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Yalta Conference
The leaders of the "Big Three" countries of America, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union meet in Yalta, Crimea to discuss the matters of ending WWII and what would happen after the war. The leaders agreed that Germany should be divided to prevent any kind of massive power from happening again. The biggest conflict arose over the fate of Poland, with the US and Soviet Union disagreeing about what should happen. US president Roosevelt let Stalin implement his communist ideaologies on Poland. -
Potsdam Conference
Truman (now the US president), Stalin, and Churchill meet to finalize plans to divide Germany and Austria into 4 zones and their capitals of Berlin and Austria into 4 more zones. -
Stalin's Speech
Stalin announces via radio that another war is inevitable due to the clash of communist and capitalist idealogies. -
Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech
Churchill delivers his now famous "Iron Curtain" or "Sinews of Peace" speech to a crowd at Westminster college in Missouri. He brings to light the harsh reality of what Europe has become - a divided continent. Many people mark this as the beginning of the Cold War. -
Truman Doctrine
Truman Doctrine is created via a speech made by US president Truman. The doctrine announced that the US would be giving both economical and military aid to Greece and Turkey to prevent them from falling under communist power. -
NATO Formed
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is formed by the US and many western Europe countries to help protect more European countries from being taken over by communism. -
Communist Witch Hunt
US Senator, Joseph McCarthy, announces that there are several people in the US that are communist spies/American communists thus creating widespread paranoia. -
Korean War Begins
The first armed war of the cold war begins - the Korean War. It is fought between North Korea (backed by the Soviet Union) and South Korea (backed by America and other allied forces). -
Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact created by Soviet Union and the communist countries of Eastern Europe to counter the efforts of NATO. -
Sputnik Launched
Soviet Union sends Sputnik into space, the first satellite ever sent to space -
Berlin Wall
Soviet controlled East Germany divides the captial of Berlin with the Berlin wall. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
US discovers that Soviet Union has missles in Cuba -
First Men on the Moon
Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon. -
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
SALT I is signed between the US and the Soviet Union to come to an agreement about limiting the amount of nuclear missiles both countries created. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
President Reagan proposes a plan to protect the US from nuclear mission attacks. The Soviet Union criticizes this "Star Wars" plan because they claim it violates the agreement of limiting the number of nuclear weapons being created. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall is taken down -
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the new leader of the Soviet Union and backs off from the harsh communist idealogies that preceded him. -
Strategic Arms Reduction Talk
George W. Bush and Gorbechev sign Strategic Arms Reduction Talk that calls for further disarmament of US and Soviet Union nuclear weapons. -
Fall of Soviet Union
The Soviet Union breaks apart and the Cold War is over.
