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Yalta Conference
The first major development of the Cold War was the Yalta Conference, it was important conference meant to discuss the formation of the United Nations. This conference was important as it set the stage for the development of the Cold War and allowed for the Soviet Union to make big territorial advances, effectively allowing for it to expand its influence over other nations. -
Formation of NATO
West was becoming fearful of the expanding communist movements. So they began making a series of treaties to aid in their defense. The creation on NATO meant if the Soviet Union were to attack any member nation in NATO, it would be considered an attack on the whole organization. In response to the formation of NATO, the Soviet government would create their own military organization, the Warsaw Pact, to counter this treaty under the mindset of balance of power. -
Warsaw Pact Formed
The Warsaw Pact was made in response to the creation of NATO. The treaty called on the member states to come to the defense of any member attacked by an enemy. The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites signed a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact. It was a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. -
Sputnik Launched
The launching of Sputnik brought in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The Sputnik launch was a single event, but it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. -
The Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution shook the United States because of the close proximity between the two countries. The US was directly affected economically since at this time Americans owned 50% of Cuba’s public railway system, over 90% of the telephone and power industries, the majority of key manufacturing plants, the largest chain of supermarkets, several large retail stores, and most major tourist facilities. -
Berlin Wall Construction
In an effort to halt the many that were attempting to leave East Berlin, the communist government of East Germany began building the Berlin Wall to divide East and West Berlin. Construction of the wall caused a short-term crisis in U.S.-Soviet bloc relations. The Berlin wall became a symbol of the Cold War. -
SALT I Signed
SALT I was the first of the Strategic Arms Limitation talks between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon in November of 1969 worked to come up with a treaty that would contain the arms race. It was important in the Cold War because it restricted the weapons that could be used in war. -
Iran- Iraq War Begins
With the start of the Iran-Iraq war bot the U.S. and soviets began to get involved. They worked to gain control of the situation. Oil was of large significance during this war and the superpowers aimed to be in charge. Another thing that was affected by the war was Reagan’s presidency. President Reagan’s humanitarian interest in the hostage situation that was happening in Iran was strengthened by several factors: a growing fear that the Iranians were “exporting revolution” to oil rich Saudi Arab -
Yuri Andropov takes over
YurifdasdfYuriFollowing the death of long-time Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov is selected as the new general secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union. Andropov tried to reinvigorate the flagging Russian economy and attacked corruption and rising alcoholism among the Soviet people. In his foreign policy, Andropov faced off against the anticommunist diplomacy of President Ronald Reagan. Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were severely strained when Soviet pilots s -
Reagan Proposes Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles in the event that the Soviets attacked. -
Andropov Dies, Konstantin Chernenko Takes Over
In foreign policy he escalated the Cold War and was instrumental in the Soviet Union. While Cherneko ruled, Russian foreign policy took on a harsher tone, and the Soviets retaliated for the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games held in Moscow by refusing to attend the 1984 summer games in Los Angeles. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chernenko-becomes-general-secretary -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
When there was an announcement that people could now pass to the other side of the wall, people were in shock. There was an impromptu huge celebration along the Berlin Wall, with people hugging, kissing, singing, cheering, and crying. After the Berlin Wall came down, East and West Germany reunified into a single German state on October 3, 1990.
http://history1900s.about.com/od/coldwa1/a/berlinwall_2.htm -
German Re-Unification
A strong drive for reunification developed in East and West Germany in 1990. In East Germany, conservative parties supporting reunification won the elections, and the new government and the force of events proceeded to dismantle the state. This was one of the events that signaled the closing of the Cold War. http://www.coldwar.org/articles/90s/reunification_of_germany.asp -
Boris Yeltsin Democratically Elected
Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin became the first President of Russia in 1991, and the first democratically elected leader in the country's history. Yeltsin was instrumental in dismembering the Soviet Union and allowing its former republics to make their way as independent states. Yeltsin was blamed for most of the ills and hardships after the Soviet collapse. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
In December of 1991, as the world watched in amazement, the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. "Its collapse was hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism." http://www.coldwar.org/articles/90s/fall_of_the_soviet_union.asp
