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Yalta Conference
A wartime meetin of the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During this conference, plans were made for Germany’s unconditional surrender and what happens afterwards in the post-WWII world. However, Stalin broke his agreement on free elections and installed government led by the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. This led to the Cold War. Source -
Berlin Declaration
Allies gain authority over German territory.
Officially known as "Declaration regarding the defeat of Germany and the assumption of supreme authority with respect to Germany by the Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the Provisional Government of the French Republic"
The Declaration was signed by Georgy Zhukov (USSR), Dwight D. Eisenhower (US), Bernard Montgomery (UK) and Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (France)
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Potsdam Conference
SourceThe Potsdam Conference was the last of the wartime meetings between the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union.
This meeting included American President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. The conference discussed the peace settlements in Europe, continuing the discussions from the Yalta conference. The main worry was how to handle Germany and the post-war world. -
North Vietnam
A Vietnamese communist Ho Chi Minh declares indepencance form France shortly after the defeat of the Japanese in World War II. Ho Chi Minh organized a Vietnamese guerrilla organization called Viet Minh. Then in 1950's Ho Chi Minh organized the Viet Cong, Source -
Iron Curtain Speech
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” says British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivering a speech known as the "Sinews of Peace" address.
The Iron curtain represents a boundry that divides Europe, Joseph Stalin didn't like the speech and called it “war mongering,” and referred to Churchill’s comments about the “English-speaking world” as imperialist “racism.”between the Soviets and the western countries. Source -
Containment Policy
Authored by George Kennan, the purpose of the Containment Policy was to prevent the spread of communism. A thought process followed that if the Soviet Union failed to expand, it's social system would eventually begin to break down. Source -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was created by the Soviets in East Berlin in order to limit the powers of France, Great Britain and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin. This caused many people to lose their jobs, and families were seperated overnight. This eventually lead to the Berlin Airlift. Source -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a way of the United States to aid Europe. The United States gave approximately 13 Billion (120 billion modern day value) to Europe with the purpose of helping to rebuild European economies.This also helped produce a market for established goods in the U.S.The Marshall Plan also institutionalized and legitimized the concept of U.S. foreign aid programs Source -
Berlin Airlift
Responding to the Berlin Blockade, the West begins to fly over the wall and start dropping supplies such as food, water, and medicine to the Eastern side of Berlin.Around the world, the Soviets were portrayed as international bullies, holding men, women, and children hostage in West Berlin and threatening them with starvation. Source -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO also seeked to help rebuild post-war Europe.Taft declared that NATO was “not a peace program; it is a war program.” Most, however, saw the organization as a necessary response to the communist threat. Source -
Soviet Union tests A-Bomb
At Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.”
On September 3, a U.S. spy plane flying off the coast of Siberia picked up the first evidence of radioactivity from the explosion. Later that month, President Harry S. Truman announced to the American people that the Soviets too had the bomb.
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Korean War - American involvement
A civil war broke out between North and South Korea, and it went international when the United Nations Decided to join and aid South Korea and People's Republic of China started aiding the Communist North. The war left Korea Divided at the 38th Parallel. No signed peace treaties; "cease fire" Source -
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951, are put to death in the electric chair.This was the most controversial espionage case of the Cold War. They were taken to to Sing Sing Prison in Ossining to be sentenced to death, but in the following two years, the couple became an international controversial issue. Source -
Eisenhower Presidency
David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969
He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. He also took part in Operation Torch. On January 20, 1953, he became the 34th President of the United States. Source -
Nikita Khrushchev
The death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953 created an empty vaccum in Soviet leadership. The Soviet government announces that Nikita Khrushchev has been selected as one of five men named to the new office of Secretariat of the Communist Party. Source -
Iranian coup d’état
The overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh.
The coup has been said to have "left a profound and long-lasting legacy."
Kinzer wrote that the 1953 coup d'état was the first time the U.S. used the CIA to overthrow a democratically elected, civil government.
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Warsaw Pact
Signed in Warsaw, the pact included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members.The treaty called on the member states to come to the defense of any member attacked by an outside force and it set up a unified military command under Marshal Ivan S. Konev of the Soviet Union. Source -
Sputnik
First man-made object to be sent to space, designed to collect information about the armosphere. This launched the U.S. and the Soviet Union into what is known as the "Space Race" competing in technology and the powers of space programs. -
Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit and was the first biological spacecraft.
The first being to travel to outer space was a female part-Samoyed terrier originally named Kudryavka (Little Curly) but later renamed Laika (Barker).
There was no capability of returning a payload safely to Earth at this time, so it was planned that Laika would run out of oxygen after about 10 days of orbiting the Earth. Because of the thermal problems she probably only survived a day or two. -
Cuban Revolution
An armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and its allies against the US-backed authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. As the Castro government moved toward a closer relationship with the Soviet Union, and Castro declared himself to be a Marxist-Leninist. Source -
Luna 2
USSR in Space Race - Luna 2
Luna 2 was the first man-made object to land on another celestial body. (The moon)
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U2 Incident
An American U-2 spy plane is shot down while spying over the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower was forced to admit to the Soviets that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had been flying spy missions over the USSR for several years. The soviets convicted the pilot with espionage and sent him to prison for 10 years. After serving less than two years, he was released in exchange for a captured Soviet agent in the first-ever U.S.-USSR “spy swap.” Source -
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Kennedy Presidency
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963)
35th President of the United States.
Vice President - Lyndon B. Johnson
U.S. House of Representatives (1947–1953)
U.S. Senate (1953–1960)
Presidency (1961–1963)
Assassinated in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 pm Central Standard Time on Friday November 22, 1963
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First Man in Space
Following Sputnik 1, aboard Vostok 1- Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space.
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Bay of Pigs
The first part of the plan was to destroy Castro’s tiny air force, making it impossible for his military to resist the invaders. A squadron of American B-26 bombers, painted to look like stolen Cuban planes, conducted a strike against Cuban airfields.
In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis inflamed American-Cuban-Soviet tensions even further.
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John F. Kennedy Secret Society Speech
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Berlin Wall Created
A literal "Iron Curtain" to divide Europe between the East and the West. About 5,000 East Germans managed to escape across the Berlin Wall to the West, but the frequency of successful escapes dwindled as the wall was increasingly fortified. Thousands of East Germans were captured during attempted crossings and 191 were killed.
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JFK Assassination
35th President assassinated on Nov 23, 1963 in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald is officially blamed for the assassination, however he claims to be a "patsy" and evidence points out that there is more than meets the eye. A lot of theories go behind as to what happened at the scene, and one thing is clear, either Oswald didn't act alone, or he had no responsibility. Source -
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Vietnam War - American involvement
In early August 1964, two U.S. destroyers stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam radioed that they had been fired upon by North Vietnamese forces. On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. Source -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
On August 4, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson announced that two days earlier, U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin had been attacked by the North Vietnamese. Johnson dispatched U.S. planes against the attackers and asked Congress to pass a resolution to support his actions.
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Luna 10
SOVIET - Luna 10 was the first spacecraft to go into orbit around the Moon, and the first human-made object to orbit any body beyond the Earth.
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SALT I
SALT I, the first series of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, extended from November 1969 to May 1972. During that period the United States and the Soviet Union negotiated the first agreements to place limits and restraints on some of their central and most important armaments. In a Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, they moved to end an emerging competition in defensive systems that threatened to spur offensive competition to still greater heights. Source -
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Nixon Presidency
36th Vice President of the United States
37th President of the United States.
Vice President : Spiro Agnew
Richard Milhous Nixon January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994
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Apollo 11
The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.
Neil Armstrong, Commander
Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module Pilot
Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot
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Iranian Revolution
The overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was supported by the United States.
Some 2,781 protesters and revolutionaries were killed in 1978–79 during the Revolution.
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Iran Hostage Crisis
52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days after a group of Iranian students, belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who were supporting the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
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Regan Presidency
40th President of the United States.
Republican
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Korean Air Lines Flight 007
scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, The airliner serving the flight was shot down by a Soviet Su-15 interceptor. The Soviet Union initially denied knowledge of the incident.
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Reagan and Gorbachev meet
Meeting in Geneva, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev produced no earth-shattering agreements. For Gorbachev, the meeting was another clear signal of his desire to obtain better relations with the United States so that he could better pursue his domestic reforms.
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“Tear Down This Wall” speech
Commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin, President Regan gives the "Tear down this wall!" speech to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall.
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Tiananmen Square Massacre
Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States. Source -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
On midnight of that day, East Germany's Communist rulers gave permission for gates along the Wall to be opened as a result of days of mass protest. After decades of partition, East Berliners surged through cheering and shouting and were greeted by West Berliners on the other side. Ecstatic crowds immediately began to climb on top of the Wall and destroy segments of the concrete fort.
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Roger Waters: Live in Berlin
Many musical artists gather together eight months after the fall of the Berlin Wall to perform "The Wall"
The show was held between the Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate.
Artists include: Roger Waters, The Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper, Sinéad O'Connor, The Band, The Hooters, Bryan Adams and much more. Source -
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Persian Gulf War
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait.
U.S. President George H.W. Bush immediately condemned the invasion, as did the governments of Britain and the Soviet Union.
[Source](U.S. President George H.W. Bush immediately condemned the invasion, as did the governments of Britain and the Soviet Union.) -
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On Christmas Day 1991, the Soviet flag flew over the Kremlin in Moscow for the last time. A few days earlier, representatives from 11 Soviet republics (Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) met in the Kazakh city of Alma-Ata and announced that they would no longer be part of the Soviet Union. Instead, they declared they would establish a Commonwealth of Independent States.
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