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Yalta Conference, Feb. 4-11, 1945
This was the second wartime meeting between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The three agreed to demand Germany's unconditional surrender and started plans for post-war. They agreed to set up the country in 4 zones of occupation to be run by their three respective countries, along with France. -
Period: to
1945-1963
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Potsdam Conference, July 17-Aug. 2, 1945
This was the last of the WW2 meeting held by Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, which established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for the administration of Germany. The leaders also issued a demand for the unconstitutional surrender of Japan, and the conference mainly centered on postwar Europe. -
US bombs Japan, Aug. 6&8, 1945
On August 6th, the US dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima in retaliation of the bombing on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Two days later, the US dropped another bomb called "Fat Man" on Nagasaki. the first bomb killed an estimated total of 80,000 people, while the second killed about 70,000. -
Marshall Plan, 1947-1951
The Marshall plan was a 13 billion dollar recovery program for the post-war Europe. It was made to help the recovery of the country thoughout 1948-1951, although it was introduced in 1947. It was successful in sparking recovery and met it's goal of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.’ -
Berlin Blockade, 1948-1949
The Berlin Blockade was the attempt by the Soviet Union to limit the chances of France, Great Britain, and the United States from entering their sectors in the city. They blocked all railway, road, and canal access, which started with the blocking off the Autobahn on June 15. The Soviets then offered to drop the boackade if the new Deutsche mark from west Berlin. -
The Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949.
The Berlin Airlift began when all access to Berlin was closed off by the Soviet Union. The US, France, and Great Britain had no way to reach their sectors of the city. They then began to supply their sectors from the air, delivering food, fuel, and other goods via Allied cargo planes. This went on until the Berlin Blockasde ended on May 12, 1949. -
NATO, 1949-1952
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was formed between the United States and 11 other countries, including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. NATO was a defense pact whos aim was to contain the Soviet agression against Western Europe, and was the main US-led alliance against the Soviet Union throught the duration of the Cold War. -
McCarthy Witch Hunt, late 1940s-early 1950s
In the late 1940's and early 1950's, Senator Joseph McCarthy led a communist witch hunt in the United States. On Feb.9,1950, McCarthy gave a speech that propelled him into the national spotlight. He announced that he had a list of about 205 people who were working for the communist party within the Ohio state department. Eventually he was put in charge of Committee of Government Operations where he began federal investigations of people whom he suspected. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a treaty between the Soviet Union and 7 other European satellites, which put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of these satellites. The Treaty included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. It called all member states to fight if an outside force attacked any member in the treaty. The Treaty set up a unified military and remained until 1991. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
On October 14, 1962, an American spy plane flying over Cuba photographed a ballistic missle from the Soviet Union being assembled. President Kennedy was notified and put together a group of officals and adviors. Leaders of the US and the Soviet Union went on to have a 13 day stand off until the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba.
