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News of surrender broke in the West on May 8th, and celebrations erupted throughout Europe.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Prime Minister Clement Attlee, and U.S. President Harry Truman met in Potsdam, Germany to negotiate terms for the end of World War II.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/potsdam-conf -
President Truman announced the Truman Doctrine during a speech. The Truman Doctrine established that the U.S. would provide political, military, and economic support to all democratic nations under the threat from authoritarian forces.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/truman-doctrine -
The Soviet Union blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin. The United States and United Kingdom responded by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/berlin-airlift -
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established by 12 Western nations: the United States, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Canada, and Portugal. The military alliance, which provided for a collective self-defense against Soviet aggression, greatly increased American influence in Europe.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nato-established -
U.S. and other U.N. members fight North Korean forces. As far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself. The Korean War ended July 27, 1953.
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The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-warsaw-pact-is-formed -
armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. In 1975, communist forces seized control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history -
The Soviet Union inaugurates the “Space Age” with its launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. many Americans feared more sinister uses of the Soviets’ new rocket and satellite technology, which was apparently strides ahead of the U.S. space effort.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sputnik-launched -
Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba, installs Communist government. The United States initially recognized the new Cuban dictator but withdrew its support after Castro launched a program of agrarian reform, nationalized U.S. assets on the island, and declared a Marxist government.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/castro-sworn-in -
In April 1961, the CIA launched what its leaders believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. The invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro’s troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting.
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/bay-of-pigs-invasion -
Two days after sealing off free passage between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, East German authorities begin building a wall–the Berlin Wall–to permanently close off access to the West. For the next 28 years, the heavily fortified Berlin Wall stood as the most tangible symbol of the Cold War–a literal “iron curtain” dividing Europe.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/berlin-wall-built -
Leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba. Disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis -
Citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders. East and West Berliners flocked to the wall. People used hammers and picks to knock away chunks of the wall. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since 1945.
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall -
George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev agree to the reunification of Germany.
http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/85962.htm -
Boris Yeltsin becomes President of Russia. Yeltsin set about dismantling the Communist Party, and all 15 of the Soviet Union’s republics moved to secure their independence. Gorbachev, who with his “perestroika” and “glasnost” program had hoped to change but not destroy the Soviet Union, resigned on December 25, 1991. Six days later the Soviet Union officially dissolved.
http://www.history.com/topics/boris-yeltsin
