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Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was the Soviet leader for the beginning part of the cold war, he supervised the development of the first soviet nukes. He was angered when he was shunned by the allied powers. -
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Harry Truman
Harry Truman's Choice to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagisaki plunged the world into the nuclear age we still are in. His choice made one of the Cold wars greatest threats, Global Nuclear war, a real possibility. -
US Dropping first atomic bomb on Hiroshima
The US, to end World War Two with as little casualties possible, dropped the first atomic bomb on hiroshima, kicking off the nuclear age we still are in. -
End of World War II
World War Two ends. Germany is Divided up between the US, UK, and USSR. -
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Cold War
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Soviets Develop Nuclear Bomb
After the US dropped nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the USSR booted up their nuclear program into full effect. They conducted their first successful nuclear test in 1949. They were the second country after the US to develop one. -
Korean War
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The US came to the aid of South Korea. China and the USSR came to the aid of North Korea. It was pointless because nothing was gained or lost, just heavier defenses on the already tense border. -
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Dwight Eisenhower
Eisenhower was the president that had to deal with a lot of the first problems and conflicts of the cold war. He supported and enacted the Berlin airlift. -
NATO and Warsaw Pact formation
After World war two, many western countries banded together and formed NATO. In 1955, the USSR banded together with some of the countries that were under its influence and created the Warsaw Pact, to oppose NATO. This was one of the first major acts of the Cold War. -
Vietnam
The US invaded Vietnam to stop a communist revolution that was happening there. It ended up in the US losing after one of the longest, bloodiest wars we have had. -
Hungarian Rebellion of 1956
A large group of people tried to overthrow the Communist government in Hungary. The rebellion was crushed, but It was a spark in a fire that ended the Soviet Union three decades later. -
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Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro was the most famous Cuban dictator. He ruled over Cuba for the cold war. He was in power during the bay of pigs invasion and was a puppet of the USSR. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
After the USSR moved missiles to Cuba, the U.S was scared that they would launch them. They got a group of Cubans to attack Cuba and land on a beach. They were driven off after two days of battle. The Cubans and the USSR were very frustrated at the U.S and that escalated the cold war even more. -
Berlin Wall
The split between communist east Germany and democratic west Germany went through the center of Berlin. To prevent people from leaving east Germany for the better conditions of west Germany, the east Germans built a wall. The wall was guarded by east German soldiers who shot anyone who tried to cross. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The USSR moved missiles to Cuba, one of its allies. Cuba is extremely close to the US so the US were scared that if the Cuban missiles were launched, the US would have no reaction time. -
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Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon's actions in the Vietnam war made him a disliked president. He inflamed the cold war and make the soviets even more angry. -
SALT I talks and Treaty
The world came together and talked about limiting the number of nuclear weapons they could have, and the limitations on where they could put them. -
SALT II Treaty
SALT II said that the US and USSR could only have the same amount of weapons as one another, but they both ignored that rule and made tons more. It was another step forward and backward in the tension. -
Soviet Afghan War
The Soviets invaded Afghanistan to spread communism to it. It failed and became their "Vietnam" -
Glasnost and Perestroika
Glasnost and Perestroika were policies that were initiated by the USSR to open it up to the US and the world. -
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Mikhail Gorbachev
He was one of the most prominent soviet leaders that helped the cold war de-escalate by the soviets new policies. Glasnost and Perestroika changed the USSR and lead to it's downfall. -
Chernobyl Disaster
On April 26th, one of the nuclear reactors in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. It spewed radiation all over the surrounding countries and really made people doubt in the capabilities of the Soviet Union.
