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Potsdam Conference
Conference at the end of the war in Europe between the U.S, Russia and the UK. Discussion of post-war Germany. Stalin promises free elections in eastern Europe. -
Atomic Bombs
The first ever atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the American military. A day later another bomb was dropped by the American military, this time on Nagasaki. Over 200,000 people dies as a result of these bombs. It kick-started the cold war and "drove the world's two leading superpowers into a new confrontation." -
The Long Telelgram
George Kennan sent an 8000-word telegram in 1946 now famously known as the "long telegram." His idea was that soviet expansionism needed to be contained through a policy of "strong resistance." This resulted in it becoming the basis for U.S containment strategy toward the soviet union for the remainder of the cold war. -
The Iron Curtain Speech
The iron curtain speech, delivered by Winston Churchill, expressed the importance of the U.S and Britain in acting as the guardians of peace and stability against the soviet union. This event helped focus attention on leading global alliance motivated to protect world peace. -
The Hollywood 10
The Hollywood 10 were ted motion picture producers, directors and screen writers who refused to answer questions in front of congress about their possible communist affiliations. As a result, they were put in jail and put on a blacklist ending their careers. -
The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine, created in 1947, established that the US would provide military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authorization forces. It eventually became the basis of the American cold war policy and it helped prevent the spread of communism into weaker European countries. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall plan, also known as the European recovery program, provided aid to western Europe during the cold war. It provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts. It also helped reduce the spread of communism during the cold war. The idea began in a speech given in June of 1947, but it wasn't enacted until 1948. -
The Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was the system created by the Soviet Union in 1947 in order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union. The plan was in some ways contradictory because while the Soviets were giving aid to Eastern Bloc countries, at the same time they were demanding that countries who were members of the Axis powers pay reparations to the Soviet Union. -
The Berlin Blockade
The Berlin blockade was an attempt by the Soviet Union to limit the availability of the United States to travel to their sections of Berlin. They created physical barriers, most commonly military trucks, to block off any and all transportation into and out of western Berlin. They also blocked railroads and canal access to Western Berlin. -
The Berlin Airlift
When the Soviet Union created a blockade to exterminate imports and exports, the US sent massive units of food, water, clothing, medicine and other necessities to over 2 million citizens of Germany. For almost a year, airplanes took off and landed around the clock to provide these supplies. -
The NATO
The NATO, short for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was created by the United States to provide security against the Soviet Union. The NATO demonstrated political reserve and military capability and protected the members of the treaty. -
The First Soviet Bomb Test
The first soviet bomb test was named "First Lightning" by the soviets. It was constructed and detonated in a tower surrounded by bridges and buildings in order to measure the affects of it. This prompted other countries to begin building and testing their own bombs in preparation of possible wars to come. -
The Chinese Communist Revolution
The Chinese communist revolution was the conflict led by the Chinese communist party that resulted in the proclamation of the People's republic of China. The Cultural Revolution damaged China's economy and traditional culture, with an estimated death toll ranging from hundreds of thousands to 20 million. -
The Alger Hiss Case
Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury in regards to his testimony about his alleged involvement in a Soviet spy ring before and during World War II. Some felt he was a maligned official who became a victim of the anticommunist hysteria of the late-1940s, while others felt he was a lying communist. His trial ended in two guilty verdicts, but he was not tried for treason. -
The Korean War
The Korean war began when around 78,000 soldiers from North Korea poured over the 38th parallel, which was the first military action of the cold war. The soviet union and U.S got involved and fought a 'proxy war.' -
The Rosenberg Trial
Julius Rosenberg was a key soviet spy who passed on information to the Soviet union and recruited Manhattan project spies. Him and his wife were tried and convicted of espionage and was executed in 1953. Their trial remains controversial today. -
The Korean Armistice
Description - The Korean war began in 1950 and 158 meetings and two years 17 days later, the agreement was signed; marking it as the longest negotiated armistice in history. It formally ended the Korean war and stated that South and North Korea will remain separate. It ended America's first experiment with the Cold war's concept of "limited war." -
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The battle of Dien Bien Phu was the decisive engagement in the First Indochina War consisting of a struggle between French and Viet Minh forces for control of a small mountain outpost on the Vietnamese border near Laos. The Viet Minh victory signaled the end of French colonial influence in Indochina and cleared the way for the division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel. -
The Army-McCarthy Hearings
The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on to investigate conflicting accusations between the United States Army and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. The senate voted to censure McCarthy and he went on to speak against communism until his death. -
The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty established by the Soviet Union that provided for a unified military command and the systematic ability to strengthen the Soviet hold over the other participating countries. -
The Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution was a countrywide revolution against the Stalinist government of the Hungarian People's Republic. The rebellion in Hungary exposed the weaknesses of Eastern European communism. It lasted less than a month ending on November 11th 1956. -
The U-2 Incident
The U-2 incident happened when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers. The incident increased the tension between the two nations and helped escalate the Cold War. -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
The bay of pigs invasion was a failed attack launched by the CIA in attempt to push Cuban leader Fidel Castro out of power. Two years previous, Castro overthrew the American-backed president of Cuba, General Fulgencio Batista. For the next two years, America would attempt and fail to get Castro out of power. -
The Berlin Wall
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of East Germany began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany however, families were divided unable to see each other, and a lot of critisism was said about this event. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban missile crisis involved leaders of the U.S and Soviet Union engaged in a 13-day political and military standoff over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba. The missile crisis ended when the Soviet premier announced Soviet missiles would be removed from Cuba. -
The Assassination of JFK
The JFK assassination took place as the 35th president of the United States was riding in his motorcar around noon in Dallas Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who shot him, never stood trial as he himself was shot and killed by a Dallas nightclub owner. However, JFK's assassination continues to be a conspiracy while many think it wasn't the act of one individual. -
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution passed by congress, authorized President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. This marked a big turning point in the Cold War. -
The Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. As a result, it weakened public support for the U.S in the war of Vietnam. -
The 1968 riots at Democratic convention
At the democratic national convention in Chicago, thousands of Vietnam War protesters battle police in the streets, while the Democratic Party falls apart over an internal disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam. Over the next 24 hours the predominant American line of thought on the Cold War with the Soviet Union was destroyed. -
The Kent State
Students protesting the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces, clashed with Ohio National Guardsmen on the Kent State University campus. When the Guardsmen shot and killed four students on the Kent State Shootings became the focal point of a nation deeply divided by the Vietnam War. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
In January 1973, Americans and North Vietnamese ironed out the last details of the ceasefire settlement. All parties to the conflict, including South Vietnam, signed the final agreement in Paris which ended the Vietnam war. However, only Americans honored the ceasefire agreement. -
The Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong in April 1975. This effectively ended the Vietnam War. -
Reagan Elected
In 1980 Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory naming him the 40th president of the United States. Reagan received the highest number of electoral votes ever won by a non-incumbent presidential candidate. In the simultaneous Congressional elections, Republicans won control of the United States Senate for the first time since 1955. -
SDI announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also nicknamed the "Star Wars program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. Reagan announced this concept in March 1983. It was intended to intercept the missiles at various phases of their flight. -
The ‘Tear down this wall’ speech
The ‘Tear down this wall’ was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin. He said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," in an attempt to destroy the Berlin wall. Two years later the wall, which had become a symbol of Soviet oppression came down. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin wall came down in November 1989, five days after half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest. Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled. The fall of the Berlin Wall served as a symbol of the country's unification, and for many, the end of communism in Eastern Europe and the Cold War.