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Russian Communist Revolution
The Russian Communist Revolution led to the eventual rise of the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire collapsed with the abduction of Emperor Nicholas II, and the old regime was replaced by a provisional government during the first revolution of February 1917. -
Treaty Of Versailles Signed
It officially ended World War I. It said that Germany lost World War I and had to repay reparations and keep a small army etc. -
League Of Nations
It was an international organization set up to provide a forum for resolving international problems. -
Yalta Conference
It took place from February 4th, 1945 to February 11th, 1945. This was where World leaders Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister), Franklin D. Roosevelt (US President), and Joseph Stalin (Soviet Leader)all met to discuss what after-war Germany would look like. Stalin also made promises like free elections in Eastern Europe (He broke this one.) -
United Nations
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international cooperation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations. The United Nations was founded on October 24, 1945. The headquarters is in Manhattan, New York City. -
Nuremberg Trials
Held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice, the Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany. The Nazi’s were on trial for the genocide of the Jews during the Holocaust during WWII. The trials lasted until October 1946 -
General Assembly
It was a part of the United Nations. Everyone has equal voting rights and requires two-thirds majority making it a bit more effective than the Security Council. First meeting included representatives of 51 nations. -
Iron Curtain Speech
In one of the most famous orations of the Cold War period, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet Union's policies in Europe and declares, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” -
Baruch Plan
The Baruch Plan was a proposal by the United States government, written largely by Bernard Baruch but based on the Acheson–Lilienthal Report, to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC) during its first meeting in June 1946 -
Truman Doctrine
It said the U.S. would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat of communism. -
Marshall Plan
The United States gave $13 Billion dollars to countries in Western Europe to aid them after the war when they were weak. -
Berlin Airlift
On June 24th, 1948 the Soviets blockaded Berlin and in order to send supplies to people living there, the US issued an airlift in which planes sent supplies to Berlin. On June 26th, the first planes took off. -
NATO created
The NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was created when the foreign ministers of 12 countries in North America and Western Europe gathered in Washington, D.C., to sign the North Atlantic Treaty. -
MAD
Mutual Assured Destruction. The use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing countries meant the complete destruction of both countries. -
Chinese Cummunist Revolution
On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II -
Korean War
Ended on July 27th, 1953. It was between communist and noncommunist forces in Korea. In the end, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation. -
Joseph McCarthy speech
Senator McCarthy spent almost five years trying in vain to expose communists and other left-wing “loyalty risks” in the U.S. government. This speech was the cause of McCarthyism. -
Warsaw Pact Forms
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. -
Sputnik launched
On October 4, 1957 at 7:28 P.M. Sputnik 1 was launched from the Soviet Union into a low elliptical low Earth orbit. It was the first artificial Earth satellite. It’s orbit height was 359 miles above the Earth. This put the Soviet Union ahead in the space race. -
Berlin Wall Begins
People kept running from East Germany to West Germany. To stop them, the Soviet built a wall separating them. -
Bay Of Pigs Invasion
In attempt to take Castro’s power away, the CIA launched a full scale invasion of Cuba. It, however, failed and made the US look weak. -
Fidel Castro Proclaims Communist Cuba
Following a year of severely strained relations between the United States and Cuba, Cuban leader Fidel Castro openly declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist. The announcement sealed the bitter Cold War animosity between the two nations. Castro came to power in 1959 after leading a successful revolution against the dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista. -
Berlin Wall Facts
On this date two men tried to escape East Berlin. One made it safely to West Berlin, with some scratches, but the second man was shot. He fell backwards off the wall and as he bled out, he cried for help. The West Berlin soldiers were mad at the Esast Berlin soldiers for just letting the man die. He eventually did though. On better news! The wall is 11.87 feet tall. Pretty tall... Full of barbed wires and stuff. -
SALT (I and II)
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. Limited the increase of strategic offensive weapons when the US and Soviet Union were stockpiling their nuclear weapons. Basicall limited the number of missles in their arsenals. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted 13 days. It was a confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States concerning Soviet ballistic missiles deployment in Cuba. It is also known as the October Crisis, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare. -
U.S. Sends Troops To Vietnam
President Lyndon B. Johnson sends troops to Vietnam. The communist government in North Vietnam along with Viet Cong, went against the government in South Vietnam with its ally, the United States. -
Nuclear Deterrent
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union each built a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Soviet policy rested on the conviction that a nuclear war could be fought and won. The United States adopted nuclear deterrence, the credible threat of retaliation to forestall enemy attack. This happened in the mid 1960's and there is no set date for it. -
Non-proliferation Agreement
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. -
Apollo 11
On July 20, 1969 at 8:18 P.M. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were on the spacecraft Apollo 11 and were the first humans to land on the moon. This accomplishment put us ahead in the space race against the Soviet Union. When they landed Neil Armstrong said the famous phrase, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” -
Kent State Shooting
The Kent State shootings occurred at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, in the United States and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. They were shot while protesting the Cambodian Campaign. -
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS, FRIC was a British stateswoman and politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990 -
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, or the Liberation of Saigon, depending on context, was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People’s Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. This marked the end of the Vietnam War. -
Deng Xiaoping
A Chinese revolutionary and statesman. He was the paramount leader of China from 1978 until his retirement in 1989. After Mao Zedong's death, Deng led his country through far-reaching market-economy reforms. -
Pope John Paul II
He was pope from October 16th, 1978 to April 2nd, 2005. Poland was a Satellite of Soviet Russia and Pope John Paul II helped them break free from Soviet Control. -
Soviets invade Afghanistan
At the end of December 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country. It was a watershed event of the Cold War, marking the only time the Soviet Union invaded a country outside the Eastern Bloc. -
Berlin Wall Falls
The soviets announced that people from Eastern Berlin could visit people in Western Berlin. -
Lech Wałęsa
President of Poland in December 22nd, 1990 to December 22nd, 1995. He helped form and led communist Poland’s first independent trade union called Solidarity. It developed political change and inspired opposition to communist regimes. -
START
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. A treaty between the US and the Soviet Union on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms. They reduced the number of nuclear weapons in each country (Soviet Union and United States.)
