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The Russian Revolution
A social and political revolution that led to the end of a monarchy in Russian and established the Soviet Union lead by Bolsheviks. This was the start of communism in Russia lead by Lenin, which lead to a new area of Russian known as The Soviet Union. -
Potsdam Conference
A meeting between the 3 strongest allied powers, Soviet Union, England, and America. This was a meeting where America and England wanted to give post war Europe political freedom and democratic governments and The Soviet Union wanted to dominate Europe and spread communism starting a tension between the super powers of the world. -
Atomic Bombs
Also known as the Manhattan Project were first tested in the New Mexico and was used to destroy Japan making them surrender and telling the Soviet Union that the U.S. meant business and they were not gonna let the Soviet Union boss there way around Europe and spread communism causing a problem for Stalin. This lead to the inevitable war of atomic weapons between the Soviet Union and America. known as the Cold War. -
Long Telegram
Containment was the american policy during the cold war. Stalin should his people that the outside world was hostile which helped him for fill his regime. The American diplomat for Russia George Kennan told the U.S. that Russia would back down to a strong force and that the U.S. just needed to contain Russian expensive tendencies and to stay patient and vigilant with Russia and needed to look strong so Russia would back down without conflict. This lead to the U.S. Policy of containment. -
Iron Curtain
Stalin called it his buffer zone which would be used to slowly down an invasion from the west if necessary. These countries captured by Russia and forced to become a communist state were Poland, eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria. Stalin took these places by force and used them only as troops and territory.This was a massive spread of communism helping the Soviets out greatly. -
Molotov Plan
Was a plan created by the Soviet Union to rebuild countries in eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned with the Soviet Union. This plan was made after the Soviet Union denied the Marshall plans and created the Molotov plan which was created by soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov. -
Truman Doctrine
This doctrine represented a dramatic change in U.S. foreign policy. This doctrine supplied aid to the nations fighting a communist government or those counties being forced to turn to a communist nation. -
Marshall Plan
Inspired by the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan was made to to support the destroyed and impoverished countries that had the potential to turn communist or those places being pressured by the Soviet Union to turn into a communist nation. `This plan was supported by all countries invited to help besides Russia and those countries tied to with Russia. Provided over 12 billion dollars to those countries in need. Showed the U.S. as the dominate economy in the world. -
Berlin Blockade
Was a move from the soviet union try and force Americans out of Berlin by blockading the entire city. Stalin wanted to starve Berlin into submission. This did not work because the U.S. would send food shipments to the city until the Soviet Union finally lifted the blockade. -
Berlin Airlift
This was a plan used by the U.S. to supply the city of Berlin after the Soviet Union blockaded the city in and effort to take over the whole city by starving them into submission. There were shipments every 3 minutes supplying food and water to the city. This was done every day until Germany finally lifted the blockade and Berlin was saved. Was the first victory for the U.S. which meant a lot at that time. -
NATo
Stood for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This group was made to provide a group security from the Soviet Union. This was and obvious threat to the soviet union which lead them to make the Warsaw pact. -
Soviet Bomb Test
Russian physicists Andrei Sakharov and Igor Kurchatov lead the successful research program approved by Stalin. This was very significant because if there was a full out war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union it would cost the lives of millions of innocent people by both forces using atomic weapons and could lead to a nuclear holocaust. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
This revolution was lead by a communist Chinese party and the leader was Mao Zedong. This revolution started after there second Sino-Japanese war which ultimately lead to China turning into a soviet nation which now lead to 2 massive countries joining a fight for the spread of communism -
Alger Hiss Case
Alger Hiss was accused of spying for the Soviet Union and was not convicted for espionage but, was convicted for perjury or lying under oath. This was the start of many people being accused of being a spies. -
Hollywood 10
Hollywood 10 was 10 people from Hollywood that were asked by the public court of opinion if they were communist and instead of saying no they just said what evidence do you have and how dare you accuse me of this. The HUAC stands for house of un-american activities communities and they Hollywood 10 denounced the tactic they used because they used no factual information. -
Korean War
Was a war between North Korea, South Korea, Soviet Union, China, and the United Nations(mainly the U.S.). This war was fought to gain ground through out Korea with the north pushing south and the south pushing south. Was a contentious battle against the border with land gained and lost everyday which ultimately ending with basically no progression from either side. This was the first physical battle of the cold war with blood shed from tanks and guns. -
Rosenberg trial
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused of espionage and found guilty and sent to death on the electric chair. They spied on the Manhattan project and were in a spy ring but Ethel was not apart of this spy ring with Nathan Sussman, Joel Barr, Alfred Sarant, Morton Sobell. -
McCarthy hearings
Joseph McCarthy was a U.S. senator that had hearing held against him for lying to many people that he had made up information on communism or a list of 205 names of people that were communist. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw pact was a communist version of the NATO to where if anybody in the Warsaw pact was to get into war the rest of the group would help just like NATO. This group consisted of mostly the USSR -
Hungarian Revolution
A revolution that lead to Hungary becoming a non communist country which was a huge win for NATO in the cold war and a hard loss for the Soviets. -
U2 Indecent
An american U2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Union -
The Bay of pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failed attempt by US to us Cuban exiles to reverse Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution, beginning with a military invasion of northern Cuba which failed because the US provided no support. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin. The Wall cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany, including East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls accompanied by a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds", and other defenses. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis or the Missile Scare, was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union caused by the American discovery of the Soviets ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. -
Assassination of JFK
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade. He was fatally shot by former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald firing in ambush from a nearby building. Had a huge impact on the US especially due to the fact it was during the Cold War. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, officially known as Operation Danube, was a joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by five Warsaw Pact countries. The Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, East Germany and Hungary. Approximately 250,000 Warsaw pact troops attacked Czechoslovakia that night. East German forces, except for a small number of specialists, did not participate in the invasion. 137 Czechoslovakian civilians were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the occupation. -
Reagan Elected
Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Jimmy Carter. Due to the rise of conservatism following Reagan's victory. Reagan won 44 states and got 489 electoral college votes only missing 49. -
SDI announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. Would destroy the weapons in space using satellites and was also known as Star Wars. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
The Geneva Summit of 1985 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. Was held between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race. The US also told them they had "Star Wars" to protect them from any attack. -
‘Tear down this wall’ speech
"Tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, is a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin. Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. "Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" was Reagan's key line in this speech. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall was a huge turning event in world history which marked the falling of the Iron Curtain. The fall of the inner German border took place shortly afterwards. An end to the Cold War was declared at the Malta Summit three weeks later.