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The Russian Revolution
It went from March 8, 1917 to June 16, 1923. It was a political and social revolution across the Russian Empire. Got rid of monarchy and established the Soviet Union. Started with the February Revolution and ended with the Civil War with the defeat of the White Army and independence of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. -
Potsdam Conference
President Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were determined to secure political freedom and democratic governments throughout Europe. -
Atomic Bomb - Hiroshima/Nagasaki
A new class of weapon. Was able to use as leverage and scared other countries. The Atomic bomb destroyed the city of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the bombing of Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered. Ended August 9, 1945. -
Long Telegram
George Kennan sends an 8,000 word telegram to the Department of State explaining his views on the Soviet Union. It was formerly titled The Sources of Soviet Conduct. Kennan was the Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States to the USSR from 1944-46 -
Iron Curtain
It was a non-physical boundary dividing Europe into two from 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side it was all the countries controlled by the Soviet Union. On the west side it was countries that were apart of NATO. Winston Churchill made a speech March 5, 1946 explaining the Iron Curtain to the people. -
The Molotov Plan
It was a system created by the Soviet Union in order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were apart of the Soviet Union. It was originally called the "Brother Plan". It was like the Soviet Union's version of the Marshall Plan. -
Hollywood Ten
Ten Hollywood stars that refused to answer any questions under interrogation from the HUAC. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan helped some European countries economically. Provided nets for fishermen, money for the economy, The US offered billions of dollars to the Soviet Union to help its economy but they refused. -
Berlin Blockade
It was one of the first major international crisis in the Cold War. The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the parts of Berlin under Western control. In 1949 the Soviets tested their own atomic bomb and China became a communist country. -
The Berlin Airlift
Within days of the Berlin Blockade, the US and Britain orchestrated the Berlin Airlift to resupply the western part of the city. Planes varied in food, coal, and medical supplies. On average a flight landed in west Berlin every 3 minutes. More then 2 million tons of cargo were delivered during the 15-month operation. On May 12, 1949 the Soviets lifted the blockade. -
Truman Doctrine
An american foreign policy designed to stop the expansion of Soviet forces during the cold war. Announced to congress by President Harry S. Truman and was approved several months later. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization joined 29 North American and European countries. -
First Soviet Bomb Test
The Soviets shocked the world when they successfully tested their own atomic bomb. Years ahead of expert predictions. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
Communist revolutionary Mao Zedong prevailed in a decades long civil war against the Chinese nationalist government. Nearly 500 million Chinese fell under communist rule. -
Alger Hiss Case
Alger Hiss was accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union and sending information to the Soviet Union. He was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison. -
Korean War
The Korean war was a war between North and South Korea. North Korea was backed by China and the Soviet Union. South Korea was backed by the United Nations principally from the United States. -
Rosenberg Case
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were American citizens who were accused and convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. They were accused of providing top-secret information about radar, sonar, and jet propulsion engines, and valuable nuclear weapon designs to the Soviet Union -
Army-McCarthy Hearings.
They were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate differing claims between the US Army and US senator Joseph McCarthy. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
It was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that started on the 13th of March 1954. It was fought between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. -
Warsaw Pact
It was also known as the Treaty of Friendship and the Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. It was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics of Central and Eastern Europe. The Eastern Bloc were the communist countries of central and eastern Europe. -
Hungarian Revolution
Was a nationwide revolution against the Hungarian People's Republic and it's Soviet-imposed policies. It lasted from October 23- December 10, 1956. -
U2 Incident
A United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defense Forces. Flown by pilot Francis Gary Powers, was hit by an S-75 Dvina surface to air missile and crashed near Sverdlovsk. Powers parachuted safely and was captured. -
Berlin Wall
It was a concrete wall that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. -
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, beginning with a military invasion of northern Cuba. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
It was a 13-day (Started October 16, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union began by the discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. -
Assassination of JFK
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was riding with his wife Jacqueline. He was fatally shot by former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald firing in ambush from a nearby building. The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital where President Kennedy was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
Warsaw pact troops attacked Czechoslovakia. Romania and Albania refusing to participate. East German forces, except for a small number of specialists, did not participate in the invasion because they were ordered from Moscow not to cross the Czechoslovak border just hours before the invasion. 137 Czechoslovakian civilians were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the occupation. Started on the 20th of August, 1968. -
Nixon Visits China
Nixon's visit to China was an important strategically and diplomatically that marked the highest point of the Nixon administration's continuous of harmonious relations between the United States and China.. -
Reagan Elected
Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Jimmy Carter. Reagan campaigned for increased defense spending, implementation of supply-side economic policies, and a balanced budget. -
SDI Announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative was a missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. first announced publicly by President Ronald Reagan on 23 March 1983. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
The Geneva Summit was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It was between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations. Also on November 19, 1985. -
‘Tear down this wall’ Speech
Also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, is a speech delivered by President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin. Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. The name is from a line in the middle of the speech: "Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall. It was a pivotal event in world history which marked the end of the Iron Curtain. The fall of the inner German border happened shortly after. An end to the Cold War was declared at the Malta Summit three weeks later, and the reunification of Germany happened during the following year.
