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Cold War
The Cold War was a period following World War II in which the U.S., collaborating with other countries in the NATO, fought against the USSR to stop it from spreading Communism. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting in the Soviet city of Yalta with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill. Here, they agreed to collaborate in shaping postwar Europe. It was decided that Germany would be divided into four occupation zones which would be controlled by a different Allied country. These were France, Britain, the U.S., and the U.S.S.R. -
VE-Day (Victory in Europe Day)
Also known as Victory in Europe Day, this day was a celebration by the U.S. and Great Britain for winning the war in Europe by defeating the Germans. As the Germans had finally laid down arms, flags were raised in both nations as well as those previously under German control. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was a meeting with Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, and U.S. President Harry Truman. The three negotiated terms for the end of World War II. As a result, the U.S. began to distrust the Soviet Union, since it had begun occupying countries in Eastern Europe with questionable intentions. Similarly, the Soviet Union began to distrust the U.S. because the U.S. lied about using the atomic bomb against Japan. -
Atomic Bombs
The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, supported by several German scientists, had designed the atomic bomb for the use of ending World War II. When Japan was the only of the Axis powers left, two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945, respectively, forced its surrender. -
VJ-Day (Victoryover Japan Day)
Also known as Victoryover Japan Day, VJ-Day was the day on which it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. It is also often referred to as September 2, 1945, when Japan formally surrendered aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Yet the day, either way, effectively ended World War II. -
Iron Curtain Speech
The Iron Curtain Speech was a speech given by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. He told of the duty of the U.S. and Britain to organize and police the postwar world. He also declared it an “Iron Curtain” which had spread across Europe where the USSR was to the east and they were to the west. -
Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was instituted by the Soviet Union, which was similar to the Marshall Plan of the U.S. The Soviet Union would provide funds to help European countries rebuild their economies with the contingency that those countries become Communist and buy Soviet goods. Without aid coming to those countries from the U.S., the USSR hoped that trade with the Soviet Union would increase. -
Truman Doctrine Announced
The Truman Doctrine was a speech by U.S. President Harry Truman which established that the U.S. would help Democratic nations with political, military, and economic assistance who were threatened, such as by the Soviet Union, internally and externally. He also asked that the U.S. help the Greek government against Communists, and provide support for Turkey. -
Marshall Plan
Also known as the Economic Recovery Act, the Marshall Plan was instituted by the U.S. It raised funds to help European countries rebuild their economies with the contingency that those countries buy American goods. The U.S. also hoped that those countries, as a result, would not become Communist. -
Berlin Airlift
In order to not budge from the Berlin Blockade, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered a massive airlift of food, fuel, and other vital supplies. For ten and a half months, pilots made more than 270,000 flights into West Berlin, carrying nearly 2.5 million tons of supplies. Seeing that their policy failed, the Soviets ended their blockade in the spring of 1949. Germany then officially became two countries: communist East Germany and democratic West Germany. Berlin remained divided. -
Berlin Blockade
After World War II, the Allies had divided Germany and its capital, Berlin, into four occupation zones. So, in March 1948, the U.S., Great Britain, and France announced plans to merge their occupation zones into the Federal Republic of Germany, with a democratic government and a capitalist economy. Angered, the USSR imposed a blockade on Berlin, halting all land travel into the city from the Allied occupation zones, hoping the Allies would give up Berlin or their plans for a West German state. -
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is Created
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a treaty formed between the U.S., Canada, and several Western European nations which would provide collective security in order to fight off the Soviet Union in the east. The hope was that working together could help to rebuild countries devastated by World War II and arm them for fighting. This treaty created the power west of the Iron Curtain. -
Korean War
After World War II, soviet troops occupied the Korean Peninsula north of the 38th parallel being pro-soviet, while U.S. troops held the area to the south being anti-communist. Tensions built, and, in June 1950,North Korean troops armed with Soviet Weapons invaded South Korea. American general Douglas MacArthur then led South Korean troops in driving back those force, only resulting in a stalemate. In 1953, the two sides signed an armistice ending hostilities, and creating a buffer zone. -
Cuban Revolution
In 1959, communist revolutionaries, led by Fidel Castro, ousted Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Having strong ties with the Soviet Union, Castro transformed Cuba into a communist country with a planned economy. He took control of U.S. oil refineries and farms on the island and seized private businesses and properties from wealthy Cubans. Many Cubans fled the island, some which settled in southern Florida. -
Warsaw Pact Created
The Warsaw Pact was a treaty between the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe, which was formed to help grow Soviet power and spread Communism. This treaty created the power east of the Iron Curtain. -
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 was Earth’s first artificial satellite, which was launched by the Soviet Union into an elliptical low Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. This triggered the Sputnik crisis, in which there was fear about the gap between technology of the U.S. and the Soviet Union dealing with space. Furthermore, this created the Space Race, a big part of the Cold War. -
U-2 Incident
In May 1960, an American U-2 spy plane flying over the USSR was shot down in Soviet air space with its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, being captured. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was forced to admit that the CIA had been carrying spy missions for several years. Powers was sentenced to 10 years in prison, yet after less than 2 years, he was released for a Soviet spy agent in the first ever U.S.-USSR spy swap. Overall, the event raised tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War. -
Bay of Pigs
When Fidel Castro came into power in Cuba in 1959, he established a communist country with strong ties to the Soviet Union and a planned economy. As a result, many Cubans fled to southern Florida. President Kennedy agreed to a plan for them to lead a popular uprising that would topple Castro and his regime. Though told they’d come ashore on an empty beach, their boats ran aground on a coral reef. Cuban troops quickly killed or captured them, and Kennedy refused to give further help. -
Berlin Wall
After World War II, Eastern and Western Germany were separated by the Iron Curtain. The border was closed in all places, except for Berlin. Although East Berlin was controlled by the Soviet Union, West Berlin was controlled by the wartime allies. By 1961, approximately 25,000 East German refugees were crossing into West Berlin each day. To prevent war with the U.S., Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev began building a barbed wire fence between East and West Berlin, later replaced by concrete. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In October 1962, a U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba discovered that the Soviet Union was building missile-launching sites on the island, from which missiles carrying nuclear warheads could easily reach most major cities. President John F. Kennedy then decided to blockade Cuban ports to prevent Soviet ships from bringing missiles to the island, resulting in Khrushchev ordering ships approaching Cuba to slow down or turn around. Two notes from Khrushchev allowed for removal of Cuban missiles. -
Lunar Landing
On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first Americans-and humans, for that matter-to land on the moon. Coming on the space mission Apollo 11, the two astronauts officially made America ahead in the Space Race with the USSR.
