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Period: to
Cold War
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Greek Civil War
Greece was in a civil war that would decide the nature of its existance. The UK and US backed the DSE who were fighting for Democracy against the KKE who were backed by Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. This was an action of containment and the UK and US sucessfully repeled the Communist KKE forces. -
Chiang Kai Shek Retreats to Taiwan
Chiang Kai Shek was the leader of the nationalists in China, fighting to install a US and UK backed Democracy. The Communists under Mao Zedong gained the upperhand and ousted the nationalists sending them fleeing to Taiwan, whe Kai Shek would later be president. -
Phillipines Gain Independence
The US and Phillipines signed a the Treaty of Manila, giving the Phillipinos independence.The US still looked after their intrests they were given the rights to have a score of military bases and in addition, the US companies had rights to minerals and resources. -
India and Pakistan Leave British Commonwealth
India and Pakistan left the British rule, they then set up democracies, the British were realizing they could get better production out of these former colonies if they were to have free trade outside the commonwealth. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was devised to restore Europe to its pre war state. The US lent billions to the nations of Europe to help them repair damages from the Second World War. It was hoped that by giving the Europeans aid they would be less likely to turn Communist. -
Conception of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created to have an alliance should any of its members be attacked by the USSR or its allies. It represented a global military force organized to protect the Free Western Nations. -
Communist China PRC
The Chinese fall to the Communists under Mao Zedong, he rallies the strength of the laborers and peasants to push the nationalists out. China becomes a proponent of Communism in the years to come. Under Communist leadership China rises to the status of world power. -
Korean War
The Korean War saw bloody fighting both sides pushing each other all the way to either China or the Sea. This proved to be a stalemate and a truce was struck divideng South from North at the 38th paralell. -
French Lose Indochina
The French loss of Indochina gave the N. Vietnamese a strong foothold around the strategic city of Dien Bien Phu. This was the event that eventually escalted into the Vietnam Conflict. -
Conception of Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a pact that the Eastern Bloc countries and the USSR signed as a direct response to NATO. This would mean if anyone was attacked it would be NATO v Warsaw Pact, likely to be known as WWIII. -
Vietnam War
Vietnam was the first war in which the US was defeated, they succumbed to the overwhelming N. Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers. This created the now Communist Vietnam. -
Soviets Launch Sputnik
Sputnik, launched by the Soviets was the first object put into space in the space race between the USSR and US. This event gave the US a new resolve not to lose to the Space Race. -
Laika Aboard Sputnik 2
Laika was launched by the Soviets as the first living creature in outer space. Laika did not survive long at all only a couple hours before she was euthanized before her oxygen ran out. She proved to the world that a living being could survive weightlessness. -
France Tests Gerboise Bleue
The French Drop the largest test nuclear bomb the size of threee fat mans in the Algerian desert. France enters the nuclear powers at number 4 after the US, USSR, and UK. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
This is significant because of its utter failure, the CIA intended to oust Castro. The result was worse relations between the US and Cuba. -
Angolan War of Independence
The Angolans waged a guerilla insurgency against the Portugese in an attempt to secure independence. The Angolans in the end signed a treaty with the Portugese giving them their independence. The rebels were backed and supplied by the Chinese and Soviets. The country was then thrust into civil war which pitted the Communists vs the nationalists. -
Vienna Summit
Kennedy met Khruschev in Vienna where they discussed the relationship between their superpowers. Kennedy made certain that Khruschev would not take Berlin, however much pressure Khruschev would place on the "testicles of the West" (Khruschev). -
Berlin Wall Erected
This was the most pysical representation of the Iron Curtain, the wall cut Berlin in half, the East Germans were attempting to oust the West Berliners via starvation. In response the Allies flew in cargo planes every 12 minutes for months to feed the beseiged. -
Soviets Detonate Tsara Bomba
The Soviets detonated the Tsar Bomba over the archipelago in the Arctic sea. The bomb measured 57 kilotons of explosive force. For an explosion so huge it created almost no fallout making it one of the cleanest nuclear tests ever. This was in response of the US's Manhattan Project and the Soviet's "We'll Show You" remark. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to global thermonuclear war. The Soviets placed missile sites in Cuba so that they would have the ablity to stike anywhere in the US except for Seattle. -
Coup in Iraq
This Coup resulted in a change of government from Pro- British to Pro- Soveit. No action was taken by the British because Iraq was deemed non- important. The new Iraqi government was influenced by the Soviets greatly and a dictatorship was installed. -
Nikita Khruschev Dies
Nikita was responsible for putting missiles in Cuba and then backing down and removing them. He was the man who almost pushed the world into an apocalypse of a global thermonuclear war, but also the man who saved us from it. -
Nixon Visits Peoples Republic of China
Nixon was the president to visit china since Mao Zedong declared the PRC. He went and greeted Mao Zedong and talked with them for they were the biggest rivals to the US. They discussed how to keep relations tolerable between the two nations. -
SALT
The SALT Treaties were essential to controlling the amount of nuclear weapons that the USSR and the US possessed. If not for the SALT treaties the two powers would have no limitations on their nuclear stockpiles. The fate of the world hung in the balance for a nuclear war between the two nations would have global consequences. -
USSR Invades Afghanistan
The Soviets invaded Afghanistan to introduce Communism, the Afghan rebels, mujahideen, fight the Soviet advance. The US government supplies the rebels with stinger missiles and other armaments, whith which the Soveits push back and eventually pull out. The muj (Soviet Slang) are later the Taliban. -
US Invades Grenada
The Revolutionary Government was overthrown by a military coup. The US invaded Grenada and within a few weeks they had captured or killed all the insurgents responsible for the coup. This action drew criticism because the US was in Grenada for somewhat imperialistic reasons. -
Chernobyl Disaster
The disaster in the Ukraine was in teh city of Pripyat, the Chernobl reactor suffered a catastrophic meltdown resulting in a reactor explosion and a huge release of radiation into the environment. This disaster has rendered the immediate area around the reactor unusable for a few thousand years. Children are still born every year bearing birth defects from the radiation their parents had expeirienced. -
German Reunification
Germany was the first country to emerge from the Iron Curtain, marking the downfall of the USSR. This opened the door for other countries to leave the Union. -
Collapse of the USSR
The collapse of the USSR was teh last event of the Cold War, and the beginning of Democracy in Russia, Boris Yeltsin could no longer keep his lands intact. The fall of the wall tumbled into a social upheaval which unseated Communism altogether.
