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The Truman Doctrine
was an international relations policy set forth by the U.S. President Harry Truman in a speech which stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere. -
The Marshall Plan
Was the American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism. -
Berlin Airlift
It was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. Organized by the Western Allies in order to carry supplies to people in West Berlin in response to the blocking of their trade routes by the Soviet Union. -
Soviet Union gets the Atomic Bomb
Was a top secret research and development program begun during World War II, in the wake of the Soviet Union's discovery of the American, British, and Canadian nuclear project. -
Communist Revolution of China
was the culmination of the Chinese Communist Party's drive to power since its founding in 1921 and the second part of Chinese Civil War. -
Korean War
Was a war between the Republic of Korea (South Korea), supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), at one time supported by China and the Soviet Union. It was primarily the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. -
Execution of the Rosenbergs
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951, are put to death in the electric chair. The execution marked the dramatic finale of the most controversial espionage case of the Cold War. -
Army-McCarthy Hearings
A series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations between April 1954 and June 1954. The hearings were held for the purpose of investigating conflicting accusations between the United States Army and Senator Joseph McCarthy. -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. -
Launch of Sputnik
The Soviet Union inaugurates the "Space Age" with its launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for "satellite," was launched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from the Tyuratam launch base in the Kazakh Republic. -
Kitchen Debate
was a series of impromptu exchanges between then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow. For the exhibition, an entire house was built that the American exhibitors claimed anyone in America could afford. It was filled with labor-saving and recreational devices meant to represent the fruits of the capitalist American consumer market. -
U-2 Incident
was precipitated during the Cold War during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower and during the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union. -
Building of the Berlin Wall
It was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Berlin Wall was officially referred to as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart", implying that neighbouring West Germany had not been fully de-Nazified. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Was a 13-day confrontation in October 1962 between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other side. The crisis is generally regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict and is also the first documented instance of mutual assured destruction being discussed as a determining factor in a major international arms agreement. -
SALT Treaties
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks were 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. The two rounds of talks and agreements were SALT I and SALT II. -
Miracle on Ice
is the name in American popular culture for a medal-round men's ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York. The United States national team, made up of amateur and collegiate players and led by coach Herb Brooks, defeated the Soviet Union national team, which had won the gold medal in six of the seven previous Olympic games. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased.
