-
Russian Revolution
Citizens became angry with the Tartist dictatorship that was occurring in Russia and began a revolt. A democratic party began to form but was later overshadowed by communistic rule. The US would try to support the democracy which would later anger the soon to be leader. This tension would later contribute to the Cold War years later. -
The Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a boundary line that divided Europe into two different political areas: Western Europe had political freedom, while Eastern Europe was under communist Soviet rule. This line would later form the two main affiliations in the Cold War -
Potsdam Conference
With the end of WW2 questions of control of defeated Germany, post-war boundaries, Japan, and lasting peace need discussion. The United States wanted peace for everyone while the Soviet Union wanted to dominate Europe. This difference in views would further tensions between the two powers. -
Atomic Bomb
After the US used Atomic Bomb on the Japanese in 1945, the Soviet Union became very frightened. With this new weapon of mass destruction war would be fought in a completely new way. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine opened up foreign policy to help countries that were being attacked by communism.Direct American military force was usually not involved, but Congress appropriated financial aid to support the economies and militaries of Greece and Turkey If not for this Russia would have kept spreading communism throughout Europe. -
Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was the system created by the Soviet Union in 1947 in order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union. The plan had a direct correlation with the US Marshall plan and was likely caused because of said plan. -
NATO
NATO was the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. IT is an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European countries based on the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. The Soviets later came up with their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact. -
Berlin Blockade
Because of the different views between the Soviet Union and the United States, the Soviets put up a wall in Berlin to seclude and destroy Eastern Germany. This lead to the US taking action and tensios further growing. -
Berlin Airlift
After the Soviets Union established the Berlin Wall its citizens were cut off from all resources. Without aid they would surely starve and suffer many fatalities. The Marshall Plan was then put in effect by the US drop supplies, food, and medicine to the people of East Germany. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951.The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, improve European prosperity, and prevent the spread of Communism. This further angered the Soviet Union. -
Soviet Bomb Test
On 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union secretly conducted its first successful weapon test (First Lightning), based on the U.S. design at the Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. This test was early than expected and greatly scared the US. -
The Hollywood 10
The Hollywood 10 were ten members Hollywood film industry that were against the tactics used by the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). These men and women all became known as Hollywood Ten and they all received jail sentences along with being blacklisted among major Hollywood studios. This was an important event because it was a controversial act against the anti-communist movement that swept The United States. -
Alger Hiss case
The Alger Hiss Case was one of the most spectacular trials in U.S. history. A former State Department official known as Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury. He was convicted of having perjured himself in regards to testimony about his involvement in as a Soviet spy before and during World War II. Hiss Served almost 4 years in jail, but constantly pretested his innocence during and after serving his time. This really showed how scared The United States was of Soviets learning their secrets. -
Rosenberg Trials
The Rosenberg Trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg over the couple being accused of selling nuclear secrets to the Russians was a controversial case. This controversy was because many people saw it as an attack on two people that were openly communist. However in the end after the trial lasting nearly a month both the defendants were found guilty. They were given two choices on the sentencing. If they admitted their guilt their death sentences would be commuted. They refused and were executed. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the most important engagement in the first Indochina War. Boosted by Chinese aid, Vo Nguyen Giap mounted assaults on the opposition’s strong points, eliminating use of the French airfield. Viet Minh forces overran the base, prompting the French government to seek an end to the fighting with the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954. This was a victory for communism and was a serious threat to many of the countries in NATO. -
Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference was an effort to resolve several problems in Asia, including the war between the French and Vietnamese nationalists in Indochina. Many representatives from the world’s powers such as The United States, The United Kingdom, The Soviet Union, France, etc met in Geneva. The United States wanted to help Capitalist France while The Soviet Union wanted to help the communist Vietnamese nationalists. This only raised tensions in The Cold War. -
Army-Mcarthy Hearings
The Army-McCarthy hearings dominated national television from April to June 1954. McCarthy was known for using peoples' fear of communism for his own political gain and was finally made out to be a fool when he accused more people of being communist than he could handle and basically made his own name mudd to the American people. This has lead to the word "McCarthyism" becoming synonymous with the practice of publicizing accusations of treason and disloyalty with insufficient evidence. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was an alliance between The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites. The Soviet Union put themselves in charge of the armed forces of the states that were forced to become members. The Warsaw Pact was a group made in reaction to the group NATO being created just a few years before in protest of the spread of communism in Europe. The Warsaw Pact was basically the polar opposite of NATO and advocated for the spread of communism in Europe and took action as well. -
The Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution was a spontaneous national uprising by fed up Hungarians that began 12 days before Hungary was viciously crushed by Soviet tanks and troops. Thousands were killed and wounded and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country. All the Hungarians wanted was for a more democratic political system and freedom from Soviet oppression. The Soviet Union didn't like this and decided to regain control with more violence and through fear of the Hungarian people. -
U2 Incident
The U2 Incident was a crisis that erupted when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers. The U-2 spy plane incident raised tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War, because of their political differences and their lack of trust in each other. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was an invasion lead by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to push Fidel Castro, The communistic president of Cuba, out of office. The way that they decided that they were going to do this was with about 1,400 American trained Cubans that had fled to America when Fidel Castro took power of Cuba just a few year earlier. This was unfortunately a failure because when they made it to Cuba they were way outnumbered by Castro's troops and most were captured or killed. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was constructed by The Soviet Union in an effort to stem the tide of refugees attempting to leave East Berlin, the communist government of East Germany. The construction of the wall caused a huge crisis between The United States and The Soviet Union. Many Germans after the wall was constructed made their way from east Germany to west Germany to reunite themselves with with their families and escape from the cruel treatment of the Russians and many of them died trying. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tense standoff between leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union that lasted 13 terrifying days. The installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores sacred Americans all across the country and put the United states in a vulnerable position to be nuked. During the 13 days this took place the Soviets refused to remove their nuclear bombs until we removed ours from Europe. -
Assassination of JFK
The Assassination of JFK, the 35th president of the United States, happened during a political outing through Dallas, Texas. Sitting in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building, Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and injuring Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later in Dallas. -
Assassination of Diem
The Assassination of Diem happened when President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother were captured by South Vietnamese military forces. Soon after they were captured they ended up getting killed and the death of Diem caused mass celebration among many people in South Vietnam, but also lead to political chaos in the nation. The United States became more involved in Vietnam as it tried to stabilize the South Vietnamese government and beat back the communist rebels that were becoming a powerful threat. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution allowed Lyndon Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” by the communist government of North Vietnam. It was passed after an attack on two United States naval destroyers that were stationed off the coast of Vietnam. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution launched America’s complete involvement in the Vietnam War. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was the codename for an American bombing campaign during the Vietnam War. U.S. military aircraft attacked targets throughout North Vietnam. This was a controversial move by The United States government because many of the targets that were hit were civilian targets that were hard to see through the Forests of Vietnam. Operation Rolling Thunder was the first American assault on the North Vietnamese and represented a major expansion of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. -
Assassination of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, something that was felt not only in the black community but in everyone around the world. Mr.King was one of the most important people that the civil rights movement ever saw and was the face of civil rights as well. He was one of the only people that could distract from the Vietnam war and get the country to focus on something else for a while and bring equality to everyone in America. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a series of North Vietnamese attacks on about 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. The United States and South Vietnamese were able to hold off the attack but the news coverage shocked the American public and destroyed support for the war. -
Assassination of RFK
The Assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy happened at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary. Immediately after he announced to his cheering supporters that the country was ready to end its fractious divisions, Kennedy was shot several times by Sirhan Sirhan. He died a day later. This was during a very tragic time in American history and may have been the reason why Nixon won the presidency in 1968. -
Election of Nixon
The Election of Richard Nixon as the republican candidate in 1968 was the first time in several decades that a republican president had been elected in The United States. His Democratic opponent, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, was weakened by his own party, stemming in part from the growing dissatisfaction with the Johnson administration’s handling of the Vietnam War. Nixon's views on pulling The United States out of the Vietnam war was likely the reason he was elected. -
Riots of Democratic Convention
The Riots of Democratic Convention was a protest of the war in Vietnam by tens of thousands of protesters in Chicago where they battled the police in the streets. While this happens the Democratic Party starts to fall apart over an internal disagreement on their stance on Vietnam. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley deployed 12,000 police officers and called in another 15,000 state and federal officers to contain the protesters. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Invasion of Czechoslovakia was by about 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks and was an attempt by Soviets to spread communism to the country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with non-violent tactics, but they were no match for the Soviet tanks and troops.The Czechoslovakians have had many problems with The Soviet Union prior to this so they did everything in their power to reject them, but it was to no avail. -
Kent State
At Kent State University four students were killed and ten were injured when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd gathered to protest the Vietnam War. In its immediate aftermath, a student-led strike forced the temporary closure of colleges and universities across the country. Many of these colleges were helping support the war and the strike was harmful to the war effort. Many people believe that these strikes may have helped become the downfall of Nixon. -
Nixon visits China
Nixon visits China to normalize relations with the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC) by traveling to Beijing for a week of talks. Nixon’s historic visit began the slow process of the re-establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and communist China. Nixon seemed an unlikely candidate to mend these broken relations, but even when the Vietnam war was on everyone's mind, Nixon was able to surprise the American Public with his visit to the PRC. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
The Ceasefire in Vietnam was to go into effect at 8 a.m., Saigon time but was violated by both sides. South Vietnamese forces continued to take back villages occupied by communists in the two days before the cease-fire deadline and the communists tried to capture additional territory. Each side held that military operations were justified by the other side’s violations of the cease-fire. What resulted was an almost endless chain of retaliations. -
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon happened with little resistance, and it was quickly renamed Ho Chi Minh City in honor of their revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh, who had died several years before. This violated an agreement made by the both North and South Vietnam to cease hostilities, but by the time the NVA made it to Saigon all the Americans were already leaving. -
Reagan Elected
Ronald Reagan, a former actor and California governor, served as the 40th U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. He became an actor in his 20s and then decided to pursue politics many years later when he served as governor of California from 1967 to 1975. He increased defense spending, cut taxes, negotiated a nuclear arms reduction agreement with the Soviets and is credited with helping to bring a quicker end to the Cold War. -
SDI Announced
SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) also know as "star wars" named after the popular movie at the time, was an idea by president Ronald Reagan to defend The United States by using satellites that shoot lasers to shoot down incoming missiles. This wasn't what Reagan was actually planning, but just a bluff to get The Soviet Union scared of The United States, and it worked. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
The Geneva Conference with Gorbachev was very good for relations with The Soviet Union because it kept the Soviet Union scared of The United States and it also made Reagan friends with Soviet leader Gorbachev. This would eventually lead to Reagan calling Gorbachev out and to the end of The Soviet Union. -
'Tear Down This Wall' Speech
"Mr.Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!" -Ronald Reagan. These were the words that led to the freedom of countless people in eastern Europe and can be credited to ending The Cold War once and for all. One day towards the end of his last term as president, Ronald Reagan made a trip to Germany that most everyone advised him not to do. This trip is where his famous speech heard around the world was spoken and when America felt like they might be free from The Cold War at last. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Fall of The Berlin Wall was one of the most memorable moments of the late twentieth century and was the end to decades of communism and brutal Soviet rule in eastern Europe. The night that the Berlin Wall came down millions of families were reunited and there was freedom and democracy all across Germany once again. This also meant that the end of The Cold War was near and that The Soviet Union was about to fall.
