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After WW2 the "big three" (FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Satlin) met to discuss the fate of post war Europe. Among the goals of their meeting were: the dividing up of Germany, formation of the United Nations, German war repirations, entry of the Soviet Union into the far eastern front (Japan), and the future of Poland. Many of the desicions made here led to many of the fronts of the cold war.
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Churchill spoke to a crowd of 40,000 at Westminster college in Missouri. This speech changed the way that the democratic west viewed the communist east. The term "Iron curtian came to symbolize efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the west and non-Soviet-controlled areas.
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The Marshall Plan was a plan created by the United States in which they would provide European countries with econimic support to help them recover from the war. This was done in order to prevent the spread of communism. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, and make Europe prosperous again.
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The Soviet Union blocked all ground travel to the American occupation zone in West Berlin. A massive U.S. airlift of food and other necessities was the only thing that was able to sustain the population of the zone until the Soviets relented and lifted the blockade in May 1949.
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The united states anlong with eleven other nations creadtd the North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO). This was mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet agression aganist western Eurpoe.
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During this time, Americans were very fearful of the spread of communism. During the McCarthy era, thousanda of Americans were accused of being communists or communist symtathizers and were forced into questioning by government or private industry panels. The word McCarthism is now a term used to mean reckless accusations.
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This was a mutual defense treaty between eight communist states of central and eastern Europe. This was considered a reaction by the Soviet Union to the intergration of Germany into NATO in 1955, but was mostly because of Soviet desire to remain in control of military forces in central and eastern Europe.
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The Soviet launch of the Sputnick satelline orbit was a scary event for many Americans. Eisenhower refered to this event as the Sputnick crisis. Although this Satellite was harmless, it showed signes of soviet advancement making them appear as much more of a threat to the United States. This was the beginning of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union to see who would be the first to launch a human into space.
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This was an unsuccessful military invasion of Cuba. The intent of this invasion was to overthrow the left wing government of Fidel Castro. This event strengthened Castros's administration and led to his public announcement of his intent to adopt socialism and strengthed ties with the Soviet Union.
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The Berlin Wall was designed to completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin by land. The wall had defenses such as gaurd towers and anti vehicle defenses to protect it. This was a concrete version of the Iron curtian.
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The president was fatelly shot by a sniper while traveling in a presidential motorcade. Many argue that had he not been killed the cold war would have ended much sooner.
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This was a thirteen day confrontation with the United Ststes aganist the Soviet Union and Cuba. This is regaurded as the point in the cold war that came the closest to using nuclear conflict. The United States was trying to prevent the delivery of offensive weapons to Cuba and demanded the dismantlement and return of Soviet weapons to the USSR
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Neil Armstrong was the first man to ever step foot on the moon. This effectively ended the space race between the United Stated and the Soviet Union. This also fufilled the promise by JFK in 1961 to successfully land a man on the moon before the end of the decade.
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The East German government announced that all citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Over the next few weeks, people begain cutting offf hunks of the wall as "souvineers" and the government later used industrail equiprtment to remove the rest. This paved the way for German reunification.
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The Communist Party of the Soviet Union lost control and was banned after an abortive coup attempt in August 1991. This led to the formal dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse of communism in other countries such as Mongolia, Cambodia and South Yemen.
