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The Russian Revolution
Period of political and social revolution across the territory of the Russian Empire, this then led the beginning of the Soviet Union during the civil war. Bolsheviks against Mensheviks. -
Potsdam Conference
3 leading allied powers meet in Europe during World War 2. President Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were determined to keep political freedom and democratic government in Postwar Europe, whereas Joeseph Stalin, leader of Soviet union wanted to spread communism on its nations. -
The Atomic Bomb
The creation of the atomic bomb not only helped win the war but also created leverage in fighting against Soviet Union. Once Stalin heared that the bomb destroyed the city of Hiroshima, he then destroyed the "balance". This led to beginning of the Cold War. -
Long Telegram
An 8,000 word dispatch written by George Kennan, stated what the Soviet road looked like ahead. The US believed the Soviets tried to paint a bad picture on the world outside of them in order to make them successful and that they would back down if confronted with strong resistance. Kennan requested the US use a form of containment. -
Iron Curtain
Separated Northern and Western Europe. North was under the Soviet sphere on influence, which meant communism, whereas West was controlled under Britain and America. -
Molotov Plan
System created by Soviet Union to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were originally aligned to the Soviet Union. -
Hollywood 10
10 members of the Hollywood film industry who refused to answer questions given to them during trial , citing protection under the first amendment. They were convicted of contempt and sent to prison. -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman went before a joint segment of congress to request aid for Greece and Turkey. It represented a dramatic change in US foreign policy. -
Alger Hiss case
An ex-communist named Whittaker Chambers, accused a former U.S State Department Official named Alger Hiss of spying for the Soviet Union. When the case was about to be dissmissed due to lack of conclusive evidence, Richard Nixon, a member of the House of Committees, pressed the issue. Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury and sent to 5 years in prison. -
Marshall Plan
A plan to help aid Western Europe by giving 12 billion dollars in addition to the money being lent to them and anything necessary to help economic growth. -
Berlin Airlift
The United States and Great Britain orchestrated to resupply the city of Berlin.A flight landed on West Berlin every 3 minutes and more than 2 million tons of cargo as delivered to Berlin during the 15 month operation. -
Berlin Blockade
Stalin ordered all land axis into the city of West Berlin to be sealed off. Roads and railways were shut down, shipment of goods were stopped, and power to the city was turned off. Stalin was determined to force the Western allies out of West Berlin by starvation. -
N.A.T.O
Military alliance that stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Consists of 29 member states from North America and Europe. -
First Soviet bomb test
The world was shocked when Soviet's succeeded in their first atomic bomb, years ahead of expert's predictions. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
Communist Revolutionary Mao Zedong supported and created a decades long civil war against the Chinese nationalist government. Nearly 500 million Chinese fell under communist rule. Mao leaded the revolution in Asia. Supporting Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaya, and Korea. -
Rosenberg Trial
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested in connection of a plan to pass U.S bomb secrets to the Soviets. The Rosenberg's denied all charges. They were being persecuted as Jews and for their left-wing views. They were convicted and sentenced to die in the electric chair. They were later executed in 1953. -
Korean War
War between North and South Korea. North Korea was supported by China under Soviet influence whereas South was supported by the United Nations, primarily the United States. As a result of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States split Korea up at the 38th parallel. -
Army-McCarthy hearings
Senator of Washington,Joseph McCarthy, claimed he had a list of 205 communist working in the State department. These hearings tore away at his mask of selfishness. McCarthy was revealed to be an arrogant, blustering, tyrant. Overnight, his popularity evaporated. -
Warsaw Pact
In response to N.A.T.O, the Soviet Union and its satellites formed a competing political and military alliance. -
Hungarian Revolution
A nationwide revolution between the Hungarian's Peoples Republic and it's Soviet-imposed policies. This was the first major threat against the Red Army. -
U2 Incident
Confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union which cause the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
A failed invasion operation in which the US wanted to stop leader, Fidel Castro due to his communists appearance. The CIA armed and trained a band of Cuban exiles for the corporate operation. President Kennedy approved the plan, but then crippled the operation by refusing air and naval support. The invasion force was crushed. -
Berlin Wall
A guarded concrete wall that divided Berlin into two different sections.The East Berlin side was held underneath Soviet control whereas West Berlin was held underneath the United States. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviet ships traveled through the Atlantic ocean to Cuba, carrying Soviet troops, military hardware, and soviet missiles. US military forces began to prepare for a possible invasion of Cuba. If a nuclear strike was launched from Cuba, America was planning to destroy every major city in the Soviet Union. Once things were very intense between both forces, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles. -
Assassination of JFK
At around 12:30 PM, president Kennedy was riding in a motorcade in Dallas during a campaign visit. He was then shot in both the neck and head. He was pronounced dead at 1 PM, at the age of 46. He killer was named Lee Harvey Oswald. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Soviet Union led about 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks in an invasion of Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague" a brief period of liberalization in the communist country. -
Nixon visits China
To symbolize Detente, President Nixon embarked on a diplomatic trip. Nixon was the first American president to be welcomed in the communist republic of China. Both leaders made great progress toward normalizing relations. This was a historic opening in the Cold War -
Reagan Elected
Reagan's biggest desire was to destroy communism and he did not have a problem telling the world how he felt. The Reagan administration made plan to win the Cold War. The National Security Directive 75 outlined a strategy to improve the nations military defense and encourage political change within the Soviets fear. -
SDI announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative was the concept of satellites zapping incoming Soviet missiles with lasers. This plan was referred to as "Star Wars". When the Soviet heard of this plan,they felt threatened. They did not have the money nor the space to try and create the same type of protection from the missiles as the U.S. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
During this tense conference, Gorbachev was ready to negotiate an arms reduction on condition that Reagan dismiss Star wars, but he would not budge. In private however, the two leaders started the beginning of a personal relationship. This conference did not produce any arms limitation agreements, but provided a historic breakthrough. -
'Tear down this wall' Speech
Delivered by president, Ronald Reagan, where he called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to open the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Berlin since 1961.
