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Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference marked the end of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War. During the conference Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin divided up Europe. -
Communists Seize Poland
In 1947 Communists setup governments in Albania and Poland. This marks the beginning of the spread of Communism in Eastern Europe. -
NATO Established
In April of 1949 12 nations formed a military alliance to provide protection against Soviet aggression. NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. -
Warsaw Pact
In May of 1955 the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states formed a collective defense treaty. -
Castro establishes communist Cuba
Castro's overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's Cuban government in 1959 put Cuba as the closest communist state to the US. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
In October 1962 there was a 13 day confrontation between the US and the USSR over the deployment of ballistic missles to Cuba. Ballistic missles in Cuba put the US withing striking distance of the USSR. This deployment forced president Kennedy to create a naval blockade around Cuba preventing most of the missles from reaching Cuban soil. The crisis was averted when the USSR agreed to return the missles back to Russia if the US promised to not invade Cuba. -
US Troops Commited to South Vietnam
In 1965 it became clear the South Vietnamese were losing the war with the communist-led North Vietnamese. US president Johnson increases the presence of American troops in Vietnam and begins sustained bombing campaigns against North Vietnam. -
Berlin Wall Demolished
In 1961 a wall was started to seperate East and West Berlin. The purpose of the wall was to keep the "West" from entering East Berlin and undermining the socialist state. On November 9th, 1989 East German's were allowed to cross over into West Berlin, marking the fall of the "Wall". -
Soviet Union Abolished
In December 1991, following dramatic changes to the economy of the Soviet Union the USSR was abolished resulting in an independent Russia and a Commonwealth of Independent States. For the first time the hammer and sickle flag of the Soviet Union was lowered and replaced by the tri-color flag of Russia.