Cold War

  • Formation of the Eastern Bloc

    Formation of the Eastern Bloc
    The Eastern Bloc was formed during the Second World War as a unified force led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
  • Postwar occupation and division of Germany

    Postwar occupation and division of Germany
    On May 8, 1945, the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel in Berlin, ending WW2 for Germany
  • Chinese Communist Revolution

    Chinese Communist Revolution
    The Chinese Communist Revolution, officially known as the Chinese People's War of Liberation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and also known as the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion in the Republic of China (ROC) was a period of social and political revolution in China that began with the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, continued through the First United Front of the 1920s.
  • Greek Civil War

    Greek Civil War
    The Greek Civil War was a civil war that took place between 1943 to 1949 in Greece, mainly fought between the Monarchist Kingdom of Greece (supported by the United Kingdom and the United States) and the People's Republic of the Provisional Democratic Government.
  • Enactment of Marshall plan

    Enactment of Marshall plan
    The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $115 billion in 2021) in economic recovery programs to Western European economies after the end of World War II.
  • Berlin Blockade and Airlift

    Berlin Blockade and Airlift
    The Berlin Blockade and Airlift of 1948 Beginning in April 1948, the USSR blocked ’ access to Berlin as a means of protesting the introduction of the Deutschmark in West Berlin.
  • Korean War

    Korean War
    The Korean War (see § Names) was a war fought between North Korea and South Korea from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea.
  • Cuban Revolution

    Cuban Revolution
    The Cuban Revolution (1953–1959) was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro 's 26th of July Movement and its allies against the government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The revolution began in July 1953, and finally ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state.
  • Overthrow of the Guatemalan Government

    Overthrow of the Guatemalan Government
    The Guatemalan Revolution was the period in Guatemalan history between the popular uprising that overthrew dictator Jorge Ubico in 1944 and the United States-orchestrated coup d'état in 1954 that overthrew the democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz.
  • Vietnam War

    Vietnam War
    The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
  • Bay of Pigs invasion

    Bay of Pigs invasion
    he Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution, covertly financed and directed by the U.S. government. The operation took place at the height of the Cold War, and its failure led to major shifts in international relations among Cuba
  • Building the Berlin Wall

    Building the Berlin Wall
    Construction of the wall was commenced by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) on 13 August 1961. The Wall cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany, including East Berlin.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis
    an international crisis in October 1962, the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the US and the Soviet Union. When the US discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the US demands a week later.
  • Rise of the Palestine Liberation Organization

    Rise of the Palestine Liberation Organization
    Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and statehood over the territory of former Mandatory Palestine, in opposition to the State of Israel.
  • Prague Spring

    Prague Spring
    a brief period of liberalization in Czechoslovakia, ending in August 1968, during which a program of political, economic, and cultural reform was initiated.
  • Soviet War in Afghanistan

    Soviet War in Afghanistan
    The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a war initially fought between the forces of the Afghanistan government and Afghan assistance fighters, supported from abroad. Without proper equipment and training, the Afghanistan government was unable to resist the opposition, called the Mujahideen, eventually seeking the aid of the Soviet Union.
  • Tiananmen Square Massacre

    Tiananmen Square Massacre
    The Tiananmen Square Massacre took place on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops stormed through Tiananmen Square, in the center of the Chinese capital of Beijing, firing indiscriminately into the crowds and killing hundreds of pro-democracy protesters.
  • Fall of the Berlin Wall

    Fall of the Berlin Wall
    The fall of the Berlin Wall (German: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989 was a pivotal event in world history which marked the falling of the Iron Curtain and one of the series of events that started the fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe.
  • Fall of the Soviet Union

    Fall of the Soviet Union
    The dissolution of the Soviet Union (1988–1991) was the process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union (USSR) which resulted in the end of the country's and the federal governments existence as a sovereign state, thereby resulting in its constituent republics gaining full sovereignty.
  • 9/11 attacks

    9/11 attacks
    Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took control of four commercial airliners en route to California after takeoffs from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts; Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey; and Washington Dulles International Airport in Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Virginia. Two planes hit the World Trade Centers, one hit the Pentagon and one plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.