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Winston Churchill
Churchill went to Westminster Collegein Missourito deliver his now famous "Iron Curtain" Speech. In the speech, Churchill said that an iron curtain has desended upon a good part of the world. This "Iron Curtain" was the Soviets control of parts of Asia and Europe. This was the beginning of the Cold War. Tension Meter: We gave this a 1 because Churchill is just stating that the Soviets are moving their control. -
Truman Doctrine
With this doctrine, Harry Truman established that the U.S. would help any democratic nation under attack by authoritarian forces. This solidifies the U.S. as an unisolated nation. This is a crutial point in wars like Korea and Vietnam. Tension Meter: [4]
We gave it this rating because it solidified the U.S's forain ploicey, saying we are not isolated anymore. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was created to try and rebuild every Europeian nation to try and help Europe recover from the war. Fearing communism would slowly start in Europe if they did nothing, the U.S. acted and started rebuilding Europe. This included countries like Austria, Italy, Poland, and Western Germany. Tension Metor: [1]
We gave it a 1 because it did more good then harm and didn't cause any tension. -
Berlin Blockade
This was the first serious crysis of the Cold War. The blockade was built to seperate the two sides of Berlin. It backfired completely and caused more harm then good. Tension Meter: [6]
We gave it a 6 because it seperated the two sides of Berlin which where politically different and this showed how differnet Comunisum and Capitalizum were. -
NATO ratified
The U.S. and 11 other nations established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO. NATO was used to protect nations from communist rule. For the most part it worked and is still around today. Tension Meter:[6]
We said this was a 6 because NATO was trying to protect the world from the Soviets growing power, so that would clearly cause tension between the two sides. -
Mao Zegong takes control of china
After a bloody civil war that lasted over 20 years, China was taken over by The Communist party of china. There were thousands of people who were suspected rebles against hin, who he had killed.
He had 2-5 million people killed and at least 1.5 sent to "reform through labor" camps. Tention Meter:[ -
Joe McCarthy's Communism Witch Hunts
Senator Joe McCarthy's time in office would be known as the time of "McCarthyism". McCarthy accused many innocent people of being communist during his time in office. McCarthy's downfall began in 1953 when Dwight Eisenhower had had enough and had almost all his power stripped from him. Tension Meter: We gave this a 5 because it caused distress in the nation with all the accusations of communists. -
Korean War
When the Korean Civil War broke out, the U.S. was at a cross roads trying to decide on weather or not to intervene in the war. The U.S. ends up getting involved in fear that the Soviets or the Chinese would cause a new world war to happen. The North and South end up splitting and become different countries with different governments. North becoming Communist and South becoming a Republic. Tension Meter: We gave this a 6 because it was the first "fight" between the Soviets and U.S. -
Rosenburg Executions
Two United States citizens by the names of Juliuss and Ethel Rosenburg, were arrested for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. They were susspected to be stealing nuclear bomb plans from the U.S. government. They were found guilty and executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Tension Meter: We gave this a 7 because this got a lot of Americans worried about their well-being. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a defence treaty between 8 different communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe.The Soviets were the ones who really pushed for the creation of the pact. The pact made the countries of Europe come together. Tension Meter: 4 We gave it this rating because the pact caused all the communist countries in Europe to come together and cause some sort of tension. -
Soviet Invasion of Hungary
The Soviet invasion of Hungary was a very short part of the Cold War, lasting only around a month. In this conflict, Hungarian rebels tried to fight against the Hungarian Government and the Soviets. They failed and the Soviets took over Hungary and arrested and immprisoned thousands of rebels. Tension Meter: 1 We gave it this rating because the U.S. didn't have any real invovlement in it so nothing really cause tension to rise. -
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was the first ever artifical satallite sent from Earth into orbit. It was sent by the Soviets and gave scientists crutial information about the space around the Earth. This started the Spcae Age and Space Race between the U.S. and Soviets. -
U.S. spy plane shot down over Soviet territory
Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down. The U-2 plane was designed to be un reconizable to radar. The plane and pilot both survived relativly well but the pilot is suppose to kill himself if shot down. This caused insane ammounts of tension. Tension Meter: We gave this an 8 because this caused a lot of tension because of the covertness of the operation and the spying aspect. -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was the failed attempt to invade Cuba and over throw Fidel Castro. This was a like cause for the Cuban Missle Crysis a year later. The invasion lasted 2 days and ended in complete failure. Tension Meter: We gave this a 9 because this caused anger out of Cuba and it's ally the Soviets, this led to the Cuban Missle Crysis and almost a full out war. -
Construction of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was created to seperate the Soviets from the Allies after the war. After WWII, Germany was split into east and west and given to the Soviets and the Allies who each took control in different ways. The west side was communist and the east was capitalist Tension Meter: We gave this a 5 because it caused a real split between counrties whic made it seem like there was no end to the Cold War in sight. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The Cuban Missle Crisis was the United States in a panic because of word that Cuba was building missle silos for nuclear warheads from the Soviets. The U.S. set up a naval blockade to stop anything from getting into Cuba. This is the most known and biggest crisis during the Cold War. Tension Meter: We gave this a 9 because it threw everyone into a panic and almost started a real war but wasn't an actual war. -
SALT I
The SALT I or Strategic Arms Limitations Talk was an agreement between the U.S. and the Soviets. It limited their nuclear production significantly. This eventually ended the Arms Race. Tension Meter: We gave it a 2 because it was easing up on the war and creating less issues. -
Strategy Defence Initiative
The Strategy Defence Initiative was the national defence system that would make nuclear weapons obsloete. It used a satillite tthat the U.S. was sending to space. It relied on technology that wasn't made yet like lazors so it was promtly nicknamed "Star Wars" Tension Meter: We gave this a 6 because it showed how powerful we were and the Soviets didn't like that, even though it was all a ploy. -
Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all nuclear missles from Europe
Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhal Gorbachev reslove a deal to remove all missles from Europe. This reduces the risk of an all out nuclear war. This also marks the decline of the Cold War. Tension Meter: We gave this 1 because we are now seeing resolve between the Soviets and the U.S. -
Berlin Wall Falls
The Berlin Wall finally fell in 1989 after more than 30 years of being split. It showed the end of communism and symbolized the fall of the Soviet Union. East and West Berlin were back together at last. Tension Meter: We gave this a 1 because it was the downfall of all the tension between countries. -
End of the Cold War and Soviet Union
The Soviet Union finally collapsed soon after the Berlin Wall did.This marked the end of all tension and the Cold War. For the first time in 50 years, the world was at peace. Tension Meter: We gave it a 1 because all tension has been lifted.
