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Stalin
Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary for the Soviet Union, acutally a position of higher power than the president in the SU, for about thirty years. He was one of the big three during World War II and he was a totalitarian ruler within his own country. Stalin was important because he transformed Russia by changing farming methods and performed the Great Purge, in which millions of Russian citizens, from government officials to wealthy farmers were sent to the Gulag or killed. -
United Nations
The United Nations is the world's largest international organization. It deals with political, social, economic, and cultural issues around the world. The significance of the United Nation is that it stands for world peace and has improved from the first League of Nations, which had no military to back up what it called for. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a figurative wall in Europe between Communist and non-Communist countries. This term was coined by Winston Churchill. The Iron Curtain was significant because it showed that there were clear sides in the Cold War, and made those sides very clear. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine stated that the United States would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid in order to keep them from falling into the Soviet-Communist sphere of influence. The Truman Doctrine was significant because it is often considered the start of the Cold War and of the United States' containment policy. -
European Economic Cooperation
The European Economic Cooperation is financed by the Marshall Plan, which came from the US. It is a grouping of different European countries that realized after WWII that they should promote fairness among each other in order to not have a repeat of the WWI reparations and their results. The EEC allows for European countries, along with Canada and the US, to be prosperous by working together. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was an American program created to provide financial resources to built up European countries that were weak after World War II, in order to prevent the spread of Communism. The Plan was important because it showed how determined the United States were to prevent the spread of Communism. -
Berlin Airlift
It was a response to Stalin's blockade of the Western part of Berlin, in which planes sent by the Western powers provided citizens of West Berlin with food. This eventually brought an end to the blockade and the West won, but tensions grew between the Western powers and the Soviets. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was a military alliance formed by twelve countries, including the United States and Canada. It was a pledge to for each of the countries to help one another if any of them were attacked. NATO was significant because it was basically made up of the non-Communist countries involved in the Cold War. -
Peoples Republic of China
The Peoples Republic of China was established after Mao Zedong, a Communist Chinese leader, defeated the Nationalist party in China. Mao Zedong created a Communist one-party totalitarian state with the People's Republic of China. China's take over by the People's Republic of China was important because it made one-fifth of the entire world's population be ruled by Communists. -
Korean War
The Korean War was fought between Soviet-occupied North Korea and the American-occupied South Korea. The war went back and forth as UN and then Chinese forces entered but it ended in January 1953 with a ceasefire. The Korean War was significant because it served as an indirect war between the two superpower involved in the Cold War, Russia and the United States. -
Ho Chi Minh
He was the Communist leader of North Vietnam. He was also a nationalist and he had fought the Japanese and then the French at the battle of Dienbienphu that convinced the french to leave Vietnam. He was significant because he was the first Communist leader of North Vietnam. -
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev was the new leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin's death. He continued to maintain the Communist Party's political control, but he got rid of the prison camps and extreme censorship that had been used by Stalin. Khrushchev believed in a peaceful coexistence with the West. Khrushchev's significance lies in his goal of attempting to peacefully exist with the West, so that another world war wouldn't occur. He removed the missiles from Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis. -
Explosion of the First Hydrogen Bomb
The hydrogen bomb explosion was most likely 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that was used on Hiroshima. It was dropped in the Marshall Islands, on Bikini. This was a very significant test because it showed what wars to come would be like, and just how powerful of a weapon humans were capable of creating. -
KGB (Committee for State Security)
The KGB was a secretive Russian organization that dealt mainly with gathering intelligence in other nations, conducting counter intelligence, maintaing the secret armed forces, suppressing internal resistance, and conducting electronic espionage. The KGB is significant because they were able to get ahold of important information from other countries during the Cold War. -
Geneva Accords
The Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into two zones, one of which was to be governed by the Viet Minh, and the other by the State of Vietnam. The Geneva Accords were significant because it split Vietnam into two zones that lasted for more than 20 years. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was an agreement between eight Communist countries in Europe that the Soviet Union used as buffer states so they would not face any extreme attacks again. The Warsaw Pact is significant because it was a reaction to the Western powers' formation of NATO. -
Vietnam
The Vietnam War was yet another Cold War conflict, with the North being Communist and the South supported by the US. The significance of the Vietnam War was that it part of the United States' strategy of containment, because they were preventing South Vietnam from becoming Communist. -
Suez Canal/Nasser
The Suez Crisis occurred when Nasser became the new president of Egypt and took over the Suez Canal. Egypt was then attacked by Israel, France, and Great Britain. The Crisis was significant because it showed that Russia and the United States were the superpowers when the United States forced Britain and France to quit fighting to avoid a conflict with Russia, which had sided with Egypt. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the first articifial earth satellite, which was invented by the Soviets. Sputnik was significant because it triggered the Space Race, in which the United States and Russia competed for supremacy with their space technology. -
Leonid Brezhnev
Brezhnev was a member of the Communist party who began his career at a Russian military school. He was then made chief Political Commissar of the 4th Ukrainian Front by Nikita Khrushchev, who eventually made him President of the Communist Party and finally 1st Secretary, which is actually a position of more power in Russia. Brezhnev created the Brezhven Doctrine, which affirmed the power of the Soviet Union to intervene in other communist countries to further communism. -
Berlin Wall Is Erected
The Berlin wall was built by East Germany to prevent East German citizens from escaping into the more prosperous West Germany. It was a massive concrete structure patrolled by guards. The wall showed that East Germany was not the wonderful place that the Soviets were making it out to be and its citizens had to be forcibly prevented from fleeing. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union shipped missiles to Cuba, which is only 94 miles off the coast of Florida. In response, Kennedy had a naval blockade put around Cuba. This lasted for thirteen days and there was a lot of tension between the SU and US. This was significant because it made the world seriously fear that World War III was going to begin. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a series of attacks launched against South Vietnam by North Vietnam, during a time when there were supposed to be no attacks. This was important because it was the largest offensive technique used in the Vietnam war up to the point and it took the South Vietnam soldiers by surprise. -
Helsinki Accords
It was an agreement signed by many nations that were agreeing to give basic human rights. This agreement was significant because it gave basic rights such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press to people as well as the right to a fair trial. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
A mob of young Islamic students attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and over 60 Americans were taken hostage. The group of students demanded that the U.S. return the Shah and give Iran billions of dollars that they claimed had been stolen from the Iranian people. The group of hostages was eventually released, but they were held until January of 1981. This was significant because it showed that the United States could be challenged easily, and it sparked nationalism within American citizens. -
Russian Invasion of Afghanistan
The Afghanistan war lasted nine years and it was fought between Russian-led Afghan forces and Mujahideen which received training in China and Pakistan and millions of dollars from the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. This war was significant because it was yet another war that pitted Russia and the United States against one another. -
Moscow Olympics
The Moscow Olympics were boycotted by the United States and 64 other countries, some of which were following the he United States' lead, and other who had their own reasons, mostly economical. These Games were important because the United States' refusal to attend highlighted the tensions of the Cold War between Russia and the US. -
Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement in Poland
Solidarity was the name of a labor union in Poland, which was created by Lech Walesa. Millions of people joined Solidarity, which called for political and economic change. The Polish government outlawed the union and Walesa was arrested, but he became a national hero and was eventually released. This was significant because Solidarity was the first independant trade union for the Soviet Bloc. -
Los Angeles Olympics
The Los Angeles Olympic games lasted for two weeks and many countries boycotted the games; 14 as a result of a Soviet-led boycott and Iran and Libya for their own reasons. The 1984 Olympic Games were significant because they highlighted the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
Perestroika and Glasnost
Perestroika is a Russian term meaning restructuring and glasnost means openness. These were both methods employed by Russian leader Gorbachev to end censorhip, discuss the country's problems openly, and improve efficiency. However, these reforms brought turmoil because shortages increased and prices were raised. This is important because it was the first time that Russian citizens had been allowed to openly share their opinions of their government without worry of being punished. -
Gorbachev
Gorbachev aimed to bring about many reforms and wanted to avoid Cold War confrontation. He encouraged openness, or glasnost, and restructuing, or perestroika, of the government and economy. He was also the final president of the Soviet Union. He was significant because he helped bring about the end of the Soviet Union. -
Chernobyl
Chernobyl is a nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union in which an accident occurred, exposing the surrounding area to a deadly radiation. This was significant because it encouraged industries and government to create improved precautions to prevent such a thing from happening again. -
Tiananmen Square
There was an attack that took place on Tiananmen Square, which is located outside of the Forbidden City in China, against students who were protesting the slow pace of Chinese reform. The attack on the students in Tiananmen Square was significant because it showed that the Chinese government did not support personal freedom. -
Berlin Wall Is Torn Down
The Berlin Wall that had separated East and West Berlin was torn down. East and West Germans gained backed their freedom of traveling within their capital. -
Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin was the first president of the Russian Confederation and president at the end of the Cold War. Yeltsin's significance was that he declared the end of the Cold War with US President George Bush and worked with him to make plans to continue to have a friendly relationship between the two countries. -
End of the USSR
Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the USSR, resigned and after the Soviet Union dissolved. The dissolution of the Soviet Union led directly to Russia coming back. -
Putin
Vladimir Putin is the current president of Russia, and he served as the president from 2000 to 2008. He was also an officer in the KGB for sixteen years before entering politics. Putin is significant because he was able to gain Russia a consulting status with NATO.
