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Russian Revolution
Took place in 1917 during the final phase of WW1. This revolution pulled Russian troops out of the war and transformed the Russian empire to the Soviet Socialists Republic. Replacing their monarchy to the worlds first Communist state. This power would be solidified by Vladimir Lenin in 1920. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference of 1945 was an allies conference held in Potsdam, Germany, a suburb of Berlin, that met all three leaders of the alied forces. The conference's purpose was to discuss the substance and procedures of the peace settlements in Europe. The amity and good will that had largely characterized wartime conferences was missing and each nation was concerned with its own self interest. -
Atomic bomb (Hiroshima/Nagasaki)
During August of 1945, two nuclear bombs were dropped over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States, that essentially ended the war in the Pacific These two bombs decimated the city and forced the Japanese to surrender to the Americans on September 2nd, 1945. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the name of the imaginary boundary separating Eastern Europe after World War 2 between Communism and Democracy. On the East side of the curtain were countries strongly influenced by the soviet union and on the west were independent countries supported by the United States. -
Truman Doctrine
Proposed to congress by President Truman on March 3rd 1947 the Truman Doctrine illustrated his idea of a policy to support free people and countries who are resisting subjugation from armed minorities.This plan was to halt Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. -
Molotov Plan
A system created in 1947 to rebuild countries that were allies with the Soviet Union. This can be seen as the Soviet's Marshall plan. This group was eventually expanded to become COMECON. The Molotov plan was symbolic of the Soviet Union's refusal to accept aid from the Marshall Plan, or allow any of their satellite states to do so, -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood ten were ten members of the Hollywood film industry who publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). They denounced this group during their probe of communist influence in the American motion picture business. These members were then jailed and banned from the cinema business. -
Alger Hiss Case
The Alger Hiss Case was a case in 1948 that accused Alger Hiss (a US government official) of being a Soviet spy. Whittaker Chambers, a former U.S. Communist Party member, then testified under subpoena before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that Hiss had secretly been a Communist. A federal grand jury then indicted Alger Hiss of two accounts of perjury. -
Marshall Plan
Known as the European recovery program, channeling over 13 million in aid to the recovery of Europe between the years of 1948-1951.The plan is named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who announced it in a commencement speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was a plan set out by the Soviet Union to cease supplies entering the western side of free Berlin that were under control of the United States. The Soviet Union hoped that this blockade would force the the U.S. out of Berlin so it could be theirs for the taking. -
Berlin Airlift
In response to the Soviet Blockade of the western controlled West Berlin the United States began a major began a major airlift of food, water, supplies, and resources to the besieged people of West Berlin. For nearly a year the U.S. supplied 2 million people in Western Berlin. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Short NATO) was an intergovernmental alliance between several North American states and several European states. This treaty was to provide collective protection against the Soviet Union. NATO was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere. -
Soviet Bomb Test
The first Soviet test of a nuclear bomb that was code named RDS-1. This bomb with a yeald of 22 Kilo-tons was detonated in present day Kazakhstan. Soviet espionage had managed to retrieve information on the makings of our bomb and this bomb very closely resembled the fat man bomb that was dropped onto Nagasaki. -
Korean War
A war between North Korea and South Korea waged on Communism vs. Democracy. The United Nations steps in to prevent the takeover of Communist North Korea with major help from the United States. The war ended in an armistice and divided the two differing political countries at the 38th Parallel. -
Rosenberg Trial
Julius Rosenberg was arrested in July 1950, a few weeks after the Korean War began. He was executed, along with his wife, Ethel, on June 19, 1953, under suspicion that both of them were Soviet spies. They were convicted of giving the USSR the secrets to create their own Atomic Bomb which they can use against the United States. -
Battle of Dien Ben Phu
This decisive battle resulted in the end of fighting of French fighting in Vietnam. The Vietminh slaughtered French fighters in Vietnam marking the first revolutionary battle in the struggle for communism in Vietnam. The end to French-Northern Vietnamese conflict was signed at the Geneva Accords in July 1954. -
Army-MCarthy Hearings
Series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations dealing with conflicting allegations between senator McCarthy and the US Army. McCarthy accused the US army in dealing with Communism when allegations arose from the Army accusing Roy Cohn of pressuring them to give preferential treatment to G. David Schine, a former McCarthy aid. -
Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference was a conference that took place between several countries that was in Geneva, Switzerland. Its original intention was to settle outstanding issues regarding the Korean War and the first Indochina war. This conference marked a turning point in the United States involvement in Vietnam. -
Warsaw Pact
This was the alliance the Soviet union made with other Eastern European countries under the umbrella of Communism. This alliance was created in response to the US and allied countries forming NATO. The Warsaw pact consisted of 8 allied Soviet Union Countries -
Hungarian revolution
This was a national revolt against the Hungarian Peoples Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies. This revolution was crushed by the soviets and the Soviets regained control. This revolution was started by Hungarian students and finished off by Soviet Forces -
U2 Incident
The U2 incident occurred when soviet forces shot down a U2 plane and captured its pilot in soviet air space during the heat of the cold war.Our president was forced to make a statement to the Russians that we were spying on their movements with aircraft. Later the captured pilot was returned in turn for a captured known soviet spy the U.S. was holding. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
In January of 1959, Fidel Castro and his forces overtook Cuba and their American backed government and installed Communism. America decided to fight back by sending a full fledged invasion of Armed Cuban citizens in the Bay of Pigs. These Cubans were immensely outnumbered and out armed and got slaughtered by Fidel Castro's forces -
Berlin Wall
The Communist government of the German Democratic Government built a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. This wall was supposed to separate the western "fascist" from the eastern socialists. The wall fell once the East German Communist Party announced that eastern Germans could cross the wall freely. Once announced people brought pickaxes and hammers to manually tear down the wall. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
U.S. spy planes revealed images of Russian missile silos scattered around Communist Cuba. President Kennedy ordered a quarantine of the Island of Cuba to prevent any future nuclear missiles to arrive. In order to prevent invasion of Cuba by US forces the Soviets agreed to remove all missile silos and leave Cuba. -
Assassination of Diem
Following the overthrowing of the government by South Vietnamese forces, Diem was assassinated with his brother by a group of soldiers. Diem's death was celebrated among the South Vietnamese because of how awful of a leader he was. It was later revealed that American officials actually met with Southern Officers encouraging and helping them in this attempt. -
Assasination of JFK
Our 35th president of the US, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on this date in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald. While in a motorcade with his wife he was shot 3 times and died that day. Vice President Johnson was sworn into presidency immediately after making him the 36th President of the US -
Tonkin Gulf resolution
After a years long civil war between both south and north Vietnam, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution marks the beginning of US involvement in the war of Vietnam under the impression of stopping the spread of Communism. In the Gulf of Tonkin two US ships were fired upon leading the US senate to vote unanimously to put US forces on Vietnamese soil. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
This was the code name for the large bombing operation that the United States laid down on North Vietnam hoping to cripple their military. This was the first sustained american attack on Vietnam and started the major expansion in U.S. involvement in the war. -
Tet Offensive
This was a coordinated attack against more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam carried out by North Vietnamese forces. Although U.S. forces protected against the onslaught and won, back at home, support fell because of the large amount of news coverage showing the gruesome images. -
Assassination of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr., the head of the civil rights movement in the United States was assassinated on this day in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Whilst standing on the second floor of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis he was sniped in the neck and later died in the hospital. -
Assassination of RFK
Robert Kennedy was shot several times in a hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California Presidential Primary. Immediately after announcing the end to our countries fractious divisions he was assassinated in front of his cheering supporters. He was set to become the Democratic candidate running against Richard Nixon in the next presidential race -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
On this date, Soviet lead Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia to stop reformist trends in Prague.This event had unintended consequences for the unity of the Communist bloc. Although the Soviet Union did halt the pace of reform in Czechoslovakia. -
Protests at Democratic National Convention
At the Democratic National Convention in 1968 Vietnam protesters clashed with police outside, while inside there was turmoil concerning the disagreement concerning their stance on Vietnam. The situation outside spiraled out of control as police beat and gassed the demonstrators as well as newsmen and doctors who had came to help. -
Election of Nixon
The 46th President, Richard Nixon, was elected after defeating Hubert Humphrey in 1968. Nixon previously lost to Kennedy 8 years previous to this election. After loosing to Kennedy he attempted at running for governor of California and lost. For his running mate in his presidency he chose Maryland Spiro T. Agnew. -
Kent State
Four students killed and nine injured when the national guard fired live rounds into the students protesting the Vietnam War in 1970. This event tilted public opinion against the governments involvement in Vietnam and really polarized American politics. After this event, country wide protests in schools led to schools shutting down across the country. -
Nixon Goes to China
In taking steps to cool down escalated climates between the U.S. and Communism, Nixon visits the peoples republic of China to normalize relations between each country. Nixon's historic visit marked the start of the slow process in which the U.S. and China will restore diplomatic relations. -
Ceasefire in Vietam
At the start of the ceasefire in Vietnam, Saigon controlled 75 percent of South Vietnam’s territory and 85 percent of the population. Neither side kept there promises on the ceasefire and imminently began taking more actions. Right before exiting Vietnam the U.S. supplied South Vietnamese forces with many supplies for the coming fight. -
Fall of Saigon
With little resistance in April of 1975 North Vietnamese forces took Saigon with little to no resistance.This event marked the beginning of the unification of North and South Vietnam under the socialist republic. American refugees were escorted off the top of a building from a helicopter as tanks rolled into the city. -
Reagan Elected as President
Serving two terms as the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan is arguably the best modern Republican president the United states has ever seen. He cut taxes and took a strong stance against Communism eventually leading to the fall of the Berlin wall as well as the Soviet Union itself. -
SDI Announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative or SDI was a program started under President Reagan to develop a orbital station that shoot down Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles set to hit the United States. This program was nicknamed "Star-Wars" appropriately because of how impossible this system actually was. Its purpose was to essentially intimidate the Soviet Union and it was successful. -
Geneva Conference With Gorbachev
This was the first time in eight years that the Soviet Union and the United states met in a conference. Both Reagan and Gorbachev met and did not come to any earth shattering agreements but started a very strong and sincere relationship for the future. -
'Tear Down This Wall' Speech
The "Tear Down This Wall" speech was a speech delivered by President Reagan in the shadow of the Berlin wall encouraging Mikael Gorbachev to tear down the wall separating east and west Berlin and free the oppressed people of the east. This speech ended up working and within 2 years the wall fell. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
After 2 years since Reagan's tear down this wall speech, a spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced that citizens were free to cross the wall. Citizens flocked to the wall with booze and good spirits and crossed the wall at midnight. The reunification of east and west Berlin was made official almost one year after the fall.
