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Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference took place in Russia. Spanning from February 4 to February 11, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winstin Churchill met to discuss what the world was to become after World War II was to conclude. Many people found that the U.S. was poorly represented by Rooosevelt, saying that he did not properly negotiate. -
Potsdam Conference
The Big Three, or Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and now President Harry Truman, met once again after war had offcially concluded. During this conference, it was decided that Germany and Austria be split into different zones. Each country would be in charge of a specific zone and they were to remain demilitiarized. -
Iron Curtain Speech
This speech, given by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, is known to mark the beginning of The Cold War. Stating that an "iron curtain has descended on Eastern Europe", Winston delivered this speech to make the relations with Britain and the United States stronger. This speech did not sit well with Stalin, however, further enhancing the possibility of a war. -
Truman Doctrine
U.S President, Harry S. Truman, began to ask Greece and Turkey for U.S. assistance to prevent communists from taking these two cities over. He proposed the Truman Doctrine, which would provide their cities with United States military armed forces to prevent communist from overtaking the land. This doctrine showed that the United States was ready to combat the Soviet Union at any time. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, in 1948, was set up to aid the European economy that had been ravaged ny war. George C. Marshall called for a program that would raise additional funding.With the use of investment and industrialization, this was a fitting option to rebuild. This plan also helped the United States by making markets that sold American Goods. The Marshall Plan also led to the legitimatization and instituational concept of U.S. Foreign Aid Programs, paving the way to a better U.S. Foreign Policy. -
Berlin Airlift
The US, UK, and France had occupied Western portions of Germany, while the Soviets controlled the Eastern. Berlin was an area that had no obvious controll and with hostile relations, the Soviets began blocking every possible form of transportation in parts of Berlin. The United States and United Kingdom fought back by airlifting all major resources to prevent Western areas from losing all their necessities. This was the first major conflict between enemies in the Cold War. -
Korean War
The Korean War began as a civil war between North and South Korea. Quickly, the United Nations who was under the control of the United States, joined in and began to support the people of South Korea. Upon the United Nations joining and supporting one side, People's Republic of China stepped in as well to bring aid for the Northern troops. This event did not start as a Cold War event but with the addition of allies and aid, it became a large piece of the Cold War. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War began in 1955 and came to its harsh conclusion in 1973. This war was widely unpopulare back in the United States. United States and their ally, South Vietnam were pitted against Viet Kong of Northern Vietnam. An extreme number of casualities came from this war which ended when the U.S. Army decided to pull out and return its troops home. -
Space Race
The Space Race took place between two opposing parties of the Cold War. The United States and the Soviets embarked on a race to put the fist man in space. Space had become the latest area for competition. The first space craft launched, Sputnik, was by the Soviets. Sputnik's release surprised and inferiorated the U.S. We, the United States, gave our triumphant rebuttal under the command of JFK and launched the most worthy spacecraft, Apollo, into space. -
U2 Incident
When the Soviets placed the Iron Curtain on their land, Eisenhower became curious. He wanted to know what was going on across military lines. He sent military U2 Planes to fly over their land to spy and see how the Soviets were organizing their war tactics. When the Soviets gained knowledge that the U.S. was hosting spying missions, they shot the U2 plane down and captured the pilot, Gary Powers. -
Bay of Pigs
John F. Kennedy set up a mission in early 1961 to attack the island of Cuba. He wanted to combine forces with Cuban exiles to fight the armies of Fidel Castro and hopefully strike up an uprising against Castro. He wanted to keep this plan a secret from other countries to maintain alliances. However, when JFK's army went to attack, Castro had already been aware of their plan and removed all his men and planes from the attack zone. The plan was a disaster and the U.S. suffered great embarassment. -
Berlin Wall
In 1961, the German governement decided to put a barb-wire, concrete wall up seperating East and West Berlin. In doing this, they wanted to keep the social class seperate and not risk the status of high socialites. Only allowing certain people through one of the three checkpoints set up, this cut Eastern and Western Berlin inhabitants from the opportunity of work, food, and entertainment. People were killed as they tried to scale the wall and allow themselves over into the neighboring sections. -
The Cuban Missle Crisis
Fidel Castro had quickly aligned himself with the Soviets after capturing the island of Cuba. Like the U2 incident, U.S. planes were flying over Cuba and captured images that showed nuclear weaponary, JFK and the United States began to worry about how close these missiles were being set up to the mainland. JFK took it in his own hands when he had Navymen quarantine the island of Cuba, making it unable for them to bring in missiles. The US and Soviets made deals and the threats were eliminated. -
Berlin Wall Falls
In 1989, when the Cold War was coming to an end, East and West Germany had taken necessary steps towards changing their relationship. Easter officials had come out saying they had reconciled their differences with Western Germany and allowed free crossing of the borders. This marked the end of a war for the people of Berlin and millions of people made their way to partake in the destruction of this difficult reminder of segregation and hardship. -
Soviet Union Dissolves
When The Berlin Wall was taken down, the states of the Soviet Union began to see the fine cracks in its foundation. Mikhail Gorbechev, a politician in the Soviet Union, began to lose control of the states as they began pulling out of the Union and forming their own independence.Slowly, but surely, all those involved in the Soviet Union removed themselves and became a Commonwealth of Independentt States, ending the reign of the Soviet Union. This symbolized the closing of The Cold War.
