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Treaty of Versailles
This was a peace settlement signed after WWI and was negotiated by the "Big Three". This treaty fueled the anger that allowed Hitler to take power, but ended the state of war between Germany and the allied powers. -
League of Nations
This was an international organization designed to solve international disputes. The League of Nations was put together after WWI and was first proposed by Woodrow Wilson as part of his fourteen points but the U.S. was never a member. -
Pope John Paul II
He believed that communism was a moral evil, along with Ronald Reagan. He also spoke firmly against tyranny and often used the quote from God saying, "Be not afraid." -
MAD
MAD is a doctrine of military strategy and is a national security policy. This stands for mutually assured destruction which means that if two opposing sides use full scale nuclear weapons than it will result in the destruction of both. -
Lech Walesa
Walesa became a trade union activist and was persecuted by communists for this decision. He was received by Pope Jonh Paul in 1981. He helped create a non-communist government of which the military was not ready to keep communists in power. Lech later became president of Poland. -
Yalta Conference
This is where Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt met for the second wartime conference. It is here that they made decisions on how a post-war world would take place. Many of these agreements were kept secret. The conference ended February 11, 1945 -
United Nations
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization established to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the inefective League of Nations, the organization was created following the second World War to prevent another confilct. -
Nuremberg Trials
A series of thirteen trials held in Nuremberg, Germany. For the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. -
General Assembly
The first session came together in Westminster Central Hall in London and included representatives from 51 nations. Some issues are voted depending on a two-thirds majority vote of the people present. The rest get a straight majority and each country gets one vote. -
Iron Curtain Speech
A speech given by Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton Missouri. He introduced a phrase Iron Curtain to describe the division between western powers and the area controlled by the Soviet Union. This speech marks the onset of the Cold War. -
Baruch Plan
A plan for the international control of atomic weapons to the United Nations -
Truman Doctrine
This was a foreign policy during the Cold War. This provided 400 million dollars for military and economic assistance for Greece and Turkey. -
Marshall Plan
Also known as the European Recovery Progam, the Marshall Plan used over thirteen billion dollars to finance the economic recovery of Europe and did so successfully. However, the Soviets saw this as a threat and refused to take part. -
Berlin Airlift
The Soviet Union blockaded Berlin's waterways and railroads. When this began there were only two airfields and they were made for smaller planes This ended on May 12, 1949. -
NATO Created
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is an international governmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
Chinese communist leader, Mao Zedong, declared the creation of the People's Republic of China. -
Joseph McCarthy Speech
Joseph McCarthy gave his speech warning of communism in America. He gave specific names of peole working within the state government and listed thier crimes. Those people lost their Jobs. -
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Korean War
75,000 soldiers from North Korea crossed the 38th parallel. This was the first military action of the Cold War, but America entered by July, on South Korea's side. It ended in July 1953. -
Warsaw Pact
This is compriseed of the Soviet Union and seven other European sattelites. Signed in Warsaw, this put Soviets in command of the Armed Forces of the member states. In someways this was a responce to NATO allowing West Germany to join. The Warsaw Pact disbanded in 1961. -
Sputnik Launched
First earth-orbiting sattelite, launched by the Soviets. This was a big advancement for them. -
Nuclear Deterrent
Military doctrine, an enemy will be deterred from using nuclear weapons. -
Fidel Castro Proclaims Communist Cuba
Fidel Castro proclaimed the country a Socialist Sate and the Communist Party the leading force on the island. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
There was a plan that the U.S. military would supposrt an uprising against Castro and he would be overthrown. They wanted to establish a non-communist government. They wanted to carry out this plan withut anyone having knowledge that the U.S. was behind it. Later on, the invasion failed and it was publicized that it was the U.S. -
Building of Berlin Wall Begins
The Soviets layed thirty miles of barbed wire around Berlin. On August 15, 1961, they replaced wire with concrete. This permanently closed off access to the west. This was a literal "iron curtain". -
Berlin Wall
About 171 people were killed for trying to escape over the wall. Some people were able to get over via jumping out windows, climbing the barbed wire, or driving through it. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Also known as The October Crisis, The Missile Scare, and The Caribbean Crisis, this was a thirteen day confrontation between United States and Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba. This was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full scale war. -
U.S. sends troops to Vietnam
3,500 Marines landed near Da Nong in South Vietnam. This was a responce to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This is when they started the use of Napalm.This ends 1968. -
Non-Proliferation Agreement
An international treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology. -
Apollo 11
First manned mission to land on the moon. -
Russian Communist Revolution
Two revolutions went through Russia ending centuries of imperial rule and setting in motion political and social changs that would lead to the form of the Soviet Union. The newly installed provisional government was itself overthrown by the more radical Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin. -
Fall of Saigon
This event marked the end of the Vietnam War, and the formal reunification of Vietnam into a Socialist Republic governed by the Communist Party. -
Kent Sate Shootings
Involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard. The guardsman fired over sixty-seven rounds over a period of thriteen seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others. -
SALT I/II
Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon met in November of 1969 to come up with a treaty involving the arms race. Negotiations went on until February of 1972 and negotiating for SALT II lasted seven years, starting in late 1972. This treaty was sent to the Senate for ratification but was not seen as great importance to Carter and it was never ratified. -
Margaret Thatcher
Prime Minister of United Kingdom from 1975 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party. -
Deng Xiaoping
Chinese revolutionary and statesman, he encouraged making of market economy and capitalist-like enterprises. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The head of East Germany's Communist Party announced that people could freely cross the border whenever they pleased. Citizens crowded the wall, some brought picks and hammers and chipped at the wall. This is one of the most enduring Cold War symbols. -
Soviets Invade Afghanistan
The Soviet Union sends thousands of troops to Afghanistan, and immediately assumes complete military and politcal control of Kabul and large protions of the country. -
START I/II
Though START I was signed earlier it did not become effective until December 5, 1994. This negotiated the most complex arms race treaty. START II was signed by George H.W. Bush and the Russian Preident, Boris Yeltsin on January 3, 1993. It banned the use of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles on intercontinental ballistic missiles. This treaty is also called the De-MIRV-ing Agreement.
