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Russian Revolution
Period of revolution across the Russian Empire that began with the end of monarchy and ended with establishment of the Soviet Union and the end of the civil war. Went on from March 8, 1917 to June 16, 1023. -
First Soviet Bomb Test
The first Soviet bomb test a research and development program that was authorized by Joseph Stalin in Soviet Union. Helped during WWII by making nuclear weapons. -
Iron Curtain
The Non-Existent Wall that borders Democratic countries and Communist countries. This barrier was setup by the Soviet Union to seal itself off from non communist areas. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
The Chinese Communist Revolution was led by the communist party of china and chairman Mao Zedong. He declared the peoples republic of china. Broke out WWII between Communist party and Nationalist party Kuomintang. -
Potsdam Conference
The Decision making of how to handle the lands and surrenders of the Axis, including those taken by the Axis. -
Atomic Bomb
The Nukes that America sent on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the reasons were to make Japan surrender as fast as possible. -
Berlin Airlift
Soviet Union began a blockade of west Berlin and the United States was not happy. If America withdraws from Europe there would be fear that communism would spread. Using the military seemed unwise by turning the Cold War into a real war was very risking so America has found another way. The allies would fly there supplies to Berlin. Allied cargo planes would fly fuel, food and other goods to the western zones of Berlin. -
Long Telegram
George Kennen wrote the long telegram. He reviewed how the Soviet Union saw the world. He took these facts and interpreted what the US should do about it. -
Molotov Plan
System to rebuild countries aligned to U.S.S.R, known as a Soviet version of the Marshall plan. -
Hollywood 10
In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry declared that what the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) was doing was wrong. The HUAC was interrogating members of the American Motion Picture Business. These members were accused of being communist members. The Hollywood 10 refused, were given jail sentences, and were banned from working in Major Hollywood studios. -
Truman Doctrine
American Foreign policy to counter U.S.S.R of Geopolitical expansion. This was a program of economic aid offered by the United States to any European country. The plan was not approved by Stalin and any Eastern country, they considered accepting aid was reprimanded severely. As a result, the aid was only given to Western European Countries. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was by the U.S. that assess aid to Western Europe. Americans give money (12 million) to help rebuild Europe economies after WWII. The U.S. wanted to help with the poor, war regions, remove trade barriers and prevent communism. -
Alger Hiss Case
The Case Accusing Alger Hiss (a Government official) of being a Soviet Spy. He was charged for not telling the truth with his charge.
After a second trial he was found guilty. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was from Soviet Union to limit the accesses of France, Great Britain and United States from travelling to Russian occupied land. Later the supplies needed contributed an airlift for a year to deliver to West Berlin. Years later after WWII the blockade was major downfall of the Cold War and arose conflict in the future with the city of Berlin. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an Intergovernmental alliance post WWII, now includes US. It was created by Canada, the US, and several other Western European Nations to provide allied security against the Soviet Union. -
Korean War
War between North and South Korea. North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of battles along the border. The US joined the war to assist South Korea with fighting off North Korea. The war came to an end in 1953 with the lives of 5 million soldiers and civilians lost. The Korean peninsula is still divided today. -
Rosenberg Trial
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were Americans who spied for the Soviet Union and were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage. They were involved in the transmission of information about top-secret military technology and things related to the atomic bomb, which were of very important value to the Soviet nuclear weapons program. They were both executed at Sing Sing Prison. -
Army-McCarthy Hearings
In April, 1954, McCarthy turned his investigations to army security. In turn, the army charged him with using improper influence to win preferential treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former staff member. Subcommittee of the senate comittee tried to learn whether McCarthy had dome this. The congressional hearings were among the first to be televised, and they captured national attention because of McCarthy’s notoriety. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was created in response to NATO and it was between the Soviet Union and many Eastern European countries. In which all the countries pledged to defend each other in case of attack. -
Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution was a nationwide revolution against the Hungarian Republic and their Soviet-imposed policies. It was the first major threat to the Soviet army since the Red Army drove Nazi Germany from its territory. It began as a student protest, with thousands supporting the movement. But it spread quickly and the government collapsed. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The U.S. government, seeking to overthrow Cuba's leader Castro, secretly trained an invasion force of approximately 1,500 Cubans who had fled Castro's regime. In April 1961 this force came ashore at Cuba's Bay of Pigs, in hopes it would start a massive Cuban uprising against Castro. Instead, the invaders were quickly defeated. -
U2 Incident
In May, 1960 the USSR shot down an American U-2 plane in Soviet air space and captured the pilot. Confronted with evidence of espionage, Dwight D. Eisenhower was forced to admit that the CIA had been flying spy missions over the USSR for many years. The pilot, Francis Powers, was convicted for 10 years on espionage charges. After two years, however, the pilot was swapped for a Soviet soldier. This was the first ever "Spy swap". This event led to tension between the US and USSR. -
Berlin Wall
In 1961, Communist East Germany began erecting a tall barrier, (known as the Berlin Wall) between the two halves of the city. Many east Germans would leave everyday to got to work in West Germany, so communists stopped this exodus. If anyone attempted to cross the heavily guarded wall, they risked being shot by East German guards. For 28 years it kept East Germans from fleeing to the West. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviets and US engaged in 13 day political and military standoff over the installation of Soviet nuclear-missiles on Cuba, 90 miles from US shores. President John Kennedy made a decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba and was prepared to use military to neutralize the threat. -
Assassination of JFK
On November 22, 1963, president John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
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Invasion of Czechoslovakia
In August, 1968 the Soviets an invasion of Czechoslovakia to crackdown on reformist trends in Prague. The Soviets successfully halted the speed of reform, but had severe consequences which were unintended. -
Nixon Visits China
President Nixon's visit to China in 1972 had many strategic factors to it. Nixon visiting China showed harmonious relations between China and US after many years of diplomatic isolation. -
Reagan Elected
Many consider Reagan's election to be a realigning election known as the "Reagan Era". Reagan won by a landslide. -
SDI Announced
Strategic Defense Initiative was a proposed missile defense system to protect the US from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. This was announced publicly by Reagan. Reagan was also a vocal critic to the doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD). This was used as a suicide pact between superpowers to render nuclear weapons useless. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
This conference was a cold war era meeting between Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to discuss international relations and the arms race. -
‘Tear down this wall’ speech
The "Tear down this wall" speech, or the Berlin Wall Speech was delivered by Ronald Reagan to the General Secretary of the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin wall, which separated East and West Berlin since 1961. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
Communism began to falter in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia in 1988 and 1989. On November 9, 1989, people gathered at the boarding crossings and guards reopened the borders, allowing people to cross freely. The wall ceased to function from that day forward, and people were soon chipping away at it, eventually knocking it down. The falling of the wall symbolized the end of the cold war and the end of the Iron Curtains dominance.
