-
Four Powers Divided Germany
Great Britain took the Northwest, France took the Southwest, the United States took the South, and the Soviet Union in the East. Berlin, the capital city situated in the Soviet territory, was also divided into four occupied zones. ** -
American-Soviet cooperation ends at end of WWll
The superpowers came together out of necessity and they needed each other to defeat the other countries. Both superpowers shared the common goal of defeating fascism. While this was happening, there were leaders that were known as the "Big Three", which were Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Approximately 20 million people were killed, thousands of villages, towns, and cities were destroyed and the Soviet Union's infrastructure was devastated. ** -
US announces "Containment"
The announcing of "Containment" was their way of containing, or preventing the spread of Communism after World War ll. The idea was to make other countries prosperous enough to avoid the temptation of Communism, which eventually created NATO. With that, the Soviet Union signed an agreement called the Warsaw Pact with Poland, Hungary, Romania, East Germany, and several other countries. **** -
Berlin Airlift
The Soviet forces blockaded railroads, roads, and water access to allied countries of Berlin. The United States and the United Kingdom responded by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany. By May 12, 1949, the Soviet forces lifted the blockade on land access to western Germany. *** -
NATO set up
NATO or North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created by the United States, Canada, and many other European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. With that, the Soviet Union and its Eastern European client states formed the Warsaw Pact. *** -
Korean War
The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to temporarily divide Korea and oversee the removal of Japanese forces. The Korean War ended three years later with millions of casualties. *** -
US develops H-Bomb
The United States developed and fielded a hydrogen bomb in the face of repeated military and political provocations by the Soviet Union. With the United States developing the H-bomb, the US and the Soviet Union were in an arms race with each other. With that, both countries vied to build ever more powerful nuclear weapons. *** -
Soviet Union develops H-Bomb
With the United States developing the H-bomb, the Soviet Union started testing to make their own H-bomb with the help of Klaus Fuchs. Eventually, they succeeded. When the United States heard that the Soviet Union developed its own H-bomb, Truman requested an intensive re-evaluation of Americans Cold War policies by the National Security Council. *** -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty established by the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. Such as Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Although, Albania withdrew in 1968. Over time, the Warsaw Pact and NATO were ideologically opposed and built up their own defenses starting an arms race that lasted throughout the Cold War. ** -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was fought between Communist North Vietnam, backed by the Soviet Union and China; and South Vietnam backed by the United States. North Vietnam gained control over the South in 1975, so the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year. **** -
Sputnik is launched
The Soviet Union had launched the very first artificial satellite "Sputnik-1". The United States scientists and citizens were shocked by their successful launch, who had hoped that the United States would accomplish this scientific advancement first. With the Soviets having a successful launch, the U.S. military had generally fallen behind in developing new technology. **** -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
After the failed United States attempt to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba with the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev reached a secert agreement with Cuban Premier Fidel Castro to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future invasion attempts. *** -
Berlin Wall is built
The people of East Berlin were awakened by the rumbling of heavy machinery down their streets towards the line that divided the eastern and western parts of the city. A ring of Soviet troops surrounded the city. Overnight, the freedom to pass between the two sections of Berlin ended. After the wall went up, more than 260 people died attempting to flee to the West. The United States quickly condemned the wall, which divided families and limited freedom. ***** -
Partiat Text Ban Treaty signed
On August 5, 1963, Partiat Text Ban Treaty was signed by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. After Senate approval, the treaty went into effect and banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater. * -
SALT treaty signed
SALT or Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty was signed to limit the number of ICBMs being built and to limit the number of ABM(anti-ballistic missiles) sites. Both the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to limit their missile stacks. * -
Helsinki Accords
Both the United States and the Soviet Union along with several other European countries and Canada signed this agreement. It included the rejection of interventionist policies like the Truman Doctrine and the Brezhnev Doctrine. This opened the door to some of the protest movements in the Soviet sphere of influence. * -
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviets wanted to stabilize this nation-state in their sphere of influence. After the Vietnam War, the United States were reluctant to get involved directly in another proxy war, so they found covert was to support to mujahideen by founding weapons and training. **** 1979-1989 -
Polish "Solidarity" uprisings
It was the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. The United States and the Western Bloc were supportive of the Polish "Solidarity" uprising. The Soviet Union was outraged to find out it was uprising. ** -
START
START or Strategic Arms Reduction Talks moved to reduce the number of armaments. It would actually start to destroy
some of the stockpiles. With that, the United States had an advantage because cruise missiles are not included. **** -
US Star Wars research begins
President Reagan announced the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative, some called it Star Wars. It was used to look for methods of intercepting missiles in space through the launching of satellites with intercepting missiles, lasers, x-ray beams, and other projectiles. ** -
I.N.F Treaty signed
On December 8, 1987, Ronald Reagon and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces(INF) Treaty. This Treaty was the first in which the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to eliminate a weapons class and reduce the number of weapons in their nuclear stockpile. This resulted in the dismantling of 2,692 missiles. * -
Berlin Wall torn down
Germany was reunited which caused the fall of the Berlin Wall. The people celebrated the fall of the wall for they could finally travel back and forth to Eastern and Western Berlin. Once the wall was down, the United States and the Soviet Union troops had a standoff on either side of the diplomatic checkpoint. ***** -
Iron Curtain collaspes
The Iron Curtain is a political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War ll to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas. As a result, the US feared the power and influence the USSR held over Eastern European countries. The US tried to keep these countries from embracing communism. Nations behind the Iron Curtain fell to USSR. **** -
Warsaw Pact dissolved
The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance between the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites. It was formed in 1955 but in 1990, East Germany left to reunify with West Germany. Czechoslovakia and Poland also indicated their strong desire to withdraw. With that, they all got together one last time and declared that the Warsaw Pact was no more. * -
Soviet Union ceases to exist
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was a process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union(USSR). With this, it ended the existence of the country and of its federal government as a sovereign state. So it resulted in its constituent republics gaining full independence on December 26, 1991. The United States saw all of the former Soviet Republics and established diplomatic relations with Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine. ***