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The Russian Revolution
Beginning March 8, 1917 Russians went after killing the Russian Czar Nicholas. The Bolsheviks began growing and gaining support. Russia became the first communist state lead by Vladimir Lenin. The importance of this is nobody thought communism would happen and nobody wanted it so when it did happen everybody was shocked and scared. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
The Chinese Communist Revolution was led by Mao Zedong. A civil war had erupted in China directly after WWII between the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kaishek. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China, ushering in an era of communism for China. China was a large country and having a country so large fall to communism would have struck fear into those fighting communism. -
Army-McCarthy hearings
These were a set of hearings beginning in April and ending in June, that Wisconsin Senator McCarthy lead on. He turned his "investigations" or allegations to the U.S. Army as his popularity began to fade. In the end, the hearings were inconclusive but it came out that he had made up all his allegations and nearly overnight McCarthy lost almost all his popularity. McCarthy created massive amounts of hysteria in the U.S. which could have brought the U.S. down to its knees and brought communism. -
Potsdam Conference
The Postdam Conference began July 17, 1945, and ended August 2, 1945. The allies came together with the U.S.u and Britain on one side determined to secure political freedom and democratic governments in Europe. Russia led by dictator Joseph Stalin wanted to impose dominance over all of Europe bringing and spreading communism in the nations. -
Atomic Bomb Hiroshima/Nagasaki
During August of 1945, The U.S. dropped the first atomic bombs. First August 6, 1945, the smaller of the 2, nicknamed, "the Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima. The second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, nicknamed "the Fat Man" as it was the larger of the 2. The Soviet leader Stalin was aware of the bombs because of his spies in the Manhattan Project. He was not surprised to see its use but however was surprised at the willingness of the U.S. government to use it. -
Long Telegram
The Long Telegram was sent from George Kennan. He was a U.S. ambassador in the U.S. embassy in Moscow. He sent the telegram to say how the Soviets felt and what Stalin was doing. He also described how to fight the communists and what would not work in fighting them. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain is the dividing line between East and West Europe. With the West being free and the East being controlled by the Soviet Union under communist oppression destroying all other parties until only the true-hearted communists remained. -
Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was essentially the same thing as the Truman Plan. This plan described how the Soviet Union would go about rebuilding the Eastern parts of Europe, specifically those under control of the Soviet Union. This would have given the Soviet Union more power over these countries and what happened to them. -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood 10 were actors, directors, etc... from Hollywood who decided to resist the unfair, unjust questioning. Because of this, they would all be arrested. The court of public opinion would ruin the careers of many people. This would heavily cause hysteria and it can be very dangerous for the government to legally punish you for being apart of an unpopular opinion. -
Truman Doctrine
Harry Truman gave a speech to Congress describing what he believed should be done. He believed the U.S. was responsible for protecting the free world. The Doctrine would give economic and military aid to countries in need, especially ones in danger of communism taking hold. -
Marshal Plan
The Marshall Plan was a recovery program proposed by George C. Marshall. It would provide economic aid to Western European countries, to help rebuild the countries devastated from WWII. In all over $12 billion would be given. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was The Soviet Union blocking all entry and exit. Stalin blacked all roads, bridges, railroads, and cut off all power. He hoped to starve the West out of Germany and the people in Berlin to give into communism. Beginning June 24, 1948, and ending May 12, 1948. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift would occur during the Berlin Blockade was put in motion. The allied countries would fly in by plane and drop off large amounts of necessary goods, like medical supplies or food. Without this, most people in West Berlin would have either given in to the Soviet Union or starve. If the Soviets took over all of Berlin likely all of Germany would have fallen under communist control. -
Alger Hiss Case
This was a case of spying. Alger Hiss was accused of being a communist and giving information to the Soviet Union. He was ratted out about another communist who confessed to also giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union. This would have allowed the Soviet Union to gain advantages on the U.S. helping to spread communism. -
NATO
NATO is an alliance between many wealthy free Western countries. Its purpose was to secure freedom and peace in Europe and keep communism from spreading. -
First Soviet Bomb Test
Only a few months after the U.S.the Soviets were able to create and detonate their own atomic bomb. Much of their information came from spying on the U.S. designs and materials. This would usher in the large of the nuclear era now that both superpowers in the world had the deadliest weapons on the planet. -
Korean War
June 50, 1950 75,000 North Korean soldiers marched across the 38th parallel into South Korea. This was the first true military action to occur during the Cold War. Only a month later the U.S. would join the side of the South. From the beginning Communist North Korea was backed by the Soviet Union. This war lasted 3 years with around 5 million people dying but Korea continues to be split at the 38th parallel. -
Rosenberg Trial
Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg were believed to be spies for the Soviet Union specifically giving information from the Manhattan Project. They were convicted and sentenced to death by electric chair. They were largely a part of recruiting spies and collecting information. They could have given the Soviet Union a large boost towards winning the Cold War. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was created in response to NATO and it was between the Soviet Union and many Eastern European countries. In which all the countries pledged to defend each other in case of attack. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
Beginning on August 20, 1968. Warsaw Soldiers led by the Soviet Union marched into Czechoslovakia. Their goal was to eliminate reformers in Prague, Czechoslovakia. People were beginning to not support communism and the Eastern Bloc was beginning to split from communism. The Soviet Union was able to delay the uprising. As an effect, the Brezhnev Doctrine was formed allowing the Soviet Union to intervene in any country creating a threat to communism. The soldiers left on September 20, 1968. -
Nixon Visits China
On February 21, 1972, President Richard Nixon visited the People's Republic of China becoming the first president to visit since the formation in 1949. Mao Zedong the Communist Dictator at the time agreed to open up some trade between the 2 countries. Nixon had wanted to normalize relationships between the countries. He was, in the end, able to succeed. He also wished to drive a wedge deeper between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. -
Reagan Elected
The 1980 Presidential Election came down to Ronald Reagan (Republican) and Jimmy Carter (Democrat). Though Reagan was originally a Democrat. The outcome of the election was won by a landslide with Reagan having 489 electoral votes and 43,642,639 (50.9%) popular votes. Jimmy Carter only had 49 electoral votes but had 35,480,948 (41.1%) popular votes. -
SDI Announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative was a research project beginning in early 1980 by President Reagan. The project was to create a missile defense system using satellites. The project was not very achievable but after his "Star Wars" speech, where he announced the projects near completion, it created heavy economic pressure on the Soviet Union to also create this even though the U.S. was nowhere near completion. -
The Geneva Convention with Gorbachev
The Geneva Summit was a meeting between President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev with the purpose of reducing the number of nuclear weapons on both sides. The meeting would prove to be successful in which both sides would reduce nuclear weapons and the nuclear policy would change from MAD to SDI. Mainly because of a new younger person being elected to the position and because Reagan did not believe that destruction was a good incentive to keep the countries out of war. -
"Tear Down this Wall" Speech
This was a speech made by Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate on the Berlin Wall. In which he called upon Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." He was speaking to the Berlin Wall. That line was very controversial and dozens of different drafts were written up. Two years after the speech would be the opening of the Berlin Wall. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
On November 9, 1989 East German State Council held an emergency meeting. In this meeting the council made the decision that people could now cross the Berlin Wall. This occurred partly because of the weakening of the Soviet Union's grip on East Europe. More than 2 million people fled East Berlin across the now open Berlin Wall. People broke the wall apart using pickaxes, sledgehammers, etc.
