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Berlin Airlift
On June 24, 1948 the Soviet forces blockaded all rail, road, and water access to the allied areas of Berlin. The U.S. responded to this by airlifting food and fuel to their allies in Berlin over the iron curtain. The iron curtain was the boundary separating the two sides of Berlin from allied and communist. Because of the Marshall Plan the US was designated to help the areas of Democratic rule in Europe and send aid and help as they did in the Berlin Airlift. -
NATO Forms
NATO was an important document in US History because it was the first peacetime military alliance the US entered into outside the Western Hemisphere. -
Korean War Starts
The War that occured between North and South Korea. The US got involved because of our policy of containment (keeping communism contained where it was and not letting it spread). The war occurred at the 38th parallel and was considered successful becase communism was contained and did not spread. -
US H-Bomb
The hydrogen bomb was a thermonuclear bomb weapon that was created by the US to further their advances against the Soviets after the Soviets created the first successful atomic device. The hydrogen bomb was approximately one thousand times more powerful than other nuclear devices. -
The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was an agreement signed by the Soviet Union and seven of its European satellite countries that established a defense arrangment against their enemies. -
Soviets Launch Sputnik
The world's first official space satellite was launched by the Soviets on October 4, 1957. The satellite was called Sputnik. The satellite was approximately the size of a beach ball and it took approximately 98 minutes to orbit the Earth. This launch of Sputnik caused Americans to want their own accomplishments known world wide because of the space race that had ensued after the Cold War. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was constructed on August 13, 1961. The wall stood for just over 28 years. The wall acted as a barrier between the Soviet led, communist side of Berlin and the Democratic, free side of Berlin. West Berline was completely cut off from East Berlin and Germany until it was finally demolished in November of 1989 after much detente and friendly, peace efforts had been made between countries. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted a long thirteen days between the Soviet Union and the US under President John F. Kennedy. Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev had placed multiple missiles in Cuba aimed at the United States in response to the Bay of Pigs invasion and the presence of American missiles in Turkey and Italy. Through many negotiations the US agreed to withdraw missiles from Italy and Turkey as long as the Soviet Union also removed all of their missiles from Cuba. -
SALT I Agreement is Signed
The SALT I Agreement was signed into affect on May 26, 1972. This agreement was a big step in our history because it was the first time the Soviets and the US had attempted to limit their nuclear arms against each other. This agreement was negotiated under President Nixon. -
Mikhail Gorbachev Comes to Power in the Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev was originally General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. From this position he became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1990. Mikhail Gorbachev enacted policies of perestroika with his glasnot attitude towards policy reform in the Soviet Union. -
Major Arms Control Agreement is Reached
The Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was written in 1987 and signed into law in 1988 as an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate nuclear and conventional bound missiles between the two countries. This excluded all weapons with ranges anywhere from 300-3,400 miles in distances to travel. -
Iron Curtain Begins to Crumble in Europe
The Iron Curtain in Europe began to crumble in the year of 1989 and was marked by mutliple events of previously controlled areas winning their freedom for themselves and becoming their own coutnries in Europe. On August 19, 1989 about 600 East Germans escpaed to Austria breaking the Iron Curtain border and fleeing. -
Soviet Union Collapse
The Soviet Union was formally dissolved on December 26, 1991 however, many of the countries previously under Soviet control had already declared themselves free. The Soviet flag was lowered the evening of declaration and the pre-revolutionary flag of Russia was raised. -
European Union Established
The European Union was established in the Netherlands on November 1, 1992. The union is made up of 28 European states that all are independent. The union is a political and economic alliance between the 28 countries that spans approximately 4,324,782 kilometers squared. -
Al Qaeda attacks the United States - 9/11
The Al Qaeda attacks on the US made on September 1, 2001 were a series of four attacks on US landmarks. Three of the four planes successfully hit their targets of the two towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The fourth plane was headed towards Washington, DC however the Al Qaeda terrorists did not successfully attack the capitol. -
United States Invaded Iraq
The Iraq war started when the US invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003. The reason that George H. W. Bush sent troops into Iraq was to end the support of terrorism under President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and to remove mass destructional weapons from the hands of terrorists and others in the country.
