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Berlin Wall
The vague beginning of the Cold War, the wall seperating the West and the East of Berlin, and the West and the East of the World. Great tensions are had between the Americans and the Soviets in Berlin, leading to tensions between the two superpowers. -
Berlin Blockade
The first large event of the Cold War, the blockade made by the Soviet Union preventing supply transport to the West controlled side of Berlin. This prevented food, water, coal, and other necessary supplies from being transported to the 2 million citizens of West Berlin. This led to the Berlin Airlift, where Western leaders solved the issue by dropping supplies into Berlin by way of cargo plane. Eventually, the blockade was called off in May of 1949. -
Founding of NATO
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is an alliance of many European nations, in addition to the US and Canada, founded in 1949, designed with the intention of countering Soviet power and preventing the spread of Communism throughout Europe. Eventually, in retaliation, the Soviet Union and other Communist Eastern European nations formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955. -
War in Korea
With the intention of uniting the country under a Communist government, the North Korea invades and attack South Korea. While at first badly losing, the UN intervenes hoping to set an example for other Communist nations that may consider expanding, turning the war around entirely. Despite this, China gets involved and the UN is driven out of Korea due to China's overwhelming numbers. Eventually, they hit a stalement and agree to an armistice in 1953. -
Nuclear Arms Race
The beginning of the most notable part of the Cold War, the Arms Race began when the news reached the West of the Soviet developement of the Atomic Bomb, resulting in the US developement of the Hydrogen Bomb. This continued back and forth for almost 3 decades, with each Nation striving to get a significant edge over the other in the world of nuclear arms, almost like a never-ending arm wrestling contest.This resulted in a much more tense and dangerous situation for everyone involved. -
Soviet and US Arms Control
Between 1955 and 1963, the Soviet Union and the US had many discussions on the topic of arms control in an effort to contain the Cold War situation. Many ideas were brought up, such as an "Open Skies" treaty, where both nations could openly fly over eachothers territory, or even total nuclear disarmament. Eventually, in 1963, they agreed on the "Test Ban Treaty", which outlawed nuclear testing in the atmosphere, outerspace, and underwater, a slight increase in progress on the arms control. -
Communism in Cuba and Fidel Castro
In 1959, Fidel Castro and his group of rebels overthrew the Cuban dictator and established a Communist government which resulted in Castro forging close ties with the Soviet Union. This was worrying because the Florida coast was only 90 miles North of Cuba, meaning that the Cold War was now being brough to US territory, and eventually resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Arguably the most significant and dangerous event in the war, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a US-Soviet confrontation over the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles within Cuba. This was such a dangerous event because Cuba was incredibly close to the US coast, which meant the Soviet Union could easily fire on the US. After an intense, two week stand-off between the two super-power the Soviet Union agreed to the remove the missiles when the US agreed to remove their missiles from Turkey. -
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Teaty
A treaty signed as a result of Salt I, or the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, which resulted in the prevention of weapons designed to shoot down nuclear weapons. This was created to ensure each Nation is vulnerable to each-others weapons which, in turn, meant that no weapons would be launched in the first place, as per "The Deterrence Theory", which states that, in fear of mutual destruction, the mere existence of dangerous weapons prevents them from being utilized. -
The 1980s and Ronald Reagan
Elected president in 1980, Regan took a very aggressive position against the Soviet Union and strove to eliminate the Cold War tensions. Eventually, Reagan began to have talks with Mikhail Gorbachev on the subject of arms reduction. In 1988, both Nations ratified the INF Treaty, or the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which elimianted the existence of certain categories of missiles. This meant that the relations between the two Nations was finally improving.
