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Conference of the Major Leaders
When WW2 turned to the side of the Allies, major leaders Churchhill, (from Britiain), Roosevelt (from the U.S) and Stalin (from the Soviet Union) met at Yalta in 1945. Stalin said he wanted to control countries that had been a part of the Soviet Union near the end of the war, and he wanted a buffer including the new communist countries. But when the leaders metat Potsdam in July,two new leaders Truman(U.S) and Attlee(Britain), were prepared to resist Stalins's demands, causing great distrust. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a political, military and ideological barrier created by the Soviet Union to shut itself and its European allies away from non-communist areas, especially from the West. The term became known by Winston Churchill when he said at Fulton in Missouri, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” -
NATO
NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is an alliance of territories in North America and Europe that started in the cold war.The main purpose of NATO was to protect other countries from communism, and the threat of an invasion from the Soviet Union. The official document, signed in April 1949, was signed by Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, United States, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Portugal. NATO still exists today. -
"Duck and Cover"
Duck and Cover Videonote, unsure actual release date
The "Duck and Cover" strategy is introduced into schools as a defence strategy against a nuclear attack, with a video of the same name. The most memorable scene is the cartoon beginning, where Bert the Turtle "ducks and covers" before a monkey with a stick of dynamite sets of an explosion -
The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw pact is the name of the treaty joining the countries Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. It was signed in Poland in 1955, where it was called 'The Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance'. The Warsaw Pact was a military agreement where if one of the countries that were a apart of the treaty were attacked by foreign armies, the other countries would come to the aid of them. -
Sputnik
In 1952, scientists established July 1st, 1957 to December 31st, 1958 as the International Geophysical Year (IGY), as they knew that solar activity would be at a high then. So, in July, 1955, America announced that they would launch an earth-orbiting satellite for the IGY. But the Soviet Union bet them to it, with the launch of Sputnik. It got the world's attention, and caught America off guard. This, and the launch of Sputnik 2, started the Soviet and American space race. -
Bay of Pigs
In 1959, Fidel Castro took over Cuba, but the U.S distrusted him as he had a strong relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union. So, after his inauguration, President Kennedy authorised an attack on Cuba using Cuban exiles as soldiers. The plan was two air strikes against Cuban air bases and the main force would set up defence in Matanzas. But the bombers missed the air fields, and the defence came under heavy fire, failing the attack. -
Creation of the Berlin Wall
After WW2, Berlin was divided into four zones: France, U.S, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. As the relationship between the countries shattered, the U.S, Great Britain and France zones became known as West Germany, and the Soviet Union zones East Germany. But by the late 50's, living conditions had changed in both East and West, and the people of East Germany wanted to leave to the West. As the East were losing labour force and population they built the wall so that the East couldn't leave. -
Flight 007
Korean Airlines Flight 007 was a airplane that was shot down by Soviet inceptors. All 269 passengers and crew were killed including an American congressman, Lawrence McDonald. The aircraft was leaving from New York and was going to Seoul, when it accidentally flew into prohibited Soviet airspace at the time of a missile test. The Soviet Union first denied it's involvement, but later said that they did shoot down the plane, thinking that it was on a spy mission from the U.S to test the military. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
As Communism began to falter, departure points became open to East Germans who wanted to flee to West Germany. Then, on the 9th of November, East German official Günter Schabowski said: "Permanent relocations can be done through all border checkpoints between the GDR (East Germany) into the FRG (West Germany) or West Berlin." Soon people were let through and started chipping at the wall. Eventually, the whole wall was chipped away. -
Malta Summit
The Malta Summit was a meeting between President George W.H. Bush of America and the U.S.S.R leader Mikhail Gorbachev. During this meeting, Gorbachev and Bush would declare the end of the Cold War. At the summit, Gorbachev said “I assured the President of the United States that I will never start a hot war against the USA. The world is leaving one epoch and entering another. We are at the beginning of a long road to a lasting, peaceful era."
