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Victory in Europe as Germany surrenders to the Russian army. More surrenders were signed in Berlin and Eastern Germany.
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Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam and independence republic. The proclamation paraphrased the U.S.Declaration of Independence in declaring, "All men are born equal: the creator has given us inviolable rights, life, liberty, and happiness".
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Churchill delivers his 'Sinews of Peace' speech which contain the famous phrase "..an iron curtain has descended on Europe."
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This was a program of economic aid offered by the United States to any European country. The plan was rejected outright by Stalin and any Eastern Bloc country considering accepting aid was reprimanded severely.
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President Eduard Benes allows a communist-dominated government to be organized. Although the Soviet Union did not physically intervene (as it would in 1968), Western observers decried the virtually bloodless communist coup as an example of Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe.
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Truman publicly announces his decisions to support the development of the hydrogen bomb. A weapon theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War ll.
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Joseph Stalin died at the age of 74. He was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev.
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The Korean war ended. North Korea remained affiliated with Russia while South Korea was affiliated with the USA.
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A force of Cuban exiles, trained by the CIA, aided by the US government attempted to invade Cuba and overthrow the Communist government Fidel Castro.
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Berlin Wall was built and boarders sealed between East and West Germany. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the cold war.
