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Period: to
The Cold War: Eastern Europe
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Yalta Conference- Cold War Begins
In February, 1945, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met again. This time the conference was held in Yalta in the Crimea. With Soviet troops in most of Eastern Europe, Stalin was in a strong negotiating position. Roosevelt and Churchill tried hard to restrict post-war influence in this area but the only concession they could obtain was a promise that free elections would be held in these countries. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a US foreign policy established by President Truman in 1947. It stated that the US would economically and militarily support Greece and Turkey in order to prevent the two countries from ceding to the Soviet Union. Truman believed that the fall of these two countries would lead to a domino effect, so he sent $400 million to help. The policy became the basis for US foreign policy throughout the Cold War, and is often cited as being the start of the war. -
Communist take over in Czechoslovakia
Since the USSR helped Czech out of Nazi Germany's control in WWII, the Soviet Union had a big influence on Czech. The government was slowly being replaced by communism until it was declared a People's Republic. -
Warsaw Pact Formed
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty between eight communist states of Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. The founding treaty was established under the initiative of the Soviet Union and signed on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw. -
Soviets Re-Attack
A Hungarian revolt spontaneously takes place as people, nationwide, revolt against the People's Republic of Hungary. The revolt was successful and a free government was established. Hungary also manage to free its self from the Warsaw Pact, but it did not last for long. On Nov. 4th, Soviet tanks crushed through Hungary, killing 2,500 Hungarians along the way. -
Sputnick Launched into Orbit
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. -
Berlin Wall
August 13th, 1961, constuction of the Berlin Wall began. It was a barrier built by the GDR in order to completly cut off West Berlin from East Germany and East Berlin. The borders symbolized the iron curtains that seperated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. During the Cold War, an estimated 5,000 people tried to escape over the Wall resulting in a death toll of 100 or 200. Bits of the wall were chipped off so it was officially taken down on October 3rd, 1990. -
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail was a former Soviet statesman and served as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1985 to 1991. He is the only General Secretary in history to be born while the Soviet Union was under Communist rule. he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Harvey Prize for efforts to end the Cold War. He also had three attempts for new political parties: Independent Democratic of Russia, Union of Social Democrats and Social Democratic Party of Russia. -
Berlin Wall Fall
As the Cold War comes to an end, East Germany decided to allow for people to cross over to the other side of Berlin. Soon after this celebratory event, word was given to start demolition on the wall.
