-
Yalta Conference
"The Big Three," Franklin D. Roosevelt (United States), Winston Churchill (Great Britain) and Josef Stalin (Soviet Union), meet in Yalta to discuss post-World War II issues. Since the U.S. and the Soviet Union could not agree on how the borders of Europe should be divided, tensions rose and this event marks the beginning of the Cold War. Image Source: http://www.perekop.net/the-yalta-conference-of-1945/ -
Potsdam Conference
"The Big Three" leaders meet again to discuss punishment for Nazi Germany, who had surrendered to the Allies. Germany is divided up into districts, demilitarized, and Nazis are prosecuted. President Truman, the U.S. representitive at the conference, had suspicions about the USSR's motives about Germany's punishment, laying the foundation for the Cold War. Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Potsdam_Conference_group_portrait,_July_1945.jpg -
Hiroshima
The U.S. drops the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and then Nagasaki 3 days later, forcing Japan to surrender to the Allies and ending WWII on August 15, 1945. The USSR was threatened by the U.S.'s nuclear power, thus begining and arms race. Image Souce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atomic_bombing_of_Japan.jpg -
The Iron Curtain
Winston Churchhill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, describes the invisible divide between the West and the East as "the Iron Curtain," implying West of the curtain are democratic nations, and east of the curtain are communist nations under the Soviet Union's influence. Image Source: http://www.iancfriedman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/0033262.jpg -
Truman Doctrine
Truman declares the U.S. will send military aid to Greece and Turkey, or any other nation, threatened by the USSR's sphere of influence. This begins the U.S.'s policy of containment against communism. Image Source: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/59-1252-3.jpg -
The Marshall Plan
Secretary of State George Marshall announces that the U.S. will offer $13 billion in aid to any European country to help rebuild and modernize after the war damages. The plan was also to help stop the spread of communism. Stalin rejected this plan and severely punished any of its Eastern European allies who accepted aid money; thus, none of the money went to Eastern Europe. Image Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/US-MarshallPlanAid-Logo.svg -
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
After the French, UK, and USA all merge their portions of Germany in June of 1948 to form West Germany. East Germany, controlled by the USSR, subsequently cuts Berlin off from the rest of the country by blocking their roads and railways, and hopes to starve them into complaiance with the USSR. The U.S. reacts and airlifts food into the city for nearly a year until the blockade is lifted. Image Source: http://www.wiesbaden.army.mil/BA/BerlinAirliftHistoricalPhotos.htm -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is formed with 12 Western nations, including the U.S. as an anti-communist military alliance. Image Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/world/nato/newsid_2749000/2749359.stm -
Korean War Begins
North Korea, with the aid of the USSR, invades South Korea begining a war. President Truman and the U.S. come to South Korea's aid, in an order to protect democracy, and again, going along with their policy of containing the spread of communism. Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Korean_War_Montage_2.png -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was an alliance between the Soviet Union and several of it's Eastern European sattelite countries under its sphere of influence. The Pact was formed as a reaction to the threat of the NATO. Image Source: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/hunt/classes/1c/Cold%20War.htm -
Hugarian Revolution
The people of Hungary revolted against their communist government, and after much fighting and many deaths, the revolution was surpressed by Soviet forces. Image Source: http://www.americanhungarianfederation.org/1956/images/1956_hungarians_on_tank2.jpg -
Sputnik
Sputnik is released in Moscow as the first atificial sattelite in space orbiting the Earth. This begins the space race, the formation of NASA, and the American fear that the Soviets will dominate technology and outer space. Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sputnik_asm.jpg -
Berlin Wall
The USSR builds the Berlin Wall to prevent the people of East Germany from fleeing to the free and proposous West Germany. Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Berlinermauer.jpg -
Cuban Missile Crisis
After the U.S. discovered the Soviet Union and Cuba had been working together to build missiles pointed at the U.S. from Cuba, tensions rose. The U.S. Navy fromed a blockade around Cuba, but before the countries got into a war, the nations came to an agreement: the Soviet Union would remove its weapons as long as the U.S. never tried to invade Cuba again. Image Source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/P-2H_Neptune_over_Soviet_ship_Oct_1962.jpg -
The End of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union dissolves and becomes Russia, officially marking the end of the Cold War. Boris Yeltsin becomes Russia's leader. Image Source: http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/history/photoessays/eastroom/04.html
