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formation of the united nations
on this day, president franklin d. roosevelt and british prime minister winston churchill issued a declaration, signed by representatives of 26 countries, called the "united nations". the signatories of the declaration vowed to create an international postwar peacekeeping organization. -
potsdam conference
the ptsdam conference was held at cecilienhof, the home of crown prince wilhelm hohenzollern, in potsdam, occupide germany, from 17 july to 2 august 1945. (in some older documents it is also referred to as the berlin conference of the three heads of government of the ussr, usa and uk) participants were the soviet union, the united kingdom and the uunited states. -
iron curtain descends on europe
the iron curtain symbolized the ideological conflict and physical boundary dividing europe into two separate areas from the end of world war 2 in 1945 until the end of the cold war in 1991. the terms symbolized efforts by the soviet union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the west and non-soviet-controlled areas. on the east side of the iron curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the soviet union. -
truman doctrine
was an international relations policy set forth by the u.s. president harry truman in a speech on march 12, 1947, which stated that the u.s. would support greece and turky with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into the soviet sphere. historians often consider it as the start of the cold war, and the start of the containment policy to stop sovet expansion. -
marhsall plan
in the immediate post-world war 2 period, europe remained ravaged by war and thus susceptible to explotation by an internal and external mommunist threat. in a june 5, 1947, george c. marshall issude a call for a comprehensive program to rebuid europe. fanned by the fear of communist expansion inthe winter of 1946-1947, congress passed the economic cooperation act in march 1948. -
creation of israel
on november 29, 1947, the united nations general assembly voted 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions, in favor of a partition plan that created the state of israel. the british reliquished their mandate over palastine in 1948. war broke out between the arabs and jews soon after. the 1948 arab-israel war, established the state of israel as an independent state. -
berlin airlift
in june 1948, the russians-who wanted berlin all for themselves-closed all highways, railroads and canals from western -occupid germany into western-occupide berlin. instead of retreating from west berlin, however, the u.s. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. this effort, known as the "berlin airlift", lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into west berlin. -
formation of nato
the north atlantic treaty organization, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the north atlantic treaty which was signed on april 1949. the organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. -
joseph stalin dies
on this day, joseph stalin, leader of the soviet union since 1924, dies in mowscow. like his right-wing counterpart, hitler, who was born in austria, stalin was not a native of the country he ruled with an iron first. in 1900, stalin became active in revolutionary political activism, taking part in labor demonstrations and strikes. stalin was arrested seven times between 1902 and 1913, and subjected to prison and exile. -
korean war ends
sfter three bloody and frustrating war, the united states, the peoples republic of china, north korea, and south korea agree to an armistice, bringing the korean war to an end. the armistice ended america's first experiement with the cold war concept of "limited war" -
the warsaw pact is formed
the soviet union and seven of its european satalites sign a treaty establishing the warsaw pact, a mutual defense organization that put the soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. -
suez crisis
israeli armed forces pushed into egypt toward the suez canal after egyptian president gamal abdel nasser (1918-70) nationalized the canal in july of that same year, initiating the suez crisis. the israelis soon were joined by the french and british forces, which nearly brought the soviet union into the conflict, and damaged their relationships with the united states.in the end, the british, french and israeli governments withdrew their troops in late 1956 and early 1957. -
sputnik 1
sputnik 1 successfully launched and entered earth's orbit. thus, began the space age. the successful launch shocked the world, giving the former soviet union the distinction of putting the first human-made object into space. -
sputnik 2
sputnik was the second spacecraft launched into earth orbit and was the first biological spacecraft. it was a 4 meter high cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 meters. -
nasa is formed
the national aeronautics and space administration is the agency of the united states governmente that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. president dwight d. eisenhower established the nasa in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation enouraging peaceful applications in space science. -
bay of pigs invasion
the bay of pigs invasion, was a military invasion of cuba undertaken bye the cia-sponsored paramilitary group brigade 2506 on april 1961. a counter-revolutionary military, trained and founded by united states governmets central intelligence agency, brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the democratic revolutionary front and intended to overthrow the revolutionary left wing government of fidel castro. launched from guatemala, the invading force was defeated within 3 days by the cuban armed force -
cuban missile crisis
the cuban missile crisis is a time when the united states and the soviet union almost had a nuclear war. when the u.s. discovered offensive nuclear missiles in cuba, it started a tense period of 13 days while the world watched to see if the soviets would remove the missiles, just 90 miles from the u.s. -
kennedy assassinated
president john f. kennedy is assassinated during a visit to dallas, texas. his death caused intense mourning in the united states and brought vice president lyndon johnson to the presedency. -
nuclear non-proliferation of nuclear
international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and tofurther the goal of achieveng nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament -
UN resolution 2758
the united nations general assembly resolution 2758 was passed in response to united nations general assembly. the resolution recognize the people's republic of china as the "only legitimate representative of china to the united nations" and expelled "the representatives of chang kai-shek from the place chich they unlawfully occupy at the united nations". this move effectively ended the republic of china's full membership at the united nation. -
nixon visits china
president richard nixon visits the people's republic of china. after arriving in beijing, the president announced that his breakthrough visit to china is "the week that changed the world". -
salt agreements 1 & 2 signed
soviet presidemt leonid brezhnev and u.s. president richard nixon, meeting in moscow, sign the strategic arms limitation talks (salt) agreements. at the time, these agreements were the most far-reaching attempts to control nuclear weapons ever. -
paris peace accords
the paris peace eccords of 1973 intended to establish peace in vietnam and an end to the vietnam war, ended direct u.s. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between north and south vietnam. -
vietnam war u.s. involvement
the vietnam war was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of north vietnam and its southern allies, known as the viet cong, against south vietnam and its principal ally, the united states. the divisive war, increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the whithdrawal of u.s. forces in 1973. -
south vietnam falls
by dawn, communist forces move into saigon, where they meet only sporadic resistance. the south vietnamese forces had collapsed under the rapid advancement of the north vietnamese. the most recent fighting had begun in december 1974, when the north vietnamese had launched a major attack against the lightly defended of phouc long, located due north of saigon along the cambodian border, overruning the provincial capital at phoic binh on january 6, 1975. -
iran hostage crisis
the iran hostage crisis, was a diplomatic crisis between iran and the united states. fifty two american diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days (november 4, 1997, to january 20, 1981), after a group of irinian students, belonging to the muslim student followers of the imam's line, who were supporting the iranian revolution took over the embassy in tehran. -
u.s. & soviet boycotts of the olympics cold war
the 1980 summer olympics boycott of the moscow olympics was a part of a package of actions initiated by the united states to protest against the soviet invasion in afganistan. it preceded the 1984 summer olympics boycott carried out by the soviet union and the other communist-friendly countries. -
uss pueblo incident
uss pueblo is an american elint and sidint banner-class technical research ship (navy intelligence) which was bearded and captured by north korean forces on 23 january 1968, in what is known as the pueblo incident or alternatively as the pueblo crisis or the pueblo affair. -
korean airlines flight
soviet jet fighters intercept a korean airlines passenger flight in russian airspace and shoot the plane down, killing 269 passengers and crewmemebers. the incident dramatically increased tensions between the soviet union and the united states. -
united states invades grenada
president ronald reagan, citing the threat posed to american nationals on the caribbean nation of grenada by that nation;'s marxist regim, orders the marines to invade and secure their safety. there were nearly 1,000 americans in grenada at the time, many of them students at the island's medical school. in little more than a week, grenada's government was overthrown. -
chernobyl disaster
a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 april 1986 at the chernobyl nuclear power plant in ukraine, which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the soviet union. an explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western ussr and europe. -
iran-contra affair
during the reagan administration, senios administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to iran, the subject of an arms embargo. some u.s. also hoped that the arms sales would secure the release of several hostages and allow u.s. intelligence agencies to fund the nicaraguan contras. -
tiananmen square massacre
chinese troops and storm through tiananmen square in the center of beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. the brutal chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the west and brought denunciations and sanctions from the united states. -
berlin wall constructed
the berlin wall was both the physical division between west berlin and east germany from 1961 to 1989 and the symbolic boundary between democracy and communism during the cold war.
august 13, 1961 -- november 9, 1989 -
dissolution of the soviet union
the soviet flag flew over the kremlin in moscow for the last time. a few days earlier, representatives from 11 soviet republics met in the kazakh city of alma-ata and announced that they would no longer be part of the soviet union. it was a peaceful end to a long, terrifying and sometimes bloody epoch in world history.
