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Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was split into two events. one in which Russians overthrew their government, next being the Bolsheviks come into power. The Bolsheviks were a communist party led by Vladimir Lenin. Later Lenin would led Russia into the Cold War against America. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was a meeting between the Soviet Union, Great Britain, United States, and France. During this meeting they talked about how to deal with Germany after World War Two. They came to a conclusion to separate Germany into four section and each country would do their part to rebuild the country. The capital of Germany, Berlin, was also split into four sections because it was in Soviet Union section of Germany and the United States had a suspicion about them. -
Atomic Bomb- Hiroshima/Nagasaki
Atomic bombs were used to help end the war in the Pacific. American B-29 bomber dropped the first ever atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The bomb killed around 80,000 people, which was 90% of the city. The other bomb was dropped a few days later in Nagasaki and killed around 40,000 people. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a name given to the line that separated Europe into two halves. The "curtain" stayed up from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. This was the Soviets effort to block themselves from countries not controlled by them. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a foreign policy created to counter Soviet expansion during the Cold War. It was first known to Congress by President Harry S. Truman. President Truman pledged to contain Soviet threats to Greece and Turkey in hopes to stop communist. He would provide political, military and economic assistance to all nations under threat of communism. -
Molotov Plan
The Soviet Union created a system to give aid to any country Eastern Europe that would economically and politically commits to them. This system was very similar to the Marshal Plan. The Soviet Union wanted the Molotov Plan to represent how they declined aid provided by America. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall plan was created by George C. Marshall, who was the Secretary of State at the time. He visited European countries and was how they were in great need of help with their economy. George C Marshal thought of the idea that America should give support to those countries so they don't turn to communism. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises during the Cold War. The Soviet Union blocked Berlin so France, Great Britain and the United States couldn't pass into the Soviets section of Berlin. Soon the Western powers started to take help into the air. A lot of the time they would fly over Berlin and drop food and supplies in order to help then. -
Berlin Airlift
When the Berlin Blockade started the Western power thought how cruel it was and started to think of ideas to help. The Soviet Union blocked Berlin so France, Great Britain and the United States couldn't pass into the Soviets section of Berlin. Soon the Western powers started to take help into the air. A lot of the time they would fly over Berlin and drop food and supplies in order to help then. -
Alger Hiss Case
Alger Hiss was an American government official who was accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union. Hiss was convicted of perjury instead of treason. He was sentence to 5 years in prison. This caused people to fear that their were communist spying every where. -
NATO
NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is a military alliance. It is between North American and European states and was signed on April 4th, 1949. NATO is a system of defense where its member agree to defend each other to an attack by any external party. -
Soviet bomb test
The Soviet Bomb Test was a restricted development program that was approved by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons for future wars. Once the two American nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union put the making of the bombs as top priority. Stalin was hoping to match the American "Super weapon" as soon as possible. -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood ten was a list of 20th-century screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or associations. Artists were rejected and stopped from work on the basis of their supposed membership in or sympathy toward the American Communist Party. -
Korean War
The Korean war was between the North and South of Korea, it began when the North attacked the border into South Korea. America soon intervened and went to help aid South Korea. The two sides of Korea resulted in two of governments with the Soviet Union and America supporting different sides. -
Rosenburg trial
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were citizens in the United States. They were accused of giving the Soviet Union ways to achieve nuclear weapon. At this time only America had nuclear weapons. They were executed on June 19, 1953 after being convicted of committing espionage. -
Army-McCarthy hearings
Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy televised Congressional hearings in 1954. The Army-McCarthy hearings took over national television from April to June. The Televised news captured national attention because of McCarthy’s notoriety. Soon got his own word McCarthyism, means to publicly make accusations of treason and disloyalty with little to no evidence. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
This battle was between French Union's Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries, and was known as the first Indochina War. This battle went till May 7, 1954. The result of this battle was Vietnam temporarily divided at the 17th parallel. This was very important to the cold war because it was a turning point in Indochina. Viet Minh claimed victory. -
Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference was a conference that involved many nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, starting in April 26 to July 20, 1954. It was suppose to settle issues resulting from the Korean War. The conference made a turning point in the United States involvement in Vietnam. -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty called the Warsaw Pact. A defense organization that makes the Soviets in command.The Warsaw Pact was named this because the treaty was signed in Warsaw. It includes the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. -
Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution started in October 1956. Thousands of Hungarian protesters took to the streets demanding a more democratic political system and freedom from the Soviet Union. On November 4, 1956, Soviet took tanks into Budapest to crush the national uprising. Street fighting broke out between the two sides, but the Soviets Union ensured victory -
U2 Incident
The U2 incident was a United States U2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union captured the American people. America then was forced to admit its military nature, when the Soviet Union came forward with the U-2 spying technology that had survived the crash as well as photos of military bases in the Soviet Union taken by the airplane. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military mission, it was invasion of Cuba undertaken by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This mission was suppose to overthrow the communist government under the rule of Fidel Castro. This came after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, that Fidel Castro created strong economic ties with the Soviet Union. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier that was guarded. It physically divided Berlin. People weren't able to cross over the wall to west or east Germany. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was about the Soviet Union putting nuclear missiles on Cuba. Cuba is about 90 miles away from US shores, this worried America. To remove the Cuban missiles, America promised not to invade Cuba if the Soviet Union took the missiles off of Cuba. President Kennedy secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey. -
Assassination of Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem was the president for South Vietnam. Diem wasn't that well-liked by the people because he had a different religion than most of the people. He refused to ally with Ho Chi Minh and then it caused conflict. On November 2, Diem and his brother were murdered by the South Vietnamese Army. -
Assassination of JFK
Our 35th president was assassination on November 22, 1963, while being in Dallas, Texas. He was shot by former U.S Marine, Lee Harvey Oswald. Kennedy was marked as the fourth president who got assassinated. Kennedy's death brought America into intense mourning and also had future generations having "what if's'" about the Cold War. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Tonkin Gulf Resolution can as be seen as a "blank check" because when you have a blank check you can get however many and whatever you please. With the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, it gave President Johnson the ability to take many measures he could. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was a code name that the U.S used when they were about to bomb North Vietnam. This operation marked the first sustained American assault on North Vietnam territory. The bombing went on till October 1968. -
Tet Offensive
While people were celebrating the lunar New Year when the Tet Offensive occurred, it was a huge attack that North Vietnam did too South Vietnam. This attack destroyed 100 cities, killed 67,00 people, invaded bases and the America embassy. This was on of the major turning points in the Cold War, this went on till September 23, 1968. -
Assassination of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr, was a Civil Rights Leader that lead many people to freedom. He was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was killed by James Earl Ray, then was arrested and was in jail till he died. King's family had believed that the government had something to do with MLK's death. He was 39 years old when he passed. After his death many riots started around the Untied States. -
Assassination of RFK
On June 5, 1968 Robert F. Kennedy was a Presidential candidate in the 1968 election. After winning the California and South Dakota primary election, he was shot the day after while being at Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Later died at the Good Samaritan Hospital at the age of 42. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Invasion of Czechoslovakia was started by the Warsaw Pact including Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany and more. This invasion happened on the night of August 20, 1968. Killed 137 people and leaving many wounded. -
Riots of Democratic Convention
The Riots of the Democratic Convention, was a Vietnam War protest that tens of thousands of people attended. It happened in Chicago on August 28, 1968. Protester battled police in the streets while the Democratic Party fell apart. -
Election of Nixon
Nixon was the 46th president, He was apart of the 1968 presidential election. The election year was very important. It was marked the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and the assassination of Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy -
Kent State
The Kent State shooting also known as the Kent State massacre occurred on May 4, 1970. Members of the Ohio National Guard shot 67 rounds over a period of 16 seconds, at some protesters protesting the Vietnam war, and some weren't. Killing four students. The protest was so important to the war because people turned there focus over to the Americans. -
Nixon visits China
Richard Nixon was the first U.S. president that visited China since it was established in 1949. This is important to the Cold War because the US was seeking a better relation with a communist country while the Cold War was happening. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war. This came in effect on January 28, 1973 with President Nixon declaring it. As a result of a post-ceasefire action about 25,000 South Vietnamese were killed in a battle on 1973. -
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was what the city was called before it was renamed to Ho Chi Mnh City. Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam. In 1975 after a horrible battle between North and South Vietnam, with the North taking the victory. They went to the Souths capital took over and renamed it Ho Chi Mnh city for the old leader of the north. -
Reagan elected
Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States from 1981-1989. Reagan was an American politician and actor. He came from a poor family that lived in Illinois. He then graduated from Eureka College and worked as a sports announcer. He then passed away June 5, 2004. -
SDI announced
The SDI as the Strategic Defense Initiative is a missile defense system to protect the United States from any attacks by the Soviet Union. This was a space-based anti-missile system. This program was named "star wars". -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
The first time in eight years the president of the United States and the Leader of the Soviets met. They held a summit Conference and met in Geneva. At the meeting they discussed the future between themselves, exchanged personal talks and looked like they developed a close relationship. -
‘Tear down this wall’ speech
The 'Tear down this wall' speech was given by President Reagan. This speech was to the people of West Berlin. He asked the Soviet leaders "Why is the wall there?". After Reagan's speech a newspaper in West Germany called the Bild-Zeitung, stated he thought the wall could be 'torn down'. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
As the Cold War began to end, the Berlin Wall fell. The spokesman for East Berlin's communist Party said, that there will be a change in the relationship between to the East and West. More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend, to celebrate what some said as the "The greatest street party in the history of the world".
