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McCarthyism and the Red Scare
Senator Joseph R McCarthy for Wisconsin had great suspicions about Soviet Union Conspiracy and Communist sympathizers in the United States. His accusations about the Communist sympathizers led to show trials and purges about people who have been found to behaving un- American. This McCarthyism and anti-red campaign played a significant role in shaping public opinion. -
Tehran Conference
Winston Churchill, President Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin met in Tehran, Iran, to discuss how to advance into Germany and end the war. Russia would launch attacks from the East while America and Great Britain would launch attacks from the west. Stalin also said that he would assist America in the fight against Japan. -
Yalta Conference
In Crimea, Russia, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met for the Yalta Conference. Stalin agreed that Poland and liberated Germany would have free elections after the war and that the Soviets would attack Japan within three months of the collapse of Germany. -
Potsdasm Conference
Stalin, Truman and Churchill met in Potsdam Germany to negotiate the terms for ending war in Germany. Pres. Truman met with Stalin and Churchill and agreed that Japan must surrender or risk destruction. Atomic bomb successfully tested on July 16 and then dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. In terms of Germany, this conference also featured future plans for Germany post war era. During the Potsdam conference, the four Allied powers had agreed to split up Berlin into occupational zones. -
Aftermath of Potsdam conference
These zones were constructed in order to accept the surrender of the Nazis and to restore order in Germany following the war. In this agreement, the Soviet Union received most of Eastern Germany while America, France and Britain received parts of Western Germany. The way that the United States saw how to reconstruct Germany and the way that the Soviets saw how to reconstruct Germany were very different.These differences created tension which led to the Berlin Blockade. -
Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between China and the Soviet Union
At the time, Soviet and Mongolian troops were occupying Inner Mongolia and other Chinese territory, seizing it from the Japanese during World War II. In this treaty China accepted the independence of Mongolia within its previous borders if the Soviet Union stopped giving aid to the Chinese Communist Party. -
Kennans telegram
George F, Kennan sent a telegram to the U.S department concerning the Soviet Union. The telegram included the USSR’s view of the world as being insecure and the Soviet Union has being dangerous. The view that a hostile environment would help maintain the Stalinlist ideology and system. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech- Winston Churchill gives the Iron Curtain speech at Westminister College. This speech emphasized the dangers of the Soviet Russia and Communist party. He warned the people of the Communist party becoming too powerful. He was referring to the fact that communist influence had spread to Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. He emphasizes the amount of communist influence that spread rapidly was dangerous. -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman gives a speech referred to as the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was presented by President Harry S. Truman. President Truman said in this speech that the United States would do whatever means possible to contain the spread of communism and stop Soviet Union from spreading their influence to other countries. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the economic extension of the ideas outlined by the President. The plan was essentially a program where the United States would give large amounts of aid to European countries, to help them reconstruct after WWII.This plan was proposed by the secretary of state George C. Marshall. -
Berlin Blockade
The U.S thought that in order for Germany to become more functional in the future, they should be rearmed and reunified instead of split up into zones. The Soviets thought that in order for Germany to make a recovery they should be unarmed and have industrial reparations. The problem with this was that the U.S thought that Germany being disarmed would make them predisposed to expansion to the Soviet Union and other parts of Europe. In the interests of a unified Germany, in 1946 the Americans sto -
Formation of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed (NATO) NATO was an international organization created by the U.S in order to maintain collective security in Europe. Members of NATO included U.S, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Portugal, and the Brussels Pact. -
End of the Berlin Blockade
The blockade angered the Truman administration and the world didn’t know what the tension would lead up to. In order to save West Berlin, the United States airlifted supplies such as medicine, food and water to give to the people in order to ensure that they wouldn’t starve out and die. This made the Soviet Union look bad as it appeared that they were deliberately trying to starve out West Berlin, on the contrary, this made the U.S appear as the hero. The blockade ended May 12th 1949. -
The USSR creates an atomic bomb
The USSR produces an atomic bomb. Now both the USA and the USSR have nuclear weapons, which leaves room for a possible nuclear war. -
The end of the Chinese Civil War
The Nationalists supported by the USA had lost to the guerilla Communist forces. The Civil War had been going on since 1945.The war re-started soon after the war against the Japanese. Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek were adversarys. Chiang represented the communist party in the war while Zedong represented the People's Republic of China. -
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Domino Theory
This theory carried out the idea that if one country becomes communist, communism will spread to the countries’ neighbors. This theory scared many Americans and this is where the idea of containment came into play. Containment was where the Americans would try to contain communism in that it would get rid of communism or suppress it in areas. The most famous example of containment was Vietnam. -
Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance
The idea of this treaty was to replace the former treaty that was signed by Old China. The new relations between China and the Soviet Union was of great significance in preserving the security of both sides. Both sides wanted to maintain peace in the east and strengthen the friendship between the two countries. -
NSC-68 Report
The U.S National Security Council issues the NSC-68. The NSC-68 was a report from the U.S National Security Council that warned everyone of how all communist activity could be traced back to Moscow. This report encouraged financial and military aid to any country that was trying to resist communism. -
Korean War
North Korea invades South Korea which starts the Korean War. The USA gave aid to South Korea and the Communist China gave aid to North Korea. The war ended up with no winners or losers, it was a tie. This was the first time that the United States did not win a war. -
The death of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin dies in Kunstevo Russia. Nikita Khrushchev succeeded Stalins place and is now the new leader of the Soviet Union. Khruschev is going to try to repair some of the mistakes that Stalin has made during the time period in which he was in power. -
Creation of SEATO
SEATO was an international organization for defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Defense Treaty,This alliance would oppose the communist power in Southeast Asia. The United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, and Pakistan signed the treaty in Manila, Philippines. -
Warsaw Pact
Following the original creation of NATO, in 1954 West Germany joined NATO this didn’t settle well with the Soviet Union. In retaliation to West Germany’s membership in NATO, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact. The members included, the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members. This now meant that there were two opposing military alliances in Europe. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam war begun between the North Vietnamese and the South Vietnamese. The North were communists ,where the South were not and they were backed up by the United States. This war lasted until1975 and was unpopular on the homefront in the U.S. More than 3 million people died, and once the U.S withdrawled from the war, Vietnam became communist anyway. -
Sputnik
The Soviets launched the world’s first artificial satellite called Sputnik. This scared the Americans because the Soviets were ahead in the technology race. -
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SALT I
The agreement, known as SALT I was signed by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1972. This agreement intended to restrain the arms race in strategic ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons. The strategic arms limitation talks were agreed on by the Soviet Union and US in the summer of 1968, and negotiations began in November 1969 -
Construction of Berlin Wall
In the summer of 1961 East Germany or the Communist part of Germany constructed the wall so that people of East Germany could not flea to West Berlin where there had been no communism and it was occupied by the British, Americans, and the French. If anyone tried to cross to West Berlin over the wall, they would be shot by border patrol.Before the wall was constructed Germans up to 2,000 a day fled to West Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The danger lyed along the lines of possible nuclear warfare. In response to the Bay of Pigs Invasion and other American actions against Cuba as well as to President Kennedy's start up in Turkey of U.S. strategic nuclear forces aimed at the Soviet Union, the USSR supported Fidel Castro. -
Cuban Missile Crisis Cont..
In the summer of 1962, Nikita Khrushchev secretly decided to put ballistic missiles in Cuba. When U.S. reconnaissance flights revealed the clandestine construction of missile launching sites, President Kennedy publicly denounced the Soviet actions. He imposed a naval blockade on Cuba and declared that any missile launched from Cuba would call for an attack by the United States against the Soviet Union. -
Cuban Missile Crisis Cont...
Russian ships carrying missiles to Cuba turned back, and when Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles and get rid of the missile sites, the crisis ended. As a result the U.S ended the naval blockade and the missiles were removed from Cuba. -
Sino American Rapprchement
U.S. President Richard Nixon traveled to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and met with Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and Zhou Enlai, the PRC Premier. During the visit, the two governments negotiated the Shanghai Communiqué, in order to improve the relations between the United States and China.
