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The Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a communist revolution in 1917. This set up the ideological differences between democratic/capitalistic American and communist Russia. -
The Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was a meeting between President Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussing the actions of post war decisions for peace in conquered lands. This conference defined the sides that the knew world powers would take in the redevelopment of Europe that would ultimately drive the cold war. -
The Drop of the Atomic Bomb
The U.S. dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan, one on Hiroshima, and another on Hiroshima. This upset the Soviet Union because of the pure destruction caused by the attacks and the fact that they did not have one themselves. While the new the U.S. had the atomic bomb through spies in the Manhattan Project, they did not think that President Truman would use them. This anger in the Soviet Union would drive their nuclear weapons program, hence driving the Cold War. -
The Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain distinguished soviet boundaries of their rule. This "curtain" stood as the line where communism and democratic rule clashed, and to which a restricting of information was held by the Soviet Union. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was an address to the world that requested aid for combating increasing threats in Greece and Turkey. This symbolized a dramatic change in U.S. foreign policy. It would also anger the Soviet Union as this was their control being mitigated by the U.S. -
Marshall Plan
This plan provided enormous economic assistance for Europe and would initiate European recovery. This recovery would drive Soviet motivations to strangle Germany to avoid a future invasion. -
The Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was seen as symbolic plan against the Marshall Plan instated by the Soviet Union applying to Russia and it's satellites. It made so that Russia Satellites could not and would not receive help from the Marshall Plan keeping them under the Soviets communistic rule. -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood 10 were 10 well-known actors, writers, and producers who were suspected of communism. However, they are different because they refused to answer questions citing protection of the 1st Amendment. They also refused to give names which eventually led to them being held in contempt of congress, and they were imprisoned. -
The Berlin Blockade
Tensions rising in Germany, Stalin set a blockade around Berlin to cut off supplies such as water, food, electricity, and medical supplies. Stalin feared that the capitalistic ideals spreading to East Germany would strengthen Germany prompting another assault on Russia. -
The Berlin Airlift
After The Soviet Union blockaded Berlin, President Truman responds with saying "We are going to stay, period." U.S. aircraft flew in supplies such as food, water, and medical supplies to Berlin the relieve the people of Berlin. The Soviets never assaulted any U.S. aircraft and eventually withdrew the blockade. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was coalesced committee of 10 nations at the start, which would gain more nations. These nations were all in Europe, or in the vicinity of Soviet rule. The treaty would declare that if the Soviet union were to attack any nation that applied, the U.S. would act with force in defense of said nation. -
The Soviet Atomic Bomb
The Soviets successfully tests their first Atomic bomb long before the U.S. expected. The development of this bomb was due to Soviet spies, commies, getting information from the Manhattan project and would rage wide spread panic throughout the United States. -
Alger Hiss Case
Alger Hiss, A former state department employee, was accused of being a communist spy for the Soviet Union by ex-communist Whittaker Chambers. -
The Korean War
With the spread of communism becoming a fear of many Americans, President Truman authorized the deployment of troops in Korea to help stop the spread of communism. This is the first deployment of troops and declaration of war in the Cold War. -
The Rosenberg Trial
The Rosenberg's were accused, convicted, and sentenced to die in the electric chair. They blamed Jewish faith to be the cause of persecution and protests erupted with claims of anti-antisemitism. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
Vietnam militant forces seize control from the French demanding freedom. Ho Chi Minh leads forces and is successful causing the division of Vietnam at the 17th parallel. -
Army-McCarthy hearings
Edward R. Murrow, a known journalist, attacked McCarthy, saying that he was a fraud. This helped amend the Army hearing that would expose McCarthy, tearing "the mask off revealing [him] as an arrogant, blustering tyrant." -
Geneva Conference
A meeting between nations involved in Southeast Asia, this conference amplified tensions in both Vietnam and Korea. France asked for direct assistance in the control over Vietnam to which the U.S. declined. France in turn retracted from Vietnam forcing the U.S. to get involved in hopes of restricting a communist outbreak throughout Asia. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was Russian "legislation" that was implemented in response to the formation of NATO. It consisted of Russia and its satellites. While this was important for Russian mindset, it had little effect on the following war actions. It more stood as a symbol that Russia was not willing to back down or give up any ground. -
The Hungarian Revolution
A revolution against the communist/Soviet policies being forced among the people. This revolt happened throughout the people and started leaderless but eventually gained momentum. This was important because it showed the wants of the people were not for communism and that they needed help resisting communist rule. -
The U2 Incident
An American U2 was shot down after violating Soviet airspace. The crash was retrieved along with pilot. The pilot was taken hostage and eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison. The U2 Incident confirmed Soviet suspicion of U.S. spying and also marked a time of revolutionary technology in both the air and space. -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a planned invasion of Cuba to try and stop the spread of communism being led by Fidel Castro. While the CIA trained Cuban rebels, JFK refused to give air and sea support to the invasion. This was seen as a sign of weakness to the Soviet Union encouraging ideas of a nuclear base in Cuba. -
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was put up after JFK refused to remove troops from Berlin as a request of Khrushchev. He said that he was not proud of it, but he thought it was needed in order to keep East Berlins economy well. It would be the foreground for the rising tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S.. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis began when Soviet armed Cuba with nuclear missiles. After Peacetalks between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the Soviets agreed to withdraw their missiles from Cuba as long as the U.S. didn't invade Cuba. The U.S. also secretly agreed to withdraw missiles from turkey that were targeting Soviet cities. This crisis gave birth to the idea of M.A.D.. -
Assassination of Diem
After JFK supports the proclamation, Diem is assassinated by Vietnamese people who support Minh's cause. Both he and his brother are murdered throwing Vietnam into violent chaos. -
Assassination of JFK
In 1963, JFK supports a Vietnamese military coup d'etat, resulting in the murder of Diem and his brother. Two weeks later, JFK was assassignated by Lee Harvey Oswald who was never prosecuted after being killed by Jack Ruby two days later. -
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was the start to the Vietnam War. It gave the President to deploy troops in Vietnam as he wish without getting a declaration of war. This was important because a declaration of war would need to go through the house which would not support the war. It was described as "The Blank Check", symbolizing a check that could be written out for however much you wanted. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was an assault that lasted for 3 years. It consisted of consistent bombing of North Vietnam, using carpet bombing strategies and napalm to clear out the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. -
The Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive began with the Viet Cong and Norther Vietnamese Army attack and taking every major southern city, including the U.S. embassy. However, the U.S. army fought back, destroying the Viet Cong and severely weakening the North Vietnamese Army. However, the press denoted the skirmish, making it seem like an American defeat. -
The Assassination of MLK
In the midst of the civil rights movement, MLK was shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His death greatly affected the movement, and accelerated the push towards peace and equality for African Americans. -
The Assassination of RFK
Robert F. Kennedy was shot just after he had won the South Dakota and California Presidential primaries. This was a sign of the mayhem in the disagreement during these times and would drive the world and America to peace. -
The Election of Nixon
Nixon ran his campaign off the idea of ending the Vietnam war with "Vietnamization". This was the idea of propping the Vietnamese so they could fight the war and the U.S. could withdraw. This would end up failing and costing many American lives. -
Kent State
After the bombing of Cambodia by the U.S., there were mass riots at several universities including Kent State. The riots escalated and ended with the police shooting into the crowd of students.They were unarmed and several student were killed as a result of the gun fire. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
The ceasefire was declared by President Nixon and fell under his idea of "Peace with honor". The conditions were that the U.S. was to remove all troops from Vietnam, North Vietnam could leave troops already in the South, and that the North Vietnamese could resume the war at any time. In addition to this, P.O.W's and M.I.A's were given no provisions. -
Reagan Elected
Prior to be President, Reagan was a popular Hollywood actor. He based his campaign off of eliminating the communist threat of the Soviet Union. He had an aggressive campaign and tried to eliminate the other competition. -
SDI Announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a space based missile defense system that used lasers to shoot down incoming missiles. It was dubbed "Star Wars" but was decades from being reality and mostly served as a tool to bankrupt the Soviet Union. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
After Reagan's speech in Berlin, policies from the Soviet Union began implying freedoms and disavowing violent and powerful force/resistance. People began demanding for freedoms and democracy. After a leader stepped down, the wall was torn down and Berlin was united.
