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Germany surrenders in Berlin
General Alfred Jodl signs the official surrender of Germany forces in France. He had hoped that this would only limit these terms to the forces fighting the Western Allies, but he was forced to sign for complete surrender of German forces. -
Japan surrenders and ends WWII
A Japanese radio station made an announcement that a proclamation was soon going to be made that would accept the terms of unconditional surrender of Japan. In outrage over 1,000 Japanese soldiers stormed the Imperial Palace to try and prevent the proclamation from being transmitted to the allies, they were unsuccessful. -
Containment
Containment was a United States policy that formed during the Cold War. It was the basic US strategy for fighting in the cold war. -
Marshall Plan
President Harry Truman signed the Economic Assistance Act. This created a program that would help Europe recover and rebuild its nations that were affected by WWII. -
NATO established
The NATO, aka the National Atlantic Treaty Organization, was formed by 12 Western Nations in a military alliance. These Nations included the United States, Portugal, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Luxembourg, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, & Great Britain. -
The Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Poland, & Albania signed what is known as the Warsaw pact. The Warsaw pact is a treaty establishing a mutual defense organization of the armed forces with the Soviet Union in control. -
Sputnik Crisis
The Soviet Union launched the first sputnik satellite on 10-4-1957. This frightened Americans. The sputnik itself was completely harmless, but the rocket that had launched the Sputnik could send a nuclear warhead to any part of the world within a span of minutes. The Soviets proved this by successfully shooting a 6,000 km test flight with a R-7 booster. -
U-2 Incident
The Soviet Union shot directly a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane. They claimed the flight was an aggressive act. After shooting the plane down with a missile, they held the soldier as a prisoner. This event is very important to the Cold War because it was one of the few times the Soviets did physical damage to an American. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A spy plane flying over Cuba found nuclear missile sites under construction. President Kennedy formed a small group to discuss the crisis. The tension between the US and the Soviet Union continued to rise and the U.S. decided to take action against Cuba. Nuclear bombs were prepared to be launched while submarines blocked Cuba off. To prevent the outbreak of war, on October 28, Khrushchev announced that they would be withdrawing the missiles from Cuba. -
The Soviet Afghan War
This was an important event during the Cold War because it was one of the times the United States and the Soviet Union actually clashed. It was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against rebellion groups called the mujaheddins. The rebels were backed by the United States. This allowed the U.S. to combat the Soviets without having to actually declare war on them.
