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Russian Revolution
After a brief span of democracy after the overthrow of Czar Nicholas failed, Vladimir Lenin brought out his Marxist ideas. Because of the state of poverty in the country at the time, people were open to a communist government. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the name for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945. Warsaw Pact countries were on one side, and NATO countries on the other. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference casued tentions between USA and Russia to flare. It was about negotiating terms for the end of World War II. -
Atomic Bomb
USA drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The atomic bomb upset the Soviet Union because balance was now destroyed. -
Hollywood 10
HVAC agents wanted to root out commies in American Society. 10 Hollywood writers decided to refuse, and were imprisoned -
Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was the system created by the Soviet Union in 1947 in order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union. It was kinda like the Marshall Plan, but included Eastern European countries that would not be able to join without leaving the Soviet sphere of influence. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman doctrine was an appeal that altered the U.S.'s foreign policy. It sent money to Greece and Turkey to repel communism. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a plan of massive economic assistance. It rebuilt economies from over 18 billion in USD. Without US aid, we believed that Europe would fall to the commies -
Berlin Blockade
Stalin blockaded Berlin because a new currency was introduced, which caused Stalin to think it was 'American Economic Imperialism' This caused the US to air drop supplies to stranded citizens in Berlin. -
Berlin Airlift
Germany and Berlin were divided by 4 zones, owned by the US, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France. Soviets blockaded Berlin off, which caused citizens to be stranded. In response, the US air dropped supplies to the stranded citizens. -
Alger Hiss Case
The Alger Hiss spy case was a former state department member accused of purgery and was thought to be a USSR spy. It caused Americans to fear communists in everyday life. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European states. -
Korean War
After WWII, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel. Truman decided to take action and restore peace by directly sending troops to try to halt a communist takeover. -
Rosenburg Trial
The Rosenburgs were accused of selling U.S. nuclear secrets to the Soviets. They were convicted and sentenced to die by electric chair. -
Soviet Bomb Test
With the help of bomb secrets sold to the Soviet Union, the USSR is able to construct and detonate an atomic bomb. The USA is now freaked out because it was supposed to take years for them to create one, and now the soviet union is their equal. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The French had a huge military force in the Dien Bien Phu valley to make sure that Vietnam stayed under their control. In 1954, the Viet minh with aid from China, surrounded the whole valley and forced the french out -
Army-McCarthy hearings
The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate conflicting accusations between the United States Army and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. -
Geneva Conference
A conference in Geneva that decided that Vietnam would be deived at the 17th parallel. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. -
Hungarian Revolution
The Soviet Union goes into Hungary to put and end to an uprising of people who wanted a more democratic government. Many are killed and the soviets prevail. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro drove his army into Havana to overthrow General Fulgencio Batista, the American chosen leader. Later, the CIA trained Cuban natives and wanted them to take over Cuba. The invasion went badly and the natives surrendered in less than 24 hours. -
U2 Incident
The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the premiership of Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down while in Soviet airspace. -
Berlin Wall
German Democratic Republic, began to build a barbed wire and concrete wall between east and west Berlin. this was to keep fascists from entering East Germany. But in late 1989, the wall was torn down. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviet Missiles were arriving in San Cristoval, Cuba. This was just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The most dangerous encounter in the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union had begun. We had missiles in Turkey and Greece pointed at all the major cities in the Soviet Union. By day 13, the missiles were removed in exchange for a non-invasion pledge from the US. -
Assassination of Diem
After South Vietnam overthrows the North, Diem and his family are captured and killed by soldiers. This really worries the US because now the North is left without a leader, therefor are susceptible to communism. -
Assassination of JFK
The 35th president, John F. Kennedy, was killed traveling though Dallas, Texas. his vice president, Lyndon Johnson, was sworn into presidency later that day. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
The North Vietnam successfully held control of more than half of South Vietnam, after they made detailed plans for invasions. They asked for our help, but we declined. This made them very mad. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was the title of a gradual and sustained aerial bombardment campaign conducted by the U.S. 2nd Air Division, U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam -
Tet Offensive
Viet Cong and North Vietnam came together to create a plan to attack a series of 100 towns and cities throughout South Vietnam. They hoped to both limit US support for the South, and aid the rebels working with the North. -
Assassination of MLK
Marin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. It sped up the equal housing bill, which was the last major conquer of MLK's movement -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
In 1968, the Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia to stop the anticommunist people who wanted reform. Even though the Soviet Union is able to defeat them, the whole issue led to some long term effects. When they are invaded, the soviets said it was justified using the Brezhnev Doctrine. This allowed the US to reduce its presence in Europe. -
Riots of Democratic convention
Thousands of protesters fought police in the streets of Chicago. The Democratic party fell apart over disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam -
Election of Nixon
The Republican applicant, Richard Nixon won the election over Democratic opponent Hubert Humphrey -
Assassination of RFK
Senator Robert Kennedy was shot over and over again by the 22 year old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in LA, after winning the California presidential primary. -
Kent State
The Kent State shootings were the shootings on May 4, 1970 of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard during a mass protest against the Vietnam War -
Nixon visits China
Trying to re-establish diplomatic relations between the US and communist China, Nixon traveled to Beijing for a week. he wanted to normalize relations. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
Saigon controlled about three fourths of South Vietnam's territory and the majority of the population. Each side held military bases and were justified by the other side's violations of the cease-fire. -
Fall of Saigon
The North Vietnamese Army took over Saigon with little resistance, the remaining Americans were evacuated by helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft. -
Reagan elected
Ronald Reagan, a former actor and California governor, served as the 40th US president from 1981 to 1989. He was an amazing president and helped the country end the Cold War in a timely matter. -
SDI announced
Ronald Reagan pushed for the United Stats to start working on a program to develop antimissile technology that would make the country nearly impossible to attack via atomic bombs. Unfortunately this was impossible, but everyone thought we had done it. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
The Geneva Summit of 1985 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race. They soon became 'bros' and had a good relationship. -
‘Tear down this wall’ speech
Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. He does this while in Berlin. It was a very powerful yet dangerous speech because he was very close to Soviet territory. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, thousands of people crowded the wall and worked together to tear it down.
