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Big 3 at Yalta
Cold War Starts
United Nations founded
Potsdam Conference -
Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill's Speech on March 5th 1946 spoke of the border between Capitalism and Communism in Europe. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” Stalin took this as a declaration of war. -
Truman Doctrine
Idea that US should protect nations from communist Soviet forces. -
Berlin Blockade started
The Soviet Union blocked Western Allies' supplies to Berlin. -
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Founded
Alliance founded after WWII between North American and European democracies. Started with the United States and Canada. After the Berlin Blockade; Belgium, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal also joined. -
Korean War starts
In WWII Japan took over Korea. North of the 38th parallel (Northern and Southern border) was surrendered to Soviets, south of the parallel was surrendered to the United States. North Korea eventually invaded South Korea due to lack of agricultural resources, the war was prolonged by General MacArthur attempting to cross into China once North Korea was taken. -
Truman fires MacArthur
General MacArthur went against orders by crossing into China after taking North Korea, and was asked to resign by President Truman -
Hydrogen bomb exploded in Pacific
This was the first testing of a hydrogen bomb for the United States -
Eisenhower elected President
Eisenhower was elected President in the year 1952 with Richard Nixon as his Vice President who began to make peace with the USSR. -
Stalin Dies - Khrushchev becomes successor
In 1953 Joseph Stalin died due to supposedly a stroke, leaving Nikita Khrushchev leading the USSR. Khrushchev eventually attempted to amend issues with the United States by visiting the US. -
Cease fire in Korean War
All troops in Korea were ordered to cease fire. -
McCarthy Hearings
Hearings were held due to accusations exchanged between Joseph McCarthy and the United States Army. -
Geneva Conference
Conferences were held in Geneva Switzerland to discuss issues in Korea and the possibility of restoring Indochina -
Rebellion in Hungary
In 1956 Hungarian citizens revolted on their communist government. It was known as the first major threat to soviet control. Started by police shooting at a group of protesters. -
Sputnik launched
Soviet Union launched this satellite into low orbit, in order to monitor the world. It also gave scientists some more knowledge about space. -
Cuban Revolution
Fidel and Raul Castro led a revolution on the Cuban government. Once won over the country was turned Communist under the rule of Fidel Castro, and eventually became a threat to the US through the Cuban Missile Crisis. -
U2 incident
The U2 was a spy plane that was sent over the USSR. This particular plane was shot down by Russians, and caused a break in the brief period of peace. Khrushchev, who had been on good terms with the US because of visits to and from the US, now had a reason to be angry at the United States government. -
Berlin Wall built
In 1961 Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall in result of many East Berlin inhabitants moving to West Berlin and tanking the economy. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1962 the US learned that Soviets had placed nuclear missiles and other various military supplies in the hands of Cuba. This caused a big rift between the USA and the USSR because Cuba was close enough to reach the United States with nuclear missiles, and seeing as the US had missiles in Turkey this meant that both of the superpowers had the ability to destroy each other. -
John F. Kennedy is assassinated
On November 22nd 1963 JFK was shot by Jack Ruby.
