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Period: to
Cold War
The cold war was a state of political and military tension after WWII. The conflict was between the Soviet Union and the United States. -
Truman Doctorine
The principle that the US would intervene worldwide in order to contain the spread of communism. It was the first open acknowledgement of the cold war. -
Marshall plan
A program of massive aid to rescue Europe from disaster. Aid was offered to all European countries and called them to take the lead in judging their own needs. Although representatives from the Soviet Union met with others to discuss the plan, they withdrew. -
Creation of NATO
Defensive alliance founded in 1949 by ten western European nations, the United States, and Canada to deter Soviet expansion in Europe. -
Korean War
War between South Korea and North Korea. The United stated fought with South Korea and the Soviet union Fought with North Korea. North Korea attacked South Korea. -
Arms Race
A nuclear arms race developed during the Cold War, an intense period between the Soviet Union and the United States. This was one of the main causes that began the cold war. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam war was a Cold War conflict pitting the U.S. and the remnants of the French colonial government in South Vietnam against the indigenous but communist Vietnamese independence movement, the Viet Minh, following the latter's expulsion of the French in 1954. -
Space Race
The space race was a competition between two Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (US), for supremacy in spaceflight capability. -
Launch of Sputnik
Sputnik was the world’s first artificial satellite.
Sputnik traveled around earth at 18,000 miles an hour, circling the globe every 96 minutes -
Bay of pigs invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961, an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, supported by the U.S. government. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over the presence of missile sites in Cuba; one of the “hottest” periods of the cold war.
