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Hiroshima
The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima that is so destructive that the co-pilot, Captain Robert Lewis, uttered the infamous phrase "My God, what have we done."
The event marked the end of war with Japan and the beginning of the possibility of war with even greater nuclear weapons. -
Period: to
Cold War
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The Truman Doctrine
President Truman announced the policy that stated the U.S. would intervene to support nations that were being threatened by takeover. The underlying context is that it was aimed towards communist nations like the USSR although it was never clearly stated. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a way to stregthen the Western Allies' military response to a possible invasion of Western Europe by the Soviet Union. During the Cold War it was a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact. -
McCarthy and the Red Scare
U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy accused hundreds of government officials of being Communists and created a social and political frenzy that sent the nation into a panic during the Cold War. -
Korean Conflict
Signals that the focus of the Cold War is moving into Asia. North Korea was set up as a Communist State and South Korea becomes an anti Communist state. North Korean troops attacked South Korea. -
Sputnik
Soviets launch 1st man made satellite. This event sparked the U.S. and USSR space race and escalated tensions because of the new technological capabilities that came with scientific and military development. -
Commmunism in Cuba
Fidel Castro overthrows the military dictatorship in Cuba and establishes the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. -
Bay of Pigs
Invasion of Cuba done by U.S. trained Cuban troops who fled during Castro's invasion in 1959. President Kennedy authorized the attack and broke political ties with the country of Cuba. The invasion failed and the CIA tried to cover up the U.S. political mistake. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
Conflicts between the Soviets and the U.S. escalated in a stand- off because of nuclear armed missiles in Cuba under the control of the Soviets and U.S. threat to use military force to ensure national security. The two nations were on the brink of a nuclear war but the conflict was resolved when the Soviets agreed to take the missiles out of Cuba as long as the U.S. promised not to invade. -
China's Atomic Bomb
China joins the nations that have atomic bomb capability and also join the nuclear arms race further complicating the Cold War. -
Nixon in China
President Nixon visits China and meets with Mao Zedong moving the U.S. to normalize political relations between the U.S. and China. This represented a significant shift in the Cold War. -
Chilean Government Overthrown
In 1970 the Chilean government became socialist and Nixon told advisors that he did not want the President, Salvador Allende, to remain in power. Although the CIA was ordered to start a military coup, it was not neccessary and the Chilean people rose up and overthrew the government in 1973. -
Boycott of 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow
Announced by President Jimmy Carter in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that was percieved by Washington as communist aggression. -
Tiananmen Square
A movement against Communism and towards Democracy in China. About a million Chinese students came together to protest in Tianamen Square and Chinese troops and polic stormed the square, killing hundreds of civilians and arresting thousands. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens could cross the border and people on both sides stormed the border and tore down the wall. It marked the end of the Cold War as the wall came down between East and West Berlin.
