-
Period: to
Cold War
-
Iron Curtain
It was a border in Europe to separate the central European allies off from open contact with the west and non-communist areas. This cut off almost all contact between East and West in Europe. -
The Marshall Plan
From 1945 through 1947, the United States was already assisting European economic recovery with direct financial aid. Marshall Plan gave or lend $13 billion to 17 countries.The money was used to rebuild bridges,factories,railroads,hospitals,and schools. The Marshall Plan strengthened the containment foreign policy agenda by giving other countries the money to defend themselves against invasion from other Communist countries. -
The Berlin Blocade of West Germany by the Soviet Union.
The USSR had already disagreed with Britain and the USA at Potsdam (July 1945) about what should be done with Germany.Germany had been split into four zones.There had been particular disagreement about reparations: Britain and America had wanted Germany to recover economically, but the Russians had gained the right to take 10% of the industrial equipment of western Germany, and as whatever they wanted from their own zone in eastern Germany. Berlin, in Russia's zone, was also split into 4zones. -
The Atomic Bomb
USA dropped an atomic bomb in Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki). That was the end of the WWII -
The Berlin Airlift.
By 1948, it became apparent that the Western Powers plan to rebuild Germany differed from the Soviet Union's plan.Stalin wanted them out of Berlin.In early 1948, tensions between the once former Allies climaxed.On April 9, 1948, Stalin ordered all American Military personnel maintaining communications equipment out of the Eastern Zone.Trains were halted on 1and 10 of June.On 21, the Soviets halted a US Military Supply Train and refused it passage to Berlin.On 22, they placed armed guards aboard. -
Forming of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party -
The Korean War
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a war between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, at one time supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.The failure to hold free elections throughout the Korean Peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides; the North established a communist government, while the South established a right-wing government. -
Forming of Warsaw Pact.
The warsaw pact was formed on May 14, 1955.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.The treaty was signed in Warsaw, included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members. -
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American public's support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts. end:1975 -
The U-2 incident
The U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on 1 May 1960, during the presidency of 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.The United States government at first denied the plane's purpose and mission, but then was forced to admit its role as a covert surveillance aircraft when the Soviet government produced its intact remains and surviving pilot. -
Forming of Non-Alignment Treaty.
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states which are not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012, the movement has 120 members and 17 observer countries.The organization was founded in Belgrade in 1961. -
The Bay of Pigs event
On 1961, 1400 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. Before his inauguration, John F. Kennedy was briefed on a plan by the CIA developed during the Eisenhower administration to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their homeland. The plan anticipated that the Cuban people and elements of the Cuban military would support the invasion. The ultimate goal was the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government. -
The creation of the Berlin Wall
The wall stayed in Berlin from August 13, 1961 - November 9, 1989. The Berlin Wall was both the physical division between West Berlin and East Germany from 1961 to 1989 and the symbolic boundary between democracy and Communism during the Cold War. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 14-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side,and the United States on the other,in October 1962.After provocative political moves and the failed US attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime,in May Nikita Khrushchev proposed the idea of placing Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt.During a meeting between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro that July,a secret agreement was reached and construction of several missiles started -
Castro and Cuba.
In 1979, the Conference of the NAM was held in Havana, while that year Castro was selected as the president of the NAM, a position that he would hold till 1982. In his capacity as both President of the NAM and of Cuba he appeared at the United Nations General Assembly in October 1979, giving a speech on the disparity between the world's rich and poor. His speech was greeted with much applause from other world leaders, although American anti-communist went outside for protestation. -
Perestroika and Glasnost
"Perestroika" (restructuring) and "glasnost" (openness) were Mikhail Gorbachev's watchwords for the renovation of the Soviet body politic and society that he pursued as general secretary of the Communist Party from 1985 until 1991. Neither term was new to Soviet rhetoric. Stalin occasionally had used them as had his successors. The word glasnost actually appeared in Article 9 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution although without any practical application. Both terms can be found in Gorbachev's speech -
Falling of the Berlin Wall.During this time Latvia,Estonia and Lithuania declared their independence.
The change began when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1985.He tried to make changes in the state bureaucracy and in the Communist party by restructuring the economy’s production and distribution system,a plan now known as perestroika.In addition,Gorbachev also allowed for the policy of glasnost,or public criticism of the communist party.Gorbachev’s reform contributed to the breakup of the centralized structure of the USSR. -
Dissolution of the USSR.
The USSR was formally dissolved on 26 December 1991 by declaration № 142-H of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.This declaration acknowledged the independence of the twelve republics of the Soviet Union that subsequently created the Commonwealth of Independent States.On the previous day,25 December 1991,Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned,declaring his office extinct,and handed over the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes to Russian President.
