of Afghanistan turn to communism and to defeat the Mujahideen group who was supported by primarily the U.S. and other countries like China, Canada, and Britain. In the end the Soviets withdrew their troops and a civil war continued in the country for years. The government was taken over by the Taliban group. -
Moscow Summer Olympics
This Olympics took place in the capital of the Soviet Union. 65 of the nations invited to the Olympics did not attend or boycotted because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Some countries included Canada, U.S., and China. -
Strategic Defence Initiative
This futuristic plan was to help defend the countries from any possible missile attacks from the Soviet Union in outer space. This was inspired by President Ronald Regan who got the idea from the Star Wars movies. But these plans were soon shutdown because they were unrealistic and it would cost a lot and take many years of research to make a global protection sheild. -
Los Angeles Summer Olympics
These Olypics were held by the United States. In response to the American-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics, 14 Eastern Bloc States icluding Eastern Germany, Soviet Union, Cuba did the same to the Americans. -
Perestroika
This was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev along with his other major policy reform he introduced known as glasnos. Its literal meaning is referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system. Perestroika is often argued to be a cause of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe, and the end of the Cold War. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin wall happened because of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. So in response the people of Berlin destroyed the wall and made Germany into one again.
