-
Iron Curtain Speech
This speech was given by Winston Churchill at Westminister College. It is the speech that declared that Russia had built an "Iron Curtain" which separated eastern Europe from western Europe. This meant that the Soviet Union separated the eastern European countries from the west so nobody would know what was going on behind the curtain (Communism). -
Truman Doctrine
This was an American foreign policy which was created to counter Soviet geographical and political expansion during the Cold War. It was announced to Congress by President Truman and was furthered in 1948 when he pledged to contain Soviet threats to Greece and Turkey. Basically, this established that the US would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations that were under threat from authoritarian forces. -
Berlin Blockade
This was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies’ railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The city then remained a western influence surrounded by Soviet ruled land. The Soviet’s had an intention of ‘starving out’ West Berlin. The blockade was lifted on May 12, 1949. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was an intergovernmental military alliance between North American states and European countries based on the North Atlantic Treaty. Its primary purpose was to unify and strengthen the Western Allies’ military responses to an invasion of western Europe by the Soviet Union and Pact allies. They strengthened the military to strike back harder on those that were a threat to the North American allies. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. This war began when North Korea invaded South Korea and followed with a series of clashes along borders. This war was mainly against the forces of international communism itself. American officials worked towards armistice with the North Koreans. This war then ended on July 27, 1953. During this war, 5 million soldiers and civilians died. To this day, the Korean peninsula is still divided. -
Geneva Accords
This was a conference among several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland. This was intended to settle issues that resulted from the Korean War. This brought an end to the Korean War, marked the end of French influence in Southeast Asia, and helped lay the groundwork for the Vietnam War. These Accords closed on July 20, 1954. -
Warsaw Pact
This was a collective defence treaty signed in Warsaw amongst the Soviet Union and 7 Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. This acted as a counterbalance to the NATO which supplemented existing agreements. It was a potential military threat and a sign of Communist dominance which was an opponent to American capitalism. -
Vietnam War
This war was the Resistance War Against America. This was the effect of the belief that communism was threatening to expand all over southeast Asia. It pitted the communist reign of North Vietnam and its allies against South Vietnam and the United States. To end the war, the US withdrew forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under Communist control in 1975. This war’s official end was on April 30, 1975. War spending led to widespread inflation and a worldwide oil crisis/high fuel prices. -
Suez Crisis
This crisis was the invasion of Egypt by Israel followed by the UK and France. The construction of the Suez Canal was amplified during the crisis as the Egyptian president nationalized the canal company which forbid passage of British and French goods, which included petroleum. After the Egyptian president seized the Canal, it sparked an invasion from Western nations and Israel. It was a test of the United Nations and a Cold War confrontation that then nationalized the canal. -
Space Race
This conflict was a competition between the Soviet Union and US for dominance in spaceflight. The Soviet Union started with launching the world’s first satellite, Sputnik and the Americans then quickly readied a rocket to launch due to fear of Soviet military control of space. The US then led during the Moon Race by landing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon in 1969. This conflict formally ended in 1975 with the US taking a victory. -
Bay of Pigs
This conflict is when 1400 Cubans launched an invasion of the South Coast of Cuba. This also led to a reassessment of Cuba policy by the Kennedy administration. Cuban exiles were trained and financed by the CIA. This launch was an ill-fated invasion of Cuba from the sea. This whole thing was a plan to overthrow Fidel Castro and his revolution. This attack ended on April 19, 1961. This did fail due to not bringing down Castro. -
Rise of the Berlin Wall
During the beginning of the Cold War, West Berlin was a geographical loophole that allowed thousands of East Germans to flee to the West, which held a democracy. Due to this, the Communists in East Germany built a wall that enclosed West Berlin. It was put up to restrict the refugees trying to leave East Berlin and caused a short term crisis in the US like Soviet bloc relations. This wall then went on to symbolize the Cold War. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was when the Soviet Union and US engaged in a tense political/military standoff over installations of a nuclear armed Soviet missile on Cuba, which was 90 miles from US shorelines. Kennedy notified Americans about the missiles and enacted a naval blockade around Cuba and was ready to use military force if neccesary. This conflict lasted 13 days and ended on October 28, 1962. It ended when the US agreed to Soviets to remove Cuban missiles in exchange for the US promising to not invade Cuba. -
SALT
SALT stands for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks agreement. On this day, Soviet president and US President (Nixon) signed the SALT agreements. These agreements reached attempts to control nuclear weapons. It limited the number of antiballistic missile sites each country could have to two. It also froze the number of intercontinental missiles and submarine launched ballistic missiles. It came to be known as the foundation for all arms limitations talks that followed. -
Chernobyl Disaster
This was the result of a flawed reacted design that was operated incorrectly and with the wrong personnel. It was a steam explosion and fire that released 5% of radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere. 2 plant workers died and 28 died within the next week of radiation poisoning. The plant was in Ukraine and had a flawed Soviet reactor design with mistakes made by operators. It was a consequence of Cold War isolation and lack of any safety. -
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is in the center of Beijing. After weeks of demonstrations, Chinese troops entered the Square and fired on civilians. On April 18, mourning students marched through the capital calling for a democratic government. They also started a hunger strike. The rallies stopped on June 4 and still remains a controversy. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
As the Cold War was ending across eastern Europe, the speaker for East Berlin's Communist Party announced his change in relations with the west. He said citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed the wall in a celebration of their "freedom". -
Malta Summit
This was a conference between President George Bush and Mikal Gorbachev to meet about communist governments collapsing in Eastern Europe and open borders in Germany. Both men said they would reduce troops in Europe and reduce weaponry. Gorbachev announced that he will never start a "hot" war against the US. He wanted to begin a peaceful era. Bush also noted that change in Europe could not be artificially pushed forward. -
End of Soviet Union
The Soviet Union dissolved and became independent republics and was the conclusion of the Cold War. This was evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism and democracy over totalitarianism. The USSR was built on a Communist ideology that was eventually transformed into a totalitarian state...in which the Communist leadership had complete control over the country. After the Malta Summit, the USSR fell.
