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Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was the second wartime meeting of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the conference, the three leaders agreed to demand Germany’s unconditional surrender and began plans for a post-war world. -
Yalta Conference Illustration
This photo shows the members of this conference who were British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt -
Truman Doctrine announced
It established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts. -
US Cold War Propoganda
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Harry Truman Biography
Harry S. Truman was born in Missouri on May 8, 1884. He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president for just 82 days before Roosevelt died and Truman became the 33rd president. In his first months in office he dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, ending World War II. His policy of communist containment started the Cold War, and he initiated U.S. involvement in the Korean War. Truman left office in 1953 and died in 1972. -
Berlin Airlift Illustration
This illustration shows US planes dropping vital supplies to the people in the West part of Berlin -
Berlin Airlift
The crisis started when Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin. The United States and United Kingdom responded by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany. The crisis when Soviet forces lifted the blockade on land access to western Berlin. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. -
Korean War
The Korean War was started when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with United States as the principal force, came to aid of South Korea. China, along with assistance from Soviet Union, came to aid of North Korea. -
Korean War Video
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Korean War Map
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Korean War Casualties Chart
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Warsaw Pact formed
The treaty was signed in Warsaw, included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members. The treaty called on the member states to come to the defense of any member attacked by an outside force and it set up a unified military command under Marshal Ivan S. Konev of the Soviet Union. -
Warsaw Pact Illustration
This is a crest given to the treaty between Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. -
Vietnam war
The Vietnam War is the period when the United States and other members of the SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) joined the forces of the Republic of South Vietnam in contesting communist forces comprised of South Vietnamese guerrillas and regular-force units, generally known as Vietcong (VC), and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The U.S. had the largest foreign military presence and basically directed the war. -
Vietnam War Map
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Vietnam War Casualties Chart
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Soviets launch first man‑made satellite.
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit. It was a 58 cm diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. -
Cold War Tech: Satellite
The bird's-eye view that satellites have allows to see large areas of Earth at one time. This ability means that the soviets can collect more data, more quickly, than instruments on the ground. This also allowed the Soviets to map out places more efficiently than their enemies. Satellites also can see into space better than telescopes at Earth's surface. This is helpful because since satellites are in space, no clouds or air molecules would get in their way. -
Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba, installs Communist government.
Fidel Castro established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades. During that time, Castro’s regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care, but was widely criticized for stifling economic and political freedoms. -
Fidel Castro Biography
He was born in Cuba, on 1926.In 1958 Castro and his forces began a campaign of guerrilla warfare to successfully overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, and Castro became the country's new leader. His communist domestic policies and military and economic relations with the Soviet Union led to strained relations with the United States that culminated in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Under Castro, improvements were made to health care and education, while civil liberties were severely eroded. -
East Germany builds Berlin Wall.
Two days after sealing off free passage between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, East German authorities begin building a wall–the Berlin Wall–to permanently close off access to the West. For the next 28 years, the heavily fortified Berlin Wall stood as the most tangible symbol of the Cold War–a literal “iron curtain” dividing Europe. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis 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. The crisis was unique in a number of ways, featuring calculations and miscalculations as well as direct and secret communications and miscommunications between the two sides. -
Cuban Missile Crisis Video
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John F. Kennedy Biography
Born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate before becoming the 35th president in 1961. As president, Kennedy faced a number of foreign crises, especially in Cuba and Berlin, but managed to secure such achievements as the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and the Alliance for Progress. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. -
Soviet Red Army crushes Czech Uprising.
On this night, of August 20, 1968, approximately 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring”–a brief period of liberalization in the communist country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with public demonstrations and other non-violent tactics, but they were no match for the Soviet tanks. -
Soviet Cold War Propaganda
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President Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia
This date marks the day of President Richard Nixon’s address to the United States stating that the Vietnam war would be mobilized to Cambodia, the neighboring country to the west. The invasion of Cambodia was not acted on a whim, but in fact, the United States had been bombing Cambodia for over a year. President Nixon advocated the invasion of Cambodia with Vietnam troops, while the citizens of the country were apprehensive. -
North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam
This situation emboldened the North Vietnamese, who launched a new campaign T.he South Vietnamese forces fell back in total disarray. The South Vietnamese abandoned Pleiku and Kontum in the Highlands with very little fighting. Then Quang Tri, Hue, and Da Nang fell to the communist onslaught. The North Vietnamese continued to attack south along the coast toward Saigon, defeating the South Vietnamese forces at each encounter. -
U.S. and China establish diplomatic relations
On this date, the two counties officially established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. The United States announced that it would sever its “diplomatic relations” with Taiwan, withdraw U.S. military forces from Taiwan, and terminate the Mutual Defense Treaty. -
Cold War Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4gxKFAhfZc
This song is related to the cold war as evidence in the lyrics: "Millions of people living as foes," "One person conditioned to rule and control; The media sells it and you live the role," "Heirs of a cold war, that's what we've become. Inheriting troubles I'm mentally numb." The relevant acronym was "M.A.D." (Mutually Assured Destruction), was used frequently in the song, "crazy" is another word for "mad."
