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Russian Revolution
During the Russian Revolution average people and working class people of Russia revolted against the government of Tsar Nicholas II. They were led a group of revolutionaries called the Bolsheviks. The new communist government created the country of the Soviet Union. -
Potsdam Conference
The conference failed to settle most of the important problems, conflicts and helped set the stage for the Cold War. The meeting at Potsdam was the third conference between the leaders of the Big nations. -
Atomic bomb - Hiroshima/Nagasaki
Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War. the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
iron curtain
the notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989. -
Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was the system created by the Soviet Union in 1947 in order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union. -
Truman Doctrine
the principle that the US should give support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or communist insurrection. First expressed in 1947 by US President Truman in a speech to Congress seeking aid for Greece and Turkey, the doctrine was seen by the communists as an open declaration of the Cold War. -
Alger Hiss case
Alger Hiss was an American government official who was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950. Before he was tried and convicted, he was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department official and as a U.N. official. -
the martial plan
The Marshall Plan was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $12 billion in economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift: The End of the Blockade. By spring 1949, it was clear that the Soviet blockade of West Berlin had failed. It had not persuaded West Berliners to reject their allies in the West, nor had it prevented the creation of a unified West German state. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created 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. -
Soviet bomb test
The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. It came as a great shock to the United States because they were not expecting the Soviet Union to possess nuclear weapon knowledge so soon. -
Korean War
World War II divided Korea into a Communist, northern half and an American-occupied southern half, divided at the 38th parallel. The Korean War (1950-1953) began when the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded non-Communist South Korea. -
the Hollywood 10
Hollywood Ten, in U.S. history, 10 motion-picture producers, directors, and screenwriters who appeared before the House Un-American Activities they, refused to answer questions regarding their possible communist affiliations, and, after spending time in prison for contempt of Congress. -
the Rosenberg trial
The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins in New York Southern District federal court. Judge Irving R. Kaufman presides over the espionage prosecution of the couple accused of selling nuclear secrets to the Russians. -
Army-McCarthy hearings
The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee to investigate conflicting accusations between the United States Army and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. A set piece battle to draw out the Vietnamese and destroy them with superior firepower. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations underway at Geneva among several nations over the future of Indochina. -
Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference was a conference among several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland. It was intended to settle issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War. -
The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization was a political and military alliance established on 1955 between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries. -
The Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956,was a nationwide revolt against the Marxist-Leninist government of the Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies. -
The U-2 Incident
The U-2 Incident. Shot down by a Soviet surface to air missile on the morning of May 1, 1960, CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers had been on a top secret mission was to over fly on denied territory from his U2 spy plane deep inside Russia. -
The Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall, was a barrier that surrounded West Berlin and prevented access to it from East Berlin and adjacent areas of East Germany. In the years about 2.5 million East Germans had fled from East to West Germany, including rising numbers of skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals. Their loss destroyed the economy of the East German state. In response,East Germany built a barrier to close off East Germans’ access to West Berlin and hence West Germany. -
‘Tear down this wall’ speech
This speech by President Ronald Reagan to the people of West Berlin contains one of the most memorable lines spoken during his presidency. The Berlin Wall, referred to by the President, was built by Communists in August 1961 to keep Germans from escaping Communist-dominated East Berlin into Democratic West Berlin. The twelve-foot concrete wall extended for a hundred miles, surrounding West Berlin, and included electrified fences and guard posts. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Having promised in to defend Cuba with Soviet arms, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev assumed that the United States would take no steps to prevent the installation of Soviet medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. Such missiles could hit much of the eastern United States within a few minutes if launched from Cuba. The United States learned that the Soviet Union had begun missile shipments to Cuba. -
Assassination of Diem
The president of South Vietnam, marked the culmination of a successful CIA-backed led by General Duong Van Minh in November 1963. Diem and his adviser, his younger brother, were arrested after the Army of the Republic of Vietnam had been successful. The coup was the culmination of nine years of autocratic and nepotistic family rule in South Vietnam. Discontent with the Diem regime had been simmering below the surface. -
Assassination of JFK
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, by name JFK 35th president of the United States faced a number of foreign crises, especially in Cuba and Berlin, managed to secure achievements as the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Alliance for Progress. He was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
it was authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was the title of a gradual and sustained aerial bombardment campaign conducted by the U.S. 2nd Air Division (later Seventh Air Force), U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from 2 March 1965 until 2 November 1968, during ... -
Assassination of MLK
He was an American civil rights leader, was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was a prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience. -
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
The presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded shortly after midnight in Los Angeles.
Following dual victories in the California and South Dakota primary elections for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, Senator Kennedy spoke to journalists and campaign workers at a live televised celebration from the stage. Shortly after leaving the podium he was mortally wounded by multiple shots fired from a handgun. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, was a joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact countries the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, East Germany and Hungary. Warsaw pact troops attacked Czechoslovakia that night. 137 Czechoslovakian civilians were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the occupation. -
Riots of Democratic convention
.The Democratic Convention in Chicago, Illinois. As delegates flowed into the International Amphitheatre to nominate a Democratic Party presidential candidate, of thousands of protesters swarmed the streets. By the time Vice President Herbert Humphrey received the presidential nomination, the streets of Chicago had seen riots and bloodshed involving protesters, police and bystanders alike, radically changing America’s political and social landscape. -
Election of Nixon
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial presidential election. The Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon, defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. -
Kent State
The shootings of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, during a protest against the bombing of Cambodia. Twenty-eight guardsmen fired over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one suffered permanent paralysis,many students had been walking or observing the protest from a distance. -
Nixon visits China
The President Richard Nixon's visit to China 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 temporary stoppage of a war. Ceasefire of the aerial bombings in North Vietnam. The decision came after Dr. Henry Kissinger, the National Security Affairs advisor to the president, returned to Washington from Paris, France with a draft peace proposal. Combat missions continued in South Vietnam. By January 27, 1973, all warring parties in the Vietnam War signed a ceasefire as a prelude to the Paris Peace Accord. -
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon or the Liberation of Saigon, was the capture of Saigon by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period to the formal reunification of Vietnam. -
Reagan elected
The United States presidential election of 1980 was the 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 1980. Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter. -
SDI announce
The Strategic Defense Initiative was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. The concept was first announced publicly by President Ronald Reagan on 23 March 1983. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
The Geneva Summit of 1985 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It was between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a series of surprise attacks by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces, on cities, towns, and hamlets throughout South Vietnam. It was considered to be a turning point in the Vietnam War. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The Fall of the Wall. On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders.
