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Russian Revolution
The peasants and working class of Russia revolted against the Tsarist autocracy. Their leader, Vladimir Lenin. and the Bholsheviks (revolutionaries) fought for the rise of the communist government, a.k.a the Soviet Union. -
Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain is the boundary dividing Europe into two separate ares. Symbolized the efforts of the Soviet Union to block itself and the states it controlled from open contact with the West and non-Soviet-controlled areas. -
Potsdam Conference
A conference called to decide how to administer the surrender of Nazi Germany. The participants were the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom. -
Atomic Bomb - Hiroshima/Nagasaki
President Truman ordered the bombing of these two Japanese cities towards the end of WW2. -
Molotov Plan
This system was created by the Soviet Union in order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union. -
Truman Doctrine
An American foreign policy created to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion. It later became the foundation of American foreign policy, and led, in 1949, to the formation of NATO, a military alliance that is still in effect. -
Hollywood 10
An American 16mm short documentary film. Directed by John Berry. -
Marshall Plan
An American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. -
Berlin Blockade
One of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During World War II the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. -
Berlin Airlift
The United States and United Kingdom airlifted food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany. -
Alger Hiss Case
Alger Hiss, a government official was accused of being a Soviet spy. He was also convicted of perjury later on in 1950. -
Soviet Bomb Test
The classified research and development program in the Soviet Union to developed the feasibility of nuclear weapons during World War II. This program was authorized by Joseph Stalin. -
NATO
An intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European states based on the North Atlantic Treaty. -
Korean War
Began when North Korea invaded South Korea.The United Nations, with the United States, came to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance. -
Rosenberg Trial
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were US citizens who were executed after being convicted of committing espionage for the Soviet Union. They were accused of selling the United State's top secret plans for building a nuclear bomb to the Soviet Union. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
Was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. -
Geneva Conference
A conference among several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, in order to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina. -
Army - McCarthy Hearings
A series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations. -
Warsaw Pact
A collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. It the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the regional economic organization for the communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. -
Hungarian Revolution
A nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies. -
U2 Incident
A United States U-2 spy plane was shot down while in Soviet airspace when is was performing photographic aerial reconnaissance. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
A failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506. -
Berlin Wall
A guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet missile deployment in Cuba. -
Assassination of Diem
The assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm marked the culmination of a successful CIA-backed coup d'état led by General Dương Văn Minh. -
Assassination of JFK
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while riding in a motorcade in Dealey Plaza. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
AuthorizedPresident Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
A gradual and sustained aerial bombardment campaign conducted by the U.S. 2nd Air Division, U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force l against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. -
Tet Offensive
Tet Offensive was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, it was launched by the Viet Cong. This campaign was made up of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. -
Assassination of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American clergyman and civil rights leader who was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. -
Assassination of RFK
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, shortly after winning the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election, and died the next day while hospitalized. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
A joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by four Warsaw Pact nations – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland. -
Riots of Democratic Convention
The primary cause of the demonstrations and the riots during the 1968 Chicago convention was opposition to the Vietnam War. -
Election of Nixon
Former Vice President Richard Nixon, won the election over the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. -
Kent State
The Kent State shootings were the shootings of unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, by members of the Ohio National Guard. -
Nixon Visits China
President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and China. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
President Richard Nixon ordered a ceasefire of the aerial bombings in North Vietnam. -
Fall of Saigon
The capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. -
Reagan Elected
Reagan, the 33rd Governor of California, announced his candidacy for President of the United States in New York City. -
SDI Announced
A proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear weapons. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
Meeting in Geneva, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev produced no important agreements. However, the meeting boded well for the future, as the two men engaged in long, personal talks and seemed to develop a sincere and close relationship. -
'Tear This Wall Down' Speech
A speech made by US President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
During the night of November 9, 1989, crowds of Germans began dismantling the Berlin Wall—a barrier that for almost 30 years had symbolized the Cold War division of Europe.
