-
The Marshall Plan
Once a General of the U.S. Army, George Catlett Marshall became the U.S. Secretary of State. He created this plan to help aid Western Europe after WWII because their economy was suffering terribly. Over a period of about 10 years, this plan slowly helped increase Europe's GNP, increase industrial production, and increase European trade. -
Creation of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created to prevent Soviet expansionism, stop European militarism, and to encourage European political integration. This alliance of 28 countries from both Europe and the USA is still going strong today, and leads the missions of UN-based International Security Assistance Force in places such as Afghanistan, the Mediterranean, and Iraq. -
Soviets Create and Test Nuclear Bomb
The Soviets first atomic bomb was named "First Lightning" so that other countries could not interpret this code name. This bomb was tested to measure its effect, incase of nuclear warfare. The Soviet scientists tested this bomb in a man-made location made up of bridges, buildings, and other structures similar to a regular city. The making of this bomb was a great schock to the U.S. because we were not expecting the Soviets to create their own nuclear warfare at that period of time. -
China Becomes Communist
On this day, Chinese leader Mao Zedong announced that China was now the People's Republic of China. This announcement caused a war between the Nationalist Party and also stopped communications between Chine and the United States for decades. Once China became communist, it influenced many other surrounding countries to want to become communist as well, such as Korea and Vietnam (but did not because of the U.S.'s influence in both wars). -
Korean War
The Korean War began when the communists armed forces from North Korea decided to invade South Korea because South Korea refused to become communist. Because we are allies with South Korea, the United States also defended South Korea in the war that lasted for three years. -
Creation of the Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was created to defend the countries that were a part of this treaty in case any of them went to war. These countries included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. This pact was made after NATO was created because other countries that were not a part of NATO felt threatend, and also wanted other countries' protection in case of an attack. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War began because communism was starting to spread towards Vietnam, much like the reason the Korean war was fought. The United States were involved in this war because we were afraid that communism in Vietnam would result in communism in surrounding countries. Because we refused to let communism spread throught Eastern Asia, the war was fought for over two decades, resulting in success, and communism started to die. -
Soviet Launch Sputnik
The launch of Sputnik by the USSR was a the start of the space race during the Cold War between the USSR and the USA. This small satellite was the first of its kind to ever travel all the way around the earth in space. Once the United States learned that the lauch was successful, NASA was soon created, as well as having the first man to ever walk the moon. -
Fidel Castro Comes to Power in Cuba
Fidel Castro was the political leader who transformed Cuba into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere, and soon became a symbol to the Latin people as communist revolution. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs was an unsuccessful attempt by the United States to attack Cuba and overthrow their dictator, Fidel Castrow. The result of this invasion was complete embarrassment of the US, as well as reinforcing the image of Kennedy being "young and inexperienced", because even the generals knew that the plan would never work. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
After WWII, Germany was didvided into four sections, as well its capitol, Berlin, being split up into East Berlin and West Berlin. While Eastern Germany continued to have communism, Western Germany started to have a democratic government. The Berlin wall was built during night time by Eastern Germans, for fear that the Germans would flee to the West, and become democrats. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred when the Soviets secretly hid nuclear weapons in Cuba. These missiles were soon discovered by spy planes, and in result, President Kennedy ordered that no Soviet ships should be allowed to travel to Cuba. -
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
These talks were when Soviet and U.S. negotiators met to discuss the Cold War's Arms Race in Finland. Here, the men agreed to have only a certain amount of protection from eachother's nuclear missiles, limit the amount of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles for each country, and also to set a list of important rules in case of nuclear warfare. These meetings lasted over a period of time for about three years until the Cold War ended in May of 1972 . -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Because communism was slowly deteriorating in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, Eastern Germans wanted to deperately flee to the west. On November 9th, an announcment was made that the border was no longer dividing between East and West Germany, allowed people to cross over. Soon after, the wall was knocked down. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
The collapse of the Soviet Union was when the Soviet Union split up into 15 different countries. The Soviet Union collapsed because of the deterioration of a communism-based government, and instead more of a democratic and capitalistic perspective on how the country should be ran. This division was viewed as both freedom and victory for the Soviet people.
