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Yalta Conference
Sited as start of the Cold War.
Big Three met to discuss German terms of surrender and post war occupation of Germany.
Stalin promised free elections in Eastern Europe -
United Nations
internation organization to settle world problems and avoid armed conflicts
San Francisco was where the first meeting was -
Potsdam
turmna demanded free elections in Eastern Europe.
Stalin wants buffer of Communist states in Eastern Europe. -
Hiroshima
The United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima
An accurate assessment of the damage caused has so far been impossible due to a huge cloud of impenetrable dust covering the target.
smoke rising and intense fires springing up. -
Nagasaki
The United States dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
Estimates suggest that the bomb killed 40,000 on the day it was dropped, and approximately 70,000 by the end of 1945. -
Winston Churchill
"An iron curtain has descended across the continent."
Iron Curtain nickname used to refer to Communist nations of Europe. -
Truman Doctrine
USA would provide military and econmic aid to countries threatened by Communism. -
Marshall Plan
U.S econmic recovery for war-torn Europe.
$13 billion U.S. loan. -
George Kennan
"Father of Containment"
Policy of containment
U.S. policy of keeping communism within its existing boundries and prevent further Soviet aggression -
Berline Blockade
Soviets block entrances to Berlin.
cut off Allied supplies to West Berlin -
Berlin Airlift
U.S. and Britsh airplanes fly supplies into West Berlin
2000,000 flights/ 1.5 million tons of supplies -
Division of Germany
Allied Powers divided Germany into 4 zones
Soviet Union controlled East Germany
Allies controlled West Germany -
Korean War
It was a war against the forces of international communism itself. -
Arms Race
The world greatly changed when USA exploded the H-bomb in 1952. This one bomb was smaller in size than the Hiroshima atomic bomb but 2500 times more powerful. The Russians produced an H-bomb in 1953 and the world became a much more dangerous place. -
Joseph Stalin Dies
Leader of the Soviet Union.
He was believed to have suffered a stroke on the 1st of March before finally succumbing to a brain haemorrhage five days later. -
Nakita Khrushchev comes to power
Came to power after Stalin.
Khrushchev was ultimately defeated -
Vietnam War
costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. -
Warsaw Pact Formed
Military alliance that included Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. -
Space Race
the Soviet Union launched the first satellite
could be picked up by amateur radio operators around the world -
U-2 incident
United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union.
The Soviets convicted Powers on espionage charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
The U-2 spy plane incident raised tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War. -
Bay of the Pigs Invasion
Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba.
The ultimate goal was the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States. -
Period: to
Berlin Wall
Completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin.
The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict -
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
Warsaw Pact forces entered Czechoslovakia in a bid to stop the reforms known as 'Prague Spring' instigated by Alexander Dubcek. When he refused to halt his programme of reforms Dubcek was arrested. -
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The war in Afghanistan became a quagmire for what by the late 1980s was a disintegrating Soviet Union. The Soviet Union intervened in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anticommunist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War -
Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power
President of the Soviet Union in 1990–91.
His primary domestic goal was to resuscitate the stagnant Soviet economy after its years of drift and low growth during Leonid Brezhnev’s tenure in power. -
INF Treaty
Agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Requires destruction of the Parties' ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, their launchers and associated support structures and support equipment within three years after the Treaty enters into force. -
German Reunification
In East Germany, conservative parties supporting reunification won the elections, and the new government and the force of events proceeded to dismantle the state.
The economy of the East largely collapsed, and the costs of reunification and the privatization of state-owned businesses in the East pushed Germany into recession and led to increased social tensions. -
U.S.S.R. break up
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned, declaring his office extinct, and handed over the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes to Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
This signaled the end of the Cold War. -
Four Power Agreement Berlin
The Four Power Agreement made between Russia, USA, Britain and France reconfirmed the rights and responsibilities of those countries with regard to Berlin.
