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World Ware II Ends
The Allies disagreed about how the European map should look, and how borders would be drawn, following the war. -
Preparing for the Cold War
n February 1946, George F. Kennan's "Long Telegram" from Moscow helped to articulate the US government's increasingly hard line against the Soviets, and became the basis for US strategy toward the Soviet Union for the duration of the Cold War -
Beginnings of the Cold War
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The Korean War
One of the more significant impacts of containment was the outbreak of the Korean War. In June 1950, Kim Il-sung's North Korean People's Army invaded South Korea -
Crisis and Escaltion
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Space Race
On the nuclear weapons front, the United States and the USSR pursued nuclear rearmament and developed long-range weapons with which they could strike the territory of the other -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In February 1962, Khrushchev learned of the American plans regarding Cuba: a "Cuban project"—approved by the CIA and stipulating the overthrow of the Cuban government in October, possibly involving the American military—and yet one more Kennedy-ordered operation to assassinate CastroPreparations to install Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba were undertaken in response. -
Confrontation through Dente
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Third World escalations
Under the Lyndon Johnson Administration, which gained power after the assassination of John Kennedy, the U.S. took a more hardline stance on Latin America—sometimes called the "Mann Doctrine" In 1964, the Brazilian military overthrew the government of president João Goulart with U.S. backing. -
Nixon, Brzhnev,Dente
Following his China visit, Nixon met with Soviet leaders, including Brezhnev in Moscow.[212] These Strategic Arms Limitation Talks resulted in two landmark arms control treaties: SALT I, the first comprehensive limitation pact signed by the two superpowers,[213] and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned the development of systems designed to intercept incoming missiles. These aimed to limit the development of costly anti-ballistic missiles and nuclear missiles. -
Soviet War in Afganistan
In April 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in Afghanistan in the Saur Revolution. Within months, opponents of the communist government launched an uprising in eastern Afghanistan that quickly expanded into a civil war waged by guerrilla mujahideen against government forces countrywide -
"Second Cold War"
The term second Cold War refers to the period of intensive reawakening of Cold War tensions and conflicts in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Tensions greatly increased between the major powers with both sides becoming more militaristic. -
Soviet and US military issues
Moscow had built up a military that consumed as much as 25 percent of the Soviet Union's gross national product at the expense of consumer goods and investment in civilian sectors -
The Final Years
By the time the comparatively youthful Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary in 1985,[229] the Soviet economy was stagnant and faced a sharp fall in foreign currency earnings as a result of the downward slide in oil prices in the 1980s. -
Soviet Dissolution
Gorbachev's permissive attitude toward Central and Eastern Europe did not initially extend to Soviet territory; even Bush, who strove to maintain friendly relations, condemned the January 1991 killings in Latvia and Lithuania, privately warning that economic ties would be frozen if the violence continued.
