-
American-Soviet cooperation ends at end of WWII
Mistrust and hostility began right after the victory in 1945. The soviet union militarily occupied eastern Europe and turn them into satellite states making the eastern bloc. -
Four powers divide Germany
after Germany surrendered in 1945 it got split into 4 military zones. France was on the southwest, United Kingdom in the northwest, United states in the south and the soviet union in the east. -
Berlin Airlift
The Russians wanted Berlin to themselves so they closed all the railroads, highways and canals from Germany to Berlin. They thought this would make it impossible for the people there to get supplies so the US decided to supply them from the air. -
U.S. announces Marshall Plan
Was enacted to provide foreign aid to western Europe after WW2. With this plan the US gave 13.3bilion in recovery programs for western Europe economies. President Truman signed the Marshall plan into law on April 3, 1948. -
NATO set up
Was established in 1949. After the cold war it was known as a cooperative security organization. It now has 32 member states. NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. -
Korean War
this was a war between north and south Korea. North Korea was supplied and helped by the Soviet Union and South Korea had help from the United States. 2.5 million people lost their lives in this war and the war ended in 1953. North and South Korea seperated from each other. -
U.S. develops H-Bomb
Hydrogen bomb. The US tested their first hydrogen bomb in 1953. They can be thousands of times as powerful as an atomic bomb. They are measured in megatons and one megaton is equal to about 100,000,000 tons of TNT. hydrogen bombs of 50 megatons have been detonated. -
Soviet Union develops H-Bomb
their first successful atomic bomb inspired them to try to make a hydrogen bomb. they had spies and captured German scientists and now they knew that it was possible to make one. they tested their first hydrogen bomb in 1953 and did further testing after that and created an explosion of about 58 megatons. -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
Was known as the treaty of friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance. Was created in Warsaw, Poland mostly in response to west Germany for joining NATO. It was a mutual defense organization during the cold war. -
Vietnam War
1955-1975. It was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It was the second Indochina war and a big conflict of the cold war. It was north Vietnam against south Vietnam. -
Hungarian Revolt
A popular uprising in Hungary in 1956. It was a revolt against the communist government of Hungary and its soviet policies. It was a response after the war to the crippling soviet policies and oppression. It lasted from October 23 to November 10th. -
Sputnik is launched
Was first launched by the soviet union. Achieved an earth orbit of 940km. It circled the earth every 96 minutes until January 5, 1958. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
A failed military landing on the southwest coast of Cuba. The invasion was financed and directed by the US government during the cold war. -
Berlin Wall is built
It divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. It separated west berlin from east Germany. It was to prevent fascist from undermining the socialist state in Germany. The building of the wall started in 1961 and stood until 1989 when the citizens of the GDR were allowed to cross the border. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This brought the US and the soviet union close to war over soviet nuclear armed missiles in Cuba just 90 miles from US shores. People feared a nuclear war but the US came to an agreement with the soviet leader to just remove the missiles. -
American-Soviet Hotline established
President John F Kennedy was the first person to have a direct phone line to the Kremlin in Moscow. It was made to have direct contact between the president and the soviet premier -
Czech uprising (Prague Spring)
Began in January and ended on August 20th. It was a very short time of liberalization under Alexander Dubcek. It ended when the soviet forces invaded the country. -
U.S. votes to admit Communist China into U.N.
It seated China as a permanent member and expelled Taiwan. -
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
On Christmas eve the soviet union started their invasion of Afghanistan. First they dropped elite troops into Afghan cities. Within days they had invaded the Afghan presidential palace, poisoned the president and his ministers to install a new puppet leader Babrak Karmal. This started a brutal 9 year long war. -
Polish “Solidarity” uprisings
The Solidarity Movement was an anti-authoritarian social movement in Poland in the 1980's. it was supposed to help with workers right and create change. it was a non violent movement and led to a peaceful transfer of power in 1989. -
U.S. Star Wars research begins
A system of lasers that detected and deflected anu missiles coming for the US. President Reagan saw this as a safeguard against the cold war outcome. Many scientists thought this was expensive and dangerous. -
I.N.F. Treaty signed
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was an arms control agreement between the US and the soviet union. -
Berlin Wall torn down
On November 9 the head of the communist party of Germany announced that citizens could freely cross the border. Huge crowds gathered at the wall and some crossed into Berlin and some people started breaking the wall. -
Iron Curtain collapses
The Iron Curtain was a metaphor used to describe the boundary of Europe being divided into to separate parts during the cold war. on the east side there were countries that were connected to the soviet union and on the west side was NATO or countries that were connected the the United States. the fall of the berlin wall marked the end of the iron curtain in 1989. -
Germany is reunited
this marked the end of the cold war and the fall of the berlin wall which had separated families and communities for 3 decades.