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Potsdam Conference
The purpose of this conference was to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. There were three leaders at this conference: Truman, Stalin, and Churchill. One main issue with this conference was how to handle Germany. The Soviet Union wanted large reparations from Germany, but Truman and Churchill feared repeating the same mistakes that were made with the Treaty of Versailles. As a result, Germany was demilitarized, disarmed, and divided into four zones. -
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The Cold War
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Truman Doctrine
This was a policy established to stop Soviet and Communist expansion during the Cold war. The policy resulted in giving the United States the role of global policeman and set a precedent for the United States to aid anticommunist groups in any part of the world. The Truman Doctrine resulted in a broader policy of containment that would become the US foreign policy. Containment was designed to keep communism where it already was and prevent it from spreading anywhere else. -
Berlin Airlift Begins
This was one of the first major crises of the Cold War. The Soviet Union had blocked the Western Allies' access to the sectors of Berlin that were under allied control. In doing so, the Soviet Union hoped to gain control over all of Berlin. But, the Western Allies responded by providing supplies to the people in West Berlin by air. The airlift was a success, the blockade was lifted in 1949 and two separate German states were created in West and East Germany. -
Start of the Korean War
The Korean War began when North Korean troops crossed the 38th Parallel into South Korea. This was the first military action of the Cold War. Within a month of North Korea's invasion, America sent troops to fight on South Korea's behalf. This war also served as a test for Truman's policy of containment. He rose to the communist challenge and implemented the containment policy. In July 1953, the Korean War came to an end and is still divided at the 38th Parallel today. -
Geneva Conference
This conference was held to try and reach peace in Indochina. The conference resulted in the Geneva Accords, which separated Vietnam into north and south zones. This separation was to be temporary and resolved with an election in two years that would unify Vietnam. The United States knew that if it came to an election, communist leader Ho Chi Minh would win. This accord served as the precursor to US involvement in the Vietnam War. -
Suez Canal Crisis
Isreali armed forces, backed by the French and the British, pushed their way into Egypt after the Suez Canal was nationalized. This crisis could have been the potential starting point of nuclear war. The Soviet Union was backing the Egyptians, and the British and French expected United States support. But, President Eisenhower was furious and threatened economic sanctions against France and Britain if their attacks continued. All forces withdrew by 1957. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This crisis was a tense military standoff between the US and SU over the presence of nuclear armed Soviet missiles in Cuba. The US enacted a naval blockade and made it clear that they would use military force if necessary to neutralize the threat. Conflict was avoided when Soviet leader Khrushchev offered to remove the missiles in Cuba in exchange for a US promise not to invade Cuba. JFK also secretly promised to remove US missiles from Turkey. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Vietnam War
A US destroyer was fired on by North Vietnamese torpedo boats, ad two days later another destroyer insisted they were under attack again. As a result of these attacks, president Johnson quickly authorized retaliatory military action against North Vietnam. The incident led to the passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized necessary measures to prevent further aggression and thus become more involved in the Vietnam War. -
Tet Offensive
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched a series of attacks on more than 100 cities in South Vietnam. Although US and South Vietnamese forces were able to hold back the attacks, news coverage of the offensive shocked the American public and decreased the public support of the war significantly. This offensive marks a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of US withdrawal from the war. -
Nixon Visits China
Nixon's visit to China was able to normalize relations between the US and China. It was the first time that a US president had visited the People's Republic of China. This visit shifted the balance of the Cold War. With the diplomatic ties between China and the US established, if a confrontation emerged it would be China and the US against the Soviet Union. -
South Vietnam Falls to Communism
Without the United States troops to support them, South Vietnam fell to communism. The North Vietnamese captured the capitol of Saigon and thus marked the end of the Vietnam War. Vietnam began its reunification process and would be unified under communism. -
Perestroika and Glasnost
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the SU. He implemented two new policies within the country: glasnost and perestroika. These two policies would grant the people more freedoms and rights. The creation of these policies signaled the beginning of the end of the Cold War. -
Tiananmen Square
This was a protest in which over one million Chinese demanded reforms by the Chinese Communist government. They saw the increased freedoms that the Soviet Union was getting under perestroika and glasnost and desired the same thing. But, this gathering was brutally crushed by the Chinese military and did not result in any reforms. -
Berlin Wall Demolished
The Berlin Wall had been built to completely cut off West Berlin from East Berlin and East Germany. This wall was a symbol of the separation between democracy and communism. Its destruction not only allowed East and West Berlin to be connected again, it also symbolized the destruction of the barrier between democracy and communism, and consequently the destruction of the SU's communism. -
Soviet Union is Abolished
Boris Yeltsin becomes leader of the abolished Soviet Union and becomes the President of Russia. This marks the end of the Cold War.
