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The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a program created by the U.S, that provided financial aid to post- war European countries. We wanted to try to help boost their economies. 13.3 billon dollars were put into helping them out. The cities and economies of european countries were devasted after WWII. The USSR was in control of most of Europe. President Trumans approving of the Marshall plan heated the Cold War even more, because the US was doing it to stop the spread of communism. -
Creation of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization became very significant when the Korean War started because it raised the threat of all communist countries working together. During the cold war, the solviet union wanted to join NATO to help with peacekeeping in Europe. It was thought that they just wanted to join to weaken the alliance. They were rejected, then created the Warsaw Pact which was the same as NATO but it created an alliance between 8 european countries, creating 2 sides to the cold war. -
The Korean War
The korean was the first armed -
Rosenberg Spy Case
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of being spys and conspiracy to commit esponiage. This means that they were spying on the us for the Soviet Union. They were both executed. Some people consider this the second red scare because it brought to light the spys that were possibly around during the Cold War. -
Armistice Signed Ending Korean War
The Korean war started in 1950. Communist North Korea attacked and invaded South Korea. The US helped out South Korea becuase North Korea is communist. On July 27, 1953 an armistice was signed, ending the war. -
Joesph McCarthy
Joeseph McCarthy was a Republican Senator from Wisconsin. He was very anti- communist. He falsely accused many people of being communist spies. He also used many wrong ways to get people to feel the same way he did. Eventually he was censured, which means that he didn't loose his senator spot, but he had to give up all committee positions he held. He has been compared to Hitler. -
Creation of the Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was the treaty that counteracted NATO. It was between 8 European countries forming and alliance between them. It was the response after West Germany joined NATO, and because the USSR was rejected from it. It impacted the Cold War because it split the line for the countries for communism, and the ones against it. -
Vietnam War
Vietnam communists from the north wanted to overtake South Vietnam by using guerrilla warfare. The Cold War was the U.S opposing communism. In the Vietnam war communists wanted to overtake South Vietnam, -
Sputnik
Russia sent a satalite to reach space. It was very small, only about 3 feet around. It was the very first part of the space race. The space race was a rivalry between the US and the USSR during the cold war. -
Sputnik 2- Sending a dog into space
Laika, a samoyed terrier was the first living creature to go out into space. Later on, in 2002, it was revealed that the Laika had died a few hours after taking off from stress and overheating. They were planning on euthanizing her anyways because she would have burned up as the satalite re-entered the earths atmosphere. The cold war politics didnt give the Soviets any time to create a satalie where the dog could survive, because they wanted to be the most advanced. -
NASA is formed
The launch of the Soviets Sputnik in 1957 was what drove the US to create a space program. The Space Act was passed that gave guidelines to what our goals were, and little has been changed on these guidelines even today. This relates to the cold war becuase NASA was formed so we could beat the Soviets in the space race, which was part of fueling the cold war. -
Nikita Khrushchev Visits the U.S
During the 1950's Khruschev said many good things about President Eisenhower and wanted to create a better relationship with the U.S. It was announced the would visit the US in September. At the airport when he arrived, Khrushchev said that he arrived in America "with open heart and good intentions." He and President Eisenhower had a series of long talks, to try to understand eachother better. Besides the talks, he also toured the U.S. This was a point in the Cold War where things were peaceful -
First Human in Space
Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in He made 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. This was what sparked the space race, and heated the rivalry between the US and the USSR in the cold war. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The bay of pigs invasion was an attack on Cuba. It did not go as planned and was considered a failure. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
The Berlin Wall was created to separate East Germany and West Germany. The biggest reason why the wall was built was because around 2.5 million East Germans who were skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals fled East Germany to West German because of Capitalism. It was a big tension during the Cold War. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The Cuban Missle Crisis was a 13 day period where there was a high risk of Nuclear war between The US and Cuba/USSR. They had missles pointing right at us that they could have set off at any time. It was resolved after an agreement for the US to sign an agreement to never invade Cuba, and for the missles to be sent back to the USSR. This was the closest we ever came to nuclear disaster during the Cold War. -
JFK Assasinated
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US Sends a man to the moon
The goal of sending a man to the moon was motivated by President Kennedy called, 'We Chose the Moon.' The US and the USSR had long been in the space race, seeing who could acheive this goal first. The space flight Apollo 11 included Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin. Armstrong was the first one to step food on the moon. Over 500 million people watched it on TV. This was considered a victory within the Cold War for the US, because they won the space race. -
Nixon visits China
President Nixon went to visit China for a week to fix the relationship between America and China. The 25 year separation between us was ended after the visit. Pictures of China were shown to the American public for the first time in two decades. There were many discussions between Nixon and Mao Zedong and other high up Chinese government officials. Nixon and his wife also took tours of schools, factories and hospitals. This helped strengthen the allies in the Cold War. -
SALT Treaty Talks
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks were 2 discussions between the U.S and the USSR. They led to new international treaties. They talked about the missles each of them had. The talks called for them too dismantle old missles and get new updated ones. They also banned new missle building programs. This relates to the Cold War because there was possible missle conflicts between the two sides during the cold war and they needed to make some ground rules. -
Operation Babylift
Operation Babylift was a mission created by President Ford to fly 70,000 orphans out of Vietnam after the war had destroyed their country. Once they reached America, they were all adopted. -
Afghan War
The Afghan war was against The communist govenment and anti communist rebels. The war started when the centrist Afghan government was overthrown in 1978. The Soviets backed up the communist government. In april 1992, the communist government was ousted and they returned to their traditional ways. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
500 Muslim students took over the United States Embassy in Iran. There were 90 people in the embassy, and 66 were taken hostage. 14 were realeased early and the other 52 were held hostage. Our President Carter imposed a trade embargo against Iranian oil and froze the Iranian assets in the US. All iranian diplomats were kicked out of the country and all students had to have there visas checked. They were all eventually released on January 20 1981. -
1980 Olympic Hockey Game
Also known as the 'Miracle on Ice,' the 1980 olympic hockey game was a gold medal for the U.S against the Solviet Union, who took silver. The 1970's were a hard decade for America, Between the Watergate scandal, energy crisis, a bad end to the Vietnam War, and unemployment, the US needed something to boost their moral again. Even though the U.S would have won the cold war regardless of the outcome of the game, it was the start of things turning around in America. -
1980 Olympic Games boycott
After the Soviets invaded Afganistan in 1979, 62 countries including the US boycotted the Olympic games. This was the biggest Olympic boycott in history. This was a way of boycotting the Soviet- Afghan war. -
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI): Star Wars
The SDI was created to make a better and sophisticated system of anti-ballistic missiles to protect ourselves and prevent further attacks from other countries. The major push for this program was because the cold war was a time of great tension where at any moment the soviets or cuba could have sent missles at us. -
Beirut Bombing
A building where 400 members of the American Battalion Landing Team, Marines, sailors and soldiers lived in in Beirut, Lebanon was bombed. 241 people were killed and over 100 wer einjured while they were sleeping. A terrorist truckbomb that had dynamite wrapped around gas cylinders was the cause of the explosion. -
Gorbachev takes control of the USSR
Gorbachev was chosen partly because he was too young to remember Stalins ways. They were trying to forget about Stalin's extremist ideas. -
German Reunification/ Fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin wall created the way for German reunification. When the boarders between East Berlin and West Berlin were opened, it symbolized the end of the Cold War. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
The collapse of the Soviet Union divided it up into 15 different countires. Many revolutions led up to this. The Soviet president resigned and the Soviet flag was lowered, and the Russian flag was put up. This symbolized the end of the Cold War
