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Formation of the USSR
On this date, the USSR was officially formed, and a factor of the Cold War was born. -
WWII Ends
The end of the Second World War brought on the Cold War because the US and Russia disagreed on how post-war Europe should be rebuilt. This lead to the seperation of Berlin into East and West Berlin. -
George F. Kennan's "Long Telegram"
Around the time that the second World War ended, American authority agreed that the best solution against Communism was to stop its expansion and contain it. George F. Kennan wrote the famous "Long Telegram" to explain the policy, which was adopted not long after. -
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Senator Joseph McCarthy
Jospeh McCarthy was a US Senator from Wisconsin, who was infamous for his claims of numerous Soviet spies and communists inside the US. He also used these claims on his opponents, which lead to his condemnation by the Congress on December 2nd, 1954. -
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The Korean War
This was the first armed conflict of the Cold War. The peninsula of Korea was split in two after WWII ended. North Korea then adopted communism, while South Korea adopted capitalism. Tensions rose between the two halves until 1950, when the North invaded South Korea on June 25. Not long after, the US provided the South with military support, and it escalated into a full-scale war. Both sides reached a stalemate after 3 years, and the war remains low-scale to this day. -
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The Vietnam War
This war was a long conflict between the combined force of the USA and South Vietnam and the Viet Cong, or North Vietnam. To the US, the war was a part of the plan in fighting international communism and preventing expansion of the form of government. After several years of fighting, however, the US pulled its troops out of Vietnam and ended military involvement on April 15, 1973, allowing the Viet Cong to unite Vietnam. -
Sputnik
On this date, a Soviet ICBM launched Sputnik into space, starting the infamous Space Race of the 1960s. -
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The Space Race
The Space Race was a race between the US and the USSR to show which country had better technology. -
Explorer 1
This became the first American sattelite in space, and is what really began the infamous Space Race. -
Formation of NASA
NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was formed on this day. The organization was formed to combat the Soviets in the Space Race of the 1960s. -
First Man in Outer Space
The Soviet Union took a giant step forward in the Space Race when on this day, the Russian Yuri Gagarin entered outer space, becoming the first human to do so. -
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The Bay of Pigs Invasion
Backed by the CIA, Cuban exiles and the United States unsuccessfully invaded southern Cuba in hope of overthrowing communistic dicator Fidel Castro. -
First American in Space
It wasn't until a while later that the US finally caught up to the Soviets in the Space Race by launching their own man into space, Alan B. Shepard Jr. -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
After an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Cuban government by the US, the Soviets began to build missiles and warheads with the ability to strike most of the US. On October 14, 1962, however, a US spy plane crossing over Cuba caught a photo of Soviet missile bases under construction. The US decided to create a blockade that disabled the ability for the USSR to ship weapons to Cuba. After a compromise on October 28, 1962, the Soviets and took apart the missile bases, and the US left Cuba. -
Lunar Landing
American astronaut Neil Armstrong lands on the moon, ending the Space Race and winning it for the Americans. -
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War reaches Afghanistan
This conflict between the Soviet Union and the Afghan Mujahideen eventually ended with the Soviet Union withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan. The conflict lasted for 9 years and 53 days. -
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Premier Mikhail Gorbachev
Head of State of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, this man was the last Soviet leader before its collapse. He introduced two new policies which reshaped Russia's social status. These two policies were "glasnost", which stood for political openness, and "perestroika", which stood for economic reform. During his term in office, the Berlin wall was destroyed, and the other communist countries became noncommunist. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
On this date, the East German government, originally controlled by Russia and the USSR, declared that Germans from the West, which was the area controlled by the US and allies, would be able to cross into East Germany. Several West Germans crossed over with no resistance, but some people brought hammers and started taking chunks from the wall. The government then decided to bring in industrial equipment and knock the wall down permanently. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
The Cold War finally ended here, when the powerful Soviet Union suddenly disbanded and became fifteen independant countries.
