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Yalta Conference
sourceThe Yalta Conference took place from Feb. 4-11 in 1945. The Yalta Conference took place so President Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, & Joseph Stalin could discuss & make the important decisions needed for the war and the future of the world, post-war. At the conference, they agreed to order Germany's surrender & begin their plans for life after WW2. Effects were Europe was divided into two since Stalin was a miscreant. -
Berlin Declaration
sourceThe Berlin Declaration was the official declaration connecting to the defeat of Germany. The declaration confirmed the division of Germany into 4 separate sections. The effect of 5his declaration was that it is what basically made Germany surrender because that was the agreement. -
Potsdam Conference
sourceThe Postdam Conference was held from July 17-August 2 in 1945. It included President Truman, British Prime MInister Winston Churchill, & Soviet Prime Minister Jospeh Stalin. This was the last meeting of WW2. At this meeting, they decided to issue a declaration ordering Japan to surrender. They also agreed on things like land boundaries & reparations. The effects were that the bomb was dropped on Japan. -
North Vietnam
[source](http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/vietnam-independence-proclaimed)North Vietnam, also know as, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, followed the socialist state. NV was founded in 1945. The Viet Minh, aka, the League for Independence of Vietnam, shared the power of Vietnam with non-communists. These two together controlled parts of North Vietnam. -
Iron Curtain Speech
source The Iron Curtain Speech was delivered by British Prime MInister, Winston Churchill, on March 5, 1946, at the Westminister College in Fullton, Missouri. The purpose of his speech was so he could persuade people to get rid of it. The effect his speech gave was that it weakened the Iron Curtain. It helped people realize it was not a good thing, they should knock it down so people could be united. -
First Indochina War (1946)
source France focused on the fortune withheld in Indochina. The French had been in the area for centuries, yet policies changed when other Western European nations began to colonize and claim their own pieces of Asia. The French corrupted the Vietnamese sovereignty by colonizing and dividing the nation.The Vietnamese people strongly resented the tyrannical rule and political and social implementations of the French.The First Indochina War was virtually a stalemate between the French and the Viet Minh. -
Containment Policy
sourceThe Containment Policy would adopt two approaches. One approach was military; the other was economic.The Containment Policy helped give aid to countries and organizations to prevent the spread of communism. The impact of this event helped slow down the spread of communism around the world. -
Berlin Airlift
sourceDuring the Berlin Airlift, the western powers aided Berlin by air lifting the supplies they needed to them. It happened becuase the Berlin Blockade was preventing the U.S. from helping and sending supplies to Berlin. The impact of this event was that the western powers got the supplies needed to Berlin and it helped them. -
Marshall Plan
source The Marshall Plan was made so countries being invaded by communists could fight back. What happened was most of the countries who were given money fought communism and prevented invasion. The impacts of this plan were that communism was not able to spread to other countries, and therefore helped the allies stay stronger than the communists. -
Berlin Blockade
sourceThe Berlin Blockade was when the Soviet Union tried to prevent the United States, Great Britain, and France from traveling to the areas of Berlin, which were occupied by the Soviet Union. It happened so the Soviets could try prevent others helping Berlin so they could take it over. The Berlin Blockade was successful, however only until the western powers sent the supplies needed to Berlin by the Berlin Airlift. -
NATO
sourceNATO, aka, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was established by the U.S., Canada, and many Western European Nations to give security against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union however, didn't let NATO get to them. They along with the 11 communist nations there were, created the Warsaw Pact which was an antagonist allaince. Almost all of the European Nations established 1 of the 2 opposite camps. -
Soviet Union tests A-Bomb
sourceAt a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.” In order to measure the effects of the blast, the Soviet scientists constructed buildings, bridges, and other civilian structures in the vicinity of the bomb. They also placed animals in cages nearby so that they could test the effects of nuclear radiation on human-like mammals. The atomic explosion, destroyed those structures and incinerated the animals. -
People’s Republic of China founded
sourceIn October, the People's Republic of China was formally established, with its national capital at Beijing. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie, and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led by the CCP, as the vanguard of the working class. At that time the CCP claimed a membership of 4.5 million, of which members of peasant origin accounted for nearly 90 percent. The party was under Mao's chairmanship, -
Korean War - American involvement
sourceIn August of 1945 the Soviet Union invaded Korea, which had been under Japan's control since 1910. Fearing that the Soviets intended to seize the entire peninsula from their position in the north, the United States quickly moved its own troops into southern Korea. Japanese troops surrendered to the Russians in the north and to the Americans in the south. In an effort to avoid a long-term decision regarding Korea's future, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea temporarily. -
Second Red Scare
sourceThe second Red Scare occurred during the start of the Cold War with the Soviet Union after the end of World War II. It lasted around ten years from 1947 to 1957. With the spread of communism in Eastern Europe and China as well as the Korean War, people were scared that communism could infiltrate the United States. Also, the Soviet Union had become a world superpower and had nuclear bombs. Peoplr did not want information about the US to be spread. -
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
sourceThe Rosenbergs were convicted on March 29, 1951, and sentenced to death under Section 2 of the Espionage Act. The couple were the only two American civilians to be executed for espionage-related activity during the Cold War. Judge Kaufman noted that he held them responsible not only for espionage but also for the deaths of the Korean War, since the information leaked to the Russians was believed to help them develop the A-bomb and stimulate Communist aggression in Korea. -
Eisenhower Presidency
sourceEisenhower concentrated on maintaining world peace. Before he left office in January 1961, he urged the necessity of maintaining an adequate military strength, but cautioned that vast, long-continued military expenditures could breed potential dangers to our way of life. He concluded with a prayer for peace "in the goodness of time." Both themes remained timely and urgent when he died, after a long illness. -
Iranian coup d’état
sourceIranian history took a critical turn when a U.S.- and British-backed coup overthrew the country’s prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. The event’s have contributed to the anti-Americanism that accompanied the Shah’s ouster in early 1979, and even influencing the Iranians who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran later that year.It has taken almost six decades for the U.S. intelligence community to acknowledge openly that it was behind the controversial overthrow. -
Nikita Khrushchev
source Khrushchev’s selection was a crucial first step in his rise to power in the Soviet Union—an advance that culminated in Khrushchev being named secretary of the Communist Party in September 1953, and premier in 1958.Despite many concersns, Khrushchev’s rise to power did initiate a period in which tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union began slightly to ease, as he called for “peaceful coexistence” between the two superpowers. -
Warsaw Pact
sourceThe Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states.The Warsaw Pact remained intact until 1991. -
Suez Crisis
source Israeli armed forces pushed into Egypt toward the Suez Canal after Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal in July of that same year, initiating the Suez Crisis. The Israelis soon were joined by French and British forces, which nearly brought the SU into the conflict, and damaged their relationships with the US.Later, the British, French and Israeli governments withdrew their troops.The Israelis struck first.Two days later, British and French military forces joined. -
Hungarian Revolution
sourceThe Hungarian Uprising began on 23 October 1956 when the working class took on & defeated the police & installed a new government, lasting 18 days before being crushed by Soviet tanks. Marched to the AVH headquarters & demanded they remove the red star, symbol of the Soviet occupation. The AVH replied with a hail of machine gun fire, killing 80. The crowd went to the army barracks & demanded & received weapons and stormed & took the AVH headquarters. -
Sputnik
sourceRemarkable advancments were made October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball. It took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. -
Cuban Revolution
sourceThe Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.The Castros and surviving rebels were put on public trial. Fidel, a trained lawyer, turned the tables on the Batista dictatorship by making the trial about the power grab. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but had become a nationally recognized figure and a hero to many poor Cubans. -
Kennedy Presidency
sourceJohn F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever to be elected president of the United States, narrowly beating Republican Vice President Richard Nixon. He was also the first Catholic to become president.The campaign was hard fought and bitter. For the first time, presidential candidates engaged in televised debates. Many observers believed that Kennedy’s poised and charming performance during the four debates made the difference in the final vote. -
U2 Incident
sourceAn international diplomatic crisis erupted in May 1960 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers. The Soviets convicted Powers on espionage charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The U-2 spy plane incident raised tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War, the largely political clash between the two superpowers and their allies that emerged following World War II. -
First Man in Space
sourceOn April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes. Vostok 1 orbited Earth at a maximum altitude of 187 miles and was guided entirely by an automatic control system. -
Bay of Pigs
source
Fidel Castro drove his guerilla army into Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista, the nation’s American-backed president. For the next two years, officials at the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to push Castro from power. Finally, in April 1961, the CIA launched what its leaders believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. However, the inva -
Berlin Wall
sourcePremier Khrushchev gave the East German government permission to stop the flow of emigrants by closing its border for good. In just two weeks, the East German army, police force and volunteer construction workers had completed a makeshift barbed wire and concrete block wall–the Berlin Wall–that divided one side of the city from the other. -
Checkpoint Charlie
sourceAmerican M48 tankswere ordered to head for Checkpoint Charlie. Stood there some 75 metres from the border, noisily racing their engines and sending plumes of black smoke into the night air. Alarmed by the apparent threat, Moscow, with the approval of the Soviet leader, sent an equal number of Russian T55 tanks rumbling to face down the Americans. They too ground to a halt some 75 metres from the East/West Berlin border and, as with the US tanks they faced, stayed there for 16 hours. -
JFK Assassination
sourceJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible.As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. He was 46. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
sourceThe Tonkin Gulf Resolution stated that “Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent any further aggression.” As a result, President Johnson, and later President Nixon, relied on the resolution as the legal basis for their military policies in Vietnam. -
Vietnam War - American involvement
sourceIn early 1965, the United States began air raids on North Vietnam and on Communist-controlled areas in the South; by 1966 there were 190,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam. North Vietnam, meanwhile, was receiving armaments and technical assistance from the Soviet Union and other Communist countries. The costly and devastating Tet offensive of the North Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong, involving attacks on more than 100 towns and cities and a month-long battle for Hue in South Vietnam. -
SALT I
sourceThe United States learned that the Soviet Union had embarked upon a massive Intercontinental Ballistic Missile buildup designed to reach parity with the United States. In January 1967, President Lyndon Johnson announced that the Soviet Union had begun to construct a limited Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defense system around Moscow. SALT I is considered the crowning achievement of the Nixon-Kissinger strategy of détente. -
Prague Spring
sourceThe Prague Spring of 1968 is the term used for the brief period of time when the government of Czechoslovakia led by Alexander Dubček seemingly wanted to democratise the nation and lessen the stranglehold Moscow had on the nation’s affairs. The Prague Spring ended with a Soviet invasion, the removal of Alexander Dubček as party leader and an end to reform within Czechoslovakia. -
Nixon Presidency
sourceRichard Nixon was elected the 37th President of the United States after previously serving as a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator from California. After successfully ending American fighting in Vietnam and improving international relations with the U.S.S.R. and China, he became the only President to ever resign the office, as a result of the Watergate scandal. During his Presidency, Nixon succeeded in ending American fighting in Viet Nam and improving relations with the U.S.S.R. and China. -
Apollo 11
sourceApollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969, carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin into an initial Earth-orbit of 114 by 116 miles. An estimated 530 million people watched Armstrong's televised image and heard his voice describe the event as he took steps on July 20, 1969. Later placed Apollo 11 into a translunar orbit. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
sourceChinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States. It is estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
sourceCommunist government began to build a barbed wire and concrete between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western âfascistsâ from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful symbols of the cold war. -
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
sourceThe Soviet Union disintegrated into 15 separate countries. Its collapse was hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism. The United States rejoiced as its formidable enemy was brought to its knees, thereby ending the Cold War. The breakup of the Soviet Union transformed the entire world political situation, leading to different political, economic and military alliances all over the globe.
