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The Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution started with the end centuries of imperial rule and beginning of political and social changes. Russia was in poverty with a large amount of peasants. Russia was undeveloped. -
Potsdam Conference
Took place near Berlin. It was the last of World War 2 meetings held by U.S. President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin. Truman and Churchill were on the same side because they wanted more of a democratic world while Stalin wanted to take over the world and spread communism. -
Atomic bomb - Hiroshima/Nagasaki
It was a new type technology. It was first tested in the desert. When Stalin learned about the bombing of Hiroshima he was not surprised because he had spies in the Manhattan project, but he was surprised the they actually used and dropped the bombs. They used the bombs because Japan would not respond to unconditional surrender -
Long Telegram
George F. Kennan was an American diplomat stationed in Russia. He wrote a 8000 long dispatch to Washington. He gave the best the answer on what Russia wanted and how far they were willing to go to achieve it. -
Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain was a political, military, and ideological barrier. The Soviet Union put up the barrier. They put it up to isolate themselves and their allies from non-communist countries. -
Molotov Plan
It was created by Soviet Union. The purpose to plan to help rebuild Eastern European countries that were aligned with the Soviet Union. It was the Soviet's version of the Marshall plan. It is also known as the "Brother Plan" . -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood 10 were 10 screenwriters, motion-picture producers, and directors. They were sent to prison/jail (1 year) because they refused to answer questions about their possible communist alliance. They were voted contempt to Congress. -
Truman Doctrine
It represented a changed in U.S. foreign policy. It was to give political, military and economic help to democratic nations under threat by the Soviet nations desire to expand. Greece and Turkey were both threatened. -
Alger Hiss case
Alger Hiss was an American government official who was accused of being a spy. He was accused of being a communist and in 1950 he was found guilty. He was given two 5-year sentences which were made to complete at the same time. -
Marshall Plan
A program providing aid to Western Europe following WWII devastation. It provided more than $15 billion to help everyone. U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall named it. It was made to be a four year plan to rebuild cities. -
Berlin Blockade
It was an attempt by the Soviets to restrict France, Great Britain, and the United States to go to their Berlin sectors which was located on the Soviet side of Germany. -
Berlin Airlift
During the Blockade Soviet's blocked the Allies from getting to their part of Berlin which was in Eastern Germany. In response the Allies sent goods on planes to their part of Berlin. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
It was led by a Communist party located in China. It was inspired by Marxism who wanted to replace capitalism with communism. Mao Zedong (the leader) declared war on the Republic of China. -
NATO
Also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is an International alliance that has members from North America and Europe. If one member was attacked then it be like all the members were attacked and the other members will help the one in need. -
First Soviet bomb test
It took place after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was research created by Stalin to develop nuclear weapons during WWII. The thought of making the atomic bomb was in the 1930s, but it was not until the 1940s was it a full working program. -
Rosenberg trial
Spying was a major concern for the United States government. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were communist spies. Julius was part of Young Communist League, but dropped out to make it less suspicious when he joined as an engineer for the Manhattan Project. They were convicted of sending atomic bomb information to the Soviet Union and in 1953 they were sentenced to death. -
Korean War
It was the conflict between North Korea (supported by China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (supported by the United Nations). The war began because North Korean (Communist army) crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded South Korea (non-Communist). The fight across the border. -
Army-McCarthy hearings
Joseph R. McCarthy was the Senator for Wisconsin. He told everyone that he had a list of all the communist spies, but in reality he didn't and was blaming anyone he wanted to blame. His hearings were widely popular. -
Warsaw Pact
Also known as the Treaty of Friendship. It took place in Warsaw Poland and it was between the Soviet Union and seven other countries. (WAPA). It is similar to NATO but for the Communist countries. -
Hungarian Revolution
It was a nationwide revolution against Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet policies. It continued to be communist after the revolution for a couple years. It inspired other communist nations to begin fighting for freedom. -
U-2 incident
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot. The pilot was Francis Gary Powers. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failed attempt by US-sponsored Cuban exiles to reverse Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution. It started with a military invasion of northern Cuba. -
Berlin Wall
The wall in-between East and West Germany. One side was Communist and the other Democratic. It was about 12 feet tall. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged 13-day political and military standoff over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. President John Kennedy notified Americans about the presence of the missiles in Cuba. -
Assassination of JFK
Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for JFK murder. He died at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas Texas. He was famous for the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in an invasion of Czechoslovakia. The Soviets were successful in stopping the pace of reform. It did have unintended consequences of the unity of the communism. -
Nixon visits China
President Richard Nixon visited to hopefully normalize the relationship between China and the U.S. He wanted a new relationship with the PRC government (Public Republic of China). -
Reagan elected
Ronald Reagan was originally a Democrat but became a Republican. He defeated Jimmy Carter who was the president at the time. When running for his second term in 1984 he went against the Vice President of Jimmy Carter. He was Conserative. -
SDI Announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative was announced by President Reagan in 1983. It's initiative was a missile defense system that would protect the USA from nuclear weapons attack. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
This was a Cold War Summit between President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev in Geneva Switzerland. The two leader met for the first time to discuss international diplomatic relations and the arms race. -
Tear down this wall’ speech
This is better known as the Berlin Wall Speech given by President Reagan in West Berlin. In this speech he requested General Secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union to open the Berlin Wall. He said "Mr.Gorbachev....Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Due to civil unrest in Eastern Bloc Countries caused a chain reaction to happen in East Germany that resulted in the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The atmosphere of unrest made the East German government to announced the opening of the wall to allow travel between countries. Crowds of people crossed and even climbed the wall, which start a people chipping away on the wall.
