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Russian Revolution
This was one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century. It was the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule. This Revolution lasted from March 8, 1917 to November 7, 1917 -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the name for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 to the end of the Cold War in 1991. It symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West and non-Soviet-controlled areas. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union. -
Potsdam Conference
Was the last of the World War II meetings held by the American President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier, Joseph Stalin. The conference was mostly about postwar Europe even though they talked about demanding unconditional surrender from Japan. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima
An American B-29 bomber, drops the world’s first atomic bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. 80,000 people are killed, 35,000 are injured and at least 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from other effects. No one wanted unconditional surrender so U.S. President Harry S. Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb to end the war in order to prevent what would happen if the United States invaded the mainland. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
The explosion unleashed the equivalent force of 22,000 tons of TNT. The number killed is anywhere between 60,000 and 80,000. Emperor Hirohito and two War Council members wanting to end the war, met with the Council and declared that continuing the war can only result in the annihilation of the Japanese people. The Emperor of Japan gave his permission for unconditional surrender. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the decisive engagement in the first Indochina War from 1946–54. It consisted of a struggle between French and Viet Minh forces for control of a small mountain outpost on the Vietnamese border near Laos. The battle was joined in late 1953 when French forces occupied the town of Dien Bien Phu to cut the nationalist supply lines into Laos and to maintain a base for forays against enemy forces. -
Hollywood 10
10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly that did not agree with the tactics by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). They received jail sentences and were banned from working for Hollywood studios. -
Molotov Plan
A system created by the Soviet Union in order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union. This was symbolic of the Soviet Union's refusal to accept aid from the Marshall Plan, or allow any of their satellite states to do so. -
Truman Doctrine
Was a de facto declaration of the Cold War. It successfully convinced many that the United States was locked in a life-or-death struggle with the Soviet Union, and it set the guidelines for over 40 years of U.S.-Soviet relations. -
Marshall Plan
This plan is also known as the European Recovery Program. Over $13 billion went to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. It successfully sparked economic recovery. The plan is named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who announced it in a speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin airlift was from June 26, 1948 to September 30, 1949. This was used to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin. Over 200,000 flights in one year, provided up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day to West Berlin.The Soviets did not disrupt the airlift for fear this might lead to open conflict. -
Berlin Blockade
This was an attempt by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of France, Great Britain and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin. This blockade was the first major clash of the Cold War and indicated the conflict over the city of Berlin. -
Alger Hiss Case
Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss, a former State Department official of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union. This led to events that eventually resulted in the trial and conviction of Hiss for perjury. -
NATO
This is an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European states. The Communist expansion got the United States and 11 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). -
Soviet Bomb Test
The USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, First Lightning. The Soviet scientists constructed buildings, bridges, and other civilian structures in the vicinity of the bomb to see how big the blast would be. The atomic explosion, was roughly equal to the first U.S. atomic explosion. -
Korean War
This war began when 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army went across the 38th parallel. This was the first military action of the Cold War. In July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. -
Rosenberg Trial
The Rosenbergs were accused of selling nuclear secrets to the Russians The Rosenbergs were defended by the father and son team of Emanuel and Alexander Bloch. The prosecution includes the Roy Cohn, best known for his association with Senator Joseph McCarthy. -
Army-McCarthy Hearings
It dominated national television from April to June 1954. These were hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations. It investigated conflicting accusations between the United States Army and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. -
Geneva Conference
To resolve the problems in Asia, like the war between the French and Vietnamese nationalists in Indochina, representatives from the world’s powers met in Geneva. The conference marked a turning point in the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. -
Warsaw Pact
This treaty was signed in Warsaw and included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members. It called on the member states to come to the defense of any member attacked by an outside force and it set up a unified military command under Marshal Ivan S. Konev. This treaty was created because the Soviet Union saw NATO as a threat. -
Hungarian Revolution
This was nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies. It was from October 23 to November 10 1956. the revolution was the first big threat to Soviet control since the USSR's forces at the end of World War II. -
U2 Incident
A United States U-2 spy plane was shot down while in Soviet airspace. It was hit by an S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile and crashed near Sverdlovsk. The US was trying to cover up what the plan was going to do but had to fess up what the pilot parachuted and got captured by the Soviet union. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The first part of the invasion was to destroy Castro’s air force, so it would be impossible for them to resist the invaders. Castro new about it. His troops had pinned the invaders on the beach, and the exiles surrendered after less than a day of fighting. There were 114 killed and over 1,100 were taken prisoner. The invasion was from April 17, 1961 to April 19, 1961 -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall's purpose was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany. It lasted until November 9, 1989, when East German Communist Party said that citizens of the German Democratic Republic could cross the border whenever they wanted. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union from October 16 to 28, 1962. When America found out they thought the world was going into a nuclear war. There was a compromise, the Soviets were going to forget the missile if the US did not invade Cuba. -
Assassination of Diem
During a coup by dissident generals of the South Vietnamese army, Ngo Diem and his brother were assassinated. They were on their way back to the palace when Diem agreed to surrender. -
Assassination of JFK
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. He was traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible with his wife and The Governor of Texas John Connally. 30 minutes after he was shot he was pronounced dead. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
This resolution let President Lyndon Johnson to take all measures that were necessary to repel armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent any other aggression by the communist government of North Vietnam. It was passed after an attack on two U.S. naval destroyers. The resolution made America fully involved in the Vietnam War. -
Riots of Democratic Convention
10,000 demonstrators were in Chicago for the convention, where they were met by 23,000 police. Richard J. Daley thought that a way to prevent demonstrators from coming to Chicago was to refuse to grant permits which would allow for people to protest legally. After Daley said he received stuff indicating plots to assassinate many of the leaders, including himself. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
This operation was the codename for an American bombing campaign during the Vietnam War. This was from March 2, 1965 to November 1, 1968. It was made to put military pressure on North Vietnam’s communist leaders and reduce their capacity to wage war against the U.S.-supported government of South Vietnam. It was the first sustained American assault on North Vietnamese territory and got the U.S. more involved in the Vietnam War. -
Tet Offensive
This was North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. It attempted to provoke rebellion among the South Vietnamese population. -
Assassination of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. that evening. He was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement and Nobel Peace Prize. He was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience. -
Assassination of RFK
Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, after winning the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election. He died the next day while hospitalized. He was shot by Sirhan Sirhan. He was convicted of Kennedy's murder and sentenced to death in 1969, but his sentence was reduced to life in prison in 1972. -
Invasion Of Czechoslovakia
200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to defeat the Prague Spring, a brief period of liberalization in the communist country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion but it did not work. They were no match for the Soviet tanks. -
Election of Nixon
This was the 46th presidential election. It was on Tuesday, November 5, 1968. The Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon, won the election over the Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. -
Kent State
Twenty-nine guardsmen fired about 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds. They killed four students and wounded nine others, one of them suffered from paralysis. Some students who were shot were protesting the Cambodian Campaign. Others had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.
For the response to the shootings hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of 4 million students. -
Nixon Visits China
This marked the height of the Nixon administration's agreement between the United States and China. The seven-day official visit to three Chinese cities was the first time a U.S. president had visited. Nixon's arrival in Beijing ended 25 years of no communication between the two countries and was the key step in normalizing relations between the U.S. and China. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
President Richard Nixon ordered a ceasefire of the aerial bombings in North Vietnam. This was decided after Dr. Henry Kissinger, the National Security Affairs advisor to the president, returned to Washington with a draft peace proposal. By January 27, 1973, all warring parties in the Vietnam War signed a ceasefire. -
Fall of Saigon
This was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. It marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period to the reunification of Vietnam under the Socialist Republic. -
Reagan Elected
He was the 40th U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. He cut taxes, increased defense spending, negotiated a nuclear arms reduction agreement with the Soviets and is credited with helping to bring a quicker end to the Cold War. Reagan survived a 1981 assassination attempt but died at age 93 after battling Alzheimer’s disease. -
SDI Announced
Also known as the Strategic Defense Initiative this was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. It was first announced publicly by President Ronald Reagan on 23 March 1983. Reagan was a critic of the doctrine of mutual assured destruction, which he described a "suicide pact", and he called upon the scientists and engineers of the United States to develop a system that would render nuclear weapons obsolete. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
For the first time in eight years, the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States hold a summit conference. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev had no agreements. After the meeting, they engaged in long, personal talks and seemed to develop a close relationship. -
‘Tear Down This Wall’ Speech
This is where Reagan had addressed the issue of the Berlin Wall. In this speech Reagan wanted the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall fell when the head of the East German Communist Party said that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they wanted. That night, crowds of people swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself.
