Cold War

  • Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

    Nazi-Soviet non agression pact
  • Operation Barbarossa

    Invasion of the USSR, becomes an ally in the marriage of convenience
  • Tehran Conference

    (Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt),
    Key decisions:
    Western front, Soviet entry into Japan War
  • Morgenthau Plan

    Proposed to weaken Germany post-war by eliminating the arms industry + other key sectors aiding military strength
  • Bretton Woods Conference

    44 countries agree on IBRD (World Bank 1945) to fund post-war reconstruction and IMF (1946) to stabilize exchange rates.
  • Percenatges Agreement

    (Churchill-Stalin), split East EU into SoI, SECRET
  • UN founded

    UN Charter agreed + established Oct
    Permanent Members -USA,BR,FR,CH,USSR - veto powers
  • HUAC (House of Un-American Activities Committee)

    Reinforced
  • Yalta Conference

    Churchill, Roosevelt + Stalin
    Germany to be divided into 4 zones of occupation
    Free elections in Eastern Europe - Stalin breaks
  • Trinity Test

    Alamogordo, New Mexico
  • Potsdam Conference

    Potsdam declaration - ultimatum issued to Japanese government
    Potsdam - Atlee, Truman, Stalin
    Democratisation, Decentralisation, Denazification, Demilitarisation, Deindustrialisation.
  • Atomic Bomb- Hiroshima + Nagasaki

    Traditionalist - dropped to end Japan war
    Revisionist- dropped to scare USSR, arms race
  • Romania Liberation

    Romania- USSR imposed government since 1945- left wing parties merge to create the National Democratic Front- dominated by communists
    1946 Elections- won by 80%
    ACC dissolved + joins cominform
    1948- Communist People’s Republic declared.
  • Zhdanov Doctrine

    Soviet cultural policy - Zhdanovshchina
    Irreconcilable camps of difference
  • Paris Peace Conference

    Discuss Marshall Plan reception, Molotov walks out
    PeaceTreaties Feb 1947
  • Period: to

    Greek Civil War

  • Kennan's Long Telegram

    Outlines the Soviet Union’s aggressive foreign policy and warns that containment of communism is necessary. This message forms the basis for US foreign policy during the Cold War.
  • Iron Curtain Speech - Chruchill

    Symbolic beginning of the cold war
    In a speech in Missouri, Churchill coined the term "Iron Curtain" to describe the division between Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe and the Western democracies. Churchill warns of Soviet expansionism and the threat it poses to global peace.
  • Baruch Plan at UNAEC

    Nuclear non-proliferation proposal
  • Novikov Telegram

    US foreign policy based on economic imperialism (dollar)
    Wanted global supremacy
  • Iran Crisis

    First direct confrontation
    Allied occupation in Iran to stop AXIS access to oil + agree to leave 6 months post WW2
    1945- Soviet creation of 2 small independent republics
    1946- USSR refuses (sphere of influence), gain oil concession + withdraw.
    Iran reneg + re-annex with USA aid
  • Poland Liberation

    Pro-Stalin Lublin government
    Provisional Government of National Unity (1945)
    Jan 1947 - communist + socialist parties merge
    Gomulka announces Poland should be free in choice of future
    1948- 'nationalist deviation' replaced by Bierut
  • X Article

    Kennan - introduced the term "containment" to widespread use and advocated the strategic use of that concept against the USSR
  • Clayton's Declaration

    Clayton determined Europe was deteriorating rapidly + needed urgent economic aid to halter European disintegration economically, socially and politically.
  • Truman Doctrine

    Isolationism - containment
    Leads to Marshall Plan (June) to reinforce the doctrine
    Motives
    -demonise + provoke USSR
    -containment foreign policy
    -protect democracy + freedom
    -stops USSR involvement in Greece
  • Marshall Plan - European Recovery Programme

    $13.5 billion aid to 16 countries, UK benefitting the most.
  • Bizonia

  • Czech Ultimatum to reject ERP

    Jan Masaryk threatened by Stalin against utilising the Marshall Plan
  • Cominform

    Communist Information Bureau, coordinated communism across Eastern bloc
  • Period: to

    Alger Hiss Affair (Pumpkin Papers)

  • Western European Union created

    Acted as a amjor factor in polarisation
    Treaty of Brussels - UK,FR + Benelux
  • London 6 Power Conference

    Notion of Western GE with constitution proposed
    Big Three + Benelux countries
  • Deutschmark established in West Berlin

    Backed by the US Dollar + favoured by GE.
  • Period: to

    Berlin Blockade + Airlift

    1,000 tonnes from USA daily, aided by Britain
    Easter Sunday 13,000 tonnes
    Operation Vittels
    Tempelhof, Gatow + Tegel
    Lifted May 12th, hurt Soviets
  • Republic of Korea (South Korea) under Syngman Rhee

  • Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea

    Under Kim Il Sung
  • FRG in Council of Europe

    FRG (under Adenauer) joined Council of Europe + received right to have direct representation on the OEEC (Organisation of European Economic Cooperation)
  • US in Japan

    General MacArthur (SCAP) given clear directive from Washington to stabilse Japan’s economy - Joseph Dodge as economic adviser (worked with Ikeda, JA Finance Minister).
    Target surplus of 157 million yen + joined GATT
    GATT- General Agreement on Tariffs + Trade, created alongside UN to maximise international trade
  • CCP Alleigance to USSR

    Chinese Communist Party + USSR
  • NATO established

    Political Defence system
  • China White Paper

    Dean Acheson SoS justification for withdrawal of direct military support for Jiang Jieshi, intention was secret support
  • USSR successfully test atomic bomb

  • Loss of China - Civil War

    Communist victory over Jiang Jieshi’s nationalist KMT forces in the Chinese Civil War
  • USA 7th fleet in Taiwan

    Truman ordered 7th fleet to position itself between mainland China + Taiwan
  • USSR Military support for NK

    Indirect military support - Stalin provides NK with 178 military aircraft, 258 T-34 Tanks, 1600 artillery.
  • McCarthyism

    McCarthy’s speech on the communist threat to the US Senate + ‘Asia first viewpoint’
    J. Edgar Hoover (head fo the FBI), referred to teachers as ‘Reducators’
    Eisenhower + Nixon mock democrats for being too soft on communism.
    1954- McCarthy claimed the ‘Reds’ had infiltrated the US army.
    Dec 1954- US Senate voted in favour of Mccarthy being guilty of bringing the body into disrepute.
  • Defensive Perimeter Strategy

    Acheson's Permieter Speech
    Defensive cordon in Asia for militray defsnse of JA
  • Period: to

    Korean War

  • USSR - NK provisions

    Shift in Stalin agrees to provide NK with military equipment
  • Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship

  • NSC-68 Report

    Stressed building USA's political, economic + military powers + focus on globalisation of the Cold War
  • Phase 1 of Korean War

    Soviet tanks over 38th parallel, full-scale offensive, WAR BEGINS,
    Kim Il Sung reliant on 200,000 communist supporters in the South
  • China in Korean War

    Mao sent 300,000 Chinese troops into NK
  • Defense of the Pusan Perimeter

  • Phase 2 of Korean War

    General MacArthur arrives in Korea (Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in Japan)
    Success in pushing NK back past 38th parallel
  • Phase 3 of Korean War

    By Jan, CH forces pushed past 38th parallel + captured Seoul
    Feb- China condemned by UN as aggressor
  • Phase 4 of Korean War -> ceasefire + stalemate

    -Neither side mounted any significant military attacks
    -negotiations begin
  • Artichoke Approach with China

  • San Francisco Peace Treaty

    Recognised sovereignty of JA + renounce claims to neighboring territory, unsigned by USSR + China.
  • US-Japan Security Treaty

    (Bilateral) Gave USA unrestricted use of military bases, right to intervention + right to veto JA offering military bases
  • Nasser plots against gov

    Nasser plots + strikes against government (blamed for defeat against Israelis in 1949)
  • Rearmement of Japan

    NSA 110,000 ground troops + 7600 maritime personnel.
  • The General Treaty (signed in Bonn

    Abolished the statute of occupation and recognised the full sovereignty of the FRG.
  • USA Ivy Mike hydrogen bomb (yield of 10 megatons)

  • New Look Policy - Eisenhower

    Ended static position imposed by Truman’s restrictive model of containment.
    -Nuclear weapons as basis on US national security strategy - Dulles + Brinkmanship.
  • Virgin Lands Campaign

    Krushchev's plan to cultivate land in Caucasus, Kazakhstan + Siberia, initial succes in 1956, failure in 1964.
  • Voice of the Arabs Radio station

  • Eisenhower's Administration in Japan - rearmement

    Dulles as SoS wanted enlarged ground force, 140,000 ground troops, $250 million funding to JA
  • Panmunjom Armistice Agreement

    DMZ at roughly 38th parallel + pre-war status quo achieved.
  • USSR first hydrogen bomb of 400 kilotons

  • NSC 162/2 Report

    emphasized using nuclear superiority to deter any aggressors
  • USA Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb (yield of 15 megatons)

  • Geneva Conference

    Division along 17th parallel + national elections to take place in in 2 years.
  • Viet Minh victory at Dien Bien Phu

    Victory of the Vietnamese against French colonialism
  • SEATO

  • Baghdad Pact, anti-Soviet alliance with Turkey, Iran + BR

  • FRG readmitted to NATO

  • USSR + GDR -> Warsaw Pact

    USSR recognised full sovereignty of the GDR + created the Warsaw Pact - ‘collective security strategy’
  • Austrian State Treaty

    The occupying powers agree to withdraw from Austria, commitment to AU sovereignty
    Decalre Austria as neutral
    Resumed summit diplomacy
  • Geneva Summit

    Geneva Summit (USA, FR, BR, USSR), talks on nuclear disarment
    Open Skies Proposal (Eisenhower), attempt to deadlock nuclear arsenal - Krushchev rejects
    GE future, stress on non permitted resurgence of militarism
  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

  • Vietnam Worker's Party

    1956- no national elections held, allows for Vietnam Worker’s Party (VWP) to implement land reform programmes - full-scale collectivisation
  • Krushchev's Secret Speech

    20th Congress of the Communist Party of the USSR
    Abandoned Marxist-Leninist view that war was inevitable
    Foreign Policy - USSR remain leaders in socialist bloc, GE kept weak, military spending reduced, primus inter pares of eastern bloc
  • Polish Poznan Uprising

    28th June, 10,000 troops arrive under orders of Minister of Defence
    74 killed
    Reamined loyal partner in Warsaw Pact
    Gomulka allowed more relaxed 'own path to socialism'
  • Suez Canal Crisis

    Nasser announces nationalisation of Suez Canal, using profits to build Aswan Dam - Suez War
    Joint campaign of Israel, France + BR against Egypt, met in France
  • Hungarian Uprising

    Student Riots in Budapest, requested Imre Nagy as PM
    Nagy made reforms, yet issue came when threatened to leave the Warsaw Pact
    4000 Soviet Tanks on 3rd Nov + 15 divisions of Red Army
  • Strategic Air Command

    (established 1948) becomes efficient all jet force focused on strategic bombers
  • Eisenhower Doctrine

    US aid to Middle Eastern conflicts to those threatened by international communism e.g Lebanese Civil War
  • USSR develops first ICBM

    R-7 Semyorka
  • Gaither Report is commissioned

    Eisenhower's military policy--reliance on cheap nuclear weapons instead of expensive Army divisions--was inadequate
  • Laika launched into orbit USSR

  • USA Vanguard satellite

    USA launch first satellite called Vanguard, crashed + coined ‘Flopnik’
  • Eisenhower authorised $1 billion for nuclear technological developments.

  • Second Taiwan Strait Crisis

    China - Bombings of Taiwanese islands of Quemoy + Matsu
  • Krushchev calls Berlin a ‘malignant tumor’

  • Berlin Ultimatum

    6 month ultimatum issued + demanded withdrawal of US troops from West Berlin
    31st Dec - rejected by FRG
  • Vietnam- 15th plenum

    VWP commits to revolutionary violence strategy, effectvely declaring war on South Vietnam
  • Agrarian reforms in Cuba, US owned property seized by the state

  • Kitchen Debate with Nixon + Krushchev

  • Camp David Summit

    Krushchev in the US
  • USSR launched first satellite to orbit the moon (Luna III)

  • Shift from Kommunalkas to Krushchyorka

  • Castro seizes $1 billion worth of US assets in Cuba

  • Anastas Mikoyan visits Cuba

    arranged $100 million in credits
  • U2 Spy Plane Crisis

    Paris Summit + U2 Spy Plane crisis, talks collapse when Gary Power’s sy plane shot down over USS
  • Vienna Summit

    little achieved with JFK (reaffirmed Truman Doctrine at inauguration speech)
  • Economic Sanctions USA-Cuba

    first shipment of crude oil from USSR, US companies refuse to refine it - Castro nationalises them
    US response - economic sanctions + reduced imports of sugar by 95%
  • National Liberation Front

    formed as an agent of communisation, Ho Chi Minh trail, political manifesto - 10 point programme
  • General Maxwell Taylor + Walt Roscow sent to Vietnam

    gave report including increase in helicopter forces, training support and strategic bombing of North Vietnam
  • Yuri Gagarin , first manned spaceflight

  • Bay of Pigs invasion

    1500 anti-Castro exiles, failure
  • Tsar Bomba USSR

    50 megatons
  • Operation Mongoose

    OPLAN 312 + 314, land + air strikes
  • Operation Sunrise, Strategic Hamlet Programme

    Aimed isolating from Vietcong.
  • Operation Quick Kick

    In the caribbean, show of military might + defence minister concluded that in the face of a determined US attack, Cuba would stand no more than a week.
  • Operation Anadyr

    secret Soviet Russia operation carried out in 1962 to place medium range and intermediate range missiles and nuclear warheads in Cuba
  • U2 spy plane finds R-12 missile site at San Cristobal

  • ExComm formed

    McGeorge Bundy informs JFK - forms ExComm - Dean Rusk, McNamara, Kennedy, Taylor (Hawks + Doves)
  • Naval Blockade + Quarantine of Cuba

  • UNSC meeting

    Major Rudolf Anderson shot down in U2 spy plane + killed
    Secret meeting between Dobrynin + Robert Kennedy - told USSR would remove Turkey missiles, not immdiately + could not be used in any public + formal settlements) - did not inform NATO, perceived concession to USSR pressures
  • Krushchev agreed to remove missiles

    In exchnage for jupiter missiles
  • Buddhist Crisis

    Faced persecution under Diem, Quang Doc publicly burned himself alive in Saigon.
  • Roger Hillsman sent Henry Cabot Lodge a telegram

    need for alternative leadership in South Vietnam
  • Washington-Moscow Hot Line

    Unprecedented action + cooperation
    Used by LBJ in six day war 1967
  • Hot Line between Kremlin + White House

  • Moscow Test Ban Treaty

  • Moscow Test Ban Treaty

    USA, USSR, UK
    Limited agreement - allowed underground testing
    No outer space or above ground
    FR + CH do not sign - building own arsenals
  • NSC Net Evaluation Subcommittee

    Leon Johnson - estimated 93 million casualties in event of nuclear warfare
    MAD - mutually assured destruction
  • Diem + Nhu assassinated

  • Brezhnev as leader of the USSR

  • OPLAN 34A

    covert coastal and naval operations against North Vietnam under LBJ
  • Prague Spring - Action Programme

  • Gulf of Tonkin

    USS Maddox v 3 NV torpedo boats
  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    Gave presidential power to circumvent Congress in making military decisions in Vietnam
  • Malinovsky Incident

    Soviet defence minister - Malinovsky suggested to a Chinese minister they should rid of Mao as the USSR did to Krushchev
    China abandoned talks
  • US troops arrive in Da Nang

    AMERICANISATION
  • Operation Rolling Thunder

    Turning point in Americanisation + B-52 bombers of Agent Orange + Blue
  • NV 4 point proposal

    Rejected by LBJ + rejected UN sec Thant in talks with NV
    US to leave Vietnam to settle peace internally
  • Period: to

    Cultural Revolution - China

    Ideological cleansing
    Destroy 'for olds'
    Red Guard- youth movement
    Attack on traditionalist culture + Mao opposition
  • Dubcek - leader of Czechoslovakia

    Dubcek - Jan 1968
  • Tet Offensive

    Captured US embassy
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    Solidifies collective agreement against arms race
    Evolving treaty- recognised 5 nuclear powers and banned sharing technology
    USA committed to ICBM + SLBM production
  • Bratislava Meeting

    Meeting of WP countries to discuss Prague Spring
    Bratislava Declaration
  • Soviets invade Czech

    100 killed
  • Nixon becomes president

    'I'm goin to stop the war, fast'
    Peace with honor
  • Operation Menu- Cambodia

  • Vietnamisation

    Realism in IR
    Negate domestic opposition, armed ARVN with M-16 Armalite rifles
  • Willy Brandt - Chancellor of FRG

    Ostpolitik - abandons Hallstein Doctrine
  • 4 power negociations -Berlin

  • Kent State Shooting

    4 students protesting agaisnt the war in Vietnam shot by the National Guard
  • Non-Agression Pact with USSR

    FRG + USSR
  • Salvador Allende Coup - fails

  • Moscow Treaty

  • Oder-Neisse border

  • Berlin Four Power Treaty

  • Operation Lam Son 719 - Laos

  • Poor Harvests in USSR

  • Spring Offensive

  • Operation Linebacker

    150,000 tons of bombs - Nixon
  • Moscow Summit

    12 principles - special responsibility
  • SALT I

    Limited number of ICBMs, SLBMs + ABMs
  • Basic Treaty

  • Paris Peace Agreement 1973

  • General Pinochet Coup

  • War Powers Act

  • Vladivostok Summit

    Framework for 10 year plan
    Equal levels of SLBMs and ICBMs
  • Angolan Civil War

  • Ford opposed its entry into UN +isolated it from international community

  • Phnom Penh captured by Khmer Rouge

  • People's Republic of Angola

  • Jimmy Carter replaces Ford

    Hard liner on arms production
  • Havel + Charter 77

  • Khan overthrown by coup - Taraki

  • Vietnam invade Cambodia

  • Phnom Penh captured by V

  • Vienna Summit

  • Nicaragua - Ortega takes power from Somoza

  • US covert aid for Muhajadeen

  • USSR invasion of Afghanistan

  • Economic crisis in Poland

  • US boycott Moscow Olympics

  • Solidarity Movement

    300,000 workers strike - response to food inflation by 100%
    10 million membership
  • Reagan inauguration

  • Reagan inaug

  • Somoza national guard - Honduras for Contras

    US funded
  • Jaruzelski declares martial law

  • Crusade for Freedom speech

    Reagan in Parliament
  • Brezhnev dies

  • Andropov as leader of USSR

  • Sandanistas - universal military conscription

    weapon sales, CIA mined Nicaraguan harbours, CIA tried to persuade Israel + Taiwan to fund Contras when Congress blocked US
  • Evil Empire Speech

  • Grenada US Invasion

  • US Pershing II missiles

  • El Salvador - Jose Napoleon Duarte

  • Chernenko as head of USSR

  • GDR + FRG agreement on cultural exchange

  • Gennodi Gerasimor - Sinatra Doctrine

  • Mikail Gorbachev

  • 27th CSPU Congress

  • F11 Bombers in Libya

  • Jaruzelski grants amnesty to political prisoners + ends martial law

  • USSR lessen support for MLPA

  • Law on state enterprises

  • People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

    Mengitsu + led by WPE
  • Chernobyl Disaster

  • Final counter offensive to UNITA

  • Salvadorian Amnesty Law

    Absolves members of military death squads
  • Law on Cooperatives

  • Full scale of implementation of Glasnost

  • Salvadorian Elections - Alfredo Cristiani

  • Economic downturn in Poland

  • Azerbaijan + Armenia Crisis

  • Janos Kadar resigns

  • South Africa agree to negociations (ANC)

  • NY Angola agreement

  • Charter 77 reignited in Czech

  • Wenceslas Square - comemoration, Havel imprisoned

  • George H.W Bush

  • Gov meeting with Solidarity

    Major reforms
    - legalisation of non-gov trade unions
    -position of president
    -formation of a Senate
  • USSR withdrawal from Afghanistan

  • USSR agree to withdraw troops from Hungary

  • Georgia - 20 pro independence deaths

  • Baltic Assembly, Tallin

  • Polish Elections - Diet

  • Lech Walesa demanded gov led by Solidarity (Mazowiecki)

  • Prague protests - long live Dubcek

  • Baltic Way

  • Hungary opens border with Austria -GDR

  • START Talks resume

  • October protests in GDR - Honecker resigns

  • Free transit through Germany - Berlin Wall down

  • Egon Krenz (GDR) visits Gorbachev - economic

  • Velvet Revolution begins

  • Civic Forum formed - Havel

  • Havel as President of Czech

  • German constitution change - Politburo resign

  • Malta Summit

  • Estonia independence

  • Lithuania independence

  • Nicaraguan Elections - Violeta Chamorro

  • Latvia independence

  • Germany unified

  • Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty

  • USSR troops in Baltics

    Killed 12
  • Addis Ababa - opposition in Ethiopia

    Mengitsu asylum in Zimbabwe
  • Moscow Summit

  • Gorbachev resigns

  • Commonwealth of Independent States

  • USSR dissolves itself

  • Salvadorian Peace Accords

    FMLN becomes legitimate