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World War II Allies Attend the Yalta Conference
The United States and the Soviet Union attend the Yalta Conference after World War II to discuss what to do with Germany. The country is divided and East Germany is controlled by the Soviet Union and made a communist nation. -
Hiroshima
The U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Little boy, a 20 kiloton bomb. It killed 80,000 people. -
NATO
NATO was originally formed to combat the spread of communism, but has grown since then to provide a mutual defense from external threats. NATO is made up of these nations: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States. The organization is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. -
The Russians Test an Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union successfully tests its first atomic bomb, which the U.S. calls Joe 1. The U.S. is no longer the only country with a nuclear bomb. -
Warsaw Pact
Formally known as the Treaty of Friendship. A military alliance of communist nations in eastern Europe. Organized in 1955 in answer to NATO, the Warsaw Pact included Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. -
Sputnik
Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for “traveler”). The world’s first artificial satellite. Sputnik was the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit. -
U-2 Incident
A confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union began with the shooting down of a U.S U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union. This caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris. -
Space Race
President John F. Kennedy began a dramatic expansion of the U.S. space program and committed the nation to the ambitious goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.Once Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the space race was on. -
The U.S Fails at its Attempt to Invade Cuba
The U.S., trying to stop communism in Cuba, tries to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The invasion is a failure and Castro remains in control of the country. -
The Berlin Wall is Built
The Soviet Union, which occupies East Germany, builds a large wall that divides the city of Berlin. People who live in East Germany are not allowed to cross over into West Germany. There is still some pieces of the wall you can see today. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The U.S. discovers that the Soviet Union has put nuclear missiles in Cuba, 90 miles from the U.S. President John Kennedy demands that the missiles be removed and after 13 days of tense negotiations, Khrushchev agrees. -
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Kennedy signed the ratified treaty on October 7, 1963. The treaty: prohibited nuclear weapons tests or other nuclear explosions under water, in the atmosphere, or in outer space. allowed underground nuclear tests as long as no radioactive debris falls outside the boundaries of the nation conducting the test. -
End of Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall is demolished and East Germany allows unrestricted migration to West Germany. The spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders. -
Germany Reunited
Less than one year after the destruction of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany come together on what is known as “Unity Day.” Reunification hasn't come cheap.” Few will disagree: An estimated 1.3 trillion euros ($1.7 trillion) have flowed from the former West Germany to the former East Germany over the last 20 years. -
End of the Cold War
Multiple things had signified the end of the Cold War,the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Mikhail Gorbachev's declaration that the Soviet Union would no longer use its military to subdue the satellite states of the Warsaw Pact in 1988. The reunification of Germany in October 1990, is essentially what ended the war.
