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Potsdam Conference
A meeting of the 3 biggest superpowers leaders of the world, Joseph Stalin of The Soviet Union, Winston Churchill of Britain, And US president Harry Truman. They gathered together to discuss terms of ending World War II. The biggest issue was the postwar punishment of Germany which they eventually came to an agreement about after much disagreement. This is a major step in the development of the cold war, as Truman had informed Stalin that the US had Detonated its first atomic bomb. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy created to counter spread of communism and its influence during the Cold War. On March 12th, 1947, it was first announced to Congress by President Harry Truman and further developed on July 12, 1948 when he pledged to contain USSR threats to Greece and Turkey. This went along with the policy of containment to defend against communism. With containment, the Marshall Plan, and the Truman Doctrine, the US had a very solid defense against the USSR. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $12 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. -
NATO Establishment
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a intergovernmental military alliance of European countries and the US and Canada based off of the North Atlantic Treaty. This was created to provide security against the Soviet Union. It changed the cold war a lot as it gave a system of alliance to capitalist nations. This gave a major geopolitical advantage to the nations within it and soon the Warsaw pact was created by communist natinons in defense of it. -
NSC-68
National Security Council Report 68 allowed the U.S to quickly build up its military for the Korean conflict. National Securtiy Council memo 68 U.S. "strive for victory" in cold war, pressed for offensive and a major increase in defense spending, determined US foreign policy for the next 20-30 years -
Ivy Mike Detonation
Ivy Mike was the code name given to the Unitted States' first test of a full-scale thermonuclear device, in which part of the explosion comes from nuclear fusion. It was detonated by the United States on the island of Elugelab in the Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Ivy. It was a proof of concept experiment to validate new nuclear weaponry and intimidate the USSR. This affected the cold war because the arms race was heavily influenced by it and it had taken a frightening step forward. -
Death of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin, 73 years of age, had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at 9:50 p.m. on March 5, 1953. Many people do believe that it was poisoning in actuality. This had an enormous affect on the cold war, as it ended the Soviet Unions Stalinist, more fascist ruling style, which had many similarities to the Nazi party. His death soon lead to a short term ruling of his successor Malenkov, then was passed to Khrushchev. Khrushchev had a fairer ruling and was more cooperative with the US. -
Rosenberg trial
A court case involving Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, an American couple who were executed in 1953 as accused spies for the Soviet Union, as suspicions were high during the era of McCarthy. -
Korea Armistice Agreement
An Armistice that did not put North and South Korea into peace, but put the nations at a cease fire position that still holds today -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact, or the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet communistic states in Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. This was an antithesis to NATO and was formed in defense of it. This affected the rest of the cold car because the alliances of both communist and capitalist states made each side stronger and the locations of allies helped military and political strategy. -
Geneva Summit
he Geneva Summit of 1955 was a Cold War meeting in Geneva, Switzerland of "The Big Four". This was President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Britain, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Edgar Faure of France. -
NASA founding
NASA or, National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created as a result of the space race between USA and the Soviet Union in the 1950s, NASA was created in 1958 from NACA (founded in 1915) and other related organizations. It was founded under the presidency of Eisenhower. This affected the cold war due to the fact that it furthered the space race between the USSR and the US. This technology race allowed for new discoveries ,especially in nuclear weaponry, on both sides. -
Suez Canal Crisis
A major international incident 1956 from the decision by Gamal A. Nasser of Egypt to nationalize the Suez Canal, which had previously been controlled by Great Britain. -
U-2 Incident
The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down while in Soviet airspace. The US tried many different covers to keep tension from building during a time of supposed peace, but Khrushchev was already very suspicious of American spies. It was not long until there was once again high tension between the two nations due to the suspicious activity of both. -
President Eisenhower's Exit Speech
This was Eisenhower's speech during is exit as president before Kennedy's inauguration. In this speech he described the issues of the war involving the "Military Industrial Complex". In this speech he states "we must guard against (...) the military industrial complex." This was directed towards the U.S., so the Soviet Union did not have a major reaction. This had a major affect on the future of power spread and political influences in war, and still affects us today through military spending. -
Kennedy Elected
John F. Kennedy's inauguration into presidency -
Berlin Wall Built
Concrete and wire barrier that separated East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. It was built overnight by the government of what was then East Germany to keep East Berliners from defecting to the West. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
President John F. Kennedy was informed of a U-2 spy-plane's discovery of Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles in secretly placed in Cuba. The Bay of Pigs incident was a major leading factor into the crisis as it created tension between the USSR and Cuba. The two nations were in brinkmanship and due to miscommunication they almost launched nuclear bombs on each other and destroyed the entire planet. The 13 day period then ended peacefully after almost sparking World War III. -
Kennedy's Assassination
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas along with Vice-President Lyndon Johnson and Texas Governor John Connally. -
Ronald Reagan's Star Wars Speech
Reagan's speech describing the SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative), a device he believe would win the war, except it was non existent and a major impossibility. Many believe this speech was a major part of the Cold War's end.
