-
Yalta Conference
Germany is divided into four occupation zones. The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. Within a few years, with the Cold War dividing the continent, Yalta became a subject of intense controversy. -
Harry Truman announces the Truman Doctrine
Starting with the giving of aid to Greece and Turkey in order to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere. pledged to contain communism in Europe and elsewhere and impelled the US to support any nation with both military and economic aid if its stability was threatened by communism or the Soviet Union. The Truman Doctrine became the foundation of the president's foreign policy and placed the U.S. in the role of global policeman -
North Korea invades South Korea
the UN sends troops to try to push back North Korean forces. war between South Korea and North Korea, in which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North. The war arose from the division of Korea at the end of World War II and from the global tensions of the Cold War that developed immediately afterwards. -
Warsaw Pact created
alliance of Communist countries in response NATO. The strategy behind the formation of the Warsaw Pact was driven by the desire of the Soviet Union to dominate Central and Eastern Europe. This policy was driven by ideological and geostrategic reasons. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviets have secretly been installing military bases, including nuclear weapons, on Cuba, some 90 miles from the US mainland. Kennedy orders a "quarantine" (a naval blockade) of the island that intensifies the crisis and brings the US and the USSR to the brink of nuclear war. In the end, both sides reach a compromise. -
cut back production of nuclear weapons
US President Lyndon Johnson in New York, and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, announce simultaneous plans -
Resolution 2758 passed
recognized the People's Republic of China as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations" and expelled "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations." This motion after US President Richard Nixon's announcement on July 15, 1971 of planning to visit Mainland China, which created an unfavorable climate for Republic of China's bid to remain in the UN and the General Assembly admitted People's Republic of -
Yom-Kippur War
Israel is attacked by Egypt and Syria, the war ends with a ceasefire. The war began when the Arab coalition launched a joint surprise attack on Israeli positions in the Israeli-occupied territories on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, which occurred that year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed ceasefire lines to enter the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights respectively, which had been captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Both the United States -
SALT II
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, sign the SALT II agreement, outlining limitations and guidelines for nuclear weapons.SALT II was a series of talks between United States and Soviet negotiators from 1972 to 1979 which sought to curtail the manufacture of strategic nuclear weapons. It was a continuation of the SALT I talks and was led by representatives from both countries. SALT II was the first nuclear arms treaty which assumed real reductions in strategic forces t -
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary
Gorbachev's primary goal as General Secretary was to revive the Soviet economy after the stagnant Brezhnev years. In 1985, he announced that the Soviet economy was stalled and that reorganization was needed. Gorbachev proposed a "vague programme of reform", which was adopted at the April Plenum of the Central Committee. He called for fast-paced technological modernization and increased industrial and agricultural productivity, and he attempted to reform the Soviet bureaucracy to be more
