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Russian Communist Revolution
The Russian Revolution defeats the Russian monarchy and established a Provisional Government. A second Russian Revolution placed the Bolsheviks as the leaders of Russia, resulting in the creation of the world's first communist country. The Russian Revolution established the lack of confidence and mutual fear that would eventually cause the Cold War. -
Treaty of Versallies
The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty at the end of World War I. It ended the war between Germany and the Allied Powers. -
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an international organization created after the First World War to provide a meeting for resolving international problems. President Woodrow Wilson introduced a sketch of the international body in his 14-point proposal to end the war. -
Nuclear Deterrent
US and Soviet Union-both had nuclear weapons, there was a constant threat of nuclear war. Nuclear war never happened in the cold war, but there were many close calls. The constant buildup of nuclear arms with both superpowers was the main focus of the cold war-the arms race. A heavy dependence on the Military-Industrial Complex and theories such as Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) used by President Kennedy and Strategic Defense Initiative. -
SALT I/II
SALT I/II were between the United States and the Soviet Union that were aimed at the manufacturing of missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The first agreements were intended to restrain the arms race. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was the meeting where we discussed the re-establishment of the nations in Europe. Yalta was the second wartime conference among the Big Three (Britain, United States, and Soviet Union) which were represented by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. -
MAD
Mutual Assured Destruction assumes that each side has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other side and if the other side is attacked for any reason by the other, they would fire back. -
United Nations
Once World War II was over, problems dissolved between the United States and the Soviet Union. Their continued goodwill and cooperation was a condition for United Nations success. The spreading post-1945 Cold War between the Soviet and U.S., west European blocks ensured the failure of collective security and rendered of the United Nations. -
Nuremberg Trials
A series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces of World War II for the members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany. The indictments were for participation in a common plan for crime against peace. -
General Assembly
Part of the plan was to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction, including the atomic bomb. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Chuchill recognized that with the Berlin blockade and the building of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union was saying to the West that the East was the Russian sphere of influence, and that the West was not invited to participate in the politics of Eastern Europe -
Baruch Plan
The Baruch Plan was a proposal by the United States government. The United States, Great Britain and Canada called for an organization to regulate atomic energy and President Truman responded by asking Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson and David E. Lilienthal to draw up a plan. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into communism. Many people consider this to be the start of the Cold War. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the American approach to aid Europe, where the United States gave economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of communism. The plan was in operation for four years. -
Berlin Airlift
In 1946, the Soviets cut off food shipments from their zone into western Germany. The Berlin Airlift was set up to carry supplies to people in West Berlin. -
NATO Created
The North Atlantic Treaty Organized a military alliance of countries from Europe and North America promising collective defence. NATO was formed to counter the communist East and has searched for a new identity in the post-Cold War world. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
The Chinese Communist Party, founded in 1921 in Shanghai, existed as a group working within the confines of the First United Front with the Nationalist Party. The announcement of the Chinese Communist Revolution ended the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party. -
Joseph McCarthy Speech
McCarthy spent almost five years trying to expose communists and other “loyalty risks” in the U.S. government. In the the Cold War, insinuations of disloyalty were enough to convince many Americans that their government was packed with traitors and spies. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea. It was the result of the political division of at the end of World War II. This brought the United States into a military confrontation with Communist forces in Korea. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a defense treaty between 8 communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. The Warsaw Pact was a Soviet military reaction to the integration of West Germany. -
Sputnik Launched
The Soviet Union launched the first satellite named Sputnik, to be hurled into orbit around the Earth. It had a profound effect on the thinking of citizens and governments around the globe. Russian engineers wanted to make sure that people around the globe could both see and hear it. Sputnik was polished so it would reflect light that could be seen with from 175 miles up in the sky. And it broadcast a "beep-beep" pattern of signals that could be picked up by amateur radio operators around the wo -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion started when group of Cuban refugees landed in Cuba and attempted to take down the communist government of Fidel Castro. The invasion failed causing much humiliation to the US. -
Berlin Wall Fact
Over 100,000 people attempted to escape over the wall. Between 5,000 and 10,000 succeeded. Approximately 200 people were killed trying to escape and many of them were shot by guards or had a fatal accident. -
Building of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic that cut off West Berlin land from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls to keep watch. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union began building secret missile bases in Cuba. President Kennedy was shown photographs of the missile in Cuba. President Kennedy responded by televising an address stating the discovery of the weapons and that any attack coming from Cuba would be treated as an attack from the Soviet Union. He imposed a naval blockade of Cuba to stop the construction of the sites. -
U.S. sends troops to Vietnam
In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of August 2 and 4, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to send U.S. ground troops to Vietnam. On March 8, 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines landed near Da Nang in South Vietnam. President Johnson's goal for U.S. involvement was to win the war, but for U.S. troops to support South Vietnam's defenses until South Vietnam could take over. -
Non-proliferation agreement
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was an agreement signed by several of the major nuclear and non-nuclear powers that pledged their cooperation in stemming the spread of nuclear technology. Although the NPT did not prevent nuclear proliferation, in the context of the Cold War arms race and mounting international concern about the consequences of nuclear war, the treaty was a major success for advocates of arms control because it set a precedent for international cooperation between nuclear an -
Apollo 11
A common argument by demonstrating our technological to the Soviets, Apollo helped win the Cold War. -
Kent State Shootings
President Richard Nixon, suggested the shootings had a direct impact from national politics. -
Fall of Saigon
After many years of fighting in Vietnam and the lack of public support in the U.S. along with other domestic issues, President Richard Nixon was ready for peace in Vietnam. North Vietnam saw no need to settle the war diplomatically and responded to the U.S. request. By the summer it became apparent that the U.S. was able to ward off this offensive and in October the North Vietnamese were willing to negotiate peace. -
Fidel Castro Proclaims Communist Cuba
During the Cold War Cuba a bad place to be. Castro was a dictator and it was rumored that Cuba was holding nuclear missiles. The U.S. invaded but were defeated and this caused an uproar. -
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II helped end Communist rule in Poland and eventually all of Europe. -
Margaret Thatcher
In the 1980’s she took a strong lead in reducing the role of the government in the British economy. -
Soviets Invade Afghanistan
The cold war heated back up after the invasion of Afghanistan, both sides engaged in a series tensions. The Soviets placed missiles in eastern Europe and the United States responded by deploying its own systems in West Germany. -
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a politician and reformist leader of the People's Republic of China who led his country towards a market economy. Deng never held office as the head of state, head of government or General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, he nonetheless was the "paramount leader" of the People's Republic of China -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany on August 13, 1961, that completely isolated West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The fall of the wall marked an end of the Cold War. -
START I/II
START I/II was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and Russia on the reduction of offensive arms. It was signed by United States President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. -
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Walesa was a Polish politician and became a trade-union activist. He then became president of Poland for 5 years.
