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Period: 1947 BCE to 1990 BCE
formation of the eastern block
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc, the Socialist Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was the coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were aligned with the Soviet Union and existed during the Cold War -
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fall of soviet union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was dissolved on 26 December 1991 by Declaration № 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, formally establishing the dissolution of the Soviet Union as a sovereign state and subject of international law. -
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chinese communist revolution
The Communist leader, Mao Zedong, declared a new socialist nation: The People's Republic of China. The nationalists and their leaders about two million people retreated to the island of Taiwan and established a rival Chinese nation, the Republic of China. -
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Greek civil war
Greek Civil War was a two-stage conflict during which Greek communists unsuccessfully tried to gain control of Greece. The first stage of the civil war began only months before Nazi Germany's occupation of Greece ended in October 1944. -
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postwar occupation and division of germany
Germany was divided into four occupied zones: Great Britain in the northwest, France in the southwest, the United States in the south and the Soviet Union in the east. -
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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. -
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berlin blockade and airlift
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control -
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korean war
Korean War, conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. The war reached international proportions in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviet Union, invaded the South. -
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Cuban revolution
The Cuban Revolution was a social and armed conflict led by Fidel Castro to overthrow the government of Fulgencio Batista. Many people in Cuba were unhappy with the social and racial inequality, the corruption, and the lack of justice of Batista's regime. -
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Vietnam War
North Vietnam wanted to reunite the country under Communism, its political and economic system. South Vietnam fought to keep this from happening. The United States helped South Vietnam, but North Vietnam won the war in 1975. Soon Vietnam was a united, Communist country. -
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hungarian uprising
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956, also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and the policies caused by the government's subordination to the Soviets -
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building the berlin wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Germany from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on August 13, 1961, the Wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. -
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bay of pigs invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was an abortive invasion of Cuba in April 1961 by some 1,500 Cuban exiles opposed to Fidel Castro. The invasion was financed and directed by the U.S. government. -
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fall of berlin wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, 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. -
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Cuban missile crisis
After extensive consultation with his foreign policy and military advisers, Kennedy blockaded Cuba on October 22, 1962. The two sides stood on the brink of nuclear war, but Khrushchev capitulated six days later and the missiles were dismantled. In return, Kennedy disbanded its own missile sites in Turkey. -
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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 freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel. -
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soviet war in afghanistan
The Soviet Union went to war in Afghanistan in 1979 over fear that the growing Muslim population in Soviet Central Asia threatened the Soviet control. The war lasted ten years, and the Soviet Union received a devastating defeat. Prior to the Soviet invasion, there were several leadership changes within Afghanistan. -
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solidarity movement in poland
In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad anti-authoritarian social movement, using methods of civil resistance to advance the causes of workers' rights and social change. The Government attempted in the early 1980s to destroy the union through the imposition of martial law in Poland and the use of political repressions. -
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tiananmen square massacre
In 1989, Tiananmen Square was the site of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in which the People's Liberation Army cracked down on a student protest on the square that had the stated purpose of calling for political liberalization and greater respect for human rights. -
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9\11 attacks
Nineteen terrorists from al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes, deliberately crashing two of the planes into the upper floors of the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex and a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.