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Yalta Confrence
Roosevelt and Churchill discussed with Stalin the conditions under which the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan and all three agreed that, in exchange for needed Soviet participation in the Pacific theater, the Soviets would be granted a sphere of influence in Manchuria following Japan’s surrender. -
Potsdam Confrence
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Harry Truman confirmed plans to disarm and demilitarize Germany, which would be divided into four Allied occupation zones controlled by the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. -
Creation of the Truman Doctrine
President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. -
Berlin Blockade
Stalin imposed the Berlin Blockade, cutting off all land and river transit between West Berlin and West Germany. The Western Allies responded with a massive airlift to help West Berlin. -
Creation of NATO
The foundations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was officially madevon 4 April 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, more commonly known as the Washington Treaty. The Washington Treaty or North Atlantic Treaty forms the basis of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -
Korean War
After five years of simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula, the Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the Northern Korean People's Army invaded South Korea in a coordinated general attack at several strategic points along the 38th parallel, the line dividing communist North Korea from the non-communist Republic of Korea in the south -
Cuban Revolution
Military and political effort to overthrow the government of Cuba. It began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. -
Space Race
Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites, unmanned space probes, and human spaceflight. -
Vietnam War
This war was a long, costly, and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the US. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
Suez Crisis
The Egyptian Government seized control of the Suez Canal from the British and French-owned company that managed it, had important consequences for U.S. relations with both Middle Eastern countries and European allies -
1960 U2 Incident
Hopes for a successful summit were dashed when on May Day, an American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet air space. On the first day of the Paris summit, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stormed out after delivering a condemnation of U.S. spy activities. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
A failed attack launched by the CIA during the Kennedy administration to push Cuban leader Fidel Castro from power. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. The then-president, Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles. He secretly met with his advisors for several days to discuss the problem. -
Chernobyl Disaster
The result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the environment, with the deposition of radioactive materials in many parts of Europe. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
Gorbachev's decision to allow elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratization that eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the end of the Soviet Union.
