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Russian Revolution
Feb. 1917. Tired of the war and their Czar, the Russian people had Czar Nikolas overthrown, imprisoned, and replaced with a new democratic movement. Short lived, however, Vladmir Lenin lanched his own Communist revolution in October and seized the government. -
Potsdam Conference
The three leading Allied powers of WWII gathered in Europe to discuss post-war strategies. President Truman of the US, Winston Churchill of the UK, and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union aimed to restore an everlasting peace to Europe, and the rest of the world, but tensions rose between the democratic ideals of the West and Stalin's growing Communism in the East. -
The Atomic Bomb - Hiroshima/Nagasaki
Working in secret under the code name 'Manhattan Project', the US had developed the world's first atomic bomb. To end the torturous war with Japan, President Truman gave the go-ahead to drop this new weapon of mass destruction on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, successfully forcing the Japanese to surrender. -
Iron Curtain
The Soviets pushed their Communist expansion West into Europe, casting their "sphere of influence" over the countries of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Eastern sector of Germany. Churchill described this effect as "an iron curtain descending across the continent." -
Hollywood 10
During the HUAC's investigation into the film industry, there was a group of people that refused to answer questions, citing protection under the 1st Amendment. The Hollywood Ten, as they were called, were convicted of contempt and sent to prison. -
Molotov Plan
In order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to them, the Soviet Union created the Molotov Plan, not unlike America's Marshall Plan. -
Truman Doctrine
As Russia's Communist influence spread into the East of Europe, free European countries began to turn to America for assistance in their fight against Communism. The Truman Doctrine was passed, providing financial aid to Greece and Turkey. -
Marshall Plan
Fearful that European countries devastated after the war would turn to Communism out of desperation, Marshall proposed a program of massive economic assistance to Europe. -
Berlin Blockade
1948-49. In retaliation towards the West and their changes to their democratic-controlled sectors of Germany, Stalin ordered a blockade, sealing off all access into West Berlin. He planned to push the Western Allies out of West Berlin and starve its people into submission. -
Berlin Airlift
In response to the Soviet's blockade of West Berlin, the Allies organized airlifts to fly in supplies to the city. Every three minutes an Allied plane landed with food, coal, and medical supplies, and they never met any Soviet resistance. -
NATO
As a united defense against Soviet aggression, the US and Canada joined with 10 other European nations to form a military alliance known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. -
Soviet Bomb Test
Years ahead of expert prediction, the Soviets successfully tested their atomic bomb, only furthering tensions between Russia and the US. -
Korean War
Left divided after WWII, the North was controlled by the Soviet's Communism, while Western democracy reigned in the South. Both sides wanted to reunite Korea under their own government, but it wasn't until 1950 that North Korea acted and invaded its Southern neighbor. The Soviet Union agreed to back the North, supplying them with troops and artillery, so the US rushed to South Korea's aid with the additional support of the UN. Although they pushed the North back, the war dragged on until 1953. -
Alger Hiss Case
Ex-Communist Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss, a former employee of the State Department, of being a Soviet spy. Hiss was convicted of perjury, rather than treason, and sentenced to 5 years. -
Rosenberg Trial
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested under the charge of involvement in passing US bomb secrets on to the Soviets. The evidence pointed to them only having played a small, but material, role in the spy ring, and thus they were sentenced to die in the electric chair. -
Army-McCarthy Hearings
Senator McCarthy pitted himself against the army in an investigation of charges and counter-charges concerning Communist cover-ups. The results were inconclusive. -
Geneva Conference
A conference among several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 26 – July 20, 1954, intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
A climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. After the signing of the Geneva Accords, the French agreed to withdrawal their forces if Vietnam be temporarily divided at the 17th Parallel. -
Warsaw Pact
To combat the formation of NATO, the Soviets formed a competing alliance with seven of their satellites known as the Warsaw Pact. -
Hungarian Revolution
In 1956, there was an uprising in Hungary in an attempt to ride the country of Soviet control. However, the revolution was crushed by the Soviets and Hungary resided under Communist rule. -
U2 Incident
An American U2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet Airspace and its pilot was taken prisoner. This revealed proof of the US's attempts at espionage towards the Soviet Union. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
A failed military invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba by a CIA-sponsored counter-revolutionary military group who planned to assassinate Fidel Castro and overthrow his Communist government in Cuba. The invasion's failure only strengthened Castro's leadership and increased tensions with the US. -
Berlin Wall
Constructed by the German Democratic Republic of East Germany, the wall divided East and West Germany, cutting off West Berlin from all of East Germany, until its destruction in 1989. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The closest the Cold War ever got to a full-out nuclear war was when the US discovered that the Soviet Union had deployed ballistic missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, in response to the US missile deployment in Italy and Turkey. Luckily, after a long period of tense negotiations, Soviet leader Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles under the condition that JFK agreed to avoid future plans to invade Cuba. -
Assassination of Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the president of South Vietnam and was killed in a CIA-backed coup d'état led by General Dương Văn Minh. His presidency was becoming strongly opposed by the Vietnamese and the US worried that they would turn to Communism under Ho Chi Minh as a better alternative, so they staged a coup to overthrow him. -
Assassination of JFK
During a presidential motorcade through Dallas, TX, President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot by former Marine Lee Harvey Oswald. Before he could be put on trial, however, Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took over the presidency after Kennedy's death. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
In response to the destruction of a US destroyer at the hands of the North Vietnamese Navy, Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, 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 US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force against North Vietnam from March 1965 until November 1968. The US hoped these bombings would convince the North Vietnamese to back down from their invasion of South Vietnam. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive, taking place on the Vietnamese New Year, or Tet holiday, was one of the largest military campaigns of the war, launching a series of simultaneous surprise attacks by Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army against US and South Vietnamese forces at military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. Though the US was able to beat back the Northern forces, the news footage the American's unpreparedness for the attack lead many to see the battle as a loss. -
Assassination of MLK
American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., was shot in his hotel room in Memphis, TN by fugitive James Earl Ray. King was rushed to the hospital, where he died. His killer was sentenced to 99 years in jail. King's death shook the nation, the news devastated American's, both black and white. -
Assassination of RFK
Presidential candidate and brother to the late President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, was fatally shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan, shortly after winning the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election, and died the next day while hospitalized. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
In a joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by five Warsaw Pact nations –the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany and Poland– 250,000 troops attacked that night, killing 137 Czechoslovakians and wounding 500, all civilians. The invasion successfully stopped liberalization reforms and strengthened the authority of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. -
Democratic Convention Riots
100,000 demonstrates gathered to protest in Grant Park in Chicago to coincide with the Democratic Convention. Mayor Daley sent police forces and National Guard to attack the protesters using great amounts of tear gas and mace. The entire event was broadcasted live across the nation, though many seemed to side with the Mayor and his actions. -
Election of Nixon
Former Vice President to Eisenhower and Republican candidate, Richard Nixon, won the 1968 Presidential election. Nixon's campaign promised to restore law and order after the recent trauma's that devastated the nation and the disastrous war in Vietnam. -
Kent State
Four Kent State University students were killed and nine were injured when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd gathered to protest the Vietnam War. In its immediate aftermath, a student-led strike forced the temporary closure of colleges and universities across the country. -
Nixon Visits China
President Richard Nixon's seven-day official visit was the first time a U.S. president had visited the People's Republic of China. Nixon's arrival in Beijing ended 25 years of no communication, nor diplomatic ties, between the two countries and was the key step in normalizing relations between the U.S. and China. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
After receiving a draft of the peace proposal from Paris, President Nixon ordered a ceasefire of the aerial bombings in Vietnam, ending all direct US military combat and temporarily stopped the fighting between the North and the South of Vietnam. -
Fall of Saigon
With the US withdrawal from the war in Vietnam, the North Vietnamese moved to end the war with the reunification of the country under a Socialist Republic. Vietcong captured the Southern capital city of Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City after their late President. Following the city's fall, American civilian and military personnel, along with any South Vietnamese civilians who had been associated with the southern regime, were evacuated in the largest helicopter evacuation in history. -
Election of Reagan
Former Hollywood actor and Governor of California, Ronald Reagan, won the 1980 Presidential election, aided by his promises to put an end to the Iran hostage crisis and mend the worsening economy. -
SDI Announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. Reagan, being a critic of 'mutually assured destruction', sought to render nuclear weapons obsolete. In 1984, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was established to oversee the program. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
The Geneva Summit of 1985 was meeting in Geneva, Switzerland between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race. Although Reagan refused Gorbachev's offer to abandon the arms race, the leaders formed a personal relationship that would bring an end to the Cold War. -
"Tear down this wall" Speech
In front of the Berlin Wall in West Berlin, President Reagan called upon Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the wall and reunite East and West Germany. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Following the similar uprisings across the Soviet Sphere after Gorbachev's moves towards leniency, Germans of both East and West Berlin took to the wall with any tools they could find, breaking through the divide in their country, and with it, the only thing left of the Soviet 'iron curtain'.
