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The Cold War's beginning and ending dates can vary accross sources but 1947 to 1991 is common.
WikipediaThe Cold War was the period after World War II when, with most of the western european powers reeling from their losses, the United States and Soviet Russia were the two most powerful countries on earth. Their Ideologies were polar opposites of each other and they sought to impose them on the world. They could never engage in all out warfare, however, because both had the capability to flatten everything on earth many times over with nuclear missiles. -
Stalin blockades the roads and railways to the Ally occupied sectors of Berlin
Wikipedia Berlin, the German capital deep in soviet territory had been divided in two like Germany itself. Stalin tried to force the allies to withdraw entirely by cutting off all supplies. A massive airlift campaing involving 200,000 flights delivering 4700 tons of cargo foiled the Soviet plot. -
Concerned that Communists are infiltrating American society Senator McCarthy begins a witch hunt campaign of trials to root them out
Lecture Slide 9 The Second Red ScareReferred to often as "McCarthyism" this era in American politics is a grim one. Evidence by his fall into alcoholism and scandal, Senator McCarthy was less concerned about helping the American cause to defeat Communism and more by his need to gain followers and perpetuate his political career. He simply accused people of being communists based on nothing to remove pol -
The forgotton Korean War begins.
Lecture Slide 8 Korean War (1950-1953)The cold war starts to spill eastward of Russia into Asia with conflicts between Capitalist and Communists escalating into shooting wars between proxies to determine what ideolgy will reign in the proxy state. The USA and Russia both wanted to fill the power vacuum left after the Japanese Empire was forced out after their defeat in World War 2. -
KGB Operations in Poland during the Second Cold War try to maintain Communist Party control as the resistance grows
Library of CongressSInce the workers riot in 1956, Poland had been displaying unusual resistance to total Communist control which a KGB operative attributed towards a Polish ethic of never collectivising agriculture. "Poland was the weakest link in the Warsaw Pact," Mr. Kalugin said. After the shift in 1985 Soviet attentions were turned elsewhere and Poland was safe. -
Sputnik 1 launches into low earth orbit
Sputnik was only a metal sphere with 4 antennae to broacast simple radio pulses letting earth know that it was simply there. The space race was on anyway. The Soviet Union had put something in space that Americans could go outside, look at , envy and fear. America was prompted to action. -
A U2 Spyplane is shot down by the Soviet Union.
History.com The U2 Spyplanes took detailed photos from 70,000 feet throughout the coldwar. 50 are still in operation today. IN 1960, however, the Soviet Union shot one down. Though the pilot survived it forced President Eisenhower to admit to the spying and increased tensions between the forces of Communism and Capitalism early in the Cold War. -
The Bay of PIgs invasion of Cuba by its own refugees backed by the US CIA is crushed as soon as it's begun.
Lecture Slide 14 Bay of Pigs Invasion (Apr '61) Cuban refugees who had escaped the new Communist in power, Fidel Castro were sent back to rebel and overthrow the Cuban government and reestablish a corrupt but United States puppeted government. This was a disaster. Castro knew they were comming and pinned them down on the beach in Bay of PIgs where they were supposed start taking back Cuba from. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis occures when Soviet missiles are moved into position to hit the US from Communist controlled Cuba.
Lecture Slide 17 Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct '62)Still Smarting from the embarrassment of the invasion of the Bay of Pigs President Kennedy delivers a victory in the war on communism. Castro didn't want to stir up America but after the Bay of Pigs he felt he needed protection. This caused a 13 day period where the superpowers came as close as they ever did to a shooting war. -
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident is the firing mechanism for the situation that has been building up in Vietnam.
Lecture Slide 24 Gulf of Tonkin Incident/Resolution (Aug '64)Vietname has been split into the northern communist region held by Ho Chi Min, an ally against Japan in World War 2, and the corrupt, oppressive southern French Indochina Colony that the United States has been propping up for almost two decades. A US Vessel supporting a South Vietnamese attack is attacked by North Korea though evidence is omitted -
The capital of South Korea, Saigon, falls to Ho Chi Min and the Vietcong army during the Tet Offensive
Lecture Slide 26 The Tet Offensive - 1968After 4 years of fighting the United States is pushed out of Vietnam and the anticommunist southern half of Vietnam is taken by Ho Chi Min and the communists. The Tet Offensive in 1968 suprise attack steamrolled an American force that had been worn down by guerilla tactics for years. The counterattack retook the land but it was a political disaster. -
Czechoslovakia is invaded by the Soviet Union and its allies.
WikipediaThe Soviet Union invaded to prevent the liberal uprising from the Prague Spring and strengthen the Czechoslovakian Communist Party. Even though the Soviet Union was worried about losing an ally the United States was mired in the Vietnam War and public support would have been unlikely. -
Mikhail Gorbachev begins winding down the Cold War on the Soviet end by instituting the Peristroika economic reforms.
Wikipedia Gorbachev, feeling pressure from the sanction from the Allies, starts a campaign of restructuring that allows market-like reforms. He also made a speech admitting the slowing economy and substandar living conditions for the first time. It is the end for the Soviet Union.
