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Joseph Stalin
Became Soviet dictator in 1926. By 1927, he began a massive effort to industrialize the country. He had modernized the USSR with a 5 year plan, but he did not tolerate opposition to his rule. His efforts brought 10 million deaths, most were peasants who resisted communist policies. He may have been a determined leader who brought the USSR into being a world superpower, but his dictatorship killed MANY. Died in 1953 -
United Nations
This organization is an implement for lasting world peace. The U.N. is an evolved version of the League of Nations. The United Nations formed after WWII in an effort to continue the idea of having many nations working together for the greater good of the human race. -
Harry S. Truman
ruman came to presidency following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. As Vice-President, it was his job to overtake the position and responsibilities of the President. Truman had to make pivotal decisions early in his career as he inherited a country at war. -
Containment
The policy of containment was made to hault the spread of communism throughout the United States. This was a response to the Soviet Union's several attempts to spread communism. -
Truman Doctrine
U.S. vs Communism.
US helps Greek government fight communist rebels.
US is fighting communism worldwide. -
Marshall Plan
Gave the US momentary support to help rebuild the economies in Europe at the end of WW2, in order to prevent communism. George Marshall wanted to to help Europe recover, because it would also help the US economy. June 5th, 1947 the European states that had signed the Marshall Plan started getting benefits from it. -
Berlin Airlift
This was in response to Soviet troops cutting off all road and rail traffic to West Berlin. The American commander in Germany, General Lucius Clay, warned that if Berlin fell, West Germany would too. In June of 1948, Truman the Berlin Airlift to begin. The goal was to keep West Berlin alive without provoking war with the Soviets. For 11 months, cargo planes brought over 2 million tons of supplies, providing Berliners with food, medicine, and coal. Stalin lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949. -
NATO
An alliance between U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Iceland.
Soviet Russia was alarmed and created Warsaw Pact in response. -
Mao Zedong
Zedong was a Communist leader in China who struggled against the Nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-Shek since the 1920's. They stopped their civil war during World War ll to work together to prevent Japanese occupation but resumed it again after. To prevent a Communist revolution in China the U.S. gave $2,000,000 in aid but they squandered it and Communism rose and in 1949 Zedong formed the People's Republic of China. -
Korean War
Soviet supported North Korea invaded American backed South Korea. The fighting went back and forth across 38th parallel before an armistice agreement was settled on in 1953. It showed the rising tensions between the USSR and the US and brought the Cold War to Asia. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower was instated as president after Truman with a campaign promising an anti-communist policy greater than that of Truman. Eisenhower negotiated a peace treaty with Korea, ending the Korean war, and covertly began Soviet interventions within friendly countries. -
Warsaw Pact
A mutual defense treaty between eight Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. The treaty was established under the initiative of the Soviet Union in Warsaw. -
Vietnam War
The U.S. supported South Vietnam fought against the communist North Vietnam in an attempt to stop the spread of communism. The US used air superiority and artillery while the north vietnamese used conventional guerilla tactics. The U.S. eventually pulled out of the war.It was a major battle against the spread of communism and a very costly war. North Vietnam ultimately took control of South Vietnam after the peace agreement on April 30th, 1975 -
Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet leader by 1956, after Stalin. He had attacked Stalin's policies and insisted there were other ways to build a Communist society. Started the "de-Stalinization" process in Soviet Union. Also it was his idea to place missiles in Cuba, but agreed to take them down when the US found them. The CMC weakened his political position. -
Joseph McCarthy
McCarthy exploited American paranoia for his own gain.
He accused his enemies of being communists with vague and unfounded charges.
His reign ended when Welch asked him
"Have you left no sense of decency?" -
John F. Kennedy
35th. President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his death in 1963. President Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American confrontations with the Soviet Union, manifested by proxy contests in the early stage of the Cold War. In 1961, Kennedy anxiously anticipated a summit with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. One of his first presidential acts, Kennedy asked Congress to create the Peace Corps. -
Berlin Wall
It is the infamous wall that separated East Germany from West Germany. East Germany built the wall to prevent mass emigration and defection. Nicknamed "The Iron Curtain". -
Cuban Missile Crisis
After the Bay of Pigs crisis in Cuba, the soviets made the decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to stop more attempts from the U.S. to overthrow them. In October spy planes found and took photos of the long range missiles being built. Immediately, President Kennedy declared they would put a quarantine n the delivery of weapons to Cuba, Krushchev and Kennedy came to the agreement that the Soviets would take their weapons out of Cuba and the U.S. would not invade. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
36th president of the United States.
Became president after JFK died.
He helped Medicare and public broadcasting. President during Vietnem War.
Made "War on Poverty" and Gun Contol Act of 68.
Created Great Society laws. -
Ronald Reagan
Was the 40th president and was president when the cold war ended. By the early 1980s, many people in the US perceived that the USSR military capabilities were gaining on that of the United States. Previously, the U.S. had relied on the qualitative superiority of its weapons to essentially frighten the Soviets, but the gap had been narrowed. Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, this would lead to reform and the end of Communism. Spoke -
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Soviet Union and instated a series of changes. Beginning with glasnost (freedom of speech) and perestroika (restructuring of the economy), Later, Gorbachev ended the arms race with America as he realized it was an unwinnable dispute, and a drain on government funds. -
Iran Contra Scandal
Reagan illegaly supported rebels in the Middle East.
Oliver North sent arms to rebels in Iran.
It ruined Reagan's reputation. -
George H. W. Bush
- He was the 41th President of the US
- Bush responded to than Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait creating a national coalition and leading a military strike to drive Hussein out of the oil-rich country.
- His handling of the invasion in Kuwait is largely viewed as his greatest presidential success.
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Fall of Berlin Wall
- Many people died when they tried to escape from the West Germany to the East Germany
- It separated Berlin [Germany] in 2 parts. The east Germany was a part of Russia [communists]
- After the WW II. Germany was separated in few parts (east, west) -The two parts of the city were physically divided in 1961 with the construction of the Berlin Wall, the most visible expression of the Cold War. -The result was the End of communism in Germany,end of Russians in Germany and other European states
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Collapse of the Soviet Union
Eastern Europe began abandoning Communism
August 1991- Coup Established that overthrew government
Coup collapsed, so Gorbachev came back, and all of the Soviet Republics declared their independence from the Soviet Union
December 1991- Gorbachev announced the end of the Soviet Union, where most joined a federation called the “Commonwealth of the Independent States”
