Cold War

  • Potsdam Conference

    Potsdam Conference
    The Potsdam Conference was the last of the World War II meetings held by the “Big Three” heads of state of USSR, United States and Great Britain. The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations. (July 17–August 2, 1945)
  • Iron Curtain

    Iron Curtain
    Iron Curtain, the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other non communist areas. (1945)
  • Truman Doctrine

    Truman Doctrine
    President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. It was announced to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, and further developed on July 12, 1948, when he pledged to contain threats in Greece and Turkey. (1947)
  • Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan
    Through the Marshall Plan, America aided Western Europe financially after World War II. The goal was to help Europe rebuild and recover after the war and prevent the spread of communism. (April 1948–December 1951)
  • Berlin Airlift

    Berlin Airlift
    In June 1948, the Soviet Union blockades democratic West Berlin. The U.S. and its allies fly in supplies daily to keep the city from starving. And to rebuild the city. (1949)
  • NATO

    NATO
    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also known as NATO, is an international alliance that consists of 29 member states from North America and Europe. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. (1949)
  • Korean War

    Korean War
    Communist North Korea invades South Korea in 1950. U.N. forces, led by the U.S., defend South Korea and China backs up the North. The war ends in a stalemate with 36,000 Americans killed. (1950)
  • Army–McCarthy hearings

    Army–McCarthy hearings
    The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate conflicting accusations between the United States Army and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy (April–June 1954)
  • Warsaw Pact

    Warsaw Pact
    The Warsaw Pact, also known as the Treaty of Friendship, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. (May 14, 1955)
  • U2 Incident

    U2 Incident
    U-2 Incident confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union and that caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France (May 1, 1960)