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The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was also called the European Recovery Plan. This was a US sponsored program. They gave over 13 billon dollars to European Countries who were in need after the war. This was also a way to make sure that communism didn't take over the world, so the Soviet Union did not participate, leaving them hungry and poor. This plan successfully sparked economic recovery for European Nations. -
Creation of NATO
NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO was a group of countries that were for stopping the spread of Communism in regards to WWII. It was created because the Soviet Union kept growing with power and there was fear communism would take over. The organization originally consisted of 12 countries, and US was one of the main ones. Its main purpose was to defend each other from communism. -
The Korean War
The Korean War was between North Korea and South Korea. The US dominated United Nations stepped in to help out South Korea from attack of North Korea. North Korea was aided by the USSR and allied with communist China. The US feared this conflict could lead to a WWIII. In 1953 the war came to an end and 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives. -
Rosenberg Spy Case
Julius Rosenberg, who worked for the US army signal corps and his wife Ethel were arrested for spying for the USSR. Apparently, they gave classified US military information to the USSR. They had persuaded two individuals to give them top-secret information the nuclear weapons. The two went to trial and were both found guilty. They had both received the death sentence and the people giving them info had 30 years in prison. This was controversial because not all believed they deserved death. -
Creation of the Warsaw Pact
This was the communist comparison to NATO. The Warsaw Pact was made in regards to NATO by the Soviet Union. It was made up of communist countries. The Pact was an alliance between them. In 1989 the European Soviet governments started to crash and so did the Warsaw Pact. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was fought between South Vietnam and North Vietnam. South Vietnam was aided by the US and North Vietnam was aided by the USSR. North Vietnam was battling for South Vietnam so they could be a united communist nation. It was a very bloody war and a lot of civilians died. Many people believed the US shouldn’t be in the war because it was not our fight. -
Soviet Launch Sputnik
Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. The satellite was about the size of a beach ball It was launched by the Soviet Union, which put them ahead of the US in the space race Launching Sputnik changed the public's view of space science; it finally seemed possible to get out there. -
Bay of Pigs
This was a failed attempt to over throw the leader of Cuba (Fidel Castro). Fidel Castro had over thrown the previous dictator who was bad, but was pro America. Castro made the Americans nervous because of his anti-American attitude 1400 American trained Cubans went to invade Cuba but were terribly outnumbered by Cuba's troops. This was a failed mission. -
The Berlin Wall Goes Up
The Berlin Wall was made to keep the east Germans from fleeing to west Germany (democracy).The city of berlin was divided into east and west Germany, so the wall was put up splitting those two. The wall was put up in the middle of the night in a matter of days. The East Germans were not allowed to get past this wall that was around the whole city. There were guards guarding all parts of the wall. It was a terrible event for the citizens of Germany. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This event could have been a disaster. The Soviet Union had put nuclear missiles on Cuba. The soviets and Cuba has lied and said there were no missiles. American pilots flew over Cuba and found the missiles pointed at the US. After some secret agreements between Cuba and America the nuclear missiles were removed out of Cuba, but if we would have invaded the missiles could have been shot ruining more than half of the US. -
US Sends Man to Moon
In 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to land on the moon. The mission was called Apollo 11. It had happened eight years after President Kennedy said the goal to land on the moon would be at the end of the 1960's. This trip ended the space race between the US and the USSR. -
USSR invades Afganistan
In 1979, the soviets intervened in Afghanistan’s conflict with the communist government and the anti-communist Muslim guerillas during the afghan war. The Soviet Union sent soldiers to fight for the communist side. The soviets had been losing a lot of troups.IN 1988 the Soviet Union signed a pact from the US, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to withdraw their troops. -
1980 Olympic Hockey Game
In the 1980 Olympics, the US took the gold medal for hockey. The US hockey team was not even supposed to place for a medal. This winning event was also called "miracle on ice". The US hockey team defeated the Russians and Finland. This celebrated around the country because it was success and happiness compared to all the bad things happening with the USSR and the cold war. -
German Reunification/Fall of Berlin Wall
Finally in 1989, Germany reunifies into a democratic nation. The Berlin wall was taken down immediately after this. This was the biggest symbol of the cold war and it was celebrated all over that it came down. It meant that soviets had run out of soviet dictatorships in Europe. This was a great moment in history. -
Collaspe of the Soviet Union
The soviet economy started to fall apart and the country started to disintegrate. Finally in 1991, the Soviet Union split up into 15 different countries. All the countries declared independence from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was gone.
