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The Truman Doctrine
President Harry S. Truman first announced his foreign policy decision which soon came out to be known as the "Truman Doctrine." This foreign policy decision promised military and economic aid to the countries Greece in Turkey, which were in danger of falling to the forces of Communism. -
Berlin Airlift
In June 1948 the Soviets blocked off all land, rail, and water routes into West Berlin. As a result, Berlin's 2 million residents were no longer able to import food, coal, and other vital supplies. The Western leaders organized the Berlin Airlift, a massive effort to supply West Berlin by air. The Berlin Airlift was a success, and the Soviets called off the blockade of Berlin in May 1949. -
The Nuclear Arms Race
Arm Race: a struggle between nations to gain an advantage in weapons. In 1949 the West was deeply shaken by news of a successful Soviet test of an atomic bomb. -
NATO Forms
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization had 5 founding members: Italy, China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO was created to stop the spread of Communism, to form an allied military, and for countering Soviet power. -
Warsaw Pact Forms
The Warsaw Pact was signed by Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union in Poland in 1955. It was a military treaty, which bound its members to come to the aid of the others, if any of them become a victim of foreign aggression. -
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a war fought in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia over the spread of Communism from North to South Vietnam. In the beginning of the war the U.S. sent military advisors to aid the South Vietnamese, and regular combat troops arrived in 1965, including ground, sea, and air units. The United States withdrew from the conflict in 1973, although the war did not officially end until the fall of Saigon in 1975. -
Construction Begins on Berlin Wall
In 1961, a wall separating Berlin and East Germany was built by the German Democratic Republic because more than 2.6 million East Germans secretly moved to West Berlin or West Germany from 1949 to 1961. Government officials opened it in November 1989. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1962 came the Cuban Missile Crisis, a confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union over the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. After a two-week standoff, Soviet leaders removed the missiles when the United States agreed to move US missiles from Turkey and promised not to attack Cuba. This nearly lead to war between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
Test Ban Treaty
In 1963 the United States and Soviet Union agreed on a Test Ban Treaty. This treaty outlawed nuclear testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater. -
Detente
Detente was a preiod of relaxed tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the period of the Cold War. Detente officially began during the Nixon administration, and lasted until the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.
