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The end of World War II
The final battles of the European Theatre, German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April in early May of 1945. -
Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" Speech
Speech given in Fulton, Missouri by the former British Prime Minister in which he declared that an "Iron Curtain" had descended on Europe, dividing a free and Democratic West from an East unnder Totalitarian rule. -
Truman Doctrine
policy set forth by U.S President Harry Truman, stating that the U.S would support Greece and Turkey economically and with military aid to prevent their fall into the Soviet atmosphere. -
Marshall Plan
Named after the Secretary of state George Marshall; Economic Recovery Act proposed that European nations create a plan for their economic reconstruction and that the U.S provide economic assistance. -
Israeli Declaration of Independence
the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. -
Berlin Airlift/Blockade
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, which lay within Russian-occupied East Germany; the first major clash of the Cold War and foreshadowed future conflict over the city of Berlin; carried supplies to the people in West Berlin by airlift. -
Formation of NATO
an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty. -
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Korean War
a war between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). -
End of the Korean War
the Eisenhower administration concluded an armistice ending the Korean war and restoring the border near the thirty-eight parallel. -
Warsaw Pact
a mutual defense treaty between eight communist states of Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. -
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Vietnam War
a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia; was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist countries -
Suez Intervention
attempt by Great Britain, France, and Israel to take control of the Suez Canal from Egypt in 1956. -
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Hungarian Uprising
a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies -
U-2 Spyplane
An American U-2 spy plane is shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. -
Berlin Wall
a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic, which separated East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989 and was one of the most important symbols of the Cold War. -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other; one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is generally regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict. -
Test Ban Treaty
treaty signed in Moscow on Aug. 5, 1963, by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom that banned all tests of nuclear weapons except those conducted underground. -
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Prague Spring
a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II. -
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SALT
two rounds of bilateral talks and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union—the Cold War superpowers—on the issue of armament control. There were two rounds of talks and agreements: SALT I and SALT II. -
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Afghan Invasion
invasion of Afghanistan in late December 1979 by troops from the Soviet Union. -
Polish Solidarity movement
an independent trade union formed in 1980, the Polish Solidarity Movement advocated public protests and gained membership enough to pose a threat to the communist regime in Poland, which responded by imprisoning the leaders of the movement. -
Tiananmen Square
popular demonstrations crushed by China's army when China's leaders ordered the army to force the protesters out of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. -
Polish Solidarity Movement legalized
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Fall of the Berlin Wall
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Collapse of Soviet Union
the Soviet Union was dissolved into fifteen separate states following the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev. -
End of the Cold War
Cold war ends.