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Period: to
Cold War
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Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference took place near the end of WWII with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. This meeting was conducted so they could deicde what would be done during and after the war. The three discussed Russias involvement in the Pacific War and that Russia would get stake in Manchuria for helping the U.S. The also discussed the future of Germany, Eastern Europe, and the United Nations. -
V E Day
German Army surrenders to Russia ending WWII -
Potsdam Conference
At the Potsdam Conference President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin decided to demilitarize Germany, they divided Germany and Austria into four zones including its capital, Berlin, and the Soviet and polish border was established. -
Iron Curtain
This speech given by Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri was the mark of the beginning of the Cold War some thought after he delivered these famous words "From Stettin in the Baltic to Triestre in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent" -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman announced with this doctrine that the U.S. would provide help to any foriegn nation who faced the threat of a communist takeover. He was mainly talking about Greece and Turkey when he announced it. -
Marshall Plan
Geroge C. Marshall, Secretary of State proposed a plan to help rebuild Europe. Once passed by congress it allowed Western European countries to benefit from $12 billion dollars which they could use to rebuild cities and industrialization. No Eastern Bloc countries were granted this due to Stalin. -
Cominform
The Communist Information Bureau was created by the Soviet Union and is the reason why the Eastern Bloc was formed. It also known as the Information Bureau of the Communists and Workers party. -
West Germany formed
West Germany was formed when the Allied countries, France, the United States, and the United Kingodm decided to merge to segments of Germany into one unified piece. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade started due to the merging of France, U.S., and the U.K. to create West Germany. The Soviet Union did not like this so in response they shut off all railways, roads, and water ways that suppplied West Germany with food and goods. This marked what is known as the Berlin Airlift in which the Allied forces had to airlift food and water into West Germany from allied airbases in West Germany and other Western European countries. -
NATO
NATO was formed in 1949 by the U.S., Canada, and many other Western European countries to provide safety from the Soviet Union. The other countries that joined NATO were Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the U.K. -
Berlin Blockade ends
The Berlin Bloackade lasted 11 months. The main reason the blockade had ended was becuase of the massive effort put forth by the U.S. and the U.K. during the Berlin Airlift to make sure West Germany didnt fall into the hands of the Soviet Union. Together they dropped a total of over 2 million tons of supplies and flew over 200,000 relief missions. -
Korean War
With help from Russia and the Communist party, North Korea invaded South Korea. At this point the U.N. had met and ecided that communism posed a threat to change society and sent troops to South Korea to help in the take back of South Korea. -
Stalin dies
Died at age 74 and Nikita Krushchev took over as successor -
Geneva Accords
The stopped the war between the French and the Vietnamese and divided Vietnam at the 17th paralell. Communist, Ho Chi Minh gained control of North Vietnam while the U.S. helped out South Vietnam with elections and aid. -
Warsaw Pact
the Warsaw Pact was the Soviets attempt with other Eastern Bloc countries to balance the NATO agreement that all the Western European countries had with the U.S. The Soviet Union believed that making this would help make deals between the Western countries easier. -
Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution was one of the first attempts by one of the Eastern Bloc countries to try and liberalize itself from the grasps of Communist Russia. Even though they freedom fighters did not win it was a good sign that the Communists may be losing power. -
The Space Race, Laika the dog
The Soviet Union joins the space race and sends Laika the dog to space. -
First Russian in Space
Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the earth! -
Bay Of Pigs
President Eisenhower devised a secret plan to train Cuban exiles to fight and to try and over throw Fidel Castro. Doing this was important because there was a fear that Castro's involvment with the Soviet Union and the closeness of Cuba to the U.S. could result in an attack on U.S. soil. -
Berlin Wall built
The Berlin Wall was completed and all ties between West Germany and Easy Germany were severed. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The Cuban Misle Crisis put the worl on the edge of a nuclear war. Tehe Soviets had been in cahoots with Cuba and had begun constructing missle launch sites around Cuba whil also supplying them with many missles. This prompted the U.S. to set up a "quarantine" along the coast of CUba to make sure that no more Soviet warheads and missles would make it into Cuba. The stand off eventually landed with both sides mutually agree to remove missles from Cuba and the U.S. removing missle from Turkey. -
JFK Assasination
On November 22, 1963 President JFK was assasinated by Lee Harvey Oswald who had ties with the Soviet Union. There is a lot of speculation that he was in contact with the Soviets and this time and put him up to the assasination. -
Nikita Krushchev removed from office
Nikita Krushchev was removed from offfice after he decided to remove missles from Cuba. Leonid Brezhnev replaced him. -
Soviet Union invades Czechoslovokia
Warsaw Pact allies invade Czechoslovokia during "Prague Spring" in repsonse the Alexander Dubcek. He was elected by Czezh officals and wanted reform and urged people to help Liberalize Czechoslovokia. He had a huge followng but after the Warsaw Pact allies invaded the city and gained control Gustav Husak was put in power and soon order was restored. -
Apollo 8
FIrst U.S. manned orbit to the Moon. -
Apollo 11
U.S. lands on the Moon and Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the Moon. -
Four Power Agreement Berlin
This agreement held the four powers, U.K., U.S., France, and the USSR accountable for the future of Berlin and opened up new agreements between the eastern and western parts of the city. -
S.A.L.T.
The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty was an agrrement signed by both the U.S. and the USSR to limit the amount of missles each country may have in its arsenals. -
Khmer Rouge, Killing fields
The Khmer Rouge was a Coomunist party in Cambodia that was the cause of almost 2 million deaths. These deaths and the burail where they put the bodies is also known as the killing fields and Cambodian Genocide. -
North Vietnam invades South Vietnam
After the U.S. decided to pull out of Vietnam after the Paris Peace Accords the North Vietnamese Army or NVA invaded South Vietnam and stormed Saigon. This take over of South Vietnam by the NVA is what led to the whole country becoming a Communist state. -
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
The project and agreement to work together by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union was a way to help each other out and to try and gain more knowledge and conduct scientific experiments for future projects. Among the scientific projects that were done was the space shuttle provided an engineered eclipse so the Soyuz could take a picture of the Suns Solar Corona and the Shuttle Mir program and the International Space Station. -
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to try and end the Afghan CIvil War and to use the Brezhnev Doctrine to secure Afghanistan's place in Communism. Under the Brezhnev Doctrine which was that once a country Socialist, Moscow would never let them return to a Capitalist government. -
USA boycott Olympics
The U.S. boycotts the Olympics that ere being held in Russia after they decided to invade Afghanistan. -
Solidarity Movement in Poland
This movement was created by the citizens of Poland. This movement was created to help show the truth about the Communist government in Poland and that it in fact was not a free workers state. Marshall Law was then declared on Poland to try and get rid of the Solidarity Movement. -
S.T.A.R.T.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Talks were a continuation of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks that were held in the 1970's. The main deifference about these 2 events though is that during the START meetings Reagan didnt want to just limit the amount of warheads, missles, and bombers each country had but ultimately radically reduce each countries warheads, missles, and bombers. -
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev was announced General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After this announcement he decided the change the path that the Soviet Union was headed down by instilling a program called Perestroika (reconstructing) and Glasnost (openness). This program called for changes in economic practice, internal affairs, and international relations. This was a good indicator that the Cold War may be coming to an end. -
Soviet troops leave Afghanistan
The Soviet Union decides to have all of its troops removed from Afghanistan. -
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
poland becomes one of the first Eastern Bloc countries to become free of the Soviet Unions grip when Tadeuzs Mazowieki is elected. Poland then becomes the first country to adopt democracy from the Eastern Bloc Countries. -
Hungary proclaims itself a republic
Even though Hungary was the most liberal of the Eastern Bloc countries it opened its borders to let East Germans flee to the west. Hugary then adopted a government with multiple politcal parties with competitive election and voting systems. -
Berlin wall falls
The fall of the Berlin was set in motion by the Leader of East Germany. He said that on this day, at midnight, the borders would be opened and East Berliners would be free to pass freely through the gates as they please. This sparked the overall deconstruction of the wall and soon the wall was completely knocked down and East Germany and West Germany were reunited. -
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution was set off by standard labour strikes in Czechoslovokia. These were peaceful protests that overthrew the current communist government that in place in Czechoslovokia. After the citizenz gained control of their country it opened markets to foriegn trade and investment, internal convertibility of the country's currency, and privatization of state owned enterprises. -
Malta Summit
The Malta Summit was nothing more than a meeting among nations that were looking to tie up loose ends. Nothing was signed at the Malta Summit, things were only discussed. Gorbachev and Bush Sr. held the summit to discuss the future of Europe after the Iron Curtain had been lifted and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. -
Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution was trigggered an set off by overbaring communist rule, just like many other countries in the Eastern Bloc. The Romanian Revolution was a little more vilent that most of the other countries when it ended with the execution of the current communist leader of Romania and overthrew the governement. -
Germany Re-unified
East Germany and West Germany were unified once again after being split up since 1945. Thus day became known as Unity Day in Germany. Helmut Kohl became the new chancellor of Germany and this symbolically marked the end of the Cold War. -
Warsaw Pact ends
All the countries that were once under the Warsaw Pact and allies to the Soviet Union now had mostly left. The Warsaw Pact was falling apart and soon was ended. -
S.T.A.R.T. signed
The Strategic Arms Restriction Treaty was signed by President George W. Bush Sr. and Mikhail Gorbachev. -
Mikhail Gorbachev resigns
Gorbachev resigns after START was signed and after many of the countries under the Soviet Union became free states. He had one what he planned to do and believed that becuase so many countries had declared themselves independent states that were once under the Soviet Union, realized that it was time to leave. -
End of the Soviet Union
Russia recognized the end of the Soviet Union on this day.
