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Yalta conference
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Marshall Plan signed
The Marshall Plan was a bill that was supposed to help rebuild Europe's economy after World War II. It was largely successful. -
Berlin Airlift started
Starting in 1948, the Soviet forces in Germany attempted ot cut off all supplies to West Berlin, so Allied forces dropped supplies in by airplane, causing them to lift the bloackade. -
NATO formed
NATO was a treaty signed by most of the Allied nations. -
USSR Atomic bomb test
The Soviet Union tested its first nucleur bomb on this date. It was very surprising to the US because tehy were the only ones who had the atomic bomb at this point. -
Nikita Kruschev comes to power
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East German uprising
The East German uprising was an uprising in East Germany that was surpressed by the Soviet forces. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a organization between the Central and Eastern European Communist states. -
Hungarian uprising
The Hungarian uprising was a revolt against the Soviet policies of the Hungarian government. It failed in bringing down the Communist government of Hungary, but still had a large impact. -
Polish uprising
The Polish uprising was an uprising in Poland in 1956. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the first manmade satelite launched into space. It was launched by the Soviet Union, which prompted the space race. -
U2 incident
In the U2 incident, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by Soviet Union. -
Korean War begins
The Korean War was signifigant to the Cold War because it statrted a predecent of the United States taking action to prevent Communism from spreading. -
Rosenberg spy case
The Rosenberg spy case was the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, two American spies for the Soviet Union. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
Bay of Pigs invasion was an invasion by the US that attempted to overthrow Castro, but ended up failing. The invasion ended up strengthening Castro's position, instead. -
Berlin Wall built
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Cuban missile crisis
During the Cuban Missile crsis, Nikita Khrushchev attemped to move some nuclear missiles to Cuba, in order to give the Soviet Union an advantage if nuclear weapons ended up being used. The US then created military bloackade and demanded that the weapons be returned to the USSR, which was what happened. -
Korean War ends
At this point, the United States pulled out of Korea. The outcome of the Korean War was difficult to ascertain, because while Communism hadn't spread, it hadn't been pushed back, either. -
Prague Spring
Prague Spring was a series of reforms in an attempt to make Czechoslovakia more free. -
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in order to secure some more area in Asia. When Gorbachev came to power, he attempted to end the war by sending more troops, but eventually just ended the war and withdrew the troops when that failed. -
Lech Walesa organizes trade union Solidarity
Solidarity was the first Polish non-Communist trade union in a country that was in the Warsaw Pact. -
Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power
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Berlin Wall falls
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German reunification