-
Period: to
The length of the Cold War
-
Albanian Government
This was the first Communist government that was set up in East Europe. The Allies would not recognize any government that wasn't voted in, and so 80% of the people in Albania voted for the National Democratic Front coalition. -
Truman Doctrine
In response to the overwhelming number of nations falling to an fighting against communism, Harry Truman established that any nation fighting internally or externally against communism would be given not only military power, but economic and political power as well. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was signed to help stabalize after the war. It's main purpose was to say that if you attack one country that is a part of this, you attack all the countries that have signed it. Its creation was part of a broader effort to serve three purposes: deterring Soviet expansionism, forbidding the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe through a strong North American presence on the continent, and encouraging European political integration (NATO, 2014). -
North Korean War
This was a war between North and South Korea, with the Chinese backking North and the UN backing South. In the end, the border was maintained and North Korea was still a communist country and South Korea had a rightwing government. -
Warsaw Act formed
This was a counter defense to NATO including western Germany among their numbers. The Soviet Union, along with 7 other European countries signed this pact, saying that if one of them were attacked, they would all fight. It also set up a unified military command. -
Soviets launch first man made satellite.
The US and the Soviet Union were in a constant competition to outdo one another, and this made the US feel extremely vulnerable. The Soviet Union brought the competition to space as well, and showed that they were winning. -
Fidel Castro leads Cuba
Fidel Castro turned Cuba, a western country, into a communistic one. This was a huge deal, and caused a lot of fear in the American people. The US made many attempts to dismantle Castro but with little success. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The US had obtained photographs of the Soviets building nuclear weapons in Cuba. Once the news came out, both leaders met and agreed publicly that the Soviet Union would dismantle the nuclear weapons in Cuba if the US would stop invading Cuba. Though the nuclear scare was over, the arms race still continued in full force. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
The US gets involved with the Vietnam war, started when Frannce tried to colonize South Vietnam, and does an ariel bomb raid. This continues until 1973 when the US withdraws all troops. In 1976, after the south losing to the north, Vietnam is united under a communist banner. -
Nixon visits China
By the end of his visit, Richard Nixon and China had come up with their foreign policy views, called the Shanghi Communique. This said that they wanted to normalize diplomatic relations and open up trade. -
US supported coup overthrows Chilean Government
The US aided a military coup to overthrow Salvador Allende. They were successful, and in his place, General Augusto Pinochet ruled as dictator. He tortured, imprisoned and killed countless of his people, and to this day the reprocussions are still being discussed. -
US and China establish diplomatic relations
US and China finally started working towards something more than just trade. They initiated hundreds of joint research projects and cooperative programs under the Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology, the largest bilateral program. Later in 1979, they also set up embassies in Washington D.C. and Beijing. -
Communism is failing
1989 was a year of many changes. In Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia communism was starting to fail and be replaced by different forms of government. This led to Germans having an ascape route and Germany becoming a non communist state as well. -
The fall of the Berlin Wall
Since many countries around Germany were no longer communist, the East Germany residents had other means of escape. Realizing this, Günter Schabowski stated that the people of Germany could now cross over the Berlin wall. This was met with much celebration and singing as people literally started tearing down the wall. -
Soviet Union is abolished
After a failed coup in August, Gorbachev lost his remaining power and the Soviet Union broke up into 14 republics. They originally wanted to stay together, but after Ukraine voted for independence, they all went their seperate ways.
