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Building Tension: Yalta Confrence
The Yalta Conference was a meeting of the three allies of the Second World War. (Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin) The goal was to discuss how they would shape the post-war world. The big three came to agreements and decided to meet again once the war was won in Europe. -
Building Tension: Potsdam Conference
The big three came back to their topics discussed at the Yalta conference and this time the war was over in Europe, so the goal here was to create a plan of action as to what they would do with European occupation. Germany's fate was one of the most important topics which resulted in it being split into four occupation zones. Great Britain in the northwest, France in the southwest, the U.S. in the south, and the Soviet Union in the east. -
Buidling Tension: Long & Novikov Telegrams
The Long Telegram was a telegram made by an American foreign ambassador in the Soviet Union which outlined Russia's motives for its foreign policy. It explained how Russia has always had problems with foreign diplomacy due to its reputation for being less developed. This explained why Russia was so concerned with not communicating with the Western World and wanted to push its ideals. The Novikov Telegram was a Soviet telegram that said how capitalism would destroy the Russian way of life. -
Building Tension: Iron Curtain
From Winston Churchill's 'Sinews of Peace',
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an "iron curtain" has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. -
Proxy Wars: North Korean Invasion
In terms of how the Korean War contributed to the Cold War, it was a proxy war where the US backed the anti-communist South and the USSR backed the communist North. Each side provided aid essentially in order to fight the other without actually fighting each other. So the goal really was to deplete the other of resources and money to further "win" Cold War "battles". -
Proxy Wars: Vietcong (Formation Date)
The Vietcong was essentially a North-Vietnam-supportive army that allied with the NVA in fighting against the South. It is rumored but considered fact that the Vietcong had some kind of help from the Soviets in that the North was a communist revolutionary group. So the Vietcong was an important part of another US-Soviet proxy war which caused more worldly tension and fear. -
Building Tension: Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a large concrete wall that was built to separate East Berlin from West Berlin as an attempt by the Soviets to block out Western culture and also to stop people from defecting from the Soviet Union through West Berlin. The wall was toppled in 1989 when the GDR declared that citizens could now move freely between East and West Berlin.