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Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was President Truman asking Congress to give $400 million for military and economic assistance for Turkey and Greece. Before 1947 Great Britain was giving aid to these two countries, but no longer could. Truman felt the responsibility was now on the U.S. Truman feared that if Greece and Turkey’s governments failed, communism would spread through that part of the world. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was known as the European Recovery Program, intended to help rebuild economies in Western Europe. The European nations received $13 billion (food, fuel, and machinery was from the United States). The help started June 5, 1947 and ended in 1951. This plan helped the European nations a lot, and made good relations with them, later resulting in the NATO. This plan helped Western Europe a lot, and helped us to become alliances with them. -
India and Pakistan gain Independence
Indian Independence
India and Pakistan are given independence, from the United Kingdom. Gandhi started the independence movement after WWI. Gandhi even went to jail, he believed that much in what he preached. In August, the Indian Independence Bill took effect. Gandhi was later assassinated. -
Creation of NATO
The NATO was formed April 4, 1949. 12 nations came together to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This group was formed to be a military defense against the Soviet Union. When you attacked one of the countries, you attacked them all. The countries were: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, United States, and Portugal. -
Soviets test their nuclear bomb
The Soviets successfully shot their first atomic bomb, called First Lightning. To test the bomb, they built buildings near the bomb site to see the affect. Plus the Soviets put animals nearby to see the reaction on them also. When the bomb went off, it destroyed all the buildings and animals. Later the U.S. realized that Klaus Fuchs, a guy who helped the U.S. build their first atomic bomb, told the Soviets how to build the bomb. If a war would have developed, it would have been devastating. -
The Korean War
The Korean War started June 1950 and ended July 1953. The war started because the South invaded North Korea. The U.S. had a lot of trained people and left over materials from WWII, so the U.S. could compete with North Korea. The U.S. aided the South Koreans. During the war, people feared the spread of communism. The war ended July 27, 1953; an armistice was signed with North Korea, China and the UN. -
Rosenberg Trial
In July 1950 Julius Rosenberg, who was an employee with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, was arrested. Less than a month later his wife, Ethel, was also arrested. These two were arrested for leaking information to Russia about the atomic bomb. They were given an unfair trial and sentenced to death under the Espionage Act of 1917. The whole time the couple kept saying they were innocent. After two years of prison (June 19, 1953), the couple was executed by the electric chair. -
Overthrow of Iranian Gov.
The overthrow of the Iranian Gov. occurred in 1953, when Mohammed Mossadegh was in power. This occurred with the help of the CIA, which is the Central Intelligence Agency. Great Britain was getting its oil supply from Iran, when Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh came to power; he was tired of the Iranians getting little money for their oil. Mossadegh decided to nationalize Iranian oil. This made Great Britain mad, and they decided Iran needed a new Gov. Mohammed was removed from power in Aug. -
U.S. involvement in Guatemala
After a year of American preparation, the U.S. put troops in Guatemala to overtake Guatemala’s leader Arbenz. When Arbenz’s army backed out of him, he resigned as president and moved to Mexico. The U.S. picked Armas to be the new leader of the country. After 3 years of power, the army assassinated Armas. The U.S. was letting the Soviets know that communism wasn’t going to spread into the Western Hemisphere. -
Lauching of the USS Nautilus
The fear of the Cold War becoming violent was always in the back of Americans minds. The Soviet Union and the United States were always trying to outdo each other, and were always trying to show how each one was stronger than the other. The USS Nautilus was the first nuclear powered submarine, and won all preceding speed and distance records for a submarine. The submarine was first launched off of Connecticut. -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was signed in Poland on May 14, 1955. This is a treaty between Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. The official name of the pact was The Treaty of Friendship. This pact was like a response to NATO, and had a same method. If you attack one of us, you attack all of us. The Warsaw Pact became ineffective in 1991. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War started in Nov. 1954. The communist North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam. The United States helps the south. In 1954, Ho Chi Minh came to power with his Viet Minh party in North Vietnam. More than 3 million people died; out of those 58,000 were Americans. The majority of the people that died were the Vietnamese civilians. At the peak of the war, in 1969; 500,000 U.S. military people were involved in the war. In 1963, Nixon took U.S. forces out of the war. The war ended in Ap. 1975 -
Marie Shipwreck
On June 7, 1960 a ship named Marie along with 7 men, set a cruise on Marie. Their mission was to test underwater infrared communication equipment. When the ship didn’t come back, on scheduled time, an air and sea search went out to look for the ship. When they didn’t find the ship, they concluded that the ship sunk. All that they found was 4 bodies and some life preservers. No one knows for sure what happened on this journey but some experts think that there might have been a structural problem. -
Bay of Pigs
[Bay of Pigs](http:www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Bay-of-Pigs.aspx)The Bay of Pigs was a military invasion of Cuba. This mission was unsuccessful. The U.S. was trying to overthrow Castro and establish a non-communist Gov. in Cuba. The U.S. planned to strike the Cuban air bases. On April 17, Cuban exiles landed on the beaches and they were immediately attacked, along with their ships and planes. The Cubans were prepared for the attack. A day later 6 more planes were sent over, but they too were shot down by the Cubans. The surviving exiles were imprisoned. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
The Berlin Wall started going up on the night of August 12, 1962. In early 1962, over 2 million East Germans fled to West Germany. A lot of East Germanys skilled workers and intelligent people moved. The East Germans got mad and decided to stop all the people from going from moving. The wall went up between East Berlin and West Berlin. The wall was topped with wire, guards, and watch towers; this way no one could go through. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In October 1962, American planes flew over Cuba, and saw the Soviet Union building a nuclear missile site there. The U.S. took a picture of it. President Kennedy and the Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to have the Soviets remove all the weapons and the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. They even signed a Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, on July 25, 1963. This could have added to the Cold War by having a huge missile explosion, which would have devastated the world. -
USS Thresher Submarine Sinking
On Ap. 9 the Submarine left Portsmouth and headed to Massachusetts. This sub was a nuclear powered one so it could move faster and go underwater farther and longer. Problems on the sub occurred and the propellers were weak. With the problems the sub wasn’t able to come to surface. 129 men died; 112 were military men. From this tragedy the design of this sub was changed, so this wouldn’t happen again. The sub still remains 8400 below sea level. This could have sparked a war, showing a weakness. -
Six Day War
This war was between Israel and Egypt along with Jordan and Syria. The U.S. aided Israel and the Soviet Union aided Egypt. Israel attacked Egypt, and within the first day of war most of Egypt’s air craft was destroyed. After 5 days the fighting was done and a ceasefire agreement was signed. This war showed the Soviet Union that the United States could defeat them easily, and that the Soviets lost to the U.S. during this war. -
USS Liberty Incident
On June 8, eight Israeli planes flew over Liberty. The Israeli planes shot and bombed the ship and set it on fire. A total of 34 U.S. crew members died and out of 297 people 171 were wounded. In the end, Israel said that it was a mistake and they thought the ship was one of Egypt’s ships. This is an event where we could have easily came into war with Israel. -
The USS Pueblo Incident
The USS Pueblo was used to collect electronic communications and monitor North Korea and the Soviet Union. This was important to the Cold War because this shows the two sides spying on each other and seeing what their up to. The Pueblo had new and inexperienced crew, when Pueblo came to close to the North Korean coastline, the Koreans shot at the Pueblo. In the end we surrendered, and the men aboard were imprisoned for 11 months. -
U.S. sends first man to the Moon
July 16, 1969 Apollo II mission launched off at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As the Apollo II was launched into the sky, half a million tourists watched this amazing event. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the two guys that were sent to the Moon. Neil was the first person to walk on the Moon and Buzz was second. While on the Moon, the guys placed a U.S. flag, symbolizing that the United States were the first on the Moon. The U.S. was ahead of the Soviets in the Space Race. -
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)
This treaty was between the United States and Russia. The treaty was put into place to keep either country from developing any anti-missile systems. President Nixon and Russian Leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the treaty. This took place October 3, 1972. This helped us from going into war with Russia and protecting each side from a tragedy. -
The fall of Saigon
North Vietnam was invading South Vietnam. The plan was to conquer the south and make Vietnam one, with communist rule. At one point there were 100,000 north soldiers in the south. The south soldiers became weak and the north took over cities like Hue City, Nha Trang, and Saigon. The U.S. came and took any Americans and South Vietnamese that supported the U.S. This shows the potential for communism spreading over the country, and how fast it can occur. -
Somalia, Ethiopia, and Ogaden War
The president of Somalia (Barre) decided to attack Ethiopia. Ethiopia was having problems with their military and Gov. Soldiers went into Ogaden and war broke out. Ethiopia had half the soldiers as Somalia and few weapons. After a short while, Somalia controlled most of Ogaden. After a year of fighting Ethiopia gained back control of Ogaden, with the help of North Korea, Cuba, and Soviet Union. This showed a switch in allies, for Cold War. -
Falklands War
The Falkland Islands are in the South Pacific. There are about 200 little islands, and the two big islands are East Falkland and West Falkland. The war was over who owns the islands. Argentina said they do, but Britain also said they own the islands. The war started with Argentina occupying the islands, and then after two months of fighting with Britain, Argentina surrendered. The British own the islands now. -
U.S. invades Grenada
Oct. 1983 Reagan sent 2,000 American troops to Grenada. The U.S. had 1,000 students in Grenada, and Marxist Bernard Coard had the Bishop assassinated, and Coard took power. This was a dangerous situation for the students in Grenada, so Reagan decided to take action. When the American troops got there they were faced with Grenada’s military and the Cuban military. Coard’s government collapsed and the U.S. replaced it with a better Gov. -
Ortega and Nicaragua
Daniel Ortega won presidency in Nicaragua. He became president January 10, 1985. This was important to the Cold War because Ortega was forced to begin relations with the United States. With this a couple of years later came a peace treaty. This is beneficial stating that we won’t go to war with Nicaragua and they won’t either. This is one less person we have to worry about starting violence. -
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
With Cold War ending, there was a huge nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. This facility was used for nuclear power. The Soviets tried to keep this a secret, but it was soon discovered. At first, the Soviets denied that they knew anything, but later owned up to it. It took two weeks to put out the fires, 31 people died right away, and thousands would die from long term effects. This was the worst nuclear disaster in the world. This showed that the European nuclear plants aren't stable like the U.S. -
Tiananmen Square
In Beijing China, at the Tiananmen Square, there were protests. The protesters were asking for a democracy and political reform. The reaction to the protesters was to violently clear them from the road. The troops came through and cleared out the people. To get rid of the protesters the troops either ran over the people or fired at them. The Chinese government blocked these pictures and story from the people. This shows the different actions that different countries take on protesters. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was put up by East Germany, the wall cut off West Berlin from East Germany and East Berlin. The wall was put up to stop emigration. Finally the East Germany government said that people could visit each other, from the different sides. This occurred on Nov. 9, 1989. The government used equitment to remove the wall in 1990. Germany reunified in 1990 also. -
Gorbachev becomes President of Soviet Union
Gorbachev was elected president of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev was elected president during the Cold War. Gorbachev believed that the reason for the war was the U.S. and Soviet Union not trusting each other. Since there was a new president, the U.S. now had to earn trust with him. While Gorbachev was president, he gave the people more rights. He also encouraged more openness with the other nations during the Cold War. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
In the late 1980’s Communism wasn’t working anymore. Then Gorbachev (the Soviet Union’s leader), was kidnapped and after a couple of days he decided to resign. December 26, 1991 was when the Soviet Union collapsed, and split into 15 separate countries. This date ended the Cold War, and the rest of the country went to ease, as one of the superpowers fell to exist, anymore. The Soviet Union was later named the Common Wealth of Independent Republics. The fall of the Soviet Union was a huge factor,
