Cold War - It was called the "Cold War" because there was no direct military engagement between the United States and the Soviet Union.
-
Formation of the Eastern Bloc
The Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc (the group of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War) by invading and then annexing several countries as Soviet Socialist Republics by agreement with Nazi Germany in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. -
Postwar occupation and division of Germany
At the end of the Second World War, in accordance with agreements made between Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at Yalta in February 1945, Germany was divided by the victorious Allies - Britain, the US, the Soviet Union and France - into four zones of occupation: Great Britain in the northwest, France in the southwest, the United States in the south and the Soviet Union in the east. -
Enactment of Marshall Plan
On December 19, 1947, President Harry Truman sent Congress a message that followed Marshall's ideas to provide economic aid to Europe. Congress overwhelmingly passed the Economic Cooperation Act of 1948, and on April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the act that became known as the Marshall Plan. The American goals for the Marshall plan were to help rebuild the postwar British economy, help modernize the economy, and minimize trade barriers. -
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, imposed the Berlin Blockade, cutting off all land and river transit between West Berlin and West Germany. The Western Allies responded with a massive airlift to come to West Berlin's aid. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
After a string of military victories, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the PRC; Chiang and his forces fled to Taiwan to regroup and plan for their efforts to retake the mainland. This revolution was eventually won by the CCP. -
Korean War
The Korean War was fought between North Korea and South Korea, it began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea and ceased after an armistice on 27 July 1953. After three years of fighting, the war ended in a stalemate with the border between North and South Korea near where it had been at the war's beginning. -
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was a military and political effort to overthrow the government of Cuba . It began after the Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state. The immediate impact of the Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Batista and the rise to power of the revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro. Cuba gradually became a communist government, supported by the U.S.S.R. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a long conflict in Southeast Asia. It began after the country of Vietnam was split into two parts, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam wanted to reunite the country under Communism, its political and economic system. South Vietnam fought to keep this from happening. It ended with the victory of the North Vietnamese. -
Hungarian Uprising
The Hungarian Uprising was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic. The main causes were Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinisation, belief in American intervention, and years of political repression and economic difficulty. Around 3000 Hungarians died and 7000 - 8000 Russians. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed attack launched by the CIA during the Kennedy administration to push Cuban leader Fidel Castro from power. On April 17, 1961, the CIA launched what was believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. However, the invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro’s troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting. -
Building the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berlin to West Berlin, which was controlled by the major Western Allies. It divided the city of Berlin into two physically and ideologically contrasting zones. Many families were split, and East Berliners employed in the West were cut off from their jobs. -
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. Kennedy and Khrushchev struck a deal that ended the crisis the next day. The Soviets yielded to President Kennedy's demands, and in return, the U.S. didn't invade Cuba and removed all the NATO/U.S. medium-range Jupiter missiles from Turkey. -
Rise of the Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people. At its first summit meeting in Cairo in 1964, the Arab League initiated the creation of an organization representing the Palestinian people. The goal of the Palestine Liberation Organization was to prohibit the existence and activity of Zionism. -
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring reforms were a strong attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial decentralization of the economy and democratization. The Prague Spring deepened the disillusionment of many Western leftists with Soviet views. It contributed to the growth of Eurocommunist ideas in Western communist parties, which sought greater distance from the Soviet Union and eventually led to the dissolution of many of these groups. -
Soviet War in Afghanistan
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, aiming to bolster the newly established communist regime and suppress the Mujahideen rebellion against the government. Soviet soldiers seized major Afghan cities and strategic locations, causing violent and bloody clashes with Mujahideen rebels. Despite having failed to implement a sympathetic regime in Afghanistan, in 1988 the Soviet Union signed an accord with the United States, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and agreed to withdraw its troops. -
Solidarity Movement in Poland
Solidarity a Polish non-governmental trade union, was founded on August 14, 1980, at the Lenin Shipyards. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. A political arm of the Solidarity movement, was founded in 1996 and would win the 1997 Polish parliamentary election but lost the subsequent 2001 Polish parliamentary election. Solidarity had little influence as a political party but it became the largest trade union in Poland. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
These were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between the demonstrators and the Chinese government to find a peaceful resolution, the Chinese government declared martial law on the night of 3 June and deployed troops to occupy the Tiananmen Square Massacre. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded. Sections of the wall were breached, and planned deconstruction began the following June. It was one of the series of events that started the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
The total collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 took many in the West by surprise. Gorbachev's decision to allow elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratization. This eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. -
9/11 Attacks
On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger planes in the United States. Two planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing both towers to collapse. A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon, just outside Washington, DC. The fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania after the crew and passengers attacked the terrorists on board, preventing it from hitting another target.