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Yalta Conference
Franklin Roosevelt, Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill meet at the Yalta Conference, where they make arrangements for postwar wolrd order. Their agreements include a declaration to respect democracy throughout Europe. They also decide to finalize plans to divide Germany into seperate zones of occupation. -
Roosevelt Dies
Frankin D. Roosevelt suffered a hemmorhage and died, leaving Harry Truman to assume the presidency. Truman was only vice president for a few months and had little communication with Roosevelt about administrations policies. -
First Atomic Bomb
The first atomic bomb was sucessfully tested by American scientists in New Mexico. -
Hiroshima
Enola Gay drops the atomic bomb ("little boy") on Japanese of Hirosima. The instant devistation unleashed on Hiroshima socks the world and takes part in the beginning of the nuclear age. -
Nagasaki
Bockscar drops the atomic omb ("Fat Man") on Japanese city of Nagasaki. -
Ho Chi Minh Independence
Ho Chi Minh (Vietnamese nationalist) declares Vietnam's independence from France. His Declaration of Independence quotes "All men are created equal." -
Iron Curtain
Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister), gives "Iron Curtain" speech at a college graduation in Missouri. He explains that Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia are famous cities which he calls the Soviet Sphere. They are all subject to Soviet influence and increasing measure of control from Moscow. -
Truman Doctrine
A speech by President Harry S. Truman. He pledges American assistance to any nation in the world whom is threatened by Communism. This is officially establishing worldwide containment of Communism for American national security interest. -
Marshall Plan
George Marshall proposed the Marshall Plan at Harvard University. The Marshall Plan was a 13 billon dollar foreign aid package designed to help Europe recover from the devestation of World War II. -
Berlin Blockade
Soviets imposed the Berlin Blockade, which cuts off all rail and road access to the capital city, locatedin he middle of the Soviet Zone of Eastern Germany. -
NATO Formed
10 Western European nations join the U.S. and Canada to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO is an anti-Soviety military alliance that extends the threat of America's nuclear weapons to cover Western Europe. -
North Attacks South Korea
Korean War begins because the North Korean troops attack across 38th parallel to try and "liberate" South Korea. -
MacArthur Fired
MacArthur was an iconic and popular World War II leader. Truman accused him of insubordination and removed him from command of American forces in Korea. This led to a huge public outcry in the United States. When MacArthur returns to the U.S., he is greeted as a hero. -
Massive Retaliation
John Foster Dulles (secretary of state) makes his Massive Relation speech, which marked the official implementation of brinksmanship as a strategy. According to this policy, any Soviet-led attack on any all of the U.S. will not be met by a nuclear assualt against them.
This strategy allowed for a reduction in American military budget. -
Korean Armstice Signed
The armstice is signed, which ends the Korean War. It creates a demilitarized done at the border between North and South. -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and its affiliated Communist nations in Eastern Europe founded a rival alliance, called the Warsaw Pact. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
President Eisenhower pledges to provide military and economic aid to countries fighting Communism in the Middle East. -
Sputnik Launched
The Soviets launched Sputnik, which was the first man-made object to orbit the earth. The Soviet's success in building the world's first satellite strikes fear in hearts of Americans. -
Great Famine
China begins the Great Leap Forward under Mao Zedong's leadership. They planed to industrialize the nation. The Great Leap failed miserably o produce progress for china, which instead resulted in Great Famine. The Great Famine was as agriculture was sacrificed for industry. Millions ended up dying. -
NASA Created
The United States created NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration), which lead to the space race with the Soviet Union. -
U2 Shot Down
American Pilot Gary Powers's U2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Eisenhower denies to have to do with the incident and refused to appologize. This led to the collpase of a planned Paris summit between the U.S. and Soviet Union. -
Bay of Pigs
This is where the U.S. tried to invade Cuba but failed miserably. This highly embarassed the U.S. -
Reagan visits wall
Reagan visited the Berlin Wall in 1961. This showed continued commitment to the people of West Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was the closest to the US and Soviets actually fighting. This includes nuclear warfare as well. -
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
This was one of the first steps to slow down the arms race. -
Soviets Invade Afghanistan
The U.S. and the Soviets each back a different side.The Soviet Union sent thousands of troops to Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of large portions of the country. -
Reunited Germany
East and West Germany reunited and East Germany was no longer communist. This was evidence that the War Saw Pact's days were limited. -
Berlin Wall Fall
This was from one long chain of events. The time had run out for the Soviet-supported dictatorships in Eastern Europe. Today ,sections of the Belin Wall still exist, usually in exhibits or museums.
