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Potsdam Conference
This is the conference where the big Three, the U.S.S.R, the U.S, and Britain, met in Potsdam, Germany to divide the territory into 4 occupation zones. -
First Atomic Bomb
Rumors of the Soviet Union trying to build an atomic bomb pushed other international powers, such as the United States, to build one. The Manhattan Project, initiated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt; then President of the U.S, was undertaken to create the world's first successful atomic bomb. This bomb, Little Boy, was made of uranium and it hit Hiroshima Japan killing 80,000 civilians. -
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The Cold War
The Cold War began with the atomic bomb and ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. -
Second Atomic Bomb
Japanese Emperor did not believe that the U.S had another bomb so he refused to unconditionally surrender. The U.S then took immediate action and used the plutonium-made Fat Man A-bomb on Nagasaki Japan. Japan surrendered and the Pacific Campaign ended. -
WWII Ends
The U.S forces Japan to unconditionally surrender. The U.S gains great power from it's bomb and becomes an international threat. The photo is of the marines putting up the American flag after the Iwo Jima victory. -
The Albanian Republic
The People's Republic of Albania was established and was closely aligned with Stalin. They were one of the first East European communist-controlled government. The British cut off all relations. -
Sinews of Peace Address
This is the infamous speech where Winston Churchill, then Britain's Prime Minister, spoke about the US.S.R's influence and their desire to place their iron curtain all over Europe. He ranted about how they already had it over Eastern Europe and how Britain needs to develop a good relationship with the U.S in order to resist it. -
Kennan and Containment
The exact date of policy is unknown
Kennan had wrote an article anonomously in the Journal Affairs paper. It was called the X-article. He had stated that the U.S needed to be patient and that they should work with long term and firm confinement of the USSR's expansive tendencies. -
The Truman Doctrine
This famous doctrine guided U.S diplomacy for nearly forty years starting with U.S president, Harry S. Truman. the doctrine stated that "It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugationmy armed minorities or by outside pressures." He used this as an excuse to fight communism through economic prosperity in European countries. -
The National Security Act
This act was created by U.S president Truman. It allowed for the creation of the National Security Council. This council created the Executive Department of Defense, the Central Intelligense Agency (CIA), and the Department of the Air Force. It's goal was to reorganize the way the U.S handled foreign policy. -
Czechoslovakian Coup de etat
Czechoslovakia's president, Eduard Benes, formed a coalition with a communist party. This party, in turn, eliminated all other parties, including Benes', forced Benes to give up his cabinet, and took control of the government. Czechoslovakia became a single party state guided by the Soviets. The United States cut off all aid to them and wouldn't involve them in the Marshall Plan. -
The Marshall Plan
Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan (a.k.a the Economic Assistance Act). This act worked to give 13 billion in aid to the economic recovery of European countries to rebuild themselves after WWII. The plan was to dispense aid from 1948 to 1951. It was a plan designed to fight communism and promost capitalism. It was a big deal because the Truman doctrine already gave millions to Greece and Turkey. -
The Creation of Israel
Israel was recognized as a formal state by the United States. Muslim countries surrounding Israel did not want to recognize them due to religious differences. -
Arab-Israeli War and U.S Support
Directly after Israel declared it's independence, five Arab states attacked it. The United States supported Israel by havind an arms embargo where belligerent nations could not buy weapons from them. The United Nations created a Resolution to end the tension and the U.S supported them. Several U.N initiatives for a cease fire succeeded but the fighting continued until February of the following year. -
Berlin Blockade
Out of the blue, the U.S.S.R blocked U.S and Britain's access to the Allied-controlled portion of Berlin. They blocked railways, roads, and water routes. They hoped to starve the U.S out of Berlin and then Germany. -
Truman Doctrine/ Greece and Turkey
Truman asked congress to allocate 400 million dollars to Greece and Turket to help them fight communism. Greece was going through a civil war and the monarchs were battling the Soviet sponsered communists. Truman felt it necessary to preserve as many allies as possible. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in order to counter Soviet aggressions. It was an alliance of the United States and 11 other European countries including Denmark, Italy, Great Britain, and France. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin airlift had finally succeeded in making the Soviet's stop blocking off supplies to U.S occupied West Berlin. The blockade had been lifted after the US and Britain just flew the supplies over Berlin to get it to the people. This is the first hostile action that Russia had done towards the Allies since the Cold War began. For consequence, tensions began to rise. -
Soviet's Drop The Bomb
The United States' leg up over the Soviet's soon left them on the same playing feild. The Soviet Union had dropped it's first atomic bomb and blew up the hopes of Truman's administration. -
Communist Win Chinese civil War
The Chinese people were dying from the war against Japan. Chiang, China's then ruler, was losing his people's support to Communist Mao Zedung. The poor farmers and students wanted change and the communists were put into power. -
The Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Agreement
This treaty was signed between Mao Zedung, communist leader of the Republic of China, and Joseph Stalin, communist leader of the Soviet Union. Mao did not initially like Stalin due to his support for Chiang, China's old leader, and because Stalin didn't help with the revolution. Eventually, he viewed the U.S.S.R as a "big Brother" and signed the Alliance. This infuriated Americans and caused Truman's popularity to go down as he was blamed for "losing China". -
UN and North Korea
The United Nations launched it's first successful mission at Lynchon. They cut North Korean army troops in half and forced them out of South Korea. -
The Korean Conflict, the UN, and the U.S
North Korea had surpised South Korea and invaded them despite the agreement. The United States immediately brought this under the attention of the UN and the UN voted to tell North Korea to go back behind the 38th parallel. They ignored this command and so the U.S called the UN to force them back. The UN voted again to send troops into North Korea. -
MacArthur and North Korea
After the success at Inchon, MacArthur decided to invade North Korea despite the threat of Mao Zedung sending troops. To no surprise, Zedung kept his word and sent troops into North Korea to push the UN back. Eventually, no one was able to gain any ground. -
Stalin Dies
Stalin died at the age of 73 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. -
Krushev Rules the Soviet Union
Nikita Krushchev ruled over the Soviet Union along with 3 other men after Stalin died. One of the men were deemed too powerful so the other three had him executed. Kruschev eventually paved the way for himself to lead independently and had the others resign. -
Korean Ceasefire
The Armastice of 1953 was signed to end the korean War since no one was winning. Some argue that both sides were eager to sign it because of the 1952 Presidential election. In his campaign, Eisenhower hinted to using nuclear weapons to end the Korean War. After he won, the armastice was signed. -
The Iranian Coup
The CIA secretly assisted the coup de etat to overthrow the Iranian government. They funded the Iranian military so that they could put the Shah back in power. The Shah was a strong supporter of the US government up until he was pushed out of power. -
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Guatemalan Coup
The United States secretly supported the overthrow of Guatemala's democratic government. The supported a dictator and ended the Guatemalan revolution so that communism doesn't get into Guatemala. -
SEATO
The South East Treaty Organization (SEATO) was formed in order to keep communism from gaining control of Asia. Most members were not actually South East Asian countries but countries who were interested in keeping Asia as communist free as possible. Some East Asian countries that did join were the Phillipines and Thailand. -
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First Taiwan Strait Crisis
Chinese communist Mao Zedung decided to "liberate" Taiwan from Nationalist Chiang after Eisenhower released Taiwan Naval Blockade. He orderd a bombing of Taiwan and the U.S responded by threatening to fight back. As the Nationalist and Communist fought for control, the U.S nuclear threat was too muc to bear. Eventually, Mao Zedung agreed to stop bombing Taiwan. -
West Germany Joins NATO
The United States added West Germany so that they could remilitarize it. This pissed the Soviets off. -
Warsaw Pact
This Pact was formed to counter both NATO and SEATO. It was also a reaction to the US adding West Germany into NATO. The purpose was similar to NATO's where it agreed that if one country of the pact was threatened, all were threatened. The U.S.S.R used this to remilitarize it's European Partners. -
Geneva Summit
This was a stepping stone towards talk of ending the cold War. Leaders of the Big Four countries (the U.S.S.R, France, Britain, and the U.S) met in Geneva Switzerland to discuss the end of the War. Unfortunately despite the great effort, no agreeance was met and everyone left bitter. -
Kruschev's Secret Speech
Kruschev had a secret speech in front of a closed communist party session to denounce Stalin as a terrible leader. He wanted to revert the post-Stalin era to be more like Lenin. He wanted to identify himself sperately than Stalin. -
Suez Canal Crisis
Egypt had decided to Nationalize the Suex Canal so France, Britain, and Israel invaded to take back the canal. The U.S publicly condemned the invasion and used the UN to force a ceasefire between the countries. -
Soviet's Trample the Hungarian Revolt
Hungarian citizens were protesting Communist rule and so the Soviet's sent troops in to stop them. The troops killed and wounded thousands. Also, 250,000 hungarians fled the country after the attack. -
The Soviet's Launch Sputnik
Sputnik marked the beginning of the Space Race. This Russian satellite orbited the earth at 18,000 miles an hour. -
Taiwan Strait Crisis Part II
Damnnnn China, back at it again with the bombing of Taiwan. After the U.S was occupied with Lebanon, the Communists captured a great opportunity to try and capture Taiwan again. Eventually, the struggle died off and the bombardment ended. -
Batista Falls
Cuban ruler, Batista, falls to Fidel Castro, a cuban revolutionary. Fidel seized power and became Cuba's dictator. -
Che Guevara and Castro Make Cuba Communist
After defeating Batista and being rejected by the United States, Fidel looked towards the Sovite Union for assistance and trade. Eventually, Fidel made Cuba communist. -
Kruschev Visits the United States
Kruschev and Eisenhower formed a good bond when they both agreed that they wanted the Cold War to end soon. Kruschev visited the United States and told his people that he sees a good future with the United States. -
John F. Kennedy Becomes President
This was the day that JFK was elected into office. He was the youngest man to ever be elected as the President. -
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps was started due to an executive order by President Kennedy. The goal was to have the Peace Corps to become an official department of the state to help assist countries that are going through some sort of development. After this creation, thousands of volunteers poured in and a positive morale of the US was created. -
Kennedy Proposed the Alliance of Progress
This was a ten year, multi-billion dollar aid program to better US relations with Latin American countries. The US lost support after the Bay of Pigs Invasion and after the Marshall Plan only assisted European partners. Latin Americans felt abandoned after they helped with materials to fund the war so this plan helped to fix relations. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
This plan was initiated by Eisenhower and the Central Intelligence Agency. Shortly after Kennedy was elected as President, the CIA told him the plan was ready and so he signed for the invasion to take place. The plan was to have Cuban exiles and refugees return to Cuba in American aircraft to overthrow Castro. The plan failed because word got out about the planned attack. The exiles were ambushed and no American back up came to help them. The plan was a failure and an American embarrasment. -
Soviet Construction of the Berlin Wall Began
The Soviet's had feared the Western influence of West Berlin on East Berlin. They were afraid that everyone would leave so they began building the wall. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
JFK recieved news from the CIA confirming that the Soviet Union was moving missles into Cuba. Some advisors wanted him to send stern warnings to the USSR and others wanted him to do an airstrike to destroy the weapons and to invade Cuba. He decided on a naval "quarantine". This quarantine lasted for almost a month. It ended when the US made a deal not to invade Cuba. -
Removal of Nuclear Weapons from Turkey
The Soviet Union wanted the US to take their ICBM's out of Turkey when they took theirs out of Cuba. The US was hesitant at first but eventually they agreed. They removed the last Jupiter missile mid April. -
Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
This treaty was designed by JFK to limit the testing of nuclear weapons in Earth's atmosphere. The United Kingdom, Canada, France, and the Soivet Union agreed with the treaty. -
John F Kennedy's Tragic End
Kennedy was loved by many but not enough to not be assassinated. While riding around in Dallas, Texas during a motorcade, he was shot and killed by some irrelevant assasin. He was preparing for his campaign and it was only 1000 days into his presidency. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed the public and told them that two US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin had been attacked by the North Vietnamese. He called on Congress to approve his resolution to fight back. While waiting, he sent US planes to fight them. -
China Tests their Nuclear Weapon
No one was shocked when the test was successful but the Soviets were angry because China's first missle was pointed at them. -
Rolling Thunder
This was a military strategy initiated by President Johnson. This was the sustained bombing of North Vietnam. This bombing went on for three years. -
The Marine Battalions
Two Marine Battalines (3,500 troops) were sent to Vietnam to protect an airfield. This was the first time US troops were sent to Mainland Asia since the Korean War. -
Johnson sending troops
By this time, almost 200,00 troops were sent to fight in the Vietnam War. By the end of Johnson'e presidency, over 500,000 troops were actively involved in the Vietnam War. Johnson's popularity sunk. -
The Outer Space Treaty
This was a treaty signed between the US and the Soviets to ban nuclear weapons in Earth's orbit, the moon, other planets, or in deep space. They wanted better arms control and wanted to end the space race. -
Six-Day War
This was, to no one's surprise, a six day war between (what do you know) Israel and three of it's neigbors; Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. The UN Security Council called for a cease fire which Israel and Jordan complied with. Egypt agreed the following day but Syria held out until June 10th. There were horrible Arabian casualties. -
Johnson Meets with Kosygin
This was the first meeting where a Soviet Premier met with an American President in the United States (New Jersey) since Kruschev met with Eisenhower. The two could not come to terms but they did establish an agrreance that they wanted relations to improve. -
The Nuclear Non-Profileration Treaty
This treaty was designed to keep nations from transfering weapons to other countries and from trying to assist turning other countries into Nuclear Powers. -
Russians Crush Czech Revolt
There was a rise of anti-Soviet protests taking place in Czechoslovakia. The Soviets and other Warsaw pact members came in and crushed the revolt. This shocked the West and ruined Soviet-US relations again. -
Richard Nixon gets Elected as President
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Sino-Soviet Border Dispute (Sino-Soviet split)
The US believed that the Soviets and Chinese were practically one in the same but that was seen not to be true when they started fighting. It was an undeclared military conflict where along the poorly defined border along the Ussuri river, disputes would take place. The Chinese would moon the Soviet patrolmen and the Soviets would hold up portraits of old Chinese leaders. One day, it advanced to gunfire. They broke off relations. -
Ping Pong Diplomacy
The American Ping Pong team were sent invitations from the Chinese to have an all expense paid trip to the mainland. This was the first time an American was allowed in China since it's communist takeover. This paved the way for Nixon to visit China later on. During this time, Nixon also opened America's borders to Chinses citizens. -
Henrey Kissinger
Kissinger worked as the Assistant of the President for National Security Affairs. He took a top secret trip to Beijing followed by another meeting in July of 1971. His goal was to introduce the idea of normalizing Chinese-American relations. His first meeting set the pavement for Nixon's visit in February of 1972. -
Kissinger Visits Beijing Again
During Kissinger's second visit, the PRC stressed that they wanted a seat in the UN. The United States supported them having a seat along with Taiwan but the proposal failed and instead, Taiwan was kicked out and China took a seat instead. -
Nixon visits China
This was a grand frist step in normalizing US relations with China. It paved the way for furture trade between the two countries. -
SALT I
SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) occured during Nixon's presidency. He and Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev signed the ABM treaty and SALT agreement to limit the space race, the growth of nuclear weapon arsenals, stockpiles of missles, and anti-ballistic missle systems while also easing trade restrictions. -
SALT II
EXACT DATE UNKNOWN
SALT I aimed to limit nuclear weapons but SALT II aimed to reduce them. These plans spanned over several US presidencies. The treaty was to expire on December 31st of 1985 but it was never ratified by Congress. Despite the fact that there was no legal agreement, the Soviets and the Americans decided to abide by it's terms until it expired. -
US Withdraws from Vietnam
The US agreed to leave South Vietnam when North Vietnam released American prisoners of war. -
Chilean President Allende Dies
The CIA planned a coup for 3 years to get the democratically elected Marxist, Allende, out of power in Chile. They viewed him as a threat to capitalism due to his close ties with Castro. After they succeeded in getting him out, a brutal dictator took over instead and ruled Chile for 17 years. -
Arab-Israeli War of 1973
Once again, Israel and Egypt are back at it. Egypt and Syria had attacked Israeli forces in an attempt to get back lost territory. The US and the USSR called for a cease-fire but Egypt politely declined. The Soviet's sent the Arabs weapons despite detent so the US did the same for Israel. After Egypt started to lose, they negotiated a ceasefire. -
Arab Oil Embargo
Middle Eastern countries began an embargo on oil exports to the US and other Israel-supporting countries. This dragged the American economy to the ground as oil prices sky-rocketed. Nixon tried to come up with Independence plans to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil but it failed. The US dollar value was decreassing and peace agreements were slow. Eventually in March of the following year, the embargo was lifted. -
Gerald R. Ford Becomes President
Gerald Ford became America's 38th presiden after Nixon's shameful resignation. He was the first VP to ever become president due to resignation. He only served his one term as Nixon's replacement. -
Nixon Resigns
As pressure and stress swelled, Nixon was continously backed against a wall. Kissinger and other important advisors of Nixon kept fighting and the watergate scandal progressed. Nixon knew he was going to be impeached so he saved America time and resigned. -
Operation Babylift
This was a plan under the Ford administration. The plan was to send South Korean orphans to the United States to rescue them from the effects of war. On the very first lift from Saigon, the airplane crashed killing 138 people. Although the plan was to save orphans, many children weren't actually orphans. There was a lot of controversy of the US believing that they were a better place to live. -
Cambodia Falls to Communism
From 1969 to 1975, a bloody civil war was taking place in Cambodia. This was an international issue because the winning side were communist. The Khmer Rouge were a communist organization. After they won the war, they immediately began killing off intellectuals and kicking everyone out of the cities. This became known as the Cambodian genocide, Anyone who was a threat to communism was killed on the spot. This included the educated, those related to the educated, and even those with glasses. -
Saigon Surrenders
After all of the money, resources, and reputations put on the line in the Vietnam War, South Vietnam was lost. On this day, North Vienamese forces crashed into Saigon, tearing down palace walls as they overtook the Presidential Palace. The President had resigned days earlier and the Vice President gave up. The United States didn't support them becasue Ford couldn't convince Congress to help. This had emboldened the North Vietnamese to take over so quickly. -
Jimmy Carter Wins the Presidency
On this day, the ovtes were in and Geralf Ford lost his reelection to Jimmy Carter. Carter won from his campaign to make Ford look like Nixon's puppet. It was an embarrassing loss for Ford. -
Panama Canal Treaty
After student led riots in Panama, Carter agreed to review the original canal agreements. The new agreement was that the US would give Panama back control over the canal by 2000. He was accused of "giving away" the Panama Canal and recieved a lot of ridicule. -
Jimmy Carter and the Neutron Bomb
Despite the SALT I and SALT II agreements, the higher powers were still trying to create advanced nuclear weapons. The idea of the neutron bomb had been explored and tested but there was no true success. The US claimed to have a neutron bomb but Carter was pressured not to deploy it. -
Camp David Accords
This was seen as one of President carters most significant achievement. After the Arab-Israeli War, Israel maintained occupation is Egyptian territories. Carter had invited the leaders of both countries to Camp David to hammer out an agreement. In the end, it was decided that both countries would acknowledge the other and that Israel would completely withdraw from Egyptian territory. This was to be enforced with US checkpoints and barriers. Everyone got a Nobel Peace Prize except Carter. -
Taiwan relations Act
This act was created to replace the Mutual Defense Act. All it did was identify the area known as "Taiwan" and establish their relationship with the US. Unlike the original agreement, it recognized China's rule over China's mainland and it did not say that the US would use it's military to defend Taiwan against China. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
After the Shah of Iran flees political persecution and runs into the United States for cancer treatment, angry college students and young revolutionaries take over the American embassy holding 60 Americans hostage. This caused major problems for Carter because he couldn't get them freed. -
The Afghan War
This was the civil war in Afghanistan. A communist regime was building up and trying to take over Afghanistan. The Soviet Union pounced on the opportunity and immediately invaded Afghanistan to support the communists. Their troops were directly involved in fighting the war. Hundreds of thousands of civians were either killed or left for refuge. Many countries supplied the rebels with weapons so that they could fight back (China, the United States, etc.). -
Mutual Defense Treaty
This treaty was originally created to protect Taiwan from China and to identify them as the true rulers of the Chinese mainland. One year after the US resumed relations with communist China, the treaty was revoked by President Jimmy Carter. -
France tests Neutron Bomb
Sometime in 1980, France claims to have successfully test a neutron bomb. -
The Iranian Hostages were Released
After a 444 day hostage in the American Embassy of Tehran, Iran, the American hostages were let go shortly after Reagan became president. Jimmy Carter greeted the hostages the following day. -
Ronald Reagan's First Day in Office
In an embarrassing race, Reagan crushed Jimmy Carter in the 1980 elections. Carter was already off to a bad start when he barely won the Democratic nomination in the primaries but he was nothing against Reagan's charm. Reagan was good at playing the media. He made many factless attacks at Carter and managed to leave with an unscathed reputation. However when Carter fought back, he was set aflame iin the media. -
Soviet Withdrawal from Afghan War
The United States, the Soviet Union, Pakistan, and Afghanistan signed an agreement for the USSR to withdraw from Afghanistan. The Soviets agreed under the condition that the US stopped providing the rebels weapons and that Pakistan and Afghanistan stayed out of each other's affairs. This agreement was easily made because of Soviet casualties. They initially crushed the opposition easily but after the US and China joined, they suffered greatly.
