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Cold War Timeline
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United Nations formed
States (countries) came together in an attempt to maintain international peace and security and to achieve cooperation among nations on economic, social, and humanitarian problems. -
Truman Doctrine
Policy that said the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. -
Hollywood 10
A group of 10 screenwriters, editors, directors, and authors in Hollywood that were part of the communist party. They refused to cooperate with HUAC's hearings on anti-communist activity and were arrested, then blacklisted. -
Marshall Plan
Proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe. Also known as the Economic Recovery Act. -
NATO formed
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere. -
Korean War
Korean War, conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. -
Space Race
The space race played a significant part in the Cold War as the Americans and Soviets competed to prove their technological and intellectual superiority by becoming the first nation to put a human into space. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs invasion was an abortive invasion of Cuba in April 1961 by some 1,500 Cuban exiles opposed to Fidel Castro. The invasion was financed and directed by the U.S. government. -
Berlin Wall goes up
The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berlin to West Berlin, which was controlled by the major Western Allies. It divided the city of Berlin into two physically and ideologically contrasting zones. -
U.S. officially enters the Vietnam War
The U.S. entered the Vietnam War in an attempt to prevent the spread of communism, but foreign policy, economic interests, national fears, and geopolitical strategies also played major roles. -
Soviets invade Afghanistan
In December 1979, The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, aiming to bolster the newly established communist regime and suppress the Mujahideen rebellion against the government. -
Berlin Wall comes down
The fall of the Berlin Wall was the first step towards German reunification. In 1989, political changes in Eastern Europe and civil unrest in Germany put pressure on the East German government to loosen some of its regulations on travel to West Germany, fall of the Berlin Wall