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Potsdam Conference
The big three, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Harry Truman organized the Potsdam Conference in August of 1945. It was decided here that Germany would be divide into four sections each respectively belong to a member of the Allied countries who had occupied the area. Negations on the new borders were difficult as Stalin wanted all majority control over Germany and Truman worried that a large Soviet presence could rule all of Europe. The era of the Cold war begins. -
Wintston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" Speech
At Westminster College in March of 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave his "Iron Curtain" speech. It was a metaphor that Eastern Europe was cut off from the Democratic world due to an iron curtain segrefating the two halves. Those who remained behind the curtain were subject to communist rule. This term of Iron Curtain was continually used during the Cold War as a reference to the Soviet dominated countries from the other countries. -
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The Berlin Airlift
After the Germany and Berlin were divided into 4 sectors, the western end of Berlin, which was under democratic power, was in a vulnerable spot in regards to Soviet influence. The USSR was allowing U.S. to use highways to transport food and goods to the people of West Berlin. However, Stalin stopped allowing this to happen in attempts to coerce the people to convert to Communism. Truman did not allow this to happen and air dropped supplied to everyday until the blockade was lifted. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Established
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or otherwise known as NATO was formed in April of 1949. This was an alliance between non-communist countries. It was agrees that if one nation were to be threatened and attacked by Soviet power, it was an attack on all country members in the alliance. They agreed to help defend one another in case that were to happen.This event increased the tension between communists and democracy as the formation of acknowledged the potential threat that lies in the USSR. -
The Second Red Scare
Many link the start of the Second Red Scare with Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy. He delivered a speech on February 9, 1950 where he accused high profile government works of being a communist. He played on the fears of America and generated of sense of hysteria. McCarthy proceed to accuse many more and participated in trials as if this was all a witch hunt. The event represents the growing tensions between the U.S and the USSR -
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The Korean War
This war emphasized the movement of the Cold War. The battle was spreading to the East. China was now a large communist power and was gaining influence over North Korea. The United States helped protect South Korea for a number of years in the name of Democracy. However the war never was completed and ended in a stalemate. The communist versus democracy tensions still remain today in the present. -
The Warsaw Treaty Organization
This organization was formed in spite and or response to the NATO alliance. Here the Soviet Union and other Eastern countries banded together just as NATO had done as a defense strategy. The event only increased tension between the NATO countries and the Warsaw Pact -
Sputnik
The Russians developed the first satellite to go into space. This initiated the Space Race between the USSR and the United States. The U.S. already feared that the USSR had nuclear weapons. However, this fear was heightened with their breakthrough in technology. If the Soviets mastered the satellite, they could easily take missiles into space and threaten any country. The Americans had feared the potential of a space based war. -
Sputnik 2
The American fears only grew worse with the release of Sputnik 2. This time the Soviets had designed a space ship that could carry a living organism into space. This increased U.S. concern, based on the "space based war" and h.ow perfecting taking a person in Space left large doubt to the safety of democracy -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
This was John F. Kennedy's first true diplomatic action as president and it has failed miserably. Fidel Castro had taken over Cuba and sided with the USS. JFK had sent trained former Cuban people and with the first two days everyone was capture. It was a large embarrassment on JFK's part. This incident increased tensions among the U.S, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. -
Berlin Wall Constructed
Some East Germans saw West Berlin as the method of escapement to join the free democratic worls. The soviets had implemented the wall to keep the remaining beliguims inside Belguim -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a high stress time for the United States. There were actual missiles in Cuba that the United States was unaware of until an Air Force U-2 spy plane took pictures of the weapons. Kennedy was in intense negotiations with Krushchev. The settlement came to the Soviets would remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. removing the missiles they had in Turkey. This was a defining moment as it was the closest the Soviet Union and the U.S. came to a nuclear war. -
The Limited Test Ban Treaty
John F. Kennedy and the USSR signed a treaty the would ban the tesing of nucler weapons -
Berlin Wall Falls
In November of 1989, the Berlin wall was torn down reunifying the Eastern portion to the West. This event signified the fall of Communism in Eastern Berlin. -
The Dissolutions of the USSR
The USSR fell and was disinigrated December 1991 signifying the end of the Cold War. Mikhail Gorbachev had implanted reform measures such as glasnost and perestroika. Unbeknownst to him he was creating an environment that was closer to that of democracy. He lost the strength of communist support and countries decided to govern themselves which led to the fall of the Soviet Union.
