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Berlin Airlift
This happened after World War II when Germany was put in four sections. When the Soviet Union decided they wanted to have Berlin to themselves they shut down all land ways of transportation into Berlin keeping them from getting food. The United States started air lifting food and supplies to Berlin. Another thing that helped Western Europe was the Marshall plan in which the US provided 13 billion in support to help rebuild their economy. -
NATO forms
This treaty was signed by the United States, many Western European countries, and Canada was designed to create collective security and to protect themselves from the Soviet Union. It is still an intergovernmental military alliance that still exists today and currently has 28 countries. -
Korean War starts
The Korean war was fought between North and South Korea.The United States fought with South Korea because they were democratic and North Korea is a republic. Not much came out of the war. The things went back to the way it was and the spread of communism was stopped. -
US H-bomb
The Cold War was a fight with the Soviet Union based on beleifs. There was no physical fighting but there was an arms race. In which bothe countries got as many weapons as they could. The United States was the first one to make the Hydrogen Bomb which was the worlds first thermonuclear weapon that was 1000 times more powerful than normal nuclear weapons. This sped up the arms race and the Soviet Union soon made their own. -
Warsaw pact
This pact put the Soviet Union in control of the armed forces for the other countries in the pact. This was a treaty between the Soviet Union and its seven European satelites.This pact was created in response to NATO and ended in 1991 -
Soviets launch Sputnik
Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. Sputnik was the Worlds first universal satelite to orbit the earth. This started the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
Berlin Wall
This was a wall that seperated East and West Berlin. This wall was built to keep the people in the west away from the east. The wall tore families apart and was horrible for the people in Berlin. The wall was torn down in 1989. People still see the wall as a symbol. -
Cuban Missile crisis
The Cuban Missile crisis occured when the Soviet Union placed missile bases in Cuba and had nuclear missle pointed at the US that could reach in minutes. In response the US places ships around Cuba to prevent more missiles from getting in. The Cuban missile crisis ended when Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed that the Soviet Union would remove the missiles as long as America would not invade Cuba. -
SALT I agreement is signed
This was an detente act between the US and the Soviet Union in which it eased hostility and the strined relationship between the two countries. President Nixon and Leonid from the Soviet Union signed the SALT I treaty which limited the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles in their arsenals. -
Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power
Mikhail Gorbachev led many reforms for the Soviet Union. He started perestrokia which restructured the society. His democratic ideals led to better relations with the United States. However it led to a seoeration between the citisens and eventually led to the end of the Soviet Union. -
Major arms control agreement is reached
The Intermediate-range Nuclear forces treaty was signed between the United States and the Soviet Union. This helped to aid in relations between the two countries. It allowed each country to make inpections of of military installtions. It also eliminated two classes of weapons system. -
Iron Curtain begins to crumble in Europe
The Iron Curtain divided Europe into two separate areas.Containment is used to prevent the spread of communism, because of this Europe was divided into a democratic region and a communist region. The Iron Curtain fell when the government in the east decided to open the border and leave. This led to many people fleeing to west Germany. It collapsed the Iron Curtain. -
Soviet Union collapses
The Soviet Union collapsed when the Belavezha Accords were signed by the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. This declared that the Soviet Union had been dissolved. This happened because of the many reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev that were much different and much more democratic like than it had been in the past. The Soviet Union had officially fallen and in place the Commonwealth of Independent states was created. -
European Union estalished
The European Union is comprised of 28 countries in Europe and is considered a politico-economic union.This was very important because it created a single currency. The Euro is still used today.This unified the countries becasue they come together on political and economic affairs. -
Al Qaeda attacked the United States
Al Queda is an Islamic terrorist group that was founded by Osama Bin Laden. The group attacked the United States by flying planes into the Twin Towers in New York City. This caused thousands of American deaths and started the War on Terrrorism. -
United States invaded Iraq
The United States invaded Iraq after the attacks on 9/11. Suddam Hussein was also a reason as he had supported terrorism and had killed many of his own people. The United States origianlly wanted to go to war after increased Nationalism after the 9/11 attacks. Unfortunatly the war has been going on since then and people have started to stop supporting the idea of war.
