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Invasion
The Soviet Union and the United States formed an unlikely alliance during World War 2 after Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union -
Yalta Conference
British prime minister Winston Churchhill, U.S. president Franklin D Roosevelt, and Soviet premier Josef Stalin agreed on military plan to end the way and a subsequent joint occupation of Germany. Free elections in Poland. Agreed to recognize each others influence over where troops remained -
End result of World war 2
Germany was placed under military rule and divided into zones broadly reflecting the positions of the occupying armies. Soviets were stationed in East, Americans took South, British controlled the northwest. Berlin divided into four seperate sectors and established the Allied Control Council to rule Germany -
Allies defeated Germany
After allies efafted Germany, stalin established Saoviet-controlled governments in Eastern European countries occupied by Red Army, including Poland. United States regected these. Postwar Europe would be divided into two spheres of influence, east and West -
Atomic Bomb
The U.S first successfully tested the world's first atomic bomb, in New Mexico. In August, the US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagaski, killing thousands of people and ending the war with Japan. -
Iron Curtain speech
Winston CHurchhill delivered his famous Iron Curtain speech. This "iron curtain" of Soviet-controlled countries in Eastern Europe ran along the western border of east Germant, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Albania, and along the southern borders of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria -
Communist Rebellions
Governments of Greece and Turkey were fighting off communist rebellions. Great Britian had been supporting the Greek government in its fight againt the communists. British funding soon ran dry and Birtain appealed to the U.S. for help -
President Truman Speech
Outlined the Cold war policy of containment, i which the U.S commited itself to containing the spread of Soviet communism. Truman asled for and recieved from, the U.S Congress $400 million to provide assistance to Greece and Turkey. Both countries successfully deafeated the attempted Communist takeovers -
Marshall Plan
The United States introduced the Marshall Plan to provide $17 billion in aid for the economic recovery of Europe. U.S Leaders promoted the Plan as an effort to promote world peace and stability. The Soviets percieved it as a cunning attempt to support American capitalism by economically enslaving Europe European countries agreed to buy American goods -
NSC 68
President Harry S. Truman's National Security Council drafted NCS 68, a secret document that would be a "blueprint for American policy in the Cold War." Warned that Soviet military capability was now "substantianlly superior to that of the West and continuing to improve at a more rapid rate." Truman increased military spending to $50 billion a year -
New form of currency
France, Great Britain, and the US announced plans to introduce a new form of curency in Germany. Soviets formally withdrew from the Allied Countrol Council. -
Soviets protest
The Soviets protested by instituting a formal blackade of Berlin, closing all roal, rail, and water routes to and from the city. Stalin cut off the inhabititants of West Berlin from all supplies of fuel, power, and food -
Aiding West Berlin
United States began airlifting supplies to Brlin in an attempt to Aid West Berlin without starting an armed conflict with the Soviet Union -
Western Nations
The United States joined western nations such as Canada, france, Great Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands to form the North Atlantic treaty Organizations. They formed a military alliance to protext each other from Soviet aggression -
Communist Revolution in China
Mao Zedong's communist government quickly allied itself witht he Soviet Union, and both countires signed a mutual defense and economic aid agreement -
American Monopoly
The American monopoly on nuclear weapons ended in 1949 when the Soviets perfected their nuclear technology and developed a nuclear weapon of their own -
Reopening
Stalin reopened all routes into Berlin. However Berlin reamined a divided city -
American Alarm
The Korean War Increased American alarm over the spread of communism in Asia. The northeast Asian country of Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into two countries: North Korea, supported by the United States and the United Nations -
North Korea invades South Korea
Arms provided by the Soviet Union, Communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The united Nations quickly condemned the invasion and authorizedsending troops to the region under the leadership of U.S general Douglas MacArthur. Mac's troops pushed the North Koreans northward almost to the Chinese border and made plans for a christmas victory celebration -
Hydrogen Bomb
United States successfully tested an even more powerful nuclesr device named the hygroden bomb -
Soviet Union followed suit
Soviet union followed suit in 1953 -
Korean War ends
The Korean War inastalemate in July 1953 -
Eastern European
The Soviet Union formed a similar military alliance with Eastern European nations such as Czecholovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, known as the Warsaw Pact -
Demanding more freedom
Hungarian citizens began rioting and demanded more freedom fromm their communist government. They threatened to return to a parliamentary democracy if their demands were not met. The new soviet leader dispatched the Soviet red army with tanks to the Hungarian ucapital of Budapest. -
Berlin Wall
The Soviet Union Built a wall between East and West Berlin to prevent poeple from escaping to the west -
Uprising in Czechoslovakia
The soviet Union stopped an uprising in Czechoslavakia. Most of Eastern Europe stayed firmly under Soviet control until late 1980s
