-
Joseph Stalin
A ruler of Russia that believed in socialism and did everything possible in order to spread it throughout Russia. He replaced the New Command Economy Policy with a command economy, which launched Russia into a period of industrialization and collectivization.
HS:His iron grip rule and his different policies greatly change the future of Russia. -
United Nation
An international organization that is concentrated on keeping international law, international security, economic development, human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and total world peace.
HS: The 1st enforced international oranization that could actually do what it set out to do. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a symbol(not a real Iron Curtain) that represented the conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe into 2 seperate areas. This also represented the U.S. not being able to see what was going on in Russia.
HS:This curtain increased tensions between the U.S. and Russia because the U.S. could not see what was going on in Russia. -
Ho Chi Minh
Mihn was a Vietnamese communist revolutionart leader who ruled North Vietnam.
HS: He helped establish the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the People's Army of Vietnam, and the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. -
Truman Doctrine
This doctrine was an international relations policy put in place by President Harry Truman. This stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey in order to stop them from falling to communist Russia.
HS:It became the U.S. policy during the Cold War -
European Economic Cooperation
The European Economic Cooperation, or OEEC, was led by Robert Marjolin and was created in order to help enforce the Marshall Plan.
HS:It aimed to create an economic standard in Europe and to keep Europe at that level. -
Marshall Plan
This was an American program created in order to aid Europe. The U.S. aided Europe in order to try to keep Soviet Communism from spreading.
HS:It help the war-torn Europe while also trying to stop the spread of communism. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The NATO was a military allience based on the North Atlantic treaty that had a headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
HS:This organization helped keep peace after the war. -
People's Republic of China
A sovereign state located in Eastern Asia.
HS: The beginning of communist China. -
Explosion of the First Hydrogen Bomb
A test preformed by the United States that consisted of testing out a hydrogen bomb.
HS: This was historically significant because it shows that the United States were making advances in the arms race with Russia. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war between South Korea and the United Nations on one side and North Korea and the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. This war occured because of the political division of Korea.
HS:This war harshly damaged the relations between the U.S. and Korea and also damaged the relations between the Soviet Union and the U.S. This was the first war that the U.S. did not win. -
Khrushchv
He was the leader of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was responsible for the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, for the early Russian space program, and was responsible for several liberal reforms.
HS: He had a large hand in shaping the Soviet Union during the Cold War. -
KGB
The KGB, otherwise known as the Committee for State Security, was the main security force for the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. The committee was a successor of Cheka, NKBG, and MGB. The KGB's main functions were things such as foreign intelligence and counterintelligence.
HS:It acted as a backbone and ensured safety in Russia. -
Geneva Accords
The Geneva Accords was a conference between multiple countries that was held in order to discuss ways to unify Vietnam.
HS: It resulted in Vietnam being seperated into two zones. -
Warsaw Pact
A mutual defense treaty between 8 communist states of central and eastern Europe that was drawn into existance during the Cold War.
HS:It was an alliance between the communist enemies of the U.S. -
Suez Canal/ Nasser
Military confrontation called the tripartit agression.
HS:It cause the resignation of Britain's prime -
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite that broadcasted radia pulses. This satillite began the space race against the U.S.
HS: It gave an advantage to the Soviet Union in the space race. -
Berlin Wall is erected
August 13th, 1961 was the date in which the Berlin wall, a wall seperating East and West Germany, was erected. It was built in order to stop the thousands of people in East Berlin from crossing into West Berlin to escape communism and to escape to their families.
HS: This is historically significant because the Soviet Union always talked about how it wanted to help and protect its people but in this instance, it put up a wall and killed anyone trying to cross it. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13 day conflict with the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and with the United States on the other. It started when Nikita Khrushchev put missiles on Cuba in order to neutralize the U.S.'s advantage of having missiles in Turkey. This conflict would end with the U.S. dissarming its missiles in Turkey and Italy, with Russia dissarming their missiles in Cuba, and with Cuba being promised to never be invaded.
HS:Closest the Cold War came to turning into a nuclear war -
Leonid Brezhnev
Brezhnev was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and held this position from 1964-1982.
HS:He is historically significant because he is largely responsible for the Era of Stagnation(or a time of a bad economy in the Soviet Union). -
Tet Offensive
A military campaign during the Vietnam War launched by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese against South Vietnam and the U.S. This campaign was launched against military and civilian control centers against the previous cease fire.
HS:Turning point for the U.S. in the war. -
Helsinki Accords
The Helsinki Accords was a conference held in order to inprove relations between communists and the west.
HS: The Helsinki Accords was significant because, though it tried to improve relations, it failed seeing as there were no binding treaties. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
52 Americans were held for 444 days after Islamist students and militants supporting the Iranian Revolution took over the American Embasy in Tehran. Carter announced at this time that he would not make deals with terrorists though he did enact various operations in order to try to rescue the hostages.
HS:It showed that the U.S. would not negotiate with terrorists and worsened U.S.-Iranian relations. -
Russian Invasion of Afganistan
This war lasted for nine years and consisted of Soviet-led Afghan forces against insurgent groups called the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen received training from Pakistan and China and was funded by the U.S., the United Kingdom, Saudia Arabia, and other countries. The war caused millions of Afghans to flee to Pakistan and Iran.
HS:This long battle ended up strengthening Afghan. -
Moscow Olympics
The Summer Olympics were held in Moscow, Russia in 1980. There was an American -led boycott of this year of Olympics.
HS:It was boycotted by the U.S. and 64 other countries. It was the smallest Olympic games since 1956. -
Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement in Poland
Lech Walesa was a polish politition that led a movement for an "Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity"
HS: It was the first non-communist party- controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. -
Los Angeles Olympics
The Olympics of 1984 that was hosted in Los Angeles, California. It was boycotted by 14 Eastern Bloc countries along with Iran and Libya in response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
HS:The USSR and many other places refused to participate in the Olympics. -
Chernobyl Disaster
At the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, an explosion followed by a fire released radiation into the atmosphere. This would later be considered the worst nuclear power plant accident
HS:It would end up costing about 18 billion rubles and other long term affects(radiation poinsoning and paying for radiation containment). Various places around the power plant are still inhospitable. -
Perestroika and Glasnost
This was a movement for reformation in Russia.
HS:This movement helped end the USSR. -
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China. From April 15, 1989 to June 4, 1989, students led demonstrations in Beijing that exposed corruption in China's political leadership. On June 4th, troops with assault rifles and tanks inflicted thousands of casualities on civilians.
HS:Multiple unarmed civilians were massacred. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
On this date, the East German government announced that all GDR citizens could go to West Germany and to West Berlin. In responce, East Germans rushed over the wall in a celebratory atmosphere. Eventually equipment was brought in and the wall was completely torn down.
HS: The tearing down of the Berlin wall was seen as the end of the war and also symbolized the start of German reunification. -
Gorbachev
Gorbachev was the first and last president of the Soviet Union who held summit conferences with Ronald Reagan and reorganized the Soviet's strategic aim in order to help end the Cold War.
HS: He did many things, as stated above, in order to try to end the Cold War. -
Boris Yeltsin
He was a Russian politician who supported Gorbachev. He vowed to transform Russia's socialist command economy into a free market economy.
HS: He was the first president of Russia. -
End of the USSR
The Soviet Union was dissolved by declaration number 142-H.
HS: The dissolution of the USSR marked the end to the Cold War. -
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin is the current President of Russia. He was an officer in the KGB and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before entering politics.
HS:He was the 1st president of the non-communist ruler of Russia.
