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The Second World War comes to an end as the Red Army moves into Berlin.
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The USSR asserts control over the territory of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldovia, Western Ukraine, bringing them into the SSR. Rigged elections in East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania create communist satellites.
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Facing a food crisis in Germany that could lead to a Western European fall to communism, the USA seeks to bolster the German economy and create a "stable and prosperous Germany".
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Guerillas in Greece and Turkey threaten stability against the USSR; Harry Truman convinces congress to send support to both nations.
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Amid mounting tensions, meetings to agree on a plan for German economic support are rejected by Molotov and Stalin, who seek an economically disadvantaged Germany unable to start a war, and more likely to completely fall to communism.
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The Marshall Plan, designed to provide assistance to all European countries in need after WW2, is rejected by Stalin, fearing Western influence in the USSR.
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After the Marshall plan, the USSR blockades Berlin, cutting off all road access to the city. The USSR stops sending food to West Berlin, and supplies can only arrive through 3 small air corridors. The blockade is only lifted in May 1949
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The USA, Britain, France, Canada, Denmark, Portugal, Norway, Belgium, Iceland, Luxembourg, Italy and the Netherlands join NATO.
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This marks the beginning of the nuclear arms race between the two superpowers.
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Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China, a communist nation. The USSR began supporting the communist party almost immediately.
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Divided after WW2 along the 38th Parallel, the US-supported South opposed a communist North. Kim Il Sung. The USA commits soldiers to defend the South and prevent a fall of East Asian buffer states to communism.
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The new fusion device is announced.
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Stalin dies after possible poisoning leading to a stroke. His insistence that North Korean forces keep fighting was continuing the Korean War, and the cult of personality he created in the USSR defined Soviet society.
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After Stalin dies, North and South Korea sign an armistice to end the Korean War as it began, with the peninsula divided along the 38th Parallel. North Korea became a brutal dictatorship under Kim Il Sung.
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