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Josef Stalin
Better known as Joseph Stalin was born in Dec 1878. From 1929 to 1953 was the dictator of the USSR. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed into a military superpower, he ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his cruel reign. -
The Yalta Conference
Meeting between the "Big Three" (Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin) in Yalta, discussing the post-war reorganization and terms of Soviet entry into the ongoing war in the Pacific against Japan. While important agreements were discussed, tensions over European issues foreshadowed the failure of the three alliances. Stalin had no intention of keeping his promises regarding political freedom in Poland. Truman would be suspicious of Stalin when the three would meet again. -
Death of President Roosevelt
Passing away after four terms in office, Harry Trueman was put in charge of fighting WWII and had ownership of powerful and unpredictable weapons. Having large shoes to fill as Roosevelt held the presidency over the Great Depression and Most of the World war. FDR left Truman with a difficult decision on to continue to develop and use the atomic bomb as FDR had kept Truman in the dark about the bomb’s development and it was not until Roosevelt died that Truman learned of the Manhattan Project. -
Potsdam Conferences
The last of the World War II meetings the “Big Three” had (Harry Truman, Winston Churchill/Clement Attlee, and Joseph Stalin). This meeting est. a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for the administration of Germany, also issued a declaration demanding “unconditional surrender” from Japan. Tension was created as Truman received word of a successful atomic bomb test after he arrived at Potsdam and told Churchill but mentioned ‘a new weapon’ only casually to Stalin. -
The division of Germany
During the Potsdam Conference, the Allies/ “Big Three” began organizing their separate zones in Germany. With America occupying the South, the British the West and North, France the South-West, and the Soviets Central Germany. The Eastern part was administered by Poland, and its surrounding area, which was annexed by the USSR. On Aug 30, 1945, the Inter-Allied Control Council was founded. Berlin was divided into four sectors and placed under the administrative control of the Allied Kommandatura. -
Detonation of the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima
America dropped a bomb on Hiroshima that killed thousands of people. A few days later Japan announced its surrender. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, many historians argue that it pushed the start of the Cold War. Relation Between the soviet union and the U.S worsen as the Postdam meeting was marked by recriminations and suspicion between the Americans and Soviets. -
Japan’s official Surrender
As Japan's navy was destroyed, the bombing of Japanese cities had left the country and its economy devastated. Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding the “unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces.”The U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima killing thousands. On Aug 8, the USSR declared war against Japan. Soviet forces attacked in Manchuria, and the U.S. dropped 2ed bomb on Nagasaki. General Yoshijiro Umezu then signed for the Japanese armed forces, and he made his signature. -
The "Iron Curtain" Speech
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill criticizes 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.” The speech is considered one of the factors of the start of the Cold War. In this Churchill began by praising the United States and it soon became clear that a primary purpose of his talk was to argue for an even closer “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain. -
The Fall of China
A Revolution began in China by Communist leader Mao Zedong to gain authority over the Chinese government. Mao announced the creation of the People’s Republic of China. This ended the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Party. The creation of the PRC also ended the long process of governmental upsets in China. The fall of China to communism in 1949 led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades. -
Harry Truman
33rd U.S. president taking office after the death of FDR. In the White House from 1945 to 1953, Truman oversaw the use of the atomic bomb against Japan and aided in the reconstruction of postwar Europe. He developed the Truman Doctrine in 1947 to provide assistance to Greece and Turkey in order to defend them from communist aggression. In the same year, Truman established the Marshall Plan, which provided billions of dollars in assistance to help European countries recover economically. -
Creation of the Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine established that the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.
The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy.
Truman argued that the U.S. couldn't allow the expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free, independent nations because "American national security now depended upon more than just the physical security of American territory." -
Development of the Marshall Plan for Western Europe
The Marshall Plan was a U.S. program that would provide aid to Western Europe following the destruction of World War II. Enacted in 1948 it provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. Marshall Plan has been the subject of much debate, as at the time the plan took effect, western Europe was already recovering. Marshall took attention to Europe after the events of WWII causing some tension as not all participating nations benefitted equally. -
Stalin's purges in the U.S.S.R.
The purge was a ruthless political movement launched by Stalin to remove opposition Communist Party members. Fighting his way to power after the death of Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin, eventually declaring himself dictator in 1929. The Great Purge is thought to have resulted in the execution of at least 750,000 people, with more than a million others being sent to forced labor camps. This ruthless operation instilled fear in the Soviet Union and had a long-term effect on the region. -
The Formation of NATO,
Violence erupted between the Western nations and the Communist Eastern bloc at the end of WWII. The USSR oversaw the creation of pro-Soviet governments in many of the territories it had taken from the Nazis during the war. In response to the threat of further Communist expansion, the United States and other Western nations established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. In 1955, the Soviet Union and its Eastern European Communist allies formed the Warsaw Pact, a competing alliance. -
Detonation of the First Soviet Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union performed its first nuclear test on August 29, 1949. Stalin ordered the production of nuclear weapons after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The Cold War nuclear arms race was in full swing within a few years. The USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code-named "First Lightning," at a remote test site in Kazakhstan. -
The "Red Scare" in the U.S.
The Red Scare was a period of mass hysteria in response to the alleged danger of communists in the United States. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the U.S relationship intensified. The red scare arose from the fear of communism and communist power in the U.S. The Red Scare led to long-lasting consequences for the US government and society. McCarthyism spread as a result of the red scare, as federal workers were scrutinized to see whether they were adequately loyal to the government. -
HUAC (founded in 1938)
In the early years of the Cold War, the House Un-American Activities Committee(HUAC), a committee of the United States House of Representatives, investigated claims of communist involvement in the United States. The committee, which was established in 1938, used its subpoena power to force people to testify in high-profile hearings before Congress. HUAC’s controversial tactics contributed to the fear, distrust, and repression that existed during the anticommunist hysteria of the 1950s. -
The Korean War
As soldiers from the North Korean People's Army crossed the 38th parallel, the border between the Soviet-backed Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south, the Korean war began. U.S troops had joined on behalf of South Korea. America's main fear during the war was that it was a war against foreign communist powers. The fight on the Korean peninsula was a symbol of the global struggle between east and west, good and evil, in the Cold War. -
Dwight Eisenhower
Leading Republicans persuaded Eisenhower to run for president in 1952; he successfully beat Democrat Adlai Stevenson and went on to serve two terms in the White House (1953-1961). Eisenhower controlled Cold War-era tensions with the Soviet Union under the looming threat of nuclear weapons, ended the Korean War in 1953, and approved a number of clandestine anti-communist CIA operations around the world during his presidency. -
US development of Hydrogen Bomb
On the Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Marshall Islands, the United States successfully exploded "Mike," the world's first hydrogen bomb. The Soviet Union exploded its first hydrogen bomb three years later, on November 22, 1955. For the first time in history, both superpowers possessed the so-called "superbomb," and the planet faced the possibility of thermonuclear war. -
The Berlin Crisis
The Soviet Union caused a crisis in 1948 when it cut off land access between West Germany and Berlin, necessitating a year-long airlift of supplies to civilians until the Soviets reopened passageways. Similar events doomed the city by 1958. Since the U.S saw West Berlin's economic prosperity and political independence as a sign of the capitalist system's success, a Soviet decision to cut off land access once more had the potential to escalate the dispute between the powers.