-
Period: to
Soviet atomic bomb project
The Soviet atomic bomb project was a research and development program during and after World War II. It was the Soviet response to the American creation of the atomic bomb. As a result of this work, the Soviet Union became the second nation in the world to develop and conduct nuclear tests. The program was headed by Dr. Andrei Sakharov and Dr. Igor Kurchatov. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a US foreign policy established by President Truman in 1947. It stated that the US would economically and militarily support Greece and Turkey in order to prevent the two countries from ceding to the Soviet Union. Truman believed that the fall of these two countries would lead to a domino effect, so he sent $400 million to help. The policy became the basis for US foreign policy throughout the Cold War, and is often cited as being the start of the war. -
Period: to
Containment
Containment was an American policy that employed various strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. Containment was a middle ground between detente and rollback policies. President Truman was noted for his use of containment policies. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a four year American aid program established to help rebuild European countries and economies. The offer was extended to a large portion of Europe as well as the Soviet Union, but they declined, claiming it would give the United States control over its economy. In 1951, the Marshall Plan was replaced by the Mutual Security Plan. -
Berlin Airlift/Blockade
In June 1948, the Soviet Union began to block the occupying western powers from road and rail access to Berlin. Two days later, the Allied powers began to send to aircraft to drop supplies in Berlin. The airlift continued until September 30, 1949, although the blockade ended May 11, 1949. -
Alger Hiss
Alger Hiss was an American lawyer and government official. In 1948, he was accused of being a Soviet spy. He escaped this charge due to the statute of limitations, but was convicted of perjury connected to this charge in 1950. Many files relevant to the case will not be available for another fourteen years. -
Formation of NATO
NATO is an international collective defense organization. Originally, it was a political organization, but over time it became more involved in military matters. NATO initially consisted on twelve countries and has since grown to twenty eight countries. -
McCarthy Hearings
The McCarthy hearings were a series of hearings held by Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Cold War. Senator McCarthy believed there were large numbers of communists in the federal government. he accused people of being communists and interrogated them. His hearings led to the blacklisting of hundreds of people in Hollywood, and his House Un-American Activities Committee existed from 1947 to 1975. -
Period: to
Korean War
Korea was divided at the 38th parallel after WWII. Russia took over the Northern side and the US took over the Southern side. On June 25th 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea, so on June 27th Truman authorized the use of American land, sea, and air forces. Months lather though, the war was returned back to the 38th parallel and it stayed there until the war's conclusion. -
The Rosenbergs
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were American communists. On June 19, 1953, they were convicted and executed for conspiracy to commit espionage, related to the passing of information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Their execution was the first execution of civilians on the charges of espionage in the history of the United States. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a defense treaty between eight communist nations in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. It was the Soviet response to the addition of West Germany into NATO. The Warsaw Pact was the beginning of the formation of satellite states. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
This war was faught between the North (and their Communist allies) and the South (and their anti-Communist allies). The US viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent Communist takeover of South Vietnam. In 1961 the amount of US troops tripled and then it tripled again in 1962. The US involvement ended on August 15, 1973 when Congress passed the Case-Church Amendment. The war was officially brought to an end April 1975 when Saigon was captured by the Vietnam people's army. -
Berlin Wall
August 13th, 1961, constuction of the Berlin Wall began. It was a barrier built by the GDR in order to completly cut off West Berlin from East Germany and East Berlin. The borders symbolized the iron curtains that seperated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. During the Cold War, an estimated 5,000 people tried to escape over the Wall resulting in a death toll of 100 or 200. Bits of the wall were chipped off so it was officially taken down on October 3rd, 1990. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
It was a confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other during the time of the Cold War. Cuban and Soviet governments secretly built bases in Cuba for nuclear missiles. A US Air Force U-2 plane captured photographic evidence. The Soviets ended up backing out and formed secret back-channel communications to create a proposal that would end the crisis. It was ended October 28, 1962 through a public and a secret agreement. -
SALT Treaty
SALT stands for STandard Arms Limitation Talk. It was between the US and the Soviet Union and it was on the issue of armament control. It froze the number of ballistic missile launchers and provided for new submarine-launched ballistic missiles after the same number of older ICBM and SLBM launchers had been dismissed. -
SALT 2
It was an agreement to limit strategic launchers that was reached in Vienna by Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev. The US Senate had refused to ratify this treaty so Senator Joe Biden of Delaware met with Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrey Gromyko, and secured several changes that neither Jimmy Carter or the US Senate could obtain. -
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States of America (1981 to 1989). He was also the 33rd govoner of California (1967 to 1975), as well as careers in radio, film and television. He advocated a tax reduction in order to help the economic growth, control the money supply, reduce inflation, deregulate inflation, and reduce the government's spendings. Through negotiation with the Soviet Secretay General he got the decrease of both countries arms. -
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail was a former Soviet statesman and served as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1985 to 1991. He is the only General Secretary in history to be born while the Soviet Union was under Communist rule. he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1990) and the Harvey Prize (1992) for efforts to end the Cold War. He also had three attempts for new political parties: Independent Democratic of Russia (2008), Union of Social Democrats (2007) and Social Democratic Party of Russia (2001). -
START Treaty
The START Treaty stands for the STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It deployed more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop 1,600 ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers. It was in play up until December 4, 1994, but then later put back in play around 2008.
