-
Breton Woods Conference
Delegates from the allied nations gathered in New Hampshire to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the conclusion of World War II. The conference created the IBRD and the IMF and the USSR did not ratify these agreements. -
Period: to
Yalta Conference
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin meet near Yalta in Crimea to discuss the conclusion of World War II Stalin was adamant about allowing the procommunist provisional government in place established by the Soviet Union be allowed to control Poland After lengthy negotiations, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to let a free election set for sometime in the future decide the future of Poland's government This decision condemned Poland to a communist future -
HUAC
HUAC, or House Un-American Activities Committee, was an investigative committee in the US House of Representatives. The committee investigated allegedly disloyal and subersive activities during the Cold War from 1945 to 1975 when it was disbanded. -
Period: to
Chinese Communist Revolution
The Chinese Communist Revolution was the Chinese Communist Party's rise to power in China Mao Zaedong established China as the second largest communist country in the world, next to the Soviet Union -
Period: to
Baby Boom
The Baby Boom was a period of increased birth rate in the United States following the conclusion of World War II. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" speech uses the term "iron curtain" in context of Soviet dominated Eastern Europe and condemns Soviet policy Stalin accused Churchill of "warmongering" in response to the speech The term "iron curtain" quickly entered Cold War vocabulary to refer to the nations under Soviet influence -
Period: to
Arms Race
Virtually the entire Cold War was an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union The two countries raced to get the most state of the art and acquire the most atomic weaponry numerically Following the US drop of the atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II, Russia raced to get their first atomic weapon, which they achieved in 1949 -
Period: to
Red Scare
The Red Scare was the promotion of the fear of communism in the west, particularly in the United States. Events like the Rosenberg Trials sensationalized the idea of revolution and radicalism. This perpetuated a rift between communist and capitalist nations. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy plan designed to stop the spread of Soviet imperialism during the Cold War The policy implied American protection to countries threatened by communism and became the basis for American foreign politics The Truman Doctrine served as a precursor for the formation of NATO -
Alger Hiss
Alger Hiss was an American government official who was accused of being a Soviet spy. Prior to this accusation, Hiss was involved in the foundation of the United Nations and worked as a US State Department official. He was tried and convicted. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was an American initiative to aid Western Europe in recovering from World War II, allotting eighteen European countries with a combined total of $13 billion The controversial plan was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman In addition to rebuilding European infrastructure, one of the main goals of the Marshall Plan was to dissuade vulnerable European states from adopting communism -
Period: to
Berlin Airlift
The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' access to West Berlin during their occupation of post-war Germany, closing the Autobahn indefinitely on June 24, 1948 As a response, the Western Allies organized an airlift to drop supplies to the peoples of the area By the spring of 1949 it became clear to the Soviet Union that they would be unable to further carry out this blockade, and as a result the blockade was dropped in May -
Fair Deal
The Fair Deal was a set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in his JState of the Union address. The most important proposals were aid to education, universal health insurance, the Fair Employment Practices Commission, and repeal of the Taft–Hartley Act. -
Period: to
The Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution was a socio-political movement started by Mao Zaedong set in motion to preserve communist ideology in the country by ending capitalist and traditional practices in the nation. This process established China as a communist powerhouse throughout the mid to late 20th century. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization allied North America with Western European countries in an agreement to a mutual defense response in case of an attack from a non-NATO country NATO served primarily to ally democratic and republic nations against the threat of communism and the Soviet Union -
Soviet Atomic Bomb
Following the Soviet discovery of the US atomic bomb project duirng WWII, the country worked to create atomic weapons. RDS-1, the first Soviet atomic test took palce on August 29, 1949 -
Period: to
Domino Theory
The Domno Theory was prominent from the 1950s to the 1980s and speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The theory was used by United States administrations during the Cold War to justify the need for American intervention in government and armed conflicts around the world. -
Satellite Nations
Satellite Nation is a term used to describe nations aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War and included Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and East Germany. These nations were under the political influence and pressure of the Soviet Union. -
NSC-68
National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68) was a top secret policy paper by the United States National Security Council presented to President Harry S. Truman and was one of the most important statements of American policy in the Cold War. The document provided the blueprint for the militarization of the Cold War from 1950 to the collapse of the Soviet Union, -
Period: to
Korean War
The Korean War was a war waged between North and South Korea North Korea was aided by the Soviet Union who influenced a communist government South Korea was aided by the United Nations, led by the United States, who aided a democratic government The war was highly unpopular in the west and ultimately resulted in an armistice agreement between North and South Korea with no clear resolution -
McCarran International Security Act
The McCarran International Security Act was an Act to protect the United States against certain un-American and subversive activities by requiring registration of Communist organizations, named for its primary sponsor Pat McCarran. President Truman vetoed the act, but Congress overrode the veto. -
Rosenberg Spy Case
Julius and Ethel Roenberg were American citizens who spied for the Soviet Union and were executed for conspiracy to comit espionage in 1953 The Rosenbergs were accused of relaying information about the US development of atomic weaponry back to Russia The Rosenberg case sensationalized the idea of Russian spies in the United States and fostered a sense of distrust amongst American people, particularly against those of Russian heritage -
Dennis v. United States
Dennis v. United States was a Supreme Court case relating to the leader of the US Communist Party, The Court ruled that Dennis did not have the right under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to exercise free speech, publication and assembly, if the exercise involved the creation of a plot to overthrow the government. -
H Bomb
On November 1, 1952 the Teller–Ulam configuration was tested at full scale in the "Ivy Mike", the first H Bomb, shot at an island in the Enewetak Atoll, with a yield of 10.4 megatons Hydrogen bombs are exponentially more powerful than the atomic bombs which preceded them The Soviet Union raced to keep up with this advancement in technology and achieved the development of their first functional H Bomb shortly after the United States developed theirs -
Stalin's Death
Joseph Stalin died at the age of 74 in Moscow, Russia It was suggested that Stalin may have been assassinated, but it was concluded that his death was a result of complications from hypertension After Stalin's death a power struggle for his position took place between the eight senior members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Khrushchev eventually won the position in 1958 -
Massive Retaliation
Massive retaliation is a nuclear strategy which a state commits itself to retaliate in much greater force in the event of an attack. The United States prepared for a massive retaliation against the Soviet Union in the case of a nuclear attack from the nation during the Cold War. The term was coined by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in a speech. -
Period: to
Dien Bien Phu
Dien Bien Phu was a battle between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. The Viet Minh defeated French troops and took control of what became North Vietnam. The French withdrew from the area and the former French Indochina was divided into four countries, North Vitenam, South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. -
Period: to
Guatemalan Coup
The Guatemalan Coup was an operation carried out by the CIA to depose the Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz and ended the Guatemalan Revolution The coup resulted in the CIA becoming overconfident which largely contributed to the Bay of Pigs Disaster in 1961 Several individuals who were present in Guatemala at this time would flee to Cuba and become major players in the Cuban Revolution -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union, and Albania) during the Cold War, formed as a response to the formation of NATO in the west. -
Period: to
Space Race
The Space Race was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for supremacy in spaceflight technology. The competition began on August 2, 1955, when the Soviet Union stated that they would soon launch a sattelite. Twenty years later, a period of détente followed with the April 1972 agreement on a co-operative Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, resulting in the July 1975 rendezvous in Earth orbit of a US astronaut crew with a Soviet cosmonaut crew. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
The Vietnam was a land war that took place between North and South Vietnam for nearly 20 years. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and South Vietnam was supported by the United States and anti-communist allies. The war was highly controversial, particularly in the west. -
Khruschev's Secret Speech
Khruschchev made a shocking speech in front of the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party that was highly critical of Staln. The speech was designed to draw the party closer to Leninism and help consolidate his control of the Communist Party. -
Interstate Highway Act
The Interstate Highway Act was signed into law and allotted billions of dollars to be funded into creating the interstate highway system. The highway system was meant to provide an effective way to transport goods and military during the time of war throughout the United States. -
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was the first ever artificial satalite to orbit the Earth launched into orbit by the Soviet Union The launch created the American Sputnik Crisis, a period of fear bout the perceived technological gap between the United States and Soviet Union. This eventually lead to the creation of NASA in the United States and the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States -
National Defense Education Act
The National Defense Education Act was an Act to strengthen the national defense and to encourage and assist in the expansion and improvement of educational programs to meet critical national needs and for other purposes.. This took place during the Soviet Arms Race in response to the Soviet Union developing atomic weaponry. -
U-2 Incident
On May 1, 1960 a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace. The United States originally tried to cover up the purpose of the mission but could not deny allegations for long. The incident was seen as a great embarassment to the United States. -
Period: to
TRSSOMM
Technical Research Ship Special Communicataions (TRSSCOMM) were ships used by the United States in the 1960's to intercept wireless electronic communications, particularly communications from the Soviet Union regarding military and political decisions which could affect the United States during the Cold War. -
Period: to
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Bay of Pigs was a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA. The invasion was aimed at overthrowing the communist government of Fidel Castro and ending the relationship between the Soviet Union and Cuba. -
Mutually Assured Destruction
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is a military doctrine in which a use of weapons of mass destruction by opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender The strategy was fully declared in the early 1960s, primarily by United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara The MAD doctrine perpetuated the arms race between the Soviet Union and NATO countries throughout the Cold War -
Period: to
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba; the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full scale nuclear warThe Cuban Missile crisis ended when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove Russian missiles from Cuba in exchange for a promise from the United States to respect Cuba's territorial sovereignty. This lessened Cold War tensions because both the US and So -
The Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique was a book written by Betty Friedan and is credited with sparking the second wave of feminism in the United States. This ultimately influenced labor unions and women in the work force in Cold War America -
Moscow-Washington Hotline
The hotline is a system that allows direct communication between the leaders of the United States and the Russian Federation. This hotline was established in 1963 and links the Pentagon with the Kremlin to lessen the threat of an accidental nuclear war. -
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1963 by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom which limited nuclear testing to underground. The treaty was created to slow the nuclear arms race and prevent nuclear fallout from being introduced into the atmosphere -
Period: to
Lenoid Brezhnev
Brezhnev was the General Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . Hie held his position for 18 years from 1964 to 1982 and was second in length only to Stalin. The Soviet Union grew dramatically during his rule. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a resolution which gave President Johnson authorization for use of conventional military in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war. The resoluion allowed for open warfare against North Vietnam and aid to South Vietnam. -
Period: to
Indonesian Coup
The Indonesian Coup was a series of killings in Indonesia carried out against communists and those of Chinese heritage. The killings were often carried out by the government and armed forces. The purge played a large role in the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) falling from power in the region. -
Period: to
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War was a battle between Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria (known as the United Arab Republic) largely because of territorial disputes. The battle was a clear Israeli victory . -
USS Liberty
The USS Liberty incident took place during the six-day war and was an attack on the USS Liberty by Israeli forces, which resulted in the death of 171 American crewmen. Istrael mistook the ship for an Egyptian vessel and apologized for the attack. -
Period: to
Prague Spring
Prague Spring was a period of liberalization in Czechoslovakia following World War II during Soviet domination of the country. Czechoslovakia allowed more freedom of speech and travel during this period. However, other countries of the Warsaw Pact invaded the coungry to stop the progress. -
Tet Offensive
Tet offensive was one of the largest campagins of the Vietnam War and was launched by the Viet Cong. The enitial atacks shocked US and South Vietnamese troops but they soon recovered and inflicted great damage on the attacking force. The offensive resulted in a tactical US victory but a North Vietnamese politcal victory. -
USS Scorpion
The USS Scorpion was a nuclear submarine that was lost by the US Navy. Ninety nine US crewmen died in the incident. There was never a conclusive reason established for the loss. -
Vietnamization
Vietnamization is a term used to describe policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War by putting South Vietnam troops in place while withdrawing US troops. The term was coined at a meeting in 1969 of the National Security Council. One of the main reasons why vietnamization occurred is because Nixon prioritized relations with the Soviet Union and China above South Vietnam. -
Detente
Detente is the easing of hostility or strained relations, especially between countries. The term is used in reference to the general easing of the tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States which began in 1969, roughly in the middle of the Cold War. -
Period: to
SALT I&II
SALT I&II (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) were a series of talks between negotiatiors from the United States and the Soviet Union The talks were aimed at ending the manufacturing of nuclear weapons by both nations. It was discovered that the terms in the treaty were being broken by the Soviet Union and thus the treaty was never ratified and tensions rose between the nations. -
Title IX
Title IX was introduced to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded program. This resulted from the wave of feminsim which was prominent in the 1960's and 70's.. -
First Unelected President
Gerald Ford was the first unelected President of the United States following Nixion's resignation. Nixon was president during a large part of the Cold War and the Vietnam War. -
Period: to
Cambodia and Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge was the Communist ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The party was led by Pol Pot and committed genocide against non-communists. More than 2 million Cambodians were killed during this time period. Leaders of the Khmer Rouge were brought up for war crimes in the United Nations. -
Helinski Accords
The Helinski Accords as the final act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. Thirty five nations signed a declaration which would attempt to improve relations between the Communist Bloc and the West, but the declaration did not have treaty status and was not binding. -
Voice of America
Voice of America is a news broadcasting institution fully funded by the US government. IN 1976, President Ford signed a law which required VOA to be a consistently reliable source of information. -
Period: to
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro was the leader of the Communist party in Cuba and held close relations with the Soviet Union. Castro was highly involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs Crisis. -
Period: to
Afghanistan War
Following a coup in 1978, Russians troops took to Afghanistan to quell a rebellion against pro-Soviet leaders in the country. Eventually, Soviet Russia was unable to continue the war. The war is considered one of the major factors contributing to the downfall of the Soviet Union -
Solidarity
Solidarity was a trade union founded in Poland. It was the first trade union not controlled by a communist party in a Warsaw Pact country. -
Period: to
Ronald Reagan
President Ronald Reagan served as President of the United States toward the end of the Cold War. Reagan's diplomacy led to major arms agreements between the Soviet Union and the United States which are accredited with influencing the conclusion of the war. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
SDI was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. The system would combine orbital and land based deployment platforms. -
John Walker
John Walker was an American United States Navy Chief Warrant Officer convicted of spying fot the Soviet Union between 1968 and 1985. -
Period: to
Gorbachev
Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev's policies contributed to the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. -
Glasnost
Glasnost was a policy that called for increased openness and transparency in government institutions and activities in the Soviet Union; introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s. Glasnost contributed to the fall of the Communist Party in Russia because it allowed for a criticizim of the Russian government by Russian citizens which was not allowed before. -
Perestroika
Peristroika was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s; often argued to be the cause of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe, and the end of the Cold War. This movement went hand in hand with glasnost, introduced by Gorbachev. -
INF Treaty
The INF Treaty was signed by President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and was aimed at eliminating nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges. -
Period: to
German Reunification
With the gradual waning of Soviet power in the 1980’s, the Communist Party in Germany lost power. Thousands of East Germans began to flee the nation and by 1989 parts of the Berlin Wall started to come down. Government officials from East and West Germany soon met and discussed the possibility of a reunification of the nation. On October 3, 1990 the country of Germany officially reunited. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was built to seperate East Berlin from West Berlin following the conclusion of World War II. The wall became a symbol of the discord beteeen the Soviet Union and the United States and conflicting socio-economic philosophies from the two areas. The wall finally was destroyed in 1989 and set the stage for German reunificaton.