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Important Events of the Cold War
This timeline shows the major turning points between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Cold War lasted roughly 45 years and created very high tensions between the two countries because of their opinions over communism. Russia wanted communism to spread to the rest of the world, while no other country wanted that. The U.S., along with many other countries, took down the USSR in 199 and is now renamed as Russia. -
The Rise of the Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a physical boundary as well as an ideology many eastern countries followed. It was created to separate the eastern European countries from the western countries, as the eastern countries, including Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Czech, were ruled by communist ideals/regimes, while the western countries were mostly ruled by democracies or at least less oppressive systems of government. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall plan was created by the U.S. to help Europe rebuild itself after WWII. It described sending money and aid to help the countries who struggled the most after war. This included landscaping areas that were destroyed from battles, removing trade barriers between countries, and updating technology in certain industries. The idea was to rebuild Europe as strong as possible in order to prevent communism from spreading any more than it already had. -
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Russia had placed a blockade on Berlin to starve the citizens living there, as the goal was to weaken the people who wanted change and try to gain supremacy over all Berliners. The U.S. and Britain realized what was happening and ordered an airlift to drop food and supplies off in West Berlin to try and help citizens. The airlift lasted 11 months until 1949, when the Soviet Union lifted the blockade. -
Creation of NATO
The creation of NATO happened in Washington D.C. on April 4, 1949. It was designed to stop the spread of communism and was a military alliance between North America and 30 other European countries. -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
In response to NATO, the U.S.S.R. created a pact between themselves and their seven other countries they had taken occupancy in, all of which were ruled by communism. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a war between North and South Vietnam, as the north wanted to impose its communist regime onto the south. The U.S. stepped in and fought with the south because of the idea of the "domino theory" as mentioned in President Eisenhower's speech. The idea was to contain the spread of communism because if south Vietnam became a communist country, then the rest of Asia would follow in their steps. The war was long and costly, but the south became victorious and stayed free. -
The Race to Space
The Soviet Union launched the first ever satellite, named Sputnik, into space in 1957. President Eisenhower claimed this as a 'Sputnik Crisis' and rushed the U.S. into launching a satellite shortly after the Soviet Union. U.S. citizens were concerned with Russia spying on them and gaining advantage during the Cold War. -
U-2 Reconnaissance Plane
The U.S. flew a plane over the Soviet Union to spy on them. The plane was shot down and the U.S. was confronted about their secret mission. At first they denied everything, but once the Soviet Union brought evidence to the UN about what had happened, the U.S. was forced to admit their actions. This was incredibly embarrassing for the U.S. and their allies as it was a failed mission and was put on blast for the whole world to see. -
The Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs was an attempt by the U.S. to invade Cuba in order to overthrow the oppressive communist ruler, Fidel Castro. Although Cuba was not necessarily involved in the Cold War, the U.S. wanted to stop the spread of communism which is why initially they said they wouldn't invade but ended up doing so eventually. Once the invasion had failed, Cuba admitted to knowing about the U.S. training mercenaries for the attack. The failed invasion was another embarrassing event for the U.S. -
Creation of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was created overnight to separate east and west Berlin, as the east was communist and the west was free. This held a lot of significance because it quite literally separates the communist countries in the eastern part of Europe from the western part of Europe that was free. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The U.S. and Soviet Russia were on the brinkmanship of war. The Soviet Union installed nuclear weapons in Cuba, which caused tensions to rise as the U.S. to feel threatened because of how close nuclear weapons were to the country. Over a 13 day period, both parties stood uneasy and were ready at any time to fire their weapons. Fortunately, the president JFK and Premier Nikita Khrushchev came to an agreement to relocate their nuclear weapons -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
As communism was becoming weaker in Eastern Europe, people called for the wall to be taken down. East Berlin leaders argued the country needed 'subtle changes' even though the citizens so desperately wanted the wall to be destroyed so they could gain back their freedom. Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, finally allowed the wall to be torn down in 1989. -
Dissolution of the USSR
Finally, in 1991, the USSR and the communism regime fell and became known as current day Russia. This was due to the Belovezha Accord, which was a treaty signed by Russia that formally agreed the USSR would cease to exist. Shortly after, Gorbachev resigned and gave up all nuclear weapons. Russia is now a democratic, law following state with a republican system being implemented at the lower levels.
