Cold War

  • Cold War starts

    The cold war was a period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II. The effect of the cold war was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
  • Period: to

    Cold War

  • Truman Doctrine

    Truman Doctrine
    The Truman Doctrine was a policy that stated that the US would give aid to any country threatened by communism. This helped stop the spread of communism and helped American citizens feel safe that communism wasn't going to spread anymore.
  • Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan
    The Marshall Plan signed by President Truman proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe.
    The plan was designed to prevent the further advancement of Soviet power in Europe.
  • Berlin Airlift

    Berlin Airlift
    On June 24, 1948, Soviet forces blockaded all road, rail, and water routes into Berlin's Allied-controlled areas, stifling the vital flow of food, coal, and other supplies. But the Soviets couldn't block Allied airspace, so U.S. and UK forces took to the skies to get supplies to the Allied sectors. The Soviet Union gave in and lifted the blockade on May 11, 1949, because Russian sectors were growing desperate because the Allies had blocked off there trade routes too.
  • NATO

    NATO
    NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a group of 30 countries from Europe to North America that exist to protect the people and territory. NATO focused on collective defense and the protection of its members from potential threats from the Soviet Union. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of non-state actors affecting international security, many new security threats have emerged, such as terrorism.
  • Joeseph Mccarthy

    Joeseph Mccarthy
    Joseph Mccarthy was a Republic Senator for the state of Wisconsin who made claims that Communist spies were in the U.S Federal Government. He accused many people on the government and this made people very worried that the government was corrupt.
  • Korean war ends

    Korean war ends
    The Korean war ending would have a big impact on the U.S. because the outcome of the war was determined if the U.S. got to maintain large military forces to constrain communism. A new border was drawn between North and South Korea and gave the South Koreans more territory. The United States and their allies did prevent communism to continue to spread.
  • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

    Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
    In 1951, Julius and his wife Ethel were tried and convicted of espionage for providing the Soviet Union with classified information. They were accused of passing secret information to the Soviet Union about the Atomic Bomb in 1945. They were sentenced to death even though David Greenglass wrote a letter to President Eisenhower, requesting that Ethel and Julius’ sentences be commuted to prison. This request was denied.
  • Sputnik

    Sputnik
    The USSR launched the Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. This impacted the cold war because it was a shock to the United States because they were trying to complete this advancement first.
  • U2 Incident

    U2 Incident
    The U2 Incident was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U-2 plane over soviet territory. This caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris which led to the Berlin Wall being built.
  • Bay of Pigs

    Bay of Pigs
    The Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 was a failed attack formed by the CIA (United States) to overthrow Cuban leader, Fidel Castro from power. This impacted the cold war because the failed attempt strengthen Castro's power and pushed Cuba and the soviets closer together.
  • Cuban Missile crisis

    Cuban Missile crisis
    The Cuban Missile crisis happened in October 1962, It was a dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war. The two powers came very close to nuclear conflict. This event impacted the cold war because it strengthened Kennedy's image domestically and internationally.
  • "Containment" Ends

    "Containment" Ends
    The U.S. wanted to limit the spreading influence of communism and so the U.S. was very focused on the Soviet Union not expanding. This led to the Truman Doctrine and the U.S. did many other things to contain the Soviet Union. For example, the U.S. created the Marshall Plan to aid countries so they wouldn't become communists and there were other initiatives just like this to contain communism. In 1989 the strategy was abandoned and replaced with trying to approve relations with the Soviet Union.
  • Cold War Ends