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Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan goes into effect. 12.4 billion dollars goes to help revitalize Western europe. Named for Secretary of State George Marshall, who proposed this plan. -
Berlin Blockade
In retaliation, Stalin blocked access to Berlin (Berlin Blockade), and to overcome this situation Harry S. Truman airlifted supplies to Berlin, to help them. It was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. -
NSC-68
National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68) was a 58-paged top secret policy paper issued by the United States National Security Council on April 14, 1950, during the presidency of Harry S. Truman. It was one of the most significant statements of American policy in the Cold War. -
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war in China fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang (KMT) -led government of the Republic of China, and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China (CPC). -
Korean War
This was a war between North and South Korea, in which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North, which was also assisted by the Soviet Union. -
President Truman fires General MacArthur
Problems with the flamboyant and egotistical General MacArthur had been brewing for months. In the early days of the war in Korea (which began in June 1950), the general had devised some brilliant strategies and military maneuvers that helped save South Korea from falling to the invading forces of communist North Korea. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (formally, the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance, sometimes, informally WarPac, akin in format to NATO) was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. -
Launching Sputnik
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis was a 13-day confrontation in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba. It played out on television worldwide and was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
