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Cold War Begins
During WW2 a meeting known as the Yalta Conference took place in Crimea, Russia from the 4th-11th of February 1945. important people who attended the meeting were British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalinand US President Franklin Roosevelt. Decisions were made on how countries were to be governed when WW2 ended. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill travelled to a small town in Missouri (called Fulton) with Harry Truman to give a speech at a college to a crowd of fourty-thousand people. A phrase that had been around for decades became exceptionally famous when Winston quoted "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, a iron curtain has descended across the continent. -
Berlin Blockade Ends
After eleven months of seperation, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade; once Mr Stalin's attempt at driving Western powers out of West Berlin failed. During the time of the Blockade, US and British aircrafts would fly-in with supplies that people of East Germany required for the whole time the divide was alive. Germany could rest for a while although threats still loomed with the Cold war continuing. -
Korean War
The Korean War - was the first major war during the Cold War - began when North Korea invaded South Korea. United Nations intervened when North Korea was about to conquer the South. 'Amoung the first was 77Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force and HMAS Shoalhaven and Bataan of the Royal Australian Navy.' By the time the war ended seventeen thousand Australians had fought in Korea and 340 died over there. -
Hungary Rebellion
After the death of Joseph Stalin, Hungary along with other Eastern European countries had hopes of freedom and change. During October in Hungary, civillians and soldiers started an up-rising when they attacked police and smashed a statue of Stalin. Hungary had been controlled by Russia since 1945, but with the return of a Hungarian government, for five days such things as democracy, freedom of speech and religion were permitted until the government announced it wanted to leave the warsaw pact. -
Construction of Berlin Wall Begins
in 1960 200,000 people moved from East Germany to the West. This was the result of Germans being able to see and compare the two living styles and deciding that West was superior. The Soviets of Eastern Germany saw their communities collapsing. It was this that drove the idea of a wall, which would prevent people from comparing and migrating to other areas on the West side of the country. -
Diplomatic Relations: US and China
On the first of January 1979 the USA and Peoples Republic of China, at the 'ambassadorial level' officially set up diplomatic relations. Taiwan was at a slight expense to this as the US cancelled its relations with them; it was essentially replaced by China. The current relations between the US and China 'has become one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world.' -
Poland Becomes Independent
In 1989 there were many revolutions reguarding European countries under communist rule. Poland started an independent trade union known as Solidarity. Its purpose was to force political change, which ended up succeeding. Without communism, Poland became a free, independent country. -
Berlin Wall is Demolished
In the lead up to the Berlin Wall being taken down, communism was weakenin. Leaders wanted controlled change however the East Germans did not. New border crossings were opening up for people to re-locate from East to West. On the 9th of November 1989 the East German government allowed this movement to take place at all border cheakpoints. In shock, people started knocking down the wall using hammers and chisels. -
End of Cold War
Non-Russian ethnic groups resisted becoming Russian, the people who made up this group were more than 50%. The Soviet Union economy failed due to the arms race with the USA. In 1991 the Soviet Union split up into 15 seperate countries. Capitalism had triumphed over socialism. The Cold War was over.
