Cold War

Yalta Conference

Feb 4, 1945

The Yalta Conference took place in a Russian town in the Crimea from February 4–11, 1945, during World War Two. At Yalta, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin made important decisions about the future progress of the war and the postwar world. They talked about the future of Germany and decided how in the soviet union should have free elections.

Berlin Declaration

Jun 5, 1945

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On this day, the commanders of the Western powers in Berlin met to sign the three documents that referred to the future of Germany. It included a non-binding European union text signed and it aimed for a renewed common basis.

Potsdam Conference

Jul 17, 1945

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Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S president Harry Truman went to the potsdam conference that took place in the Germany. They talked about how to handle germany and the soviets already had reparations from germany, which made it harder.

North Vietnam

Sep 21, 1945

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When war world 2 ended, the monarchy of vietnam ended. France tried to take control of vietnam, but failed. The United States and south Vietnam wanted supervision of the united nations of any election to prevent any fraud or mistake.

Iron Curtain Speech

May 5, 1946

History.comIn this speech, Churchill gave the very descriptive phrase that surprised the United States and Britain, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Before this speech, the U.S. and Britain had been concerned with their own postwar economies and had remained extremely grateful for the Soviet Union's proactive role in the end World War II. It was Churchill's speech that changed the way.

First Indochina War

Dec 19, 1946

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The First Indochina War began in French Indochina on 19 December 1946 and lasted until 1 August 1954. Fighting between French forces and their Viet Minh opponents in the South dated from September 1945. The conflict pitted a range of forces, including the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps, led by France and supported by Emperor Bảo Đại's Vietnamese National Army against the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap.

Containment Policy

Jul 16, 1947

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Since the American people were weary from war and didnt want to send United States troops into Eastern Europe, rolling back the gains of the Red Army would have been impossible. The United States might be able to contain communism within its current borders.

Marshall Plan

Apr 3, 1948

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The Marshall Plan was the European Recovery Program and was an American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave $13 billion (approximately $120 billion in current dollar value) in economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II.

NATO

Apr 4, 1949

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The United States and 11 other nations establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization called NATO, a mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet aggression against Western Europe. NATO stood as the main U.S. military alliance against the Soviet Union throughout the duration of the Cold War.

Berlin Blockade

Jun 24, 1949

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The Berlin Blockade was an attempt in 1948 by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of France, Great Britain and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin, which lay in Russian-occupied East Germany. Eventually, the western powers made an airlift that lasted nearly a year and delivered much-needed supplies and relief to West Berlin.

Berlin Airlift

Jun 24, 1949

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The U.S thought it was impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million ton supplies.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Jun 19, 1950

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Julius was arrested in July 1950, and Ethel in August of that same year,of conspiracy to commit espionage. Specifically, they were accused of sending top secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs protested their innocence, but after a trial in March 1951 they were convicted. On April 5, 1951, a judge sentenced them to death.

Korean War- American involvement

Jun 24, 1950

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President Harry S. Truman committed American forces to a combined United Nations military effort and named Gen. Douglas MacArthur Commander of the U.N. forces. Fifteen other nations also sent troops under the U.N. command. Truman did not seek a formal declaration of war from Congress; officially, America's presence in Korea amounted to no more than a "police action."

Eisenhower Presidency

Jan 20, 1953

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The presidency of General Dwight David Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961, was a Republican interlude during the Fifth Party System, following 20 years of Democratic control of the White House. It was a period of peace and prosperity, and interparty cooperation, even as the world was polarized by the Cold War. His main legacy is the Interstate Highway System. He also signed the Civil Rights acts of 1957 and 1960, completed desegregation of the military.

Nikita Khrushchev

Sep 14, 1953

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Nikita Khrushchev was a Russian politician who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers or Premier, from 1958 to 1964. Khrushchev was responsible for the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union.

Vietnam War- American involvement

May 7, 1954

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North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong forces launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam. The U.S. and South Vietnamese militaries sustained heavy losses before finally repelling the communist assault. The Tet Offensive played an important role in weakening U.S. public support for the war in Vietnam.

Warsaw Pact

May 14, 1955

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The Warsaw Pact was a political and military alliance established on May 14, 1955 between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries. The Soviet Union formed this alliance as a counterbalance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a security alliance concluded between the United States, Canada and Western European nations in 1949.

Suez Crisis

Oct 1, 1956

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The Suez Crisis, was an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by Britain and France. The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal and to remove Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser from power.

Hungarian Revolution

Oct 23, 1956

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The Hungarian Revolution of 1956, was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. Though leaderless when it first began, it was the first major threat to Soviet control since the USSR's forces drove out the Nazis at the end of World War II and occupied Eastern Europe.

Sputnik

Jan 31, 1957

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Sputnik was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War.

Cuban Revolution

Jan 1, 1959

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The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro's movement and its allies against the US-backed authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The revolution began in July 1953 and continued until the rebels finally ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state. The Movement organization later reformed along communist lines.

U2 Incident

May 1, 1960

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The U-2 incident happened during the Cold War on 1 May 1960, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the premiership of Nikita Khrushchev when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace. The United States government tried to cover up the plane's purpose and mission, but was forced to admit its military nature when the Soviet government came forward with the U-2's intact remains and captured pilot as well.

Kennedy Presidency

Jan 20, 1961

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After military service as commander of Motor Torpedo Boats during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat.He served in the U.S. Senate from that state from 1953 until 1960. . At age 43, he was the youngest man to have been elected to the office, the second-youngest president after Theodore Roosevelt.

Bay of Pigs

Apr 17, 1961

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Many Cubans welcomed Fidel Castro’s 1959 overthrow of the dictatorial President Fulgencio Batista, the new order on the island just about 100 miles from the United States made American officials nervous. Batista had been a corrupt and repressive dictator, but he was considered to be pro-American and was an ally to U.S. companies. At that time, American corporations and wealthy individuals owned almost half of Cuba’s sugar.

berlin Wall

Aug 13, 1961

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The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989 onstructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in November 1989.Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1992.[3] The barrier included guard towers placed along the wall.

JFK Assassination

Nov 22, 1963

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Kennedy was fatally shot by a sniper while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, in a presidential motorcade. A ten-month investigation from November 1963 to September 1964 by the Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, and that Jack Ruby also acted alone when he killed Oswald before he could stand trial.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Aug 4, 1964

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Two U.S. destroyers stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam radioed that they had been fired upon by North Vietnamese forces. In response to these reported incidents, President Lyndon B. Johnson requested permission from the U.S. Congress to increase the U.S. military presence in Indochina. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate.

Nixon Presidency

Jan 20, 1969

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When Nixon took office, about 300 American soldiers were dying each week in Vietnam and the war was broadly unpopular in the United States, with violent protests against the war ongoing. The Johnson administration had agreed to suspend bombing in exchange for negotiations without preconditions, but this agreement never fully took force.

Apollo 11

Jul 16, 1969

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Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on July 20, 1969. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21.

Checkpoint Charlie

Oct 1, 1969

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Checkpoint Charlie, was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.

SALT 1

May 26, 1972

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the United States learned that the Soviet Union had embarked upon a massive Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) buildup designed to reach parity with the United States. In January 1967, President Lyndon Johnson announced that the Soviet Union had begun to construct a limited Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defense system around Moscow. The development of an ABM system could allow one side to launch a first strike, this was called salt 1.

Paris Peace Accords

Jan 30, 1973

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The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War. It ended direct U.S. military combat, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam. The governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam, and the United States, as well as the Provisional Revolutionary Government that represented indigenous South Vietnamese revolution.

Yom Kippur War

May 6, 1973

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The Yom Kippur War, was a war fought by the coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6 to 25, 1973. With the exception of isolated attacks on Israeli territory on 6 and 9 October, the military combat actions during the war took place on Arab territory, mostly in the Sinai and the Golan Heights. Egypt's stated goal for the war was the destruction of the State of Israel.

Fall of Saigon

Apr 30, 1975

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The Fall of Saigon 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 on April 30, 1975. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period to the formal reunification of Vietnam into a socialist republic, governed by the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Iranian Rrvolution

Jan 1, 1979

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The Iranian Revolution, refers to events involving the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was supported by the United States and its eventual replacement with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, supported by various leftist and Islamic organizations and Iranian student movements.

Iran Hostage Crisis

Nov 3, 1979

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The Iran hostage crisis, was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981), after a group of Iranian students, belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who were supporting the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Tiananmen Square Massacre

Apr 15, 1989

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Chinese troops went into Tiananmen Sqaure and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Nov 1, 1989

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The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself.

Dissolution of the Soyiet Union

Dec 25, 1991

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The Soviet Union had fallen, largely due to the great number of radical reforms that Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev had implemented during his six years as the leader of the USSR.