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Cold War
a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular.
the state of political hostility that existed between the Soviet bloc countries and the US-led Western powers from (1945 to 1990) -
Iron Curtain
This was the political, military, and ideological barrier brought about by the Soviet Union after WWII to seal of their satellite and dependent European nations from noncommunist areas. Often the Berlin Wall was associated with this idea. The Iron Curtain was no longer in effect after 1991. -
Containment
This is the United States foreign policy that operates on the principle that Communist governments will fall apart if they are kept from spreading their influence. (1945-1952) -
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Major Events during the Cold War
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Marshall Plan
An American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave $13 billion (approximately $130 billion in current dollar value as of August 2015) in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. -
Berlin Airlift
The U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin. The Berlin airlift was important because it prevented West Berlin from falling into the control of the Soviet Union after World War II. The Soviet Union was blockading the parts of Berlin that were occupied and administered by the United States, Great Britain and France. -
NATO forms
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
The U.S. negotiators felt there was more to be gained from enlarging the new treaty to include the countries of the North Atlantic. Together, these countries held territory that formed a bridge between the opposite shores of the Atlantic Ocean, which would facilitate military action if it became necessary. -
Korean War Starts
Began when some 75,000 soldiers from the NorthKorean People's Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south.This war encouraged McCarthyism. North of the 38th parallel became Communist, while South Koreawas the province of a nationalist, anti-communist government. -
US H-bomb
The United States detonates the world’s first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb. It was the first Hydrogen bomb ever created. The Soviet Union exploded a thermonuclear device the following year and by the late 1970s, seven nations had constructed hydrogen bombs. The nuclear arms race had taken a fearful step forward. -
Hydrogen Bomb
an immensely powerful bomb whose destructive power comes from the rapid release of energy during the nuclear fusion of isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium), using an atom bomb as a trigger. (Before the Hydrogen bomb Slide) -
Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact was a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. The treaty called on the member states to come to the defense of any member attacked by an outside force and it set up a unified military command under Marshal Ivan S. Konev of the Soviet Union.The Warsaw Pact remained intact until 1991.. In 1990, East Germany left the Pact and reunited with West Germany; the reunified Germany then became a member of NATO. -
Soviets Launch Sputnik
The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. -
Sputnik
The Sovet Union successfully launched the first atificial satellite into orbit. -
Berlin Wall
the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic began to build a barbed wire and concrete wall between East and West Berlin. It primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. This Berlin Wall was significant to lives of many people through many ways. It was the center of the lives of every persons living in Germany. Many families were separated by the Wall and died trying to get over it. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. However, disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba and remove US missles from Turkey. -
Détente
The easing of hostility or strained relations, especially between countries -
Salt 1 Agreement is Signed
Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger negotiated with the Soviet Union and came to an agreement called the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT). This agreement ensured that the US and Soviet Union would limit the number of nuclear missiles in their arsenal. -
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He was known for the deaths of many of his own citizens. Those who opposed him here often executed, and he is responsible for invading Iran and Kuwait along with being in conflict with the US. -
Perestroika
This is the Soviet Union policy of reforming the ecominic and political system. This policy began with Mikhail Gorbachev, and within 5 years many communist governments in Europe collapsed. (1985-1991) -
Mikhail Gorbachev Comes to Power
Mikhail Gorbachev was elected general secretary of the communist party in 1985, and the Soviet Union hoped that Gorbachev’s youthful energy and enthusiasm would bring positive change. -
al Qaeda
a radical Sunni Muslim organization dedicated to the elimination of a Western presence in Arab countries and militantly opposed to Western foreign policy: founded by Osama bin Laden in 1988 -
Major Arms Control Agreement is reached
The United States and Soviet Union agreed to eliminate their intermediate-ranged and short-range, ground-launched and cruise missiles. -
Iron Curtain begins to crumble in Europe
The Berlin wall was the symbolic iron curtain in Eastern Europe, and it was taken down in late 1989. The Soviet Union loosened their grasp on their satellite nations as many countries turned away from Communism and went their own paths. -
Soviet Union Collapses
Many Soviet Republics (including Ukraine and Armenia) declared their independence from the USSR and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States. Gorbachev’s radical reforms also aided to the fall of the Soviet Union. -
European Union is Established
The Maastricht Treaty was signed by Western European nations, and it called for greater economic integration, common foreign and security policies, cooperation between security authorities, and establishment of the European currency: the euro. -
Al Qaeda Attacks the United States
Members of Al Qaeda hijacked 4 planes and flew into the pentagon and World Trade Center in New York on September 11. Over 3,000 people were killed including over 400 officers and firefighters. This attack triggered many US initiatives to combat terrorism. -
United States Invades Iraq
The United States including coalition forces invade Iraq in an attempt to “free its people and to defend the world from grave danger”. President Bush and his advisors claimed that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein went into hiding shortly after the US invasion and occasionally talked to his people through audio tapes.
