-
Yalta Conference
A Conference held in a small town resort between FDR, Churchill, and Stalin who were there to decide the fate of post War Europe. Some of the things included, splitting up Germany, creating a United Nations, and German war reparations. -
Period: to
Cold War
-
V-E Day
The War in Europe ends as the Germans surrender to the Soviet Union. -
Berlin Blockade
The Soviet Union blocks off the west of Berlin from the western Allies and begins a Blockade in which he starves citizens. The Blockade ended in 1949 when the western Allies sent supplies over to Eastern Germany. -
NATO established
12 nations including the U.S. and the U.K. alligned together to have each other's back incase of a foriegn attack from a Communist nation. -
Soviet Union explodes first Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union successfully explodes their first Atomic Bomb test. This puts an uneasy feeling in the minds of Americans. -
Korean War Begins
North Korea invades South Korea forcing the U.N. to take police actions against North Korea. This lead to a brutally bloody war in which the U.S. and it's allies had to fight off the new war machine. -
McCarthy begins Communist witch hunt
With his new power Joesph McCarthy began the Red witch hunt. Basically anyone who was suspected of Communist activites would be put to a hearing trial. There they would be asked for the names of others who were practicing Communism too. Though many of the victims were actually innocent. -
Rosenberg Executions
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of relaying U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union. This was the first execution of the Cold War and the Red witch hunt. -
Vietnam split at 17th Parallel
The world powers had come to disucss Vietnam. They agreed to split Vietnam and the 17th Parallel until 1956 where they would have a joint election. This election didn't happen because of Eisenhower's fear of Communism winning. -
Warsaw Pact
A pact between the Soviet Union and other small countries around the Soviet Union. This pact was a response by these countries to the NATO treaty. -
Soviet Union launches Sputnik
The Soviet Union and the U.S. were in a space race but the Soviet Union started the action by launching the satellite Sputnik into space. While Sputnik had no passengers Sputnik II had a live dog in it. -
Vietnam War Begins
The battle between the Communist Northern Vietnam and the anti-communish Southern Vietnam began. The U.S. had some early support but nothing too major at the start of the war. -
Bay of Pigs Invansion
About 1300 U.S. backed exiles in Cuba made an attempt to overthrow the new Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Though the invasion was unsuccessful as the exiles were either killed or taken prisoner. -
Berlin Border Closed
After the civilian death rate was increasing in East Germany many citizens decided to head over to West Germany. To prevent this from happening the Soviet Union and East Germany closed off the Berlin Border. Then the Berlin Wall was built. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union was behind in the arms race in the U.S. so the Soviet Leader Khrushchev got the idea to put missiles in Cuba. After hearing the news that missiles were being built Kennedy formed a group of his most important advisors to try and solve this problem. The crisis ended on October 28th when the U.S. agreed the wouldn't invade Cuba if the Soviet Union removed the missiles. -
U.S. officially enters Vietnam war
The U.S. sent about 150,000 troops over the Vietnam to begin to support Southern Vietnam. They also began air raids on Northern Vietnam and communist controlled areas in the South. -
SALT I and II
An arms agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was signed. This restricted anymore thoughts of using major weapons on each other. In 1979 SALT II was signed and basically made SALT I long term. -
Cease Fire in Vietnam
Firing between the U.S. and North Vietnam had come to a near stop as the U.S. slowly began to send troops back home. All of the G.Is were gone by March 31st of that year. The Vietnam war ended in 1975 with South Vietnam surrenduring to North Vietnam. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
66 U.S. citizens are taken hostage by 300 to 500 Iranian students attacked the American Embassy and kept their hostages for 444 days. African Americans and Women were released early and one other individual was due to an illness. -
Iran-Contra Affair
The first round of U.S. made weapons is sent to Iran then a few weeks later the first hostage is released. The affair claims that Ronald Regan delayed the release of the hostages until after the November elections. In return the U.S. would supply Iran with weapons. -
Berlin Wall falls
With Communism slowing falling in countries such as Hungary, Poland, East Germany, and even the Soviet Union the Berlin wall finally fell. This just a short time after East Germany took away the travelling restriction laws for their citizens. -
Boris Yeltsin elected as President
In Russia in 1990 the first democratically elected president was Boris Yeltsin. This was one of the final signs that the Cold War was finally coming to an awaited end. -
Germany Reunited
After the last free elections of East Germany and the apporval of outside countries, East and West Germany were finally united after a long Cold War. -
Soviet Union Dissolves
The Soviet Union officially announced that is has finally dissolved in December of 1991. One of the last steps ending the Cold War.
