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The Cold War
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Iron Curtain
the iron curtain was a political barrier created by the Soviet Union. it was created to get rid of contact with countries that were not communist. The iron curtain did not end until the Cold War in the 1990s. -
Truman Doctrine
The Human Doctrine was U.S. foreign policy that said economic assistance to democratic nations under the threat of communism. 400 million dollars was used. The Truman Doctrine made people think that the Soviet Union and the U.S. were in a life or death struggle. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was created to keep Europe from turning communist. It would aid in Europe's economic recovery after Wold War 2. The Soviet Union believed that this was a plan to interfere with the Soviet's plans. The Soviet Union would not let certain countries participate. Over 13 billion dollars was given to Europe. -
Berlin Airlift
After World War 11 Berlin was split into 4 parts. Each was controlled by a different country. The soviet Union wanted Berlin to be all theirs. They closed all forms of transportation from East Berlin to west. They believed that this would get rid of the other countries that controlled Berlin. The other countries decided to get supplies to their parts of Berlin by airplane. this lasted for more than a year. -
NATO
NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO was created by the U.S. and 11 other countries to stop the spread of communism. This was the first time since the 1700s that the U.S. tired itself to countries in Europe. -
Soviet's First Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb in a remote area. The bomb was strong enough to destroy the structures and kill the animals. on September 3rd the U.S. found signs of radiation and a German scientist that helped make the U.S. bombs was arrested for helping the Soviet Union. Now that that both of the superpowers had atomic bombs the world lived in fear. -
The Korean War
The Korean War started when North Koreans invaded the South. This was the first military action of the Cold War. The U.S. entered the war on the side of South Korea. They believed that this was a fight against communism itself. The U.S. worked to make an armistice because they did not want to possibly have a World War III. About 5 million soldiers and citizens died in the war, and Korea is still dived. -
Hydrogen Bombs
The U.S. makes its first hydrogen bomb. The Hydrogen bomb is a lot more powerful than the atomic bomb used in World War 2. A few months after the U.S. made the hydrogen bomb the Soviet Union made their first successful hydrogen bomb. The Soviets wanted to keep up with the U.S.'s technology. -
The Warsaw Pact
This was a pact between the Soviet Union and 7 other countries. The treaty put the Soviet Union in charge of the army. The Warsaw pact was a response to NATO. This treaty stayed together until 1991. Many countries left the pact. East Germany reunited with West Germany and joined NATO. -
Sputnik
The Soviet Union starts the space race with the U.S. with the launch of the satellite Sputnik. Sputnik was 10 times bigger than the planned U.S. satellite. The U.S. believed that Russia was going to use this technology to put weapons in space. Sputnik was used to study Earth and the solar system. -
Space Race
The space race started with the launch of Sputnik which was a Russian satellite.Russians had launched a dog into orbit around the Earth before the U.S. launched its own satellite called the Explorer. The Soviet Union put the first man in space. The Soviet Union had a lot of achievements during the Space Race, but the U.S. was the first to land a person on the moon with the Apollo 11. -
U-2 Incident
A U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The Soviets said that this was a spy plane. The pilot of the plane was not killed. The pilot said he was working for the CIA. The U.S. said they did not know anything about this. The Soviet Union refused to talk unless the U.S. stopped flying over the Soviet Union and apologized. -
Berlin Wall
Many East Germans were moving to West Germany. East Germany decided to cut off access between West Berlin. All of the people leaving was going to destroy East Germany's economy. Originally the wall was built out of barbed wire and cinder blocks. Later the wall was built with concrete, barbed wire, and watchtowers. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union promised to defend Cuba. The Soviet Union started to put missiles in Cuba. The U.S. learned about this in July. The U.S. decide to blockade Cuba to stop more missiles from appearing on the island. There were tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.The Soviet Union said that they would not put anymore missiles on Cuba and they would take back the missiles already there. The U.S. said they would not invade Cuba. -
Germany reunited
The Berlin wall was destroyed one year before the reuniting of Germany. Germany was a big symbol of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was losing is power in East Germany. There were negotiations of reuniting Germany. After Germany was reunified they elected their first chancellor of the reunited Germany.
