Cold War

  • Berlin Airlift

    Berlin Airlift
    Beginning with the first Berlin crisis on June 24th 1948. The Berlin airlift dropped supplies to East Berlin when the Soviets blockaded access along the Allied-Powers boarders. The U.S.'s effort was a part of the Marshall Plan, which was to aid any countries affected by WWII.
  • NATO Forms

    NATO Forms
    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949. They were created during the Cold War, which was an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was and agreement between the United States, Canada, and many oter Western European nations. Thir goal was to ensure security from the agressive Soviet Union.
  • Korean War Starts

    Korean War Starts
    The Korean War started on June 25th, 1950 when Communist North Korean troops marched into Democratic South Korea. It lasted a little more than three years. This was a part of the U.S containment plan. An effort to stop the spread of communism.
  • US H-Bomb

    US H-Bomb
    On November 1, 1952 the U.S. tested the first Hydrogen Bomb. It is a thermonuclear bomb that is 1,000 times more powerful than an atomic bomb.
  • Warsaw Pact

    Warsaw Pact
    On May 14, 1955 the Warsaw Pact was signed. It was a defense treaty created by the Soviet Union between them and their satellite nations.
  • Soviets Launch Sputnik

    Soviets Launch Sputnik
    On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first satellite in the outer space.
  • Berlin Wall

    Berlin Wall
    On August 13, 1961 construction started on the Berlin Wall. It was a wall built between East and West Berlin made so East Berliners couldn't get in and the West Berliners couldn't get out.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis
    Soviets placed missiles in Cuba tha could reach any major city in the United States. America urged the Soviet Union to remove their missiles and in return they would remove some of theirs in Turkey.
  • SALT I Agreement is Signed

    SALT I Agreement is Signed
    The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty was sined in 1972 between the United States and the Soviet Union. Instead of banning nuclear weapons both countries came to the agreement to limit the amount produced in a hpoes to stabilize relations. This was a sign of detente, which is the easing of hostility between two nations.
  • Mikhail Gorbachev Comes to Power

    Mikhail Gorbachev Comes to Power
    In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He brings his policy of glasnost, openess, the movement of perestroika which was the reformation of the Soviet Unions economic and political systems.
  • Major Arms Control Agreement is Reached

    Major Arms Control Agreement is Reached
    On May 27th, 1988 the U.S. Senate signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which reached a major arms control agreement.
  • Iron Curtain begins to crumble in Europe

    Iron Curtain begins to crumble in Europe
    In 1989 the Iron Curtain, the division between the West and the Communist Bloc began to fall apart as communism was seen as less favorable to democracy.
  • Soviet Union Collapses

    Soviet Union Collapses
    On December 25, 1991, when Mikhail Gorbachev resigns, the Soviet Union collapses and Boris Yeltsin becomes the first president of the independent Russian state.
  • Eurpoean Union Established

    Eurpoean Union Established
    On February 7, 1992 the Maastricht Treaty is signed, creating the European Union.
  • Al Qaeda Attacked the United States

    Al Qaeda Attacked the United States
    On September 11, 2001 the terrorist group, Al Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden, attacks the World Trade Center.
  • United Atates Invaded Iraq

    United Atates Invaded Iraq
    On March 20, 2003 the United States invaded Iraq to overthrow the dictator Saddam Hussein.