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Chruchill's "Iron Curtain" Speach
Winston Churchill presents a speech in Fulton, Missouri where he talks about the Soviet Union, communism, and what he referred to as The Iron Curtain. "An iron curtain has descended across the continent". This iron curtain represents the split between countries that believed in communism (East), and the ones who sided with the U.S (west). -
The Marshall Plan
After World War 2, European countries were devastated. Secretary of State, George C. Marshall came up with the plan to aid European countries to help them get back on their feet financially, and fix up cities that were damaged from the war. This way we could persuade these countries on our side so they were less likely to fall to communism. This program to aid them cost the U.S over $13 billion. -
NATO formed
The Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is made up of 11 countries; America, Britain, France, Denmark, Canada, Iceland, and more. All of these countries were anti-communists. -
NASA founded
The space race was essentially a competition between the U.S and USSR to establish dominance, and to prove power and authority over the other. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was made in an effort to keep up in the space race. Eisenhower and congress made it NASA's job to find qualified astronauts to be the first men in space. -
Warsaw Pact formed
The Warsaw Pact was created by the Soviet Union and other pro-communist countries; East Germany, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. They made this pact in order to counterbalance NATO. After West Germany joined NATO they feared their strength. The Soviets had hoped the pact could either contain West Germany or to negotiate with NATO. -
Start of Vietnam War
South Vietnam was on the side of the U.S and democracy, however Northern Vietnam believed in communism and was on the side of the Soviet’s. America's foreign policy at this time revolved heavily on the domino theory. This was the theory that if one country falls to communism then the surrounding countries will slowly start to fall too until communism is found all around the world. The U.S went to war in Vietnam in an effort to prevent communism to spread. -
Sputnik
Soviets send the first artificial satellite into space that successfully orbits the Earth. This was the official start of the cold war because Americans feared the Soviet military would control space. They also believed this satellite could occupy missiles or other nuclear weapons that could easily hit any place on Earth. -
Castro overthrows Batista
President Batista was the ruler of Cuba. He had close relations with the U.S and allowed American companies to own almost half of Cuba's sugar plantations. Castro eventually overthrew Batista and wanted the U.S to be less involved with Cuba’s affairs. President Eisenhower authorizes the CIA to recruit 1400 Cuban exiles in Miami to be trained to overthrow Castro. Castro eventually established relations with the Soviet Union, the U.S responded by banning all Cuban sugar imports. -
U-2
American U-2 spy plane was shot down by Soviets after flying in their unauthorized airspace. The Pilot of the plane, Francis Gary Powers, was captured and sentenced to 10 years in prison. However he was released after only 2 years once America did a "spy-swap" with one of the soviets spies. This incident really raised tensions between the two countries. -
Soviets Send First Human to Space
Astraunot Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union circles the Earth in 108 minutes. American astraunots such as Alan Shepard, Gus Grisson, and John Glenn also make succesful missions to space and back. -
Bay of Pigs
The point of this mission was to overthrow President Castro. The CIA wanted to keep the invasion a secret so they can stay uninvolved in order to prevent war. The 1400 Cuban exiles recruited in Miami stormed the beaches, but failed after Castro’s troops hold them and forced them to retreat. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
The wall was built in the middle of Berlin by the Soviets in order to separate East and West Berlin. They wanted the east and west to be separated in order to prevent the western "fascists" from entering eastern Germany and polluting them with democratic ideas. This wall is the most powerful symbol of the Cold War. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear war, luckily no missiles were ever actually set off. It was a 13 day standoff with Cuba pointing missiles at the U.S and Kennedy, in an attempt to defend the U.S, sending military forces to make a naval blockade around Cuba. Kennedy was able to agree with Nikita Khrushceu's offer to remove the missiles in exchange for the U.S to not invade Cuba. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The high tensions began to dissolve slowly between the U.S and USSR. Countries in Europe were recovered from the war and settled down. The spokesman from East Berlin's communist party announces a change in their cities relations with West Berlin. The citizens were free to cross the blockade at last. -
Dissolution of the USSR
The USSR was formally dissolved on December 26th 1991 by a declaration. This declaration acknowledged the independence of all 15 republics of the Soviet Union, following the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Just the day before, Soviet President Gorbachev had resigned, declaring his office extinct, and handed over the Soviet nuclear missile launching.
