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Cold War Events
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Yalta Confrence
Chruchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin held a meeting called the Yalta Conference to discuss the final defeat of Nazi German. At the conference, it was decided that Germany would be split into seperate zones owned, each owned by France, Great Britian, U.S., and the Soviet Union. They agreed to premit free elections in Eastern Europe. This started the Cold War. -
Truman Doctorine
The Truman Doctrine was the U.S.'s first definite Cold War policy. It began with the death of Franklin Roosevelt. This policy provided economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey becasue they were threatened by communims, It was the start of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion. Also, it was a major setp in the beginning of the Cold War, -
Marshall Plan
In a commencement at Harvard University, Marshall requested American assistance in restoring equipment and supplies in Europe to help the economy recover and rebuild. This was known as the Marshall Plan. This plan helped Europe become strong again during the Cold War. It also kept Germany from going under communist rule. -
Berlin Airlift
The Soviets blocked all rail and road traffic going in and out of Berlin and they cut off electricity coming from the Soviet part of the city. Without going to war or giving up Berlin, the only solution was to fly in supplies to the poeple in the town before they were all starved. For 10 months the U.S. and Great Britian flew in supplies. On May 12th, 1949 the Soviet Union finally stopped the blockaid and the airlift was over.The Berlin Airlift eventually led to the Berlin Wall. -
NATO
The primary purpose of NATO was to unify and strengthen the western allies military, This policy was signed April 5th. The NATO was formed to secure Western Europe against the Soviets.This led to the formation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 and increased tensions between the West and East. -
USSR Atomic Bomb
On August 29th, the Soviet Union ecploded its first atomic bomb. It shocked the U.S. and caused them to question their own Saftey. This began an arms race which kept the Cold War going. -
Korean War Begins
The Korean War was the first major conflict of the Cold War. The Soviet Union supported North Korea and the U.S. supported South Korea. North Korea started the war by invading South Korea. The war set the standard for many later conflicts. It aslo created the idea of a proxy war, "where the two superpowers would fight in another country, forcing the people in that nation to suffer the bulk of the destruction and death involved in a war between large nations" ( Smith 1). -
Rosenberg Spy-Case
The trial was held in March, 1951, Julius Rosenberg, the U.S. army's signal corps, and his wife Ethel, were indictied for conspiracy to transmitt military info to the Soviet Union. They recieved the death sentence. U.S. enforcements became more wary of spies and immigrants from the USSR. As a result USSR imigrants had a hard time finding jobs during the Cold War. -
East German Uprising
After Stalin's death, Walter Ulbricht asked for aid from the USSR. Aid was refused. The SED made gestures of conciliation, cancelling price raises. SED decided 10 percent increase in industrial quotas must stay in force in order to pay concessions. This led to more conflicts during the Cold War. -
Nikita Kruschev Comes to Power
Kruschev emerged as the new Soviet leader after Stalin's death in 1953. He led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold war. He pursued peace with the West, but instigated the Cuban Missle Crisis by placing nuclear weapons 90 miles from Florida. -
Korean War Ends
The war ended with litte resolution. Both Counttries were to remain independent and a border would remain at the 38th parrel. Also a 2 mile demilitiarized zone was placed to prevent future wars. The countries are still divided today and North Korea is still ruled by a communist regime. It expanded the Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe. -
Warsaw pact
The Warsaw Pact was signed in Poland by the Soviet Union, Poland, Czech., Hungary, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, and East Germany and many other eastern countries that supported communism. The pact established a mutual defence orginization and military alliance based on total equality of a nation. It was formed into responce of the NATO which was formed by capitalist supporting countries which arroused tention and more conflicts to come. -
Hungarian Uprising
The Hungarian Uprising was an uprising against the people's republic of Hungary, the Soviet bassed government. Eventually the government of Hungary collapsed and free elections were pledged to the people. Also, it caused the Soviets to strengthen their resolve to keep a tight grasp on the territories they took over during the Cold War. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was successfully launched on October 4th, 1957. It was a satellite that orbitied the earth, launched by the Soviet Union. Sputnik made Americans worried. They rushed to launch their own satellite in fear of the Soviets spying on them. -
U2 Incident
U2, was also know as the "International Diplomatic Crisis." The USSR shot down an American U2 spy plane and captured its piolot. The incident led to a serious deterioration in relations between the U.S. and USSR. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
in 1960 Castro took over American oil refineries in Cuba. As a result, the U.S. stopped buying cuban sugar. Castro responded by taking over all the U.S. businesses in Cuba. This led to President Kennedy to authorize an invasion. America attempted to invade Cuba and over throw Fidel Castro. 1,300 exiles armed U.S. weapons landed at the bay of Pigs. They were quickly defeated by Castro's army. This event set the stage for the Cuban Missile Crisis. -
Berlin Wall (building)
The Berlin Wall was built by communist governemtn. The Wall seperated East Berlin from West Berlin. It was built to keep people from fleeing to East Berlin. The wall seperated democratic western countries from eastern communist countries in Europe. The wall was built because people didn't want to live uner the Soviet Union communism so they started moving west. Overtime, so many people left that the Soviets needed to do something! They built a wall to prevent people from leaving. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban government needed protection from the U.S. and the Soviet Union needed missile sites where they could hit the U.S. at any moment, so the missiles were planted in Cuba. When the Soviet Union began to install nuclear missiles in Cuba, the U.S. refused to allow this and after 13 days and many negiotations, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missles. This caused more tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S. -
Prague Spring
Prague Springs was a short "interlude" of political and economic liberation which took place in communist Czech. Political restrictions were lifted by reformist leader Alexander Dubek. Freedoms granted amoung Prague Springs include: slackening restrictions on speech, travel and media. Dubeck divided the nation into two regions, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This caused another war which later led to the coming together of Czechoslovakia. -
Soviet Union Invades Afghanistan
The Soviet Afghanistan War was fought between Afghanistan rebels called the "Mujahideen" and the Soviet supported Afghanistan government. The United States supported the Afghanistan rebels in order to try and overthrow the communist government and to prevent the spread of communism. -
Lech Walesa Organizes Trade Union Solidarity
Walesa involved himself in organising free non-communist trade unions and in 1980. It was not long before the organization had 10 million members and Walesa was their leader. In December 1990 Walesa was elected President of the Republic of Poland. He was not a success. On November 1995 Walesa was defeated by the former communist, Aleksander Kwasniewski. -
Mikhail Gorbechev Comes to Power
Whe he came to power, he tried to discipline Soviet people as a way to overcome economic stagnation. Then he launched perestrokia. By december, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exsist. He proclaimed a document of "sufficiency" He helped end the Cold War through his attemps of reforms in the Soviet Union. -
Berlin Wall (take down)
President Ronald Reagan gave a speech in Berlin, where he asked the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down that wall. Around that time the Soviet Union was beginning to collaspe. On Nov. 9, 1989 the borders were open and people could freely move between the East and West Germany. This led up to the unification of Germany as a whole again. -
German Unification
Unification means making two or more parts as one. Germany was divided into 2: German democratic republic (Easr Germany) and Federal Republic (West Germany). On Oct. 3, 1990, East Germany became part of the Federal Republic. This signified the end of the Cold War!
