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Truman Doctrine
President Truman asked congress for $400 million to help Greece and Turkey. This was very similar to the Marshall plan which helped other European countries. The UN was also created for these purposes, to get rid of communism. -
Berlin Blockade
Stalin created a blockade and blocked all of the roads leading to Berlin. This created the Berlin Airlift, and the Birlin Wall, which was the subject of which Ronald Reagan said "Tear down this wall!" -
NATO
Many western European countries formed together to form this. One of their main goals was to defend western Europe from the Soviet Union. -
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy was the Senator of Wisconsin, and in 1950, he made some serious accusations. The Senator said that he had a list of 205 communists, but he never proved it. He still got a lot of attention, and was on national television, newspapers, and the radio. Jules and Ether Rosenburg were some of the people who were accused, and they were scientists and excecuted. Eventually, McCarthy went too far, and became a bully. -
The Korean War
During WW2 and the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union agreed to have Korea divided. They were seperated at the 38th parallel, when eventually, North Korea crossed the parallel and decided to attack South Korea. General Douglas MacCarthur was chosen to help South Korea, and the troops landed at Inchon. Eventually, they Drove North korea back, and MacCarthur wanted to keep going to China. Truman then fires him. Finally, they signed an armistice and set up a demilitarized zone at 38th Parallel. -
Warsaw Pact
The alliance that the Soviet Union formed to force their neighbors to follow their policies. This was supposed to threaten their enemies and counter NATO. -
Vietnam War Begins
Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese commuist who took over France and basically started the Vietnam War. Over time, many Vietnam peasants joined hit-and-run fighters called the Vietcong Guerillas. Americas involvment in the war started when America started drafting people for the war. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
After the Bay of Pigs invasion, John F. Kennedy knew that Cuba had missiles. the Soviet Union got very close to launching missiles, but then turned back. The US and the Soviet Union were superpowers, and huge rivals, and Khrushchev removed the missiles. The start of NASA aand the race to the moon is proof. At one point, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara led a revolution against the dictators. -
the Tet Offensive
This offensive is called the Tet offensive because it occured during Tet, a Vietnamese holiday. The North Vietnamese launched a surprise attack on America and South Vietnam, making it the first time that Americans weren't supportive for a war. -
The Salt Agreement
Nixon became the first president to visit Russia during the Cold War. It was part of detente, one of Nixons plan. The second Salt Agreement happened in 1979 between Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev. -
Glasnost
Glasnost is the Russian term for speaking openly, and Mikhail Gorbachev, a new Soviet leader backed it very much. He hoped that it would lead to solutions to economic and social problems. -
Communism Collapses
By 1990, many people in the Soviet union wanted to be free of rule, and demand self-rule. Eventually, despite 70 years of being one party, Gorbachev allowed political parties to form. There was a revolt against Gorbachev, and that weakened it. Eventually, in 1991, he resigned, and later, the Soviet Union collapsed. Earlier, before this happened, Ronald Reagan put lots of government funding to try do destroy the Soveit Union with wapons from spacecalled Star Wars. Before that, Nixon did detente.
