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The Russian Revolution
The Russian governemnt at the time was overthrown two times durng the whole span of the revolution. Tzar Nicolas II was taken down and replaced the government with a Democratic system. On November 6th of the same year, the Bolshevik Revolution destroyed this form of government, starting the beginning of the Soviet Union and the implimentation of communism. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held after the defeat of Germny and was held to discuss the divison of Eastern Europe by US President Harriet Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. Stalin was very set on gaining most of the territory from Germany, but was upset when Truman and Churchill had evenly divided the land between Great Britain and Russia. -
Atomic Bomb -Hiroshima/Nagasaki
The first Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the United States in hope to end the war with Japan. After refusing to surrender, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, thus making Emperor Hirohito unconditionally surrender and ending the war in the Pacific. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain is a figurative line passing through Europe that splits the Soviet Union controlled countries and the rest of Europe. It was first mentioned in Prime Minister of Britain WInston Churchill during his famous 'Iron Curtain Speech' where he warned of the danger of the spread of communism and the Soviet Union. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctine was a foreign policy established by President Turman to aid Greece and Turkey in defense against the Soviets and communism. -
Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was a system created by the Soviet Union to support the reconstruction of Eastern Europe after WWII. Only the Soviet satellites would be affected by this plan and primarily stood for the USSR's unwillingness to accept aid from anyone else. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a program made by Secretary of State George C Marshall of massive economic assistance to countries facing hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. It help tremendously and prevented the further spread of communism through Eastern Europe. -
Berlin Blockade
The blockade of Berlin was an action taken by the Soviet Union to deplete Eastern Berlin of all its essential supplies so they would die off and all of Berlin would be controlled by the USSR. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift was the counter to the blockade the Soviet Union made by the United States where planes flew over Eastern Berlin to drop off the supplies the people of Berlin needed to survive. -
Alger Hiss Case
State Senator Alger Hiss was accused of being a Soviet spy and convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950. This was the beginning of widespread convictions of government officials helping the Soviets. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed by the countries in the Northern Atlantic such as The United States and Eastern Europe to be able to take military action against any threat to world peace. When it was established, it was mainly as a response to Soviet aggresion and would be used if they took and military action. -
Soviet Bomb Test
The Soviet Bomb Test was the test of USSR nuclear weapons in remote Kazakhstan where they showed the world that they had successfully built a nuclear weapon. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war between Northern Korea and Southern Korea. Northern Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union and at the time was under communist rule. They attacked South Korea, who got supported by members of NATO and no clear winner came when the war was declared over. -
Rosenberg Trial
The Rosenberg Trial was the trial where Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused of selling US bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. They were found guilty and sentenced to death from the electric chair. -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood 10 was a group of actors and directors who refused to answer any questions during the HUACs hearings in Hollywood. They never directly stated they were against communism and cited the first amendment as their reason to not respond. The were then charged with contempt and sent to prison. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu occured during the First Indochina war with the Vietminh fough the French for control over Vietnam. Here, 12,000 French paratroopers deployed in the Dien Bein Phu valley expecting light resistance and an easy win. They were met by 50,000 Vietminh who fought back with artillery, which after 2 weeks, caused the remaining 10,000 French troops to surrender. -
Army-McCarthy Hearings
Senator McCarthy raised in popularity due to his strong stance on taking communism out of the government and these hearings were held to question his dealings with that. McCarthy continuously denied questions and was found guilty of dealing with communism and the public opinion of him changed overnight from massive support to irrelivance and distaste. -
Geneva Convention
The Geneva Convention was an event where world leaders gathered to discuss peace talks. During this, Ho Chi Minh was forced to concede what he won in the First Indochina war. Here, the Geneva accords were signed which split Vietnam in to two halves divided at the 17th parallel. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw pact was a forced alliance made by the Soveit Union that included them and their satellites. It was formed in direct response to NATO. -
Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian people wanted revolution against the communist invaders in their country and began a revolution. It was short lived do to the arrival of superior Soviet technologies such as tanks that crushed the hopes of revolution very quickly. -
U2 Incident
The USSR shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers. Confronted with the evidence of his nation’s espionage, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was forced to admit to the Soviets that the U.S. CIA had been flying spy missions over the USSR for several years. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a plan by the American government to overthrow Fidel Castro's rule in Cuba. The invasion was launched only with ex-Cuban forces and with JFK refuing to send air suport, it was crushed. Fidel Castro saw this as a sign of weakness in America's military strength. -
Berlin Wall
The communist leaders of East Berlin were upset with the allignment West Berlin had with NATO countries and built a wall separating the two sides. Many people were trapped in West Berlin and forced to deal with poverty, starvation, and horrible conditions without having the option for aid or ability to flee to East Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was an event that occured when the Soviet Union attemptemed to create nuclear launch sites in Cuba. Panic happened in neighboring America seeing as this was in their 'backyard' and was a high threat to them. After many negotiations from President JFK, the US was able to stop the construction and calm both the Cubans and scared Americans. -
Assasination of Diem
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), Ngo Dinh Diem, was assasinated during a coup thrown against his government after being hated by his people; whom were of support of the Viet Cong. -
Assassination of JFK
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald during a drive through downtown Dallas. This deeply saddened and scared the people of America for their safety in the Cold War. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was then sworn in and took the responsibilies JFK had during these war times. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
The Tonkin Gulf Resoluiton came from the Gulf of Tonkin Incident where 2 US destroyers were attacked two seperate times on two different days. These attacks lead President Johnson to propose a bill to congress giving him full, unrestained control over the military. It was passed and called the "The Blank Check" after how much control he had, and was also later found the second attack never happened. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was an operation authorized by President Johnson that enacted the sustained bombing of targets in North Vietnam. The operation was supposed to last for 8 weeks, but instead lasted over 3 and a half years. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a coordinated assault launched by the Vietcong against most every military and political center in South Vietnam. This attack was covered by TV recoders, and the footage seen drastically changed American's opinions on the war. Even though the American army won the battle of numbers, the VC won the psychollogical war. -
Assassination of MLK
Rev Martin Luther King's assassination in Memphis, Tennesse, brought great shock to people around the world. At the time, MLK was against President Johnson's descisions in the Vietnam war and disliked the war in all of it's entirety. -
Assassination of RFK
Robert F Kennedy was assainated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the age of 42. He was a presidentail candidate that many people wanted, but were stunned and saddened by his death. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in an invasion of Czechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague. Although the Soviet Union’s action successfully halted the pace of reform in Czechoslovakia, it had unintended consequences for the unity of the communist bloc. -
Riots of Democratic convention
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters battle police in the streets, while the Democratic Party falls apart over an internal disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam. This lead to heavy violence among both parties. -
Election of Nixon
Republican candidate Richard Nixon won the election of 1968, leading him to control over the war in Vietnam. -
Kent State
Four Kent State University students were killed and nine were injured on May 4, 1970, when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd gathered to protest the Vietnam War. -
Nixon visits China
President Richard Nixon visited China that was an important strategic and diplomatic overture that marked the culmination of the Nixon administration's resumption of harmonious relations between the United States and China. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
A ceasefire was called in Vietnam, thus declaring the war over. There was no clear victor and all american GIs were pulled out. Communists in Vietnam used this time of retreat to take over South Vietnam though and managed to almost completely take over -
Fall of Saigon
After the ceasefire was declared, the Northern Vietmanese communiata invaded Saigon, killing most who didn't support them. This lead to the largest helicopter evacuation in history with American helicopters extracting both people from the american embassy and some Vietmanese people. Other people who wanted to escape left by boat and were thus called "boat people". -
Reagan Elected
Ronald Reagan was elected as president in 1980 by an overwhelmingly large margin due to his support of the common opinion of the Cold War by the people of America. -
SDI announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was announced by Ronald Reagan in a speach he gave to america. It had 3 objectives; it would act as a deturrant towards Soviet actions towards the US and it's allies, give the US time with reasonable cost to take action on any growth of the Soviet Union, and signal the resolve in the US. One of the actions taken was a lazer defense system titled "Star Wars" that would shoot down any incoming missiles. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev didn't make any agreements during the convention that furthered the war. However, the meeting boded well for the future, as the two men engaged in long, personal talks and seemed to develop a sincere and close relationship. -
'Tear Down This Wall' Speech
President Ronald Reagan gave a speech in West Berlin on how Mr Gorbachev should end the fighting of the Cold War, signified by tearing down the wall separationg Berlin. The speech was directly meant for Mr Gorbachev and was successful due to the bond built between him and Reagan. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of East Berlin could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself.
