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Yalta Conference
This conference was held for the heads of the governement of the United States, President Franklin D Roosevelt, the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, and the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, to discuss the requirements for Germany's unconditional surrender and the plans for the postwar world. Stalin had made promises to return the lands that Japan had lost due to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and to permit free elections in Eastern Europe--which he later broke. -
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Yalta Conference
This conference was held for the heads of the governement of the United States, President Franklin D Roosevelt, the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, and the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, to discuss the requirements for Germany's unconditional surrender and the plans for the postwar world. Stalin had made promises to return the lands that Japan had lost due to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and to permit free elections in Eastern Europe--which he later broke. -
The World War II ends in Europe
Soon after Hitler's death, Germany surrendered, ending WWII in Europe. This day was considered a public holiday and was then called "V-Day" or "VE-Day" meaning "Victory Day" or Victory in Europe Day". It celebrated the formal acceptance by the Allies of WWII of Nazi Germany's surrender. -
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Potsdam Conference
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Potsdam Conference
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Harry Truman met in Potsdam, Germany to continue the discussions they shared during the Yalta Conference; the terms for the postwar world. They agreed to have reparations and military occupation in Germany, dividing it into four occupation zones (France in the southwest, Britain in the northwest, the United States in the south, and the Soviet Union in the east). -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was on of the first major crises of the Cold War. It was a result of the growing tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union surrounding the future for postwar Germany. Once the U.S., France, and Britain combined their zones and stopped reparation shipments to the Soviet Union, the Soviets grew worried and decided to take action; blocking roads and railroad lines into West Berlin. -
The Berlin Airlift
After the Soviet Union blocked all roads/railroads into West Berlin, panick filled the streets of Berlin; thoughts of food shortages, water, and medical aid. To prevent World War III, President Truman ordered a massive airlift of supplies into Berlin just two days after the Soviet's blockade. -
NATO established
NATO, which stands for "North Atlantic Treaty Organization", was a securitty alliance created in order to strengthen and unify the Western Allies' military responses to a possible invasion of Europe by the Soviet's and their allies. This orginization was created by 12 Western nations: the United States, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Canada, and Portugal. -
End of Berlin Blockade
The Sovient Union persisted with the blockade. The sucessful airlift showed the superiority or the U.S. over the Soviet Union, making Soviet's embarassed by their intense actions. -
The Warsaw Pact is Formed
The Warsaw Pact was the Soviet Union's response to West Germany's entrance into NATO. It was a military and political alliance between the Soviets and several Eastern European countries. This pact was a mutual defense orginization that placed the Soviet Union in charge of the armed forces of the member states. -
Berlin Wall is Built
During the first stages of the Cold War, East Germans who were tired of being under a communist system and longed for the democratic West fled through West Berlin. In order to stop German's from escaping to the west, the Communist East Germany built a wall that divided West Berlin and East Berlin. -
Solidarity Union Forms in Poland
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Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev was a former Soviet statesman who had been chosen to succeed former Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko. He was the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union and later became the first president of the soviet union from 1990-1991. He was very different from any previous Soviet leader; his reforms helped end the Cold War and promote peaceful international relations. Gorbachev was the one who had declared perestroika and glanost, which in turn helped reconstruct their economy. -
Berlin Wall is Demolished
The Berlin Wall didn't just divide West and East Berlin or split a nation up using a wall made up of concrete, attack dogs, and other dangerous traps. It simbolized the Cold War's division of eastern from western Europe. However, 28 years later, the East German government declared that the wall be opened for people to travel freely to the West. This was due to the days of mass protests led by the angry citizens of Berlin. -
Soviet Union is Abolished
A few days before the dismemberment of what was once the Soviet Union, 11 of the Soviet republics announced that they would no longer be part of the Soviet Union but instead establish independent states. Because 3 of the Baltic republics had already resigned from the USSR, only 1 Soviet republic remained and with Gorbachev's reforms that he had implemented in the previous years, the Soviet Union had fallen. Gorbachev was disappointed in the end of his nation and resigned from his presidency.
