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US starts the arms race
The U.S exploded two nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during world war II. This started an arms race throughout the world for nuclear weapons. -
The "Iron Curtain"
Winston Churchill gave a speech in which he used the metaphor of countries trapped by communist rule from Russia behind an "Iron Curtain". After the speech the name stuck, and everyone used this to refer to Russia's communist rule over European contries. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall plan was a plan designed to help out countries in Europe who were struggling financially. When George C. Marshall gave this speech, it gave European countries hope that the economic situation in their country was going to get better. He delivered the speech announcing this plan on June 5th, 1947. -
The Berlin Blockade
The Soviet Union was growing more and more unhappy that West Berlin was under control of the U.S and Britain. The Soviets decided to cut off any way on land or sea to get into West Berlin, blocking off supplies to their people. -
The creation of NATO
NATO (which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created by the U.S, Britain and other countries. The main objective of the organization was to stop the spread of the Iron Curtain to other countries, thus stopping the spread of communism. -
End of the Berlin Blockade
The U.S and other countries found another way to supply supplies to West Berlin, and that was by air. This forced the Soviet Union to end the blockade. They were forced to end the blockade because there wasn't any point in trying to stop supplies coming in by land or sea when they were just getting to West Berlin anyways. -
Korean War
The Korean War was started because of Russia's communist influence coming down into Korea. The U.S decided to step in because they felt like they needed to stop the spread of communism throughout the world. The war started on June 25th, 1950 and didn't end until July 27th, 1953. -
U.S explodes their first hydrogen bomb
The U.S was the country who deployed the world's first successful hydrogen bomb. It was detonated on the Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw pact was a mutual defense and trade treaty. It put the Soviet Union in charge of the armed forces of the countries that signed the treaty. It was created in response to NATO being created. -
Egypt takes over the Suez Canal
Egypt made the decision to nationalize the Suez Canal and then put a toll on everyone who used it. This started a lot of tension between countries, and a few even started to attack Egypt. The U.S ended up intervening so nothing too serious came of it, but it raised tensions between countries in NATO and countries in the Warsaw Pact. -
Sputnik 1&2
The Soviets beat the U.S in the "Space Race" when they launched two satellites into space. The second satellite had a dog names Laika on it and was the first being that humans have put into space and brought back. -
U-2 Plane
The U-2 plane was a plane that was flown by the U.S over Russia to gather reconnaissance on them. The aircraft was shot down and the piolet was taken into prison. The U.S was eventually able to get him back by swapping him with a Soviet spy that the U.S had. -
The building of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was built so that contact between East and West Berlin would cease. The decree to build it was passed by East Berlin on August 12th, 1961. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis happened when the Soviet Union decided to bring a lot of nuclear weapons into Cuba. The U.S responded by putting up a naval blockade around Cuba. After some tense negotiation the Soviets brought the weapons out of Cuba. This was the closest that we've come to full blown nuclear war. -
The Berlin Wall goes down
By now, the cold war had started to fade throughout Europe. The Eastern side of Berlin decided to allow travel across the borders between east and west berlin. Many people went to the wall and started breaking it with hammers and picks.