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Yalta Conference
President FDR, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin all met to discuss becoming allies against Germany, as well as discussing the future of Poland's government and rights. This ran from February 4th to the 11th. -
U.S. Attack on Japan
The United States drops the first nuclear weapon ever used on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. This has been seen to be used as to create a speedy ending to World War II, but many say that it also resulted in the beginning of the Cold War. A few days later, Japan announced it's surrender. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill, at this time was former Prime Minister of Great Britain, gave the Iron Curtain speech in Fulton, Missouri. This speech consisted of topics such as Great Britain's and the U.S.'s relationship becoming closer and warning against an expanding of policies in the Soviet Union. This speech began to change the relationships between all three countries. -
Czechoslovakia Take Over
During a time of unstable government after World War II, Czech president Eduard Benes allows a communist-dominated government to take place. The U.S. was not pleased with this decision so they took away money that they had been loaning the ccuntry. -
Truman's Loyalty Program
People began to second guess Truman's policies and beliefs on communism and believed that it was possible that many communists could be running the federal government. This is when Truman created the Loyalty Program to test all federal employees' loyalty to the country, and if they had reason to believe otherwise, that person would be dismissed. -
Russia Tests First Atomic Bomb
The event of the Soviet's test of nuclear weaponry came as a shock to America, because they weren't expecting them to have knowledge of it so quickly. They soon began to question their own safety. -
Federal Civil Defense Administration Est.
The Federal Civil Defense was created in order to protect people and the country during the new nuclear weaponry age. They decided to create it because of the nuclear bomb that was set off by Russia. -
Korean War Ends
This specific war was important because it could have meant the world domination of communism if North Korea had won. This is why America felt it necessary to intervene, so once the war came to an end the U.S. had more focus on the Cold War. The war began to die down through the discussion of peace talks and a final negotiation on POW's outcomes. -
The Warsaw Pact
This pact was a pact created in Warsaw made by all of the following: Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. The pact ensured that if any of these countries were to be a attacked by an outside source would be defended by another one of these countries. -
Suez Crisis
A few months before, the Egyptian President had nationalized the canal. -
Sputnik Launched
The first ever artificial satellite was sent into space to orbit the Earth by the Soviets. This was a huge event because Americans feared that if Russia can orbit a satellite, then they probably have the capability of launching ballistic missles to the U.S. -
NASA Mercury Project
This is approximately the date that NASA launched the Mercury project. This project was created to find out and test if it was safe for humans to go to space. It wasn't until many years later that men actually went to space. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Fidel Castro took power of Cuba, but didn't necessarily have the best intentions for the country. He began to reduce the U.S.s power over the country. America soon decided that they needed to push Castro from power, so that is when the Bay of Pigs Invasion began. Unfortunately the invaders were outnumbered and surrendered within the day. -
Construction of Berlin Wall
East Germany built the Berlin wall to keep the Western facists off of the east side of the country. But eventually the head of the East German Communist party announced that citizens could cross the boarder whenever they wanted. -
End of Cold War
The Soviet began to disperse into separate indepent countries which included Estonia, Ukraine, Latvia, Russia, etc. Soon Gorbachev no longer had a full country to govern.
