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Yalta Conference
FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin meet to discuss the Allied war effort against Germany and Japan and to try and settle some nagging diplomatic issues. While a number of important agreements were reached at the conference, tensions over European issues particularly the fate of Poland. -
Potsdam Conference
This was the last meetings during World War II. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin talked about the establishment of a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for administration of Germany. The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations. These three leaders also issued a declaration demanding unconditional surrender from Japan. -
United Nations
The United Nations was born to negotiate peace and to replace the old League of Nations. -
Long Telegram
The U.S. received an 8,000-word telegram from an Embassy official. This became known as the Long telegram. -
UN Atomic Energy Commission
The goal was to deal with problems that had been raised by the discovery of atomic energy. This was the major turning point during the cold war because of the failure of the Acheson-Lilienthal report . -
The Iron Curtain
Because the term Iron Curtain is used to explain the tension between countries, that was a major cause of the Cold War. While the Iron Curtain remained, part of Eastern Europe and some of Central Europe were controlled by the Soviet Union, which was communist. -
Containment Policy
Containment was a U.S. policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. This policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist population in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam. -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry S. Truman established that the U.S. would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. -
Soviet Blockade in Berlin
The Soviet Union blocks all road and rail traffic to and from West Berlin. The blockade turned out to be a terrible diplomatic move by the Soviets, while the U.S. emerged from the confrontation with renewed purpose and confidence. -
Berlin Airlift
U.S., British, and Soviet military forces divided and occupied Germany. Also divided into occupation zones, Berlin was located far inside Soviet-controlled eastern Germany. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. -
NATO
This is an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European states based on the North Atlantic Treaty. The expansion of Communist provoked the United States and 11 other Western nations to form NATO. -
NSC-68
National Security Council Paper was a Top-Secret report completed by the U.S. Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff. This was one of the most important statements of American policy during the Cold War. -
The Korean War
The war began when soldiers from the North Korean Army went across the 38th parallel. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites signed a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact. This is a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. -
Brinkmanship
This described the approach of the verge of war in order to persuade someone else to retreat. It was an effective tactic because neither side could reflect on mutually assured destruction in a nuclear war. -
Mutual Assured Destruction
Mutual Assured Destruction is a U.S. doctrine on the U.S. and Soviet Union each being able to force upon damage that was unacceptable on the other in retaliation for a nuclear attack. -
U2 Spy Plane
The USSR shot down U2 Spy Plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot. President Eisenhower had to tell the Soviets that the CIA had been spying over them for multiple years. (