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Truman Doctrine
President Truman issued this doctrine in front of Congress, asking Congress to send support to any country that was opposing Communist aggression. It specifically helped Greece and Turkey. -
Executive Order 9835
Also know as the Loyalty Order, this was the first sign of the Cold War. The Order was designed to test potential spies from the Soviet Union. Overall, the program caught 14,700 potential spies in America. -
NSC and CIA are Created
The National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agencies both had a similar goal at the time. That was to gather information for the president to use during the Cold War. The NSC was to advise the president on the information that the CIA gathered from foreign fact gathering. -
Berlin Airlift
Since the end of the war, the Soviets had been neglecting their part of Berlin, East Berlin. Because of this, the other Allies had to get supplies over the wall, because unlike the Soviets who weren’t willing to help Germany due to the war, the other Allies felt it was their duty to aid the people and to also keep it from turning communist. The Allies (But mainly the US) flew in place after plane for nearly a year to the West side of Berlin to aid the citizens. -
Lifting of the Berlin Blockade
Since the start of the blockade, to make sure the citizens of East Berlin got supplies to rebuild, the US and other allies began to fly in materials from plane. This continued for almost a year, until this date when it was clear the US wouldn’t stop aiding the citizens and the blockade was lowered, meaning that ground travel from East Berlin to West Berlin was permitted and the citizens could get access to needed supplies. -
America joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
A treaty with originally twelve countries in Europe, it is a treaty with today many countries that pledge that an attack on one member is attack on all. It has prevented the threat of war for as long as the US has been in it. -
First USSR Atomic Bomb
Throughout the war and then after the war, the USSR had been developing their own atomic bomb. The US had gotten theirs first and had used it on Japan to end the war, but the USSR had their first successful test on this date. This marked the start of the arms race since the US had to be secure knowing that the USSR had access to atomic weapons. -
Start of the Korean War
On this date, North Korean soldiers supplied by the USSR stormed into South Korea, breaking the treaty set by the 38th Parallel and starting the Korean War. This was a major event of the Cold War, since The US was aiding the South Koreans in fighting against the North Koreans who were being supplied by the USSR. -
Resolution 83
This was a Resolution issued by the United Nations. In short, it recognized the breach of the 38th parallel as the threat to the peace, and the United Nations was supposed to send soldiers to defeat the aggressor, in this case North Korea. IN the long run, the US supplied almost 90% of all soldiers sent from the UN. -
Battle of Inchon
Besides the initial push from North Korea, this was the first major battle of the war. An amphibious invasion was launched by the South Koreans aided by the UN at Inchon, leading to a major strike back at North Korea. North Korea was pushed back so far by the attack that North Korean-controlled Seoul was recaptured by South Korea in mere weeks. -
China enters the Korean War
After the Battle of Inchon, the Korean War had been going swimmingly for South Korea and the UN. That was until China joined the fight on the side of North Korea, which led to a coordinated attack from both China and North Korea, which shifted the tide of the war significantly. It had been the UN’s goal to keep China out of the war, but China and North Korea had already coordinated China’s entering in the war. -
USA creates first Hydrogen Bomb
Ever since the Soviets had detonated their first atomic weapon, the USA quickly pushed forward the Hydrogen Bomb project, which would give them an edge in the Arms Race. Doing their first test on this date, the US had successfully created a bomb 1,000 times more devastating than the atomic bomb that came before it. -
Korean War Armistice
This brought about an end to the Korean War. Tired of the fighting, China, North Korea, South Korea and the UN decided to sign an armistice. This armistice put a strip of demilitarized zone between the two nations, and any POW could decide what side to return to. While this brought an end to the war itself, the fighting continued somewhat after the war. -
USSR develops ICBM
The Soviets were the first to develop an ICBM, or Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. This missile, named R-7 was tested on this day and was the first of it’s kind. An ICBM had the capability to fly large distances and deliver heavy hits. If outfitted with a nuclear warhead, a Soviet ICBM could launch from the USSR and detonate in the US with the force of an atomic bomb. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the nickname for the first successful satellite launched by the USSR. This marked the start of the Space Race, as this satellite orbited the Earth for three weeks before running out of batteries and falling back to Earth. -
Explorer 1
Explorer 1 was the United State’s first successful satellite made. This truly kicked off the Space Race, as the only other nation to launch a satellite was the USSR, and the US had just entered the race on an opposite, capitalist side. -
NASA is made
NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was created on this date to simply have a government organization to tackle the issue of the Space Race. NASA took over for the previous NACA for government-fueled space exploration. NASA is still around today, and still launching space exploration missions and discovering new things about space. -
US develops ICBM
Due to the Soviets already having developed their ICBM technology, Americans knew they were at a disadvantage in the arms race since the USSR could fire on them from incredible range. This is the date that the US finally created their own ICBM technology, nearly two years after the Soviets had created theirs. -
Vostok 1
Vostok 1 was another Soviet-made space craft, this time with new capabilities. Instead of being a craft made of metal and remotely controlled, this craft had a crew on board it while it was orbiting the Earth. it orbited the Earth once before coming down and successfully returning the one astronaut; Yuri Gagarin. -
Construction of the Berlin Wall
In post-war Germany, Berlin had been split into four sections, with the Soviets controlling East Berlin and the other Allies each having a piece of West Berlin. Since the other Allies had flown in supplies and the blockade had ended, the Soviets instead turned to a new method to attempt and change East Berlin into a communist state. They started construction of the Berlin Wall on this day, which separated the USSR controlled section of Berlin from the other. -
Tsar Bomba
The Tsar Bomba was the Soviets best attempt at making a hydrogen bomb that was far greater than the US’s hydrogen bomb. They succeeded, with the test carried out on this date proving that the Tsar Bomba was (And still is) the largest intentional explosion made by humans. This naturally shocked Americans, as their own bomb wasn’t nearly as strong as the Soviets. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a span of time that almost broke out into war among the Soviets and the Americans. The Soviets had moved missiles into Cuban soil, allied themselves with the Cubans, and were in a position to attack the US if they so pleased. President Kennedy prevented this by creating a blockade around Cuba until the Soviets backed down and removed their weapons from Cuba. -
Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2 was about the same design as Vostok 1. However, while in orbit, this craft’s crew accomplished another milestone for the Soviets in the Space Race. Alexei Leonov Was the first human to get into a space suit and successfully carry out a spacewalk; where a human in a space suit goes out into space and returns to their craft. This beat out the US’s attempt on Gemini 4 by nearly three months. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was not a Soviet made craft. It was actually the Americans who launched it, and as such the Americans ended the Space Race with this craft. On this date, Neil Armstrong and his crew ascended in this craft, landed on the moon, and became the first humans to step foot on the moon, and in putting down the American flag on the moon, recognized the winner of the Space Race being the US, even though the USSR had been ahead in the Space Race for the majority of it’s duration. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Over the years of the Berlin Wall being up, the citizens of Berlin became increasingly tired of the wall. This date symbolized the day when the entire wall was destroyed by both citizens and by construction crews. During the nights, droves of people with chisels and hammers attacked the wall, and soon it fell, symbolizing the re-unification of Germany.
