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United Nations Formed
The U.N. was officially established in 1945 following World War II, when international leaders proposed creating a new global organization to maintain peace and avoid the abuses of war. The U.N. initially had just 51 member states -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry Truman proposed the principle that the US should give support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or Communist insurrection -
Hollywood 10
10 motion-picture producers, directors, and screenwriters who appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee and refused to answer questions regarding their possible communist affiliations. After spending time in prison for contempt of Congress, most of them were blacklisted by Hollywood studios during the Cold War. -
Marshall Plan
Signed by Harry Truman and created by George C. Marshall, it was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II, also aimed at stopping the spread of communism -
NATO Formed
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. -
Korean War
The war in Korea began when 75,000 troops from Soviet-backed North Korea crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea. The US then sent troops and supplies to South Korea in support of democracy, giving way to the first military conflict of the Cold War. The war ended in an armistice. -
Space Race/Sputnik
One way the US and Soviet Union would compete was through the race to space exploration and who would get there first. Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union and showed the advancement in Soviet technology. It became the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit and led to the US development of NASA and the race to the moon. -
Bay of Pigs
The US government distrusted Castro and was wary of his relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. Cuban exiles were to storm the Cuban beaches in opposition of Castro's Cuban Revolution which led to increased relations between the Soviet Union and Cuba due to communism. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
Berlin was divided between democratic countries in the West and Russia in the East which practiced communism, and a wall was erected on the dividing line -
U.S. officially enters Vietnam War
Though assisting the fight for democracy in Vietnam for a while, the US had only sent supplies and money to anti-communists in the country. However, the US eventually sent troops by the thousands to support the fight against the communist Viet Cong, though the US would eventually leave under heavy public pressure and loss. -
Soviets Invade Afghanistan
Soviet troops invaded Kabul on order from Moscow to replace the radical Hafizullah Amin with the Soviet-endorsed Babrak Karmal as head of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in order to help support the communist revolution -
Berlin Wall Goes Down
After years of the Berlin Wall standing as a reminder of the Cold War and the conflict between communism and democracy, and the Soviet Union and the United States, those living in Berlin were allowed to cross beyond the wall. The spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of East Berlin and West Berlin were free to cross the borders.