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Cold War
The Cold War was against the Soviet Union and the United States. It was called the cold war because neither country officially declared war on one another. -
Enactment of Marshall Plan
On this day, President Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948. It was later known as the Marshall Plan. It was named after the Secretary of State George Marshall, who proposed that the US provided economic assistance to restore the economy of postwar Europe. -
Postwar occupation and division of Germany
After WW2 ended, Germany was split between four countries. The city of Berlin was split between the four countries which led to the Berlin Wall. This decision was made after the Soviet Union realized that it would not achieve its goal of a socialist Germany, so the western Allies created a separation administration. -
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. When Germany was split into multiple side, the Soviet Union blocked the western Allies' routes to the Western controlled side of Berlin. This led to the US and Britain resorting to airlifting food, fuel, and supplies to Berlin. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
In 1931, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria began a chain of events that led to the communist overthrow of China. The communist party in China gained strength when Mao divided land that the Communist party won among local farmers. The Huaihai Campaign secured east-central China for the Communist Party. -
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Korean War
The Korean War was fought between North and South Korea. It began when North Korea invaded South Korea which led to clashes and rebellions from the South Koreans. The goal from North Korea was to unite the two by taking over South Korea and unifying the Communist North Korean regime. -
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt led by Fidel Castro. It began when revolutionaries led an assault on the Moncada Barracks. The Batista was driven from the country and cities Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba were seized. -
Overthrow of the Guatemalan Government
The 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, code-named Operation PBSuccess, is a covert operation carried out by the CIA that deposed the Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz. Arbenz was replaced by decades of brutal U.S.-backed regimes who committed widespread torture and genocide. The government was overthrown because of the threat of communism spreading throughout Latin America was high. -
Formation of the Eastern Bloc
The Soviet Union during WW2 created the Eastern Bloc. The Eastern Bloc was a group designed to help take down Nazi Germany. After WW2, it disbanded because the Union lacked a common goal. -
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Vietnam War
Vietnam was a war between north and south Vietnam, alongside the United States. The United States and South Vietnam won the war but it didn't come without a price as almost 300,000 people were killed. Many in the US protested against the Vietnamese War but despite their efforts, it continued on anyway. -
Hungarian uprising
A countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic. The movement was viciously crushed by Soviet tanks and troops. Thousands were killed and wounded and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The U.S invaded Cuba in hopes for the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States. The plan ultimately failed. The U.S failed the invasion within 2 days by Cuban armed forces directed by Castro. -
Building the Berlin Wall
The German Democratic Republic began to build a barbed wire and concrete "Antifascistischer Schultzwall" between East and West Berlin. This wall was built to prevent it's population from escaping Soviet-controlled East to West Berlin. It divided Berlin into two physically and ideologically contrasting zones. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day political and military standoff. It was about the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles in Cuba. The U.S won during the crisis. -
Rise of the Palestine Liberation Organization
It was formed in 1964 to centralize the leadership of various Palestinian group that previously had operated as clandestine resistance movements. The PLO was created at an Arab summit meeting in order to bring various Palestinian groups together under one organization. In June 1967 the PLO began to be widely recognized as the representative of the Palestinians. -
Soviet War in Afghanistan
AKA the Soviet-Afghan War, it was a conflict where insurgent groups known collectively as the Mujahideen, as well as smaller Marxist-Leninist-Maoist groups, fought nine-year guerrilla war against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union intervened in support of the Afghan communist government. The war settled down into a checkmate. -
Solidarity Movement in Poland
Civil resistance to advance the causes of workers' rights and social change were used in protest during the Solidarity social movement. The government tried to destroy the union through the imposition of martial law but they failed. This movement led to the spread of anti-Communist ideas and movements throughout the Eastern Bloc. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
The Tiananmen Square protests were student led demonstrations. It led to the iconic photo of a man with grocery bags standing in front of a tank, also known as the Tank Man. The protests were crushed by China's Communist rulers. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Five days after half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest, the Berlin Wall fell. The wall that divided East and West Germany had finally crumbled. East German leaders had tried to calm mounting protests by loosening the borders, making travel easier for East Germans. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
On this day, the iconic Soviet hammer and sickle flag was lowered for the first time over the Kremlin. Mikhail Gorbachev resigned his post as president and Boris Yeltsin was left as the president of the newly independent Russian state. This fall resulted to the end of the Cold War. -
9/11 Attacks
On September 11th, 2001, citizens of New York City were getting up and ready for work. However, four planes had been hijacked and were headed toward the twin towers and the pentagon. Two planes hit the North and South twin towers, a third hit the pentagon, and the last plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.