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Soviet Creation of Nuclear Weapons.
Originally there were multiple scientists researching the possibility of a nuclear weapon after they discovered that German scientists beleived that it was possible, but these scientists were eventually redirected to other projects. Eventually the Soviets find out about both Germany and America researching nuclear technology, when they decide to start their own nuclear program in Feb of 1948. In 1945 USSR sped up their nuclear program after Truman mentions that USA has a new powerful weapon. -
Yalta Conference
Also known as the Crimea Conference. It was a meeting in Yalta, Crimea that had the leaders of many powerful nations come together to discuss post-war Germany. It included Roosevelt from the United States, Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Stalin of the Soviet Union. -
Potsdam Conference
Held in the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm in Potsdam occupied Germany. It was a meeting that involved Stalin of the Soviet Union, Churchill and Attlee of the United Kingdom and Truman of the United States. They discussed how to deal with the defeated Germans, how to prevent future wars, post war order and peace treaty issues. -
Hiroshima Bombing
America made the decision to bomb Japan to save American lives and end the war early. -
Nagasaki Bombing
America bombed Nagasaki to end the war quickly and to prevent the death of American lives. Also possibly used to be a second test of nuclear weapons on a human population for scientific research. -
Molotov Plan
A plan created by Soviet Russia to provide aid to the Eastern European Nations that were aligned with Soviet values. It can be looked as the USSR's Marshall Plan. It was created because they believed that the Marshall Plan was designed to reduce the Soviet influence over other countries and to expand American trade. -
Truman Doctrine
First introduced by TRuman to the American Congress, it was designed to prevent further expansion of communism into the world. -
Brussels Treaty
Signed between Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom it was an agreement that expanded on the prior years defence pledge, the Dunkirk treaty signed between Britain and France. -
Marshall Plan
Was an American initiative to aid Western European economies by sending a little over 13 billion dollars in financial aid to repair their economies. It was put into effect under the presidency of Harry Truman. -
The Berlin Blockade
One of the earliest conflicts that happened in the Cold War. It was caused by the being many different nations and ideologies occupying the same city. It involved the Soviets who controlled East Germany stopping the movement of needed food, fuel and lots of other goods from reaching Berlin by train or by road; they only allowed the movement of goods by plane, possibly to avoid starting another war -
NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
It is an intergovernmental military alliance of several North American and European Countries. -
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Korean War
The Korean War is a war that is primarily between the North and South Koreans but involves numerous other countries that made it into a war of ideologies more than anything else. The North was supported by China and the Soviet Union, the South was supported by the United Nations involving the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and many more countries. -
Fidel Castro Taking Over
Castro took part in the Cuban Revolution from 1953-1959 after Batista claimed to be the president of Cuba but he canceled the following election claiming that he is part of a more "disciplined" democracy. -
Stalin's Death
On March 5th, 1953, Joseph Stalin, the Russian dictator died due to causes which are still debated to this day. Upon his death, the Cold War had a momentary thaw; Austria regained its independence, and this soon led to more Eastern European countries fighting for their freedom. However, it was still a long time before any meaningful change occurred. -
Warsaw Pact
Formally the Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. Was an agreement that was signed in Warsaw between Soviet Russia and several other Soviet Satellite States. -
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Vietnam War
Also known as the Second Indochina war was a conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It lasted for over 19 years and resulted in the South and the anti-communists losing the war. It resulted in Communist Governments taking over in Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam. -
NORAD(North American Aerospace Defense Command)
A security council formed by both American and Canada to protect their airspace from attack of any foreign nation. -
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Hungarian Revolution
A revolution that occurred in Hungary, it resulted with many lives being lost and a few statues of Stalin being torn down. It was also mainly started by a large group of students. It showed that people can revolt against a government that has absolute power over it's people. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs was a failed military invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba by the CIA's Brigade 2506. -
Creation of the Berlin Wall
The Communist government of the German Democratic Republic began the construction of the Berlin wall, claiming that they are trying to prevent the spread of western "fascists" but it may have also been to prevent the large amount of people trying to escape East Berlin. -
End of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Also known as the October Crisis and a few other names, it was a 13 day confrontation between United States and the Soviet Union concerning American deployment of ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey along with ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The conflict resulted in the removal of the of Soviet weapons in Cuba and American weapons in Turkey and Italy. -
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Nuclear Arms Treaty
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed on July 1st, 1968, by a number of nuclear superpowers and came into effect March 5th, 1970. This was an internationally signed treaty meant to slow the spread of nuclear weapons, in favour of peaceful uses of nuclear power. This was meant to pave the way to complete nuclear disarmament. -
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Soviet-Afghan War
It was a proxy war that lasted a little over 9 years with one side being the mujahideen supported by America and Pakistan with the other side being the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan being supported by the Soviet Union. It resulted in Mujahideen and America winning the war but it resulted in the formation of many radical islamic groups being trained there and then moving around the world to promote jihad. -
Solidarity in Poland
Founded 17 September 1980
Full name Independent Self-governing Trade Union
It's a Polish workers union that was founded at the Lenin Shipyard. At first the communist government attempted to disband the union by instituting martial law but eventually they were forced to begin negotiating with the union as one third of the population in Poland was a member. They mostly just negtiated for more workers rights. -
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Fall of the Berlin Wall
November 9, 1989. At midnight this day, as the Cold War began to thaw, people were given free reign to cross the wall. Easterners and Westerners all gathered near the walls and celebrated in anticipation of their returned freedoms. More than two million people traversed the border, and on October 3rd, 1990, the reunification of East and West Germany came to fruition. -
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Czechoslovakia Revolution(Velvet Revolution)
17 November 1989-29 December 1989
It was a nonviolent revolution that happened in the then Czechoslovakia that removed the 41 year reign of the Communist Party and allowed for the return of parliament, private business and resulted in the breakup of Czechoslovakia. The government released its plan of relinquishing power on November 28 after numerous other member states of the Warsaw Pact also left. -
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End of the Cold War
December 3rd, 1989 was the ‘official’ end of the Cold War. A meeting between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met with American President George Bush aboard a Soviet ship. The meeting did not actually result in the end of the war because it would continue for another 2 years.