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The Cold War
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First Atomic Bombing
It was on this day that the world first experiences the capability and poower of what atomic weapons can do. President Truman of the United States gave permission for the first use of an atomic weapon on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in an attempt to end the Second World War for good. -
Second Atomic Bombing
This ties directly into the first bombing on Japan. Again, President Truman gives permission for the use of a second atomic weapon on the Japanese city of Nagasaki to secure the surrendor of the Japanese. -
Gouzenko Affair
A clerk that was working in the Russian embassy in Ottawa, defects from the USSR and gives information to the Canadian authorities about a soviet spy ring within Canada. His name is Igor Gouzenko, hence the ‘Gouzenko affair’, by doing this he put his life at risk, but he also saved many others. This Russian spy ring was also within the United States. -
United Nations
It was decided at the Yalta Conference (a conference held after WW2 where the world leaders conferred about the aftermath in Europe) that was held on February 8th that a second alliance of nations was to be created after the League of Nations failed to prevent the Second World War. This alliance was to be known as the United Nations -
Formation of NATO
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created to prevent the "iron curtain", or communism, from spreading to other nations. The United Kingdom and United States, along with 10 other nations became a part of this organization that would defend each other in the event of an attack by any other party not included within this organization. -
Korean War
The Korean War was an important event to the Cold War because it signifies the Cold War’s focus of moving into Asia. North Korea was set up as a communist state, and South Korea was set up as a client of the US. In other words South Korea is non-communist. Due to the differences between North Korea and South Korea, North Korean troops came across the border and attacked South Korea. In an attempt to stop the spread of communism and protect the South Koreans being attacked, President Harry Truma -
Warsaw Pact
Similar to the formation of NATO, the Warsaw Pact was established and signed and it created a mutual defense between many countries in Europe, but also put the Soviets in charge of the armed forces of the member states in this treaty, including Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. -
Vietnam War
On this day, the Vietnam War began. This war lasted a long time, and concluded with nearly 3000000 casualties in total. The communist party of North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong, fought against South Vietnam and its main ally the United States. In the end, the US withdrew from the war after it became increasingly unpopular, and after a total of 58000 casualties. Later Vietnam went under Communist control. -
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis was the invasion of Egypt by the Israelis, French and British in an attempt to remove the Egyptian President Gamal Adbel Nasser from power. The attack on Egypt was short lived, and lasted a total of 8 days before coming to an end on the 9th. After the allied forced completed their goals, they were forced to withdraw from the heavy pressure coming from the United Stated, USSR, and United Nations. -
Formation of NORAD
NORAD (North American Air Defence Agreement) was formed between the United States and Canada on this date, due to the increasing technology in nuclear weaponry, and soviet bombers extending their range of operation. The purpose of NORAD was intended to provide and early warning of attacks, and to protect against attacks from the Soviet Union. The initial plan was to have a headquarters in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, and to set up surveillance perimeters in the Canadian Arctic as well as in many -
Cancellation of the Avro Arrow
The official date of the cancellation of the Avro Arrow was on February 20th, 1959. By making this decision due to the expensive maintenance and creation of the plane itself. The company used way too much of the taxpayers’ dollars on creating the planes. This sudden termination of the Arrow put about a total of 30000 employees out of jobs. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban missile crisis was the closest that the Cold War ever came to becoming a full scale war between the United States and Soviet Union. This 13 day encounter that was televised worldwide, between the US and the Soviet Union occurred due to the Soviets setting up missile bases in Cuba, as close as 90 miles from the US. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to Cuba’s request for missiles to be placed there do prevent the harassment of Cuba from other countries. -
Salt Treaty
This was the first of the two SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) treaties that was signed. These treaties were essentially put forth to minimize the amount of Nuclear weapons being built. After SALT 1 was signed, discussions and meeting lasted for another 7 years where many limitations were set on the types of nuclear missiles and launch sites that could be created. This finalized treaty was called SALT 2, and was signed on June 18th 1979. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative, or ‘Star Wars’, was proposed by President Ronald Raegan, with the intended use to be created and used as a missile defence system to protect the US against a nuclear attack from the Soviets. This initiative was considered unrealistic by many because of its primary goal. People believed that there would be a much more useful use for funding as most of the goals of the SDI were impossible due to technology limitations. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
As the Cold War started coming to an end across the eastern side of Europe, there was an announcement. After weeks of negotiation, the East Germany government came to the conclusion that the citizens were free to cross the border into West Berlin, and West Germany. People began using all sorts of tools to take down the wall, such as picks, cranes, and bulldozers. After a short period of time, the wall was finally removed completely and Germany was once whole again. -
Break up of the Soviet Union
On this date, the Soviet Union was disbanded, and it was split up into 15 separate countries. This date also marks the end of the Cold War, as the Soviet Union was taken down, and the United States rejoiced about it. The cause of the dissolution is very complex and was caused from many of the events that occurred during the Cold War.
