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The Cold War begins
The cold war came to be as consequence of disagreement and distrust between the U.S. which had a capitalist democracy, and the Soviet Union which was controlled by a communist regime. The two nations clashed when the situation of Easters Europe came up. After the second world war, Eastern Europe was in ruins and with no government. The Soviet Union claimed it should be who controlled the land but the U.S. opposed this for it was against the Eastern Europe being turned into a communist country. -
The Truman Doctrine
When Soviet backed communists threatened Turkey and Greece, President of the U.S. at the time announced that the U.S. would provide economic and military aid to countries that were vulnerable to being dominated by communists, for the U.S. strongly opposed the spread of communism. -
The Marshall Plan
Afraid that more Europeans turned to communism because of the apparent bad conditions in Europe, the U.S. government launched a massive aid program known as the Marshall Plan. Under this plan, the U.S. government provided Europe with 13 billion dollars for its reconstruction. -
Berlin Airlift
Action the Western leaders took to supply West Berlin, which the Soviets had completely blocked off. Seeing as the West would not give West Berlin up, the Soviets set it free again in 1949. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
After the airlift, the U.S., Canada, and most Western European countries joined together in a military alliance. This alliance was created to counter Soviet power in Europe. -
Arms Race
The struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union evolved into a sort of competition. Both nations wanted to have the most advanced weapons so they were constantly looking to improve and kept the other nation at check. It got to the point where both nations had atomic and hydrogen bombs ready. -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and Communist nations of Europe formed and alliance of their own in 1955. -
Sputnik
Both nations also wanted to prove their superiority in technology and the Soviet Union proved so by presenting Sputnik; the worlds first artificial satellite. At this the U.S. was fast to establish the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Secret U.S. invasion to Cuba's Bay of Pigs with the purpose to overthrow Castro. This operation failed as the invaders were quickly defeated. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet union regarding the Soviet Union's installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba. After a short two week standoff, when the U.S. agreed to remove its own missiles in Turkey, and to not attack Cuba, Soviet leaders removed the missiles. -
Detente
U.S. president Nixon at the time, sought to lessen tension between his country and the Soviet Union so he proposed negotiations to be made and he was successful. Agreements to limit the number of nuclear weapons each nation could hold were made in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. A couple treaties were made the following years between the two nations. -
Solidarity
Solidarity was an anti-government movement that took place in Poland. Poland's government implemented martial law to stop the protestors but they were not all gone. -
Cold War ends
The Soviet Union could no longer afford to maintain its communist economy up so it collapsed as well as the Berlin Wall, marking the end of the Cold War.
