-
Yalta Conference
Purpose: discussed the future of Europe after the war
Involved: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
Issues: Unconditional surrender of Germany, dividing Germany, reorganizang Poland, membership of Germany in the UN, and Russia's help with Japan -
Potsdam Conference
Involved: Stalin, Churchill, and Truman
Purpose: negotiate terms for the end of WWII, unconditional surrender from Japan, And Soviet-Russia fighting against Japan -
U.S. Drops An Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
*US becomes the first nation to use atomic weaponry during the war.
*Marked the end of World War II
Killed 80,000 and 10,000 died weeks later due to radiation
*3 days later another bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki killing about 40,000 people
*A few days later Japan annouced its surrender -
Truman Doctrine
*Europe was wrecked after WWII
*US would provide politcal, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian force
* a policy of containment that would stop countries from falling into communism -
Marshall Plan
*Secretary of State George C. Marshall issued a call for a program to rebuild Europe.
*Purpose: to decrease the spread of Communist and the rapid deterioration of European economies in the winter of 1946–1947,
*Congress passed the Economic Cooperation Act in March 1948
*Cost $12 billion for the rebuilding of Western Europe. -
Berlin Airlift
*After WWII Germany was divided, the US, France, and England shared one part and Soviets had the other part.
*The Russians wanted Berlin all for themselves and closed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin, which would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive the Wesr out of the city.
* Instead of retailation the West sent airplanes full of supplies
*Lasted > a year -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established
*Created a security system for the Western Allies because it unify and their military response to posto a possible invasions.
* "if one of us gets hurt, we all are jumping in to hurt the one that hurt our friend"
*created world wide allies -
Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb
*The atomic explosion, which at 20 kilotons was roughly equal to "Trinity," the first U.S. atomic explosion.
*It show that the USSR was equal to the US -
Communist Win Chinese Civil War
*The Communists were appealing to poor peasants so they could get their suppoort for communism -
McCarthyism
*McCarthy took advantage of the nation's terror against communism to create his politcal platform and win the election for Senator.
*He had a list of 205 people in the State Department who were known members of the American Communist Party. The American public went crazy and wanted an investigation *These people on the list were in fact not all communists; some had prove, but many were executed because of it -
U.S. sponsored coup overthrows Iranian government
*The Iranian military, with the help of US overthrows the government of Premier Mohammed Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran.
*Iran remained an ally of the US until a revolution ended the Shah's rule in 1979.
*The CIA came to the conclusion that Mossadeq (old leader) leaned more towards communism and would move Iran to be more communist if he was able to stay in power. -
Domino Theory Speech
*proposed by Eisenhower
*foundation for war in Vietnam
*if one country turns into a Commmunist all the other countries will join them -
U.S. sponsored coup overthrows Guatemalan government
*a operation that was carried out by the CIA to remove President Jacobo Árbenz and ended the Guatemalan Revolution.
*The plan installed the military regime of Carlos Castillo Armas, the first in a series of military dictators in the country.
*Advocated by Eisenhower to have a more conservative dictatorship -
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed
*France, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, and the United States, pledged themselves to "act to meet the common danger"
*A separate protocol to SEATO "the free territory" as also being areas subject to the provisions of the treaty. -
Warsaw Pact formed
*A collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War
*Puts the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states.
Included:Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members -
First Summit Meeting
People Involved: Eisenhower/Nikita KhrushcheBritain and France proposed a conference with Soviet leaders to ease tensions, while the Soviet Union was trying to negotiate a withdrawal of the World War II allies from their occupation of Austria. The suspicions of Dulles were overcome, and the four powers – the U.S., U.S.S.R., Britain and France – signed an agreement that reestablished Austria's independence, with the proviso that Austria would remain "forever neutral" in foreign affairs. -
Red Army crushes the Hungarian Revolution
*Thousands of protesters demanded for a more democratic political system and freedom from Soviet oppression
--> Communist Party officials appointed Imre Nagy as the new premier to restore peace and asked the Soviets to withdraw their troops, which they did.
*Nagy went to far and abolished the no one party rule
and said that Hungary was withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact (Soviet version of NATO)
*Street protest lead to the capture of Nagy w/ execution 2 yrs later -
Soviets launch first man‑made satellite
*Sputnik
*Started the space race
*Russia was the first country in space
*showed that the USSR was better than the US in technology -
Fidel Castro installs Communist government
*He established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere
He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades,
*He reduce illiteracy, racism and improved public health care, *He stifled economic and political freedoms -
Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba
*Fidel Castro used guerilla tactics to enter Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista
*For the next two years, the US attempted to push Castro from power.
*Finally, the CIA launched an invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cuban but were ounumbered by Castro's army -
East Germany builds Berlin Wall
*Citizens of Germany were tired of living under Communism and fled to West Germany for relief, but were eventually banned
*East Germany got mad and put up barbed wire which eventually turned into concret
*Purpose: decrease the US influence on East Germany
*The number of checkpoints decreased.
*West threatened a trade embargo against the East
*East responded with the barbed wire -
Sino‑Soviet Conflict
*USSR and China had boreder disputes that lead to a shooting match on March 2 and 15, which resulted in heavy casualties.
* the border crisis ended in September 1969, when Soviet Premier Kosygin flew to Beijing to talk it out with Premier Chou Enlai -
Cuban Missile Crisis
*U.S. and the Soviet Union had a tense argument over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores.
*Kennedy explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba and made it clear that the U.S. was prepared to use military force if needed to stop the threat to national security.
*Public was scared for possible a nuclear war
*It was avoided when the U.S. agreed not invade Cuba/remove missile from Turkey and USSR would remove the missiles
* -
China explodes its first atomic bomb
*In June 1959, the USSR refused to provide relevant information as it had previously promised.
*In July 1960 Mao Zedong called on Chinese scientist to develop an atomic bomb within eight years.
*On October 16, 1964, China successfully exploded its first atomic bomb
*On the same day, the Chinese government ensured that it was only made for self defense -
U.S. Commits Combat Troops to South Vietnam
*A U.S. Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion is deployed to Da Nang.
*President Johnson ordered this deployment to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase in South Vietnam.
*Both communist China and the Soviet Union threatened to intervene if the United States continued to apply its military might on behalf of the S.Vietnam -
U.S.sends troops to the Dominican Republic
Johnson claimed that Communist rebels might win the election
He ordered 23,000 American troops to the Dominican Republic.
The American forces succeeded in bringing order, but the Organization of American States (OAS) objected
*US convinced the OAS to send an international peace-force to replace the American forces
*Within a year, free elections were held in the DR and American troops were withdrawn -
Soviet Red Army crushes Czech Uprising
*That night about 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to get rid of the liberation that was going on
*The citizens protested but they were no match for the Soviet tanks. -
SALT 1
*AKA Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
*between the USSR and the US
*Purpose: to come up with a treaty that would contain the arms race
*Talks centered around two main weapon systems: anti-ballistic missiles (ABM) and multiple independent re-entry vehicles (MIRVs) -
President Nixon visits China
*First U.S. president to visit China.
*The U.S. wanted to improve relations with a Communist country.
*The two leaders agreed to expand cultural contacts between their two nations.
*Established plans for a permanent with each other.
*Wanted political and economic ties with China.