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Potsdam Conference
Harry S. Truman, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill came together in Potsdam, Germany to discuss European post war issues and the ongoing problems with Japan. The United States had dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, four days after the conference had concluded. Stalin went back on his word and decided to not let any of the countries be free. These countries were meant to be and needed to be a buffer zone. -
Formation of the United Nations
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. Representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington to sign the Declaration of the United Nations, -
Vietnam War
It began as a determined attempt by Communist guerrillas in the South, backed by Communist North Vietnam, to overthrow the government of South Vietnam.The Paris Peace Accord was signed in 1973 which officially ended the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Then April 30, 1975 the Fall of Saigon occurred which had ended the Vietnam War. When it was all said and done Vietnam had reunited into a communist country. -
Iron Curtain descends on Europe
The Iron Curtain divides the countries of the West influenced by the US and capitalism, from the countries of the east who are influenced by the USSR and comunism.Both sides of the Iron Curtain are completely isolated from the other sides, and have no interaction with the other side -USSR wanted to isolate itself from the influence of the US and capitalism -
Truman Doctrine
This was a policy set forth by U.S. President Harry S Truman. This speech stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere.He also stated that the Doctrine would be "the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed." -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan is a program that had provided about thirteen billion dollars to aid European countries that were destroyed by World War II. This plan that the president of the United States Harry S. Truman had signed, had saved the United States from another falling economy. The Marshall Plan was also one of the reasons the Berlin Wall was raised between Eastern and Western Europe. -
Creation of Israel
After World War II the information of the Holocaust created support for Jews and part of Palestine was given to create Israel as a homeland for Jews under the United Nation's decree, but resistance from Palestine caused them to be kicked out of their homeland. -
Berlin Airlift
This was one of the first international crisis of the cold war. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, this would be giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city. As a result, President Harry S. Truman ordered a direct military response to have airplanes land in West Berlin to provide the necessities of life to the people of West Berlin. -
Fromation of NATO
NATO or North Atlantic Treaty Organization founded. The member states of NATO are the two North American countries of Canada and the United States along with 26 countries in Europe. This made a pact within the members that they would offer protection to other members upon being attacked. -
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT was meant to stop the arms race by getting everyone to stop making nuclear weapons and disarm the ones they have. It was one of the first efforts to end the cold war. (to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy) -
Korean War
The Korean War was a military conflict between South Korean who was supported by the United States and North Korean who was supported by the People's Republic of China. After the Japanese surrender in WWII the Korean Peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel. North Korean formed a communist nation and the US backed the South against communism. The North invaded the South starting a war on the -
Stalin Dies
Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. There are many theories as to how he died. One of which being, he was poisoned. Their was alot of people who disliked him so nobody really knows what happened to him. -
Warsaw Pact Formed
This was the treaty between Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Soviet Union. It is sometimes referred to as the "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance". Soviets used the pact to manipulate and take advantage. -
Suez Crisis
Nasser had the Suez Canal nationalized. He was supported by the Soviet Union arms and money. He was also angry with the United States because they did not follow through with the promise of funds for the Aswan Dam on the Nile River. The British troops had troops in this area so it angered them and as a result they had Israel and France join them in an invasion to take back the canal. -
Sputnik I & Sputnik II
The Sputnik satellites were launched by Russia. The first one was the first satellite ever sent into orbit around earth. The second Sputnik had also been put into orbit but it had contained a dog inside of it. These events had stopped the race to space but had started the race to the moon. -
NASA is formed
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was passed by the United States Congress. This establishment was the sign that the Soviet Union was not alone in the space race. Even though the soviets had sent two satellites successfully into orbit around the earth, the United States was determined to beat them on the next thing on the space race list, obtaining the goal of having a man on the moon. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Even though he was warned that this invasion would be an embarrassment for the United States, he still continued the order. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed attempted put in by the Kennedy administration of CIA-trained Cuban Exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro. This again did not lead to great relations with Cuba or the Soviets. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall separated East and West Berlin. Around midnight East German soldiers had placed 30 miles of a barbed wire barrier to prevent East German citizens from crossing the border into West Germany mainly through Berlin. Over time the barbed wire was replaced with a cement wall with barbed wire surrounding the top of the wall and was guarded around the clock with soldiers in watch towers who had access to machine guns and explosives. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union was installing several nuclear missiles under 100 miles away from the coast line of Florida. President Kennedy found out about how close the nuclear weapons were to the United States and ordered that the Soviet Union remove the missiles from Cuba. Since both countries would not compromise, there was a threat of World War III occurring which would have been a nuclear war. The threat lasted for about two weeks which was around the time that the United States and the Soviet Union. -
Kennedy is Assassinated
Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas He was fatally shot by a sniper while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, in a presidential motorcade, open top vechicle -
USS Pueblo Incident
The USS Pueblo was on the North Korean coast while preforming its routine surveillance when it was captured by North Korean patrol boats even though they were about 16 miles from shore line. They were charged with spying within the 12 mile territory limit. After exactly eleven months of torture and one death, the remaining 82 crew members were freed from their captivity and were home just in time for the holidays. -
Salt I & Salt II Agreements
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks refers to two rounds of bilateral talks and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union - the Cold War superpowers - on the issue of armament control. There were two rounds of talks and agreements: SALT I and SALT II. Negotiations commenced in Helsinki, Finland, in 1969. SALT I led to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an interim agreement between the two powers. -
UN Resolution 2758
The US formally announced the "two China" policy, supporting admission of the People's Republic of China into the UN. Taiwan got US' back. However, the resolution, passed in October 25, 1971, recognized PRC as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations" and expelled ROC, which unlawfully occupied as a member of UN. -
Nixion vistis China
On February 21st, 1972, Nixon visited China and met Mao Zedong in Beijing, China. Nixon went to China to have a neutral friendship between the US and the Peoples Republic of China. This marked the first time a US president visited the PRC. -
Paris Peace Accords
Paris Peace Accords intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam. It was the peace agreement that ended the U.S. involment in the war. It temporarily ended war. -
South Vietnam falls
North Vietnam performs a full scale invasion of the South and takes control of the South.The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnamon. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
Was a group of Iranian students that stormed into the American Embassy in Tehran taking 66 hostages. Over the course of the crisis 14 people had been released, while the other hostages were blindfolded and paraded in front of cameras and crowds. They weren’t allowed to read or speak and they were almost never allowed to change their clothes. -
USSR invades Afghanistan
Before the Soviet Union invaded, a coup d'etat attempted to spread the beliefs of marxism in Afghanistan. This caused many uprisings because the majority of people did not agree with that type of government. The Soviet Union then invaded Afghanistan to stop their protests and maintain the communist government. They also wanted to gain access to the Indian ocean and the resources of Afghanistan. In response, the U.S. covertly supplied Afghans with weapons to use against the Soviet troops. -
U.S. & Soviet boycotts of the Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott of the Moscow Olympics was a part of a package of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. It preceded the 1984 Summer Olympics boycott carried out by the Soviet Union and other Communist-friendly countries. -
Korean Airline Flight 007
Killing two hundred sixty nine passengers and crewmembers of Flight 007, the Soviet Union had shot down the airplane because the plane began to go off course and over the Kamchatka Peninsula where there were some top-secret military bases that the Soviet Union had owned. -
U.S. invades Grenada
U.S. forces invade the Caribbean island of Grenada in an attempt to overthrow the Marxist military government, expel Cuban troops, and abort the construction of a Soviet-funded airstrip.The U.S invaded Grenada. 1,800 U.S soldiers were administered; 300 soldiers from 6 various Caribbean countries was also sent. -
Iran Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or the Iran–Contra scandal, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, the subject of an arms embargo. Some U.S. officials also hoped that the arms sales would secure the release of several hostages and allow U.S. intelligence agencies to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. -
Chernobyl Diaster
A group of engineers, their experiment failed and a chemical explosion of more than fifty tons of radioactive material went into the atmosphere, where it was carried by the currents in the air. Attempting to cover up the accident, Soviet authorities began to quickly and quietly evacuate the civilians of Pripyat. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Student demonstrations against military action to enforce martial law in Bejing China. The military shot at the crowd using deadly force causing thousands of causualties. The government at first condemned the protestors but then condemned the military action. This was the largest scale ation and bloodshead in the history of Bejing -
Dissolving of the Soviet Union
Once the Soviet Union collapsed, the Soviet Union was divided into fifteen separate countries due to lack of freedom, democracy, and capitalism. This event had ended the Cold War. Mikhail Gorbachev had also resigned as president of the Soviet Union on this day.
