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US Uses Atomics Bombs On Japan to End WWll
during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion immediately killed an estimated 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. -
Truman Doctrine
Clearly aimed at stopping the spread of Communism, the Truman Doctrine positioned the United States as the defender of a free world in the face of Soviet aggression. ... This new doctrine provided a legitimate basis for the United States' activism during the Cold War. -
Berlin Blockade And Airlift
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. -
USSR Tests First Nuclear Weapon
The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, known in the West as Joe-1, on Aug. 29, 1949, at Semipalatinsk Test Site, in Kazakhstan. -
Korean War
The Korean War was an important development in the Cold War because it was the first time that the two superpowers , the United States and the Soviet Union, had fought a 'proxy war ' in a third country. The proxy war or 'limited war ' strategy would be a feature of other Cold War conflicts, for example the Vietnam War. -
Vietnam War
The bloody conflict had its roots in French colonial rule and an independence movement driven by communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Vietnam was a battleground in the Cold War, when the United States and Soviet Union grappled for world domination. By war's end, North and South Vietnam would be reunited, but at great cost. -
Sputnik
The fact that the Soviets were successful fed fears that the U.S. military had generally fallen behind in developing new technology. As a result, the launch of Sputnik served to intensify the arms race and raise Cold War tensions. -
USSR Tests The Largest Nuclear Weapon Ever Built.
the Soviet Union tested the largest nuclear device ever created. The "Tsar Bomba," as it became known, was 10 times more powerful than all the munitions used during World War II. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
Significance. The Cuban missile crisis was arguably the 'hottest' point of the Cold War. It was the closest the world has come to war between the US and USSR, nuclear war and annihilation. It was also a classic example of Cold War brinkmanship. -
Russians Invade Afghanistan
The increased Soviet defense spending and the war in Afghanistan combined with a moribund economy forced the Soviets to make difficult decisions. ... Ultimately, the Afghan invasion and the renewed confrontation with the west it caused led to the fall of communism in not only Russia but throughout Europe.