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Russian Revolution
March 8, 1917 - November 7, 1919. The United States disagreed with the Soviet Union about their government system, communism. Communism is where a society and everything within is considered public property and the wealth is equally distributed. Direct results of the Soviet's anti-capitalism and the US's actions towards the Bolshevics. -
Hollywood 10
Beginning in the late 1940's, and ending in the 1960's the Hollywood 10 were a small group of producers, directors, and screenwriters who were apart of HUAC. This group was accused of being affiliated with communism. They refused to answer questions and they were later convicted of contempt. This changed Hollywood and the US because after that, people became fearful and suspicious of one another. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO consists of 28 independent member countries and an additional 22 countries participate in the Partnership for Peace program. -
Potsdam Conference
July 17, 1945 - August 2, 1945. The Potsdam Conference included the Big 3, the nations of the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States. These were the world powers at the time. Tensions emerged when Joseph Stalin wanted to invoke communism throughout Europe. Winston Churchill and President Truman opposed. The conference was about keeping peace around the world and democracy in Europe. -
The Atomic Bomb
The atomic bomb scared the Soviet Union because it showed the United State's willingness to drop an atomic bomb in one of their cities. The atomic bomb changed warfare in the future because countries knew that using A bombs could end wars and kill so many people. The new invention could be detrimental if there was another serious World War. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the name for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. A term symbolizing the efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West and non-Soviet-controlled areas. -
Molotov Plan
The Molotov Plan was a system created by the Soviet Union in 1947 in order to provide aid and to rebuild countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union. It can be seen to be the USSR's version of the Marshall Plan, which for political reasons the Eastern European countries would not be able to join without leaving the Soviet sphere of influence. Soviet foreign minister Molotov rejected the Marshall Plan and, proposed the Molotov Plan. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a policy to help countries who are fighting communism. The Doctrine was a more specific plan to fight the spread of communism throughout Europe. Specific examples are giving countries military assistance and rebuilding assistance with money, food, and machinery. Without the Truman Doctrine the United States was afraid communism influence would spread and affect poor countries in Europe. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $12 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, make Europe prosperous once more, and prevent the spread of communism. -
Berlin Blockade
24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949). The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. In doing this food, medicine, and supplies could not be transported, resulting in millions of deaths. -
Soviet bomb test
he Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb was a top-secret research and development program begun during World War II. The program was started by Joseph Stalin who received a letter from physicist Georgy Flyorov urging him to start the research. He had long suspected that many of the Allied powers were already secretly working on a weapon after the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939. The Soviets accelerated the program after the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Berlin Airlift
June 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949. The crisis started on June 24, 1948, when Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin. The United States and United Kingdom responded by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany. The crisis ended on May 12, 1949, when Soviet forces lifted the blockade on land access to western Berlin. -
Alger Hiss Case
Alger Hiss was an American government official who was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in 1950. He was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department official and as a U.N. official. On August 3, 1948, Whittaker Chambers, U.S. Communist Party member, testified before the HUAC that Hiss had secretly been a Communist, though not a spy, while in federal service. Called before HUAC, Hiss categorically denied the charge. -
Korean War
June 25, 1950 - July 27, 1953. The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. South Korea was resisting communism at the time. Where as, North Korea was a communist country and wanted to spread into South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance. -
Rosenberg trial
March 6, 1951 - April 4, 1951. The Rosenberg couple was accused of sending nuclear bomb secrets bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. This resulted in the Soviet Union later figuring out how to create and use nuclear weapons in times of war. The Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb, and effectively started the Cold War, in September 1949 based on information they had obtained from spies and the Rosenbergs. -
Dien Bien Phu
The battle of Dien Bien Phu was the turning point for the North Vietnamese, in which they bombarded a French outpost by using strategy positioning. -
Amy-McCarthy Hearings
As a result from his offensive, improper, and misleading outbursts, Joseph McCarthy, a Senator from Wisconsin, was on trial to discredit his accusations against members of the Army being communists. -
Warsaw pact
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. The treaty called on the member states to come to the defense of any member attacked by an outside force and it set up a unified military command under Marshal Ivan S. Konev of the Soviet Union. -
Hungarian Revolution
Many Hungarians and even citizens of other countries revolted against the Soviet ruled politics that covered the leadership of Hungary. -
U2 Incident
The U2 Incident was a controversial event in the Cold War in which an American U2 Spy Plane was shot down in Soviet Airspace.Initially the United States government tried to cover up the plane's purpose and mission, which was taking photographs. -
Berlin Wall
The communists government of the German Democratic Government, East Germany, began to build a barbed wire and concrete east and west Berlin. The official purpose of the Berlin Wall was to keep Western fascists from entering East Germany and undermining the socialists state. The wall stood until November 9, 1989. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was an intensive negotiation that decided whether the United States would declare war on the Soviet Union or not. The disagreement came when the Soviet Union wanted to place many missiles and nuclear bombs on Cuba, which is 90 miles off the coast from Florida. -
Diem Assasination
In Ho Chi Mihn City, Nigo Diem and his younger brother were arrested by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. After an agreement to being given a safe exile, Diem and his brother were executed by officers. -
Assassination of JFK
John. F. Kennedy had not formally announced he was running for office; however, he seemed confident about his chances for re-election. The President, wife, and Governor were traveling through a crowd of people in a car when, he was shot in the head and neck. He was presumed dead later that day. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was the war strategy that entitled large amounts of bombing runs on civilian and military targets to force submission. Such missions were run in Vietnam from the mid 1965 all the way through the 1968. -
TET Offensive
During the Vietnamese holiday, it was agreed upon that the United States would stop fighting on their religious and sacred holidays. However, the Vietnamese took this as an advantage and attacked the South Vietnam's largest cities. -
Riots at the Democratic Convention
After the assasination of Martin Luther King Jr., many riots broke out in many large cities around the United States. These riots were both violent and non-violent. As well as at the Convention in Chicago, tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters battle police in the streets, while the Democratic Party falls apart over an internal disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam. -
Assassination of MLK
In Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr., the leader of the SCLC was shot and killed. King's fight against segregation in a non-violent way was unparalleled, and as a result of his murder, outrage across the country was spread. -
RFK asssination
In Los Angeles, Robert F. Kennedy was shot in the Ambassador Hotel. Kennedy was a devoted civil rights worker and was also a leading presidential candidate in the 1968 election. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
On the twentieth of August, the Warsaw Pact invaded the small country of Czechoslovakia, Originally known as "Operation Danube", 250,000 troops invaded while civilians were vulnerable. -
Nixon is elected
After Lyndon B. Johnson ended his time as the President of the United States, the country turned to the republican, Richard M, Nixon. Nixon had to find a logical way to end the war in Vietnam, and therefor he made that his top priority. -
Kent state
During a tense time in the war of Vietnam, many protesters gathered at Kent state to show support for anti-war movements. Sources say some protesters threw rocks at the National Guard, therefor, the soldiers retaliated by firing shots at the protesters. Four students were killed. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
1400 Cuban exiles launched an attack on Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. These Cuban exiles where American-trained people had fled their homes once Fidel Castro took into power. However, the invasion was not accomplished, after 24 hours the Cubans surrendered because they were highly out numbered by the nationalists. -
Nixon visits China
For the first time ever, the President of the United States was allowed into a communists nation as a visitor. Nixon and the Chinese leader met to discuss diplomacy between the nations. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
Finally in 1973, a ceasefire was reached between the South Vietnamese and the north. Although it was agreed no fighting would happen, the South retook villages from the communists. As a result, the communist retaliated, and the cycle of fighting would unofficially continue. -
Fall of Saigon
The "Peoples Army of Vietnam", after being supplied with military grade weapons, attacked the capital of South Vietnam and declared it to be a communist city. As a result, the United States commenced the largest Helicopter Evacuation in history to save people. -
Reagan gets elected
After Jimmy Carter's presidency, the United States elected a new president. Ronald Reagan's main agenda included finishing the fight against communism and the Soviet Union. -
SDI announced
In an attempt to make the Soviet Union believe that the United States was technologically more advanced and militarily superior to them, Reagan announced that we had created the Strategic Defense Initiative. In reality, the SDI was a fictional system of satellites and lasers that could destroy oncoming nuclear attacks mid-air. -
"Tear down this wall"
Midway through the 1980's, Reagan publicly told the leader of the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall had been keeping poor communist citizens captive on the east side of the wall for decades. With the wall torn down, the citizens could rejoin the west side of the wall, which was a democracy. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
After the constant push and influence from Reagan to Gorbachev and the countries surrounding Germany, the Berlin Wall was finally torn down.
