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An Iron Curtain descends across Europe
The Iron Curtain was an imaginary boundary that split Europe into two sections from the end of World War II in 1945 to the end of the Cold War in 1991. Though not a physical barrier, it was an economic and political one, with most countries in the East being communist and most countries in the West being capitalist. It symbolized the work that the Soviet Union put into blocking itself and its "satellite states" from open contact with the West. -
Berlin Airlift occurs and Czechoslovakia becomes the last Eastern European country to become Communist.
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Creation of East and West Germany
After Germany's defeat in WWII, it was split into four sections controlled by the Soviet Union, the US, the UK, and France. The latter three decided to give their territory back to Germany, becoming West Germany, while the Soviets kept their cut of Germany, becoming East Germany. Stalin, the Soviet leader, wanted to keep Germany divided and weak after WWII so they could not gain power again, specifically since the Soviets suffered great losses due to German invasions in WWI and WWII. -
China comes to the aid of North Korea and forces UN troops to retreat.
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North Korea invades South Korea
The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the Northern Korean People's Army invaded South Korea after tensions between the two had already been building up for five years. North Korea invaded with a coordinated attack targeting several strategic points along the line dividing North and South Korea, the 38th parallel. Communist North Korea wanted to conquer the non-communist Republic of Korea in the south in order to unify Korea under the regime of North Korean communism. -
The Korean War ends with a cease fire and Korea remains divided at the 38th parallel and Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, dies.
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The French lose the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and decide to pull out of Indochina.
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Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier and Austria reunifies under the condition they remain neutral in the Cold War.
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Soviets crush a revolt in Hungary while the West does nothing.
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Sputnik I is launched
On October 4, 1957, Sputnik I, the Earth's first artificial satellite, was launched by the Soviet Union. Americans had hoped that they would accomplish that scientific achievement first, so many were quite surprised when the Soviets successfully launched Sputnik I. Sputnik I was part of the race between the Americans and the Soviets to develop new technology faster. Americans were scared that this instance showed that the US was generally falling behind in developing new technology. -
American U-2 spy plane is shot down by the Soviet Union
An American U-2 spy plane was conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance, far in Soviet territory, on May 1, 1960 when it got shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The spy plane took off from Pakistan, crashed near Yekaterinburg (called Sverdlovsk at the time), and was flown by Francis Gary Powers, an American pilot. The plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, and while the pilot managed to parachute to the ground, he was captured. -
Construction begins on the Berlin Wall and the Bay of Pigs Invasion occurs.
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Cuban Missile Crisis occurs and US increases number of military advisors to South Vietnam to 16,000.
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The Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurs and the United States' Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and Leonid Brezhnev becomes the leader of the Soviet Union.
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President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the first 60,000 ground troops to Vietnam.
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Tet Offensive occurs
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communist) forces launched a coordinated attack against multiple targets in South Vietnam during the Lunar New Year, also called the "Tet," holiday in late January 1968. The South Vietnamese and American militaries suffered serious losses before finally fighting off the communist assault. The Tet Offensive also had a significant role in weakening the support that the Vietnam War had from the US public. -
Détente begins
Détente was a period during the Cold War when the geopolitical tensions between the US and the USSR were generally easing. Détente began in 1969, and it was a major aspect of President Richard Nixon's US foreign policy. Essentially, the Nixon Administration advocated for more dialogue with the Soviet government for the purpose of facilitating negotiations over arms control and other agreements involving both countries. -
United States and North Vietnam agree to a cease fire.
On January 27, 1973, representatives of South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the US went to Paris to sign the Paris Peace Accords (formally called “Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam"). The next morning, a ceasefire was set into motion after the Vietnam War had lasted for 20 years. However, lasting peace wasn't brought to Vietnam, as just two years later, the anti-communist South Vietnamese government fell. -
The last combat troops leave South Vietnam and the nation falls to Communist North Vietnam.
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Soviet-Afghan War begins
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, their neighbor to the south, on Christmas Eve of 1979. The Soviets first "air-dropped" troops into important Afghan cities and then sent motorized divisions across the border. Within a few days after that, the KGB infiltrated the Afghan palace, poisoned the president and his ministers, and installed a puppet leader (Babrak Karmal) as part of the Moscow-backed coup. This all led to an Afghan civil war, which lasted for 9 years. -
Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia, dies and Lech Walesa establishes the Solidarity Movement in Poland.
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Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the leader of the Soviet Union.
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The Soviet Union withdraws troops from Afghanistan, Romanian uprising ousts Nicholae Ceausescu and his wife, and the USSR allows the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.
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Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania declare their independence and East and West Germany reunite under Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
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Soviet republics of Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and more declare independence and Gorbachev resigns and Boris Yeltsin becomes the first president of Russia.
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Czechoslovakia becomes the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Formally on December 31, 1992, Czechoslovakia split into the independent countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This split was fully a self-determined secession from the Federal Republic of Czechoslovakia. The split is also known as the Velvet Divorce, which is a reference to the bloodless "Velvet Revolution" which led to the end of the Communist Party's rule in Czechoslovakia, in 1989.