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Period: to
The Cold War
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Marshall Plan is announced
American initiative to aid Western Europe and to help rebuild Western Europe after the end of WWII -
Berlin Blockade
Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. -
Korean War
War between North and South Korea, in which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North, which was also assisted by the Soviet Union. -
Korean War Ends
War between North and South Korea, in which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North, which was also assisted by the Soviet Union. -
Warsaw Pact Formed
The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War, led by the USSR. -
Sputnik Launched into Space
First artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit. -
Fidel Casto takes over Cuba
Overthrew the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
A failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 -
Cuban Missile Crisis
13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Claimed to be two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. -
Richard Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia
Commits U.S. combat troops, in cooperation with South Vietnamese units, against communist troop sanctuaries in Cambodia. -
Richard Nixon Resigns
Watergate Scandal -
North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam
The North Vietnamese government accuses South Vietnam and the United States of having authorized attacks on Hon Me and Hon Ngu, two of their islands in the Tonkin Gulf. -
Soviet Troops enter Afghanistan
Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country. -
Soviet Troops Withdraw from Afghanistan
The Soviet Union signed the Geneva Accords with the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan that created a timetable for withdrawal.
