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Yalta Conference
Meeting between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin to decide what would happen at the end of WWII. Topics discussed included the partitioning of Germany, the fate of Poland, the United Nations and German reparations. The Yalta Conference helped lead to the Cold War by giving the Soviet Union control over Eastern Europe. This led to the Cold War because it made the West feel that the USSR was bent on expanding communism. -
Truman Doctrine
The principle that the US should give support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or communist insurrection. It was first expressed in 1947 by US President Truman in a speech to Congress seeking aid for Greece and Turkey. It has defined how we approach foreign intervention. It argues that failing to secure the stability and welfare for people around the world means endangering the the stability and welfare of the free world. -
Marshall Plan
This U.S. sponsored program that was designed to rehabilitate the economies of 17 European countries channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. It was instrumental to helping European countries recover and defend themselves against communist powers. -
Berlin Airlift
A military operation in the late 1940s that brought food and other needed goods into West Berlin by air after the government of East Germany, which at that time surrounded West Berlin with the Berlin Wall, had cut off its supply routes. The Berlin airlift was considered a symbol of the Cold War because the Berlin airlift represented the division between the soviet union and its allies amongst the communist nations and the United States and the capitalist - democratic west. -
NATO Formed
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation formed with member states Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States was created to provide security against the Soviet Union. In accordance with the Treaty, the role of NATO is to safeguard the freedom and security of its member countries by political and military means. NATO is playing an increasingly important role in crisis management and peacekeeping. -
Death of Stalin
Joseph Stalin, who had ruled the Soviet Union since 1928, died at the age of 73. Nikita Khrushchev then became first secretary of the Communist Party. Stalin's death led to a temporary thaw in Cold War tensions. Austria regained its sovereignty and became an independent, neutral nation. Khrushchev denounced Stalin and his policies at the 20th Communist Party conference. In early 1956, Khrushchev called for "peaceful coexistence" between the East and West. -
The Geneva Conference
The Conference began on April 26, 1954, with negotiations continuing until July 21, 1954. The Geneva Accords were comprised of ten separate documents that outlined military agreements, declarations from the parties present, and a plan for elections in Vietnam. This set of documents ended the French war with the Vietminh and divided Vietnam into North and South states. The communist leader of North Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh while the US friendly south was led by Ngo Dinh Diem. -
Warsaw Pact
It was formed with member states East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. It was the Communist counteraction to NATO. The Warsaw Pact came to be seen as quite a potential militaristic threat, as a sign of Communist dominance, and a definite opponent to American capitalism. The signing of the pact became a symbol of Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. -
Beginning of Vietnam War
A 20 year long protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war killed an estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians, 1.1 million North Vietnamese troops, 200,000 South Vietnamese troops, and 58,000 U.S. troops. The Communists in North Vietnam actually signed a peace treaty, effectively surrendering, but the U.S. Congress did not hold up its end of the bargain. -
Suez Crisis
Following military bombardment by Israeli forces, a joint British and French force invaded Egypt to regain control of the Suez Canal which had been nationalised by the Egyptian leader Nasser. The attack was heavily criticised by World leaders, especially America because Russia had offered support to Egypt. The British and French were forced to withdraw and a UN peace keeping force was sent to establish order. This event showed America's overall influence and power over other nations. -
Beginning of the Korean War
This war began when the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded non-Communist South Korea. As Kim Il-sung's North Korean army, armed with Soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea, the United States came to South Korea's aid. By 1950, a loss to communism anywhere was thought of as a loss everywhere. Under Truman, military expenditure increased rapidly, laying the foundations for the so-called military industrial complex that existed throughout the Cold War. -
Sputnik Launch
Each of a series of Soviet artificial satellites, the first of which was the first satellite to be placed in orbit. This successful launch of a satellite served to intensify the arms race and raise Cold War tensions. The Space Race went into overdrive as ten Soviet Union and US realized how important rocket research would be to the military. This support of space research led to the creation of NASA and eventually getting men on the moon. -
U-2 Incident
An international diplomatic crisis erupted when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. Khrushchev called to attention Eisenhower’s lies to the public, resulting in Eisenhower receiving backlash. The incident derailed an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month as well as grew tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
A left-wing revolution in Cuba had ended in 1959 with the ouster of President Fulgencia Batista and the establishment of a new government under Premier Fidel Castro. A force of Cuban exiles, trained by the CIA, aided by the US government attempted to invade Cuba and overthrow the Communist government of Fidel Castro. The attempt failed. It also led to a reassessment of Cuba policy by the Kennedy administration. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the presence of missile sites in Cuba. Khrushchev saw an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the Soviet Union and Castro's Cuba and make good its promise to defend Cuba from the United States. Kennedy and Khrushchev compromise to remove Russian missiles from Cuba in exchange for a promise from the United States to respect Cuba's territorial sovereignty and the removal of American missiles in Turkey.
