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Potsdam Conference
Following Germany's surrender at the end of World War 2, the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union met in Potsdam, Germany, to negotiate postwar borders and zonef of occupation. The division of Germany, Eastern Eurpoe, and Korea into democratic- and communist-controlled zones set the stage for the ongoing conflict that would become known as the Cold War. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/potsdam-conf -
Iron Curtain Speech
In a speech given at Westminster College, Missouri USA, former prime minister Winston Curchill referred to the division between democratic and communist nations in Europe as an "iron curtain". This popularized the phrase, and crystallized the idealogical separation between the East and West in the public mind. Churchill's speech is often cited as the true beginning of the Cold War. http://history1900s.about.com/od/churchillwinston/a/Iron-Curtain.htm -
The Marshall Plan
Also called the Eurpoean Recovery Program (ERP), the Marshall Plan was a program initiated by the US, offering economic aid to any European nation. Stalin, fearing a potential economic takeover by the West, forbade Eastern Europens nations from accepting aid, threatening severe consequences. Therefore, only Western European countries benefitted. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/marshall-plan -
Cominform
In response to Western policies of aid and reform in Europe, the Soviet Union created the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform), to facilitate influence and control over Europen communist governments. This organization established the political control necessary for later programs, such as the Zhdanov Doctrine, aimed at economic revival and consolidation in the communist bloc. http://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/2011/10/5/319cf7c8-9af0-4057-a931-c64b42d52fc9/publishable_en.pdf -
Berlin blockade and airlift
Responding to the merging of the US, UK, and French sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union cut off all rail and automobile access to the city, cutting off supply lines and leaving the citizens of West Berlin to face starvation. The US and UK initiated a major airlift operation, later known as the Berlin Airlift, transporting over 2,000,000 tons of supplies via 270,000 flights to the beleaguered Berliners. https://www.trumanlibrary.org/teacher/berlin.htm -
Founding of NATO
In 1949 the United States, Breat Britain, Canada, and eight Europen nations formed NATO, the north Atlantic Treaty Organization. This mutual-defense organization was created as a deterrent against possible futue aggression by Germany or the Soviet Union, and prevented communist influence within the western nations. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/nato -
Koren War
Military forces from communist North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. In response, the United Nations, led by the US, sent militry forces to defend South Korea. China became militarily involved once UN forces pushed into North Korea. The Soviet Union provided military assests as well, though never under a declaration of war. Thus, the Korean War became a proxy war between the major ideological world powers. -
Founding of the Warsaw Pact
In May 1955, the Soviet Union, along with East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bukgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Albania formaed a military alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. Created in respone to NATO, the Western military alliance, the Warsaw Pact further centralized and strengthened communist power, and contibuted to deepening fears of global war bewteen the East and West. http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/TheWarsawPact.asp -
Sputnik 1
In 1967, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit, called Sputnik 1. This sparked a wave of fear about the possibility of the Soviet Union gaining control of near-Earth space, and launched the US space program into high gear. The Space Race is considered to have begun with this event. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sputnik-launched -
U2 Spy-plane incident
In 1960, US President Dwight Eisenhower was scheduled to meet with Soviet Premiere Nikita Kruschev in Paris, to discuss topics such as arms contrrol, the division of Germany, and other pertinent issues. On the eve of the summit, May 1, US pilot Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory in his U2 spy plane. The Soviets saw this as an act of deceit, and ended the peace conference before it began. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/u2-incident -
Yuri Gagarin - First man in Space
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to reach space beyond Earth's atmosphere. While a great moment in space-flight history, US morale was decreased as the Soviet Union was seen as pulling even further ahead in the Space Race. As a result, greater effort was put into the US space program. http://www.space.com/16159-first-man-in-space.html -
Bay of Pigs invasion
US mistrust of Cuban and Soviet communist leaders inspired a plan to topple the comunist regime of Fidel Castro and instate a democratic system in Cuba. On April 17, 1961, a force of CIA-trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba. The attack was repelled, the surviving insurgents captured, and relations between the US and Cuba worsened. http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Bay-of-Pigs.aspx -
Berlin Wall
Under the influence of communism, East Germany had become economically depressed. Thousands of East Germans crossed over into West Berlin, seeking a better life. To halt the mass exodus, East German military units erected a barrier between East and West Berlin, in the dead of night on August 13, 1961. At first made of barbed wire, this barricade was later upgraded to a fortified stone wall. The national border was also fortified. http://history1900s.about.com/od/coldwa1/a/berlinwall.htm -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Bay of Pigs invasion caused Cuba to seek greter support from the Soviet Union. In October, 1962, a U2 sply plane photographed muclear missile sites being constructed in Cuba. In response, president John F. Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba, warning the Soviets not to deliver military supplies to the island. With nuclear war imminent, the Soviets backed down, on the condition that the US would not invade Cuba. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/cuban-missile-crisis -
Vietnam War
After gaining independence for France, Vietnam was divided into a communist North and anti-communist South. The US, in its ongoing mission to deter world communism, lent limited military support to the South. On August 7, 1964, Congress approved President Lyndon Johnson's request for full militery action. Military units were sent to Vietnam, beginning a ten-year conflict. http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history -
Apollo moon landing
On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first persons to land on the surface of Earth's moon. After the Soviet successes with Sputnik 1 and Yuri Gagarin, the US was determined to be the first nation to place a man on the moon. They succeeded with the Apollo 11 mission, boosting national morale and establishing the US as the leader in space exploration and technology. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html -
SALT Treaty
The greatest threat during the Cold War was that of nuclear war. On May 26, 1972, after two years of negotiations, US President Richard Nixon, along with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). This marked the first cooperation between the US and Soviet Union in regard to the limitation of weaponry since the beginning of the Cold War. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/salt -
Apollo-Soyuz test project
In an effort to test the feasability of cooperation in the field of space exploration, the US and Soviet Union initiated the Apollo-Soyuz test program. On July 17, 1975, three American astronauts, and two Soviet cosmonauts, successfully docked their space capsules in Earth orbit. This was the first time two nations had cooperated in space flight. The Space Race was effectively ended, and the modern era of joint exploration begun. http://www.space.com/20833-apollo-soyuz.html -
1980 Winter Olympics "Miracle on Ice"
During the 1980 WInter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY, the amateur US hockey team achieved victory over the professional Soviet hockey team. Symbolizing the long Cold-War conflict between East and West, the victory was a great morale boost for Western citizens. The later 1980 Summer Olympics, held in Moscow, also had political overtones, as the US boycotted the games in protest of the Soviet Union's military invasion of Afghanistan. http://www.orda.org/miracle/ -
Glasnost and Perestroika
In July of 1987, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announced the poilicies of glasnost, meening "openness", and perestroika, meaning "restructuring", to be inplemented in the Soviet Union. These new dramatically shifted the dynamics within the Soviet Union, opening its citizens to once-forbidden sources of art, literature, and media, and enacting significant social and economic reforms. http://alphahistory.com/coldwar/glasnost-and-perestroika/ -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The liberating effects of glasnost and perestroika were felt throughout the communist bloc. In 1989, Hungary opened its border with Austira. Thousands of East Germans flocked to Hungary to cross into the West. Mass protests against the East German government began in September, and on Nov 9, a new travel law was announced, allowing citizens to travel into West Berlin. The Iron Curtain had officially been lifted. http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/fall-of-berlinwall.htm -
Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
<a href='' >https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/warsaw-treaty</a>With its borders newly opened, East Germany planned to reuntite with West Germany, and formally left the Warsaw Pact. With the Soviet Union's hold on the other communist nations weakened by internal collapse, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary all withdrew from the alliance. By July of 1991, the Warsaw Pact had formally been disssolved. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/warsaw-treaty -
Fall of the Soviet Union
In 1987 Estonia demanded autonomy from the weakening Soviet Union, and was soon followed by the other Soviet states. With Gorbachev unable to resolve the unrest, a group of hard-line communist officials attempted a coup to re-establish the old order. Protests erupted in cities all over the Soviet Union, and military intervention proved impossible. On Dec 25, Gorbachev resigned, disbanding the communist government. http://www.coldwar.org/articles/90s/fall_of_the_soviet_union.asp
