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Suez Canal
Summary: The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, making it the shortest maritime route to Asia from Europe. Its completion become one of the world's most heavily used shipping lanes. Significance: It's a significant route for energy, commodities, consumer goods and componentry from Asia and the Middle East to Europe. Lasted from 1859 to 1869 -
Red Scare
Summary: The rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrants of radical political views by the federal government. It's a promotion of widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. Significance: It lead to the deportation of many people. End Date: 1920 -
Truman Doctrine
Summary: The Truman Doctrine established United States political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces provided. Significance: The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts. End Date: June 30, 1948 -
Marshall Plan
Summary: The Marshall Plan is a sponsored program designed to rehabilitate the economies of western and southern European countries. It provided markets for American goods, created reliable trading partners, and supported the development of stable democratic governments in Western Europe. Significance: The expansion of European agricultural and industrial production End Date: December 1951 -
Berlin Blockade/Airlift
Summary: Soviet forces blockaded all road, rail and water routes into Berlin's Allied-controlled areas. In response to this, the United States begins a massive airlift of food, water, and medicine to the citizens of the besieged city. Significance: Stalin wanted Germany to remain weak, as a strong Germany could represent a threat to the Soviet Union blockaded the city. End Date: May 12, 1949 -
Space Race
Summary: The 'space race' was a Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites, unmanned space probes, and human spaceflight. Significance: The Space Race has its origins in the nuclear arms race between the two nations (Soviet Union & U.S) following the Second World War. End Date: Jul 17, 1975 -
U-2 Incident
Summary: The U-2 incident was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union in 1960 and that caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. Significance: The U-2 spy incident increased the tension between the two nations and helped escalate the Cold War. End Date: May 17, 1960 -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Summary: Bay of Pigs Invasion was to strengthen support for Castro's government, to accelerate Castro's ties with the Soviet Union, and to lead the Soviets to begin to station nuclear weapons on Cuba. Significance: The failed invasion strengthened the position of Castro's administration. End Date: April 20, 1961 -
Berlin Wall
Summary: A Fortified concrete and wire barrier, built by the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berlin to West Berlin, which was controlled by the major Western Allies. Significance: Fortified concrete and wire barrier that separated East and West Berlin End Date: November 9, 1989 -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Summary: The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. Significance: The crisis marked the closest point that the world had ever come to global nuclear war. End Date: October 29, 1962 -
Perestroika and Glasnost
Summary: Perestroika is a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Glasnost reflected a commitment of the Gorbachev administration to allowing Soviet citizens to discuss publicly the problems of their system and potential solutions. Significance: A series of political and economic reforms meant to kick-start the stagnant 1980s economy of the Soviet Union. End Date: 1991 -
Non-Proliferation Treaty
Summary: The NPT is a landmark international treaty, 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. Significance: Created to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Extended indefinitely in 1995