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United Nations formed
The United Nations (UN) was created at the end of World War II as an international peacekeeping organization.The UN replaced the League of Nations, which had failed to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War. -
Truman Doctrine
With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. -
Marshall Plan
Officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), the Marshall Plan was intended to rebuild the economies and spirits of western Europe, primarily. Marshall was convinced the key to restoration of political stability lay in the revitalization of national economies. -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood Ten were a group of Hollywood writers and directors who, when called before HUAC, refused to answer questions regarding their political beliefs; are found guilty of contempt of Congress and sentenced to a year in jail -
NATO formed
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere. -
Korean War
Korean War, conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. The war reached international proportions in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviet Union, invaded the South. -
Space Race/Sputnik
The “space race” was a Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites, unmanned space probes, and human spaceflight. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 was an attempt by the CIA to overthrow Fidel Castro, the socialist leader of Cuba. The invasion was one of several incidents that took place during the Cold War, an ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as capitalism and communism. -
Berlin Wall goes up
On the morning of August 13, 1961, Berliners awoke to discover that on the orders of East German leader Walter Ulbricht , a barbed wire fence had gone up overnight separating West and East Berlin and preventing movement between the two sides. -
U.S. official enters Vietnam War
In early August 1964, two U.S. destroyers stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam radioed that they had been fired upon by North Vietnamese forces. In response to these reported incidents, President Lyndon B. Johnson requested permission from the U.S. Congress to increase the U.S. military presence in Indochina. -
Soviets invade Afghanistan
The Soviet Union went to war in Afghanistan in 1979 over fear that the growing Muslim population in Soviet Central Asia threatened the Soviet control. The war lasted ten years, and the Soviet Union received a devastating defeat. Prior to the Soviet invasion, there were several leadership changes within Afghanistan. -
Berlin Wall comes down
half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest, that the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled. East German leaders had tried to calm mounting protests by loosening the borders, making travel easier for East Germans.