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The Yalta Conference
February 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met in Yalta - a Soviet resort on the black sea - to go over plans for postwar world -
Formation of West Germany
One of the discussions at the Yalta Conference was about how would the three men (Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt) focus on Germany. They decided that they would divide Germany into four zones. Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and france would get a zone. Germany's capital (Berlin) was also divided into zones, even though Berlin resided in the Soviet's zone. -
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The Potsdam Conference
The last WW2 meeting help by the "Big Three" consisted of Stalin meeting up with Truman in Potsdam, to go over the declaration demanding 'unconditional surrender' from Japan. -
The Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill delivered a speech in Fulton Missouri referring to an "iron curtain" falling across eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. -
The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was speech given by President Truman to a joint session of congress, the Doctrine gave financial support to Greece to resist communist pressure, and is known as the official declaration of the cold war. -
The Marshall Plan
Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed the European Recovery Program, which would give European nations American aid to rebuild their economies. -
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The Berlin Airlift
Soviet Troops cut all road and rail traffic to West Berlin hoping for the U.S. would either reconsider their or abandon West Berlin. To avoid war, Truman instead of ordering troops to fight their way to Berlin, he ordered the ari force to fly supplies into Berlin. -
The Formation of NATO
The Berlin blockade convinced many Americans that the Soviets were bent in conquest. The public began to support a military alliance with Western Europe. An agreement was reached to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - a mutual defense alliance. -
The Korean War
At the end of World War 2, American and Soviet forces entered Korea to disarm the Japanese troops. As the cold war began talks to reunify Korea broke down, the Soviet Union provided military aid to North Korea, who quickly built up an army. North Korea invaded the south, rapidly driving back the poorly equipped South Korean forces. -
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The Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states