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Russian Revolution
A pair of revolutions that took place in Russia and eventually led to the rise of the Soviet Union. -
Potsdam Conference
The last of the WWII meetings with the "big three" (US, Great Britain, and Soviet Union). This meeting set the stage for the Cold War that was going to begin in 1947. -
Atomic Bomb - Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The US dropping of the A-bombs can be viewed not only as the end of WWII, but also as the first shot of the Cold War. The US dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and then the second on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 which resulted in Japan's first unconditional surrender. -
Iron Curtain
The ideological border created by the Soviet Union after WWII to seal itself and it's eastern European allies from contact with the West. -
Truman Doctrine
This address outlined the US's parameters regarding foreign policy for the Cold War -
Moltov Plan
A plan made by the Soviet Union to help rebuild and provide aid to their allied countries of Eastern Europe. -
Hollywood 10
10 members of the Hollywood movie industry publicly denounced the tactics that were used by the HUAC. They received jail sentences and were banned from working in the major film industries in Hollywood. -
Marshall Plan
An American plan to aid Western Europe after WWII. This plan sparked economic recovery and raised over $13 billion to help the countries in need. -
Berlin Blockade
The first international crisis of the Cold War that occurred when the Soviet Union tried to limit the ability of France, the US and Great Britain from traveling to Berlin. -
Berlin Airlift
US, Great Britain, and the Soviet military forces divided and occupied Germany and Berlin. The Russians wanted Berlin for themelves and closed all means of transporatation. They thought this would drive the US and others out. However, the US and allies decided to bring in supplies by air. -
NATO
Stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization which was a military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty that was implemented on April 4, 1949. -
Soviet Bomb Test
The Soviet Union was building an atomic bomb code named "First Lightening" and tested it in a remote testing facility in Kazakhstan. -
Alger Hiss case
Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury in regards to his involvement in a Soviet spy ring during and before WWII. He was put on trial twice and in the end, the jury came to a conclusion that he was guilty. -
Korean War
This occurred when North Korea invaded South Korea. When this happened, the United Nations stepped in and aided South Korea, while China helped North Korea. -
Rosenberg Trial
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were accused/executed for selling nuclear secrets to the Russians. Julius Rosenberg had a brother-in-law by the name of David Greenglass, who worked where America developed the A-bomb. Greenglass states that Rosenberg passed information to the Russians through Harry Gold. -
Dien Bien Phu
The engagement in the first Indochina war (lasted from 1946-54). By the end of the battle of DIen Bien Phu (lasted from March 13, 1954-May 7, 1954), it signaled the end of French influence within Indochina. -
Army Mccarthy Hearings
A series of the first televised hearings held by the US Senate Subcommittee . Joseph McCarthy investigated army security, but the army charged him with using improper influence to win over a former staff member by the name of David Schine. -
Geneva Conference
A conference between several nations to settle issues that resulted from the Korean War. This conference took place in Geneva, Switzerland. -
Warsaw Pact
A mutual defense organization which made the Soviets in charge of the armed forces of the member states. The pact made it so the member states would come to the defense of any other member state that was being attacked by an outside force. -
Hungarian Revolution
In October 1956, the Hungarian people began to demand for more rights to their freedom and to break away from Soviet oppression. Imre Nagy was appointed as Prime Minister and made an announcement stating that Hungary would remove itself from the Warsaw Pact. This angered the Russians and Soviet tanks were brought into Budapest and ran over people in the streets to warn the rioters that what they were doing is not tolerated. -
U2 incident
A US U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying over the Soviet Union. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The CIA launched a military invasion of Cuba, but it failed. -
Berlin Wall
The communist government of East Germany built a barbed wire and concrete wall between East and West Berlin to keep fascists from entering East Germany. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
US spy planes had discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. This lead to a 13 day confrontation between the the two forces. President Kennedy called for a "quarantine" of Cuba so no more ships could transport nuclear weapons to the island and that the missiles were removed. -
Assassination of Diem
President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother were captured and killed by a group of soldiers. His death caused many people in Vietnam to be happy, but it lead to political chaos. -
Assassination of JFK
Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed the President in Dallas, Texas. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
This allowed President Johnson to take any measures he deemed necessary regarding the war. This became known as the "blank check". -
Operation Rolling Thunder
This was the American bombing on North Vietnam which led to a major expansion on U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war. -
Tet Offensive
North Vietnam and the Viet Cong launched an attack on more than 100 cities in South Vietnam in order to diminish the US support in Saigon while simultaneously trying to stop rebellion. The news reports on this event caused the American public to turn their backs on the US war effort. -
Assassination of MLK
Martin Luher King Jr. was shot in the neck by a sniper while he was standing on the balcony of his second floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Tennessee. He was only 39 when James Earl Ray shot the fatal bullet that sentenced him to 99 years in prison. -
Assassination of RFK
Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in LA. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The warsaw pact invasion (also known as Operation Danube) was a joint invasion by the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland. -
Riots of Democratic Convention
At the 1968 presidential election thousands of Vietnam war protesters gathered outside and created riots. Police wanted to show them a lesson so they would understand that they shouldn't cause riots again. Police began beating and gassing the protesters. The television stations were showing the public what was happening and this caused them to lose hope in the war and say it was no longer worth fighting. -
Election of Nixon
After losing the 1960 presidential election to Kennedy, Nixon runs for governor of California and lost against Pat Brown. Instead of letting this be the end of his political career (as many thought it would be) he ran for the 1968 presidential election against Humphrey and won by a majority in the electoral college. -
Kent State
Protesters against the Vietnam war were suddenly shot upon my twenty-eight law enforcers that ended up killing four students (William Schroeder, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, and Sandra Lee Sheuer) and wounded nine. Charges on the guardsmen were dismissed due to lack of evidence so no one was convicted for the crime. -
Nixon visits China
Nixon went on an official trip to China and he was the first US President there since it was established back in 1949. The US was trying to create relations with a communist country during the cold war which was monumental. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
A ceasefire was issued but South Vietnam continued to receive aid from the US tried to take back villages from the North. However, North Vietnam was also violating the ceasefire by attempting to capture additional territory in South Vietnam. -
Fall of Saigon
This was the capture of the capitol of South Vietnam by the Vietcong. -
Reagan Elected
Ronald Reagan was originally an actor but ran for President in 1980 and became the 40th President. -
SDI announced
SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative; also known as StarWars) was announced by Reagan as a defense plan against nuclear attacks from the Soviet Union. Reagan stated that the US had developed a technology to intercept nuclear missiles. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
Reagan and the leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev. For Gorbachev, the meeting was a way to develop close relations with the US. They reached six agreements about cultural and environmental issues and they both seemed suffice with the progress they made. The meeting ended on November 21st. -
Tear Down This Wall Speech
The Berlin wall was built by communists to keep Germans from escaping. The wall was a dark symbol of the Cold War that needed to be diminished. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The head of the East German Communist Party declared that citizens of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) could cross the border whenever they wanted to.
