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Cuba had been ruled by a military dictator, Batista, since 1940
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There were many anti-communist measures implemented by the Republican presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight Eisenhower
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The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, suggested that Europe could compete with the USA and the USSR as a leading nation
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The year the Truman Doctrine was announced
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Poland,Hungary,Romania,Czechoslovakia,Albania and Bulgaria had pro-soviet Communist governments controlled by USSR
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The USSR and the West disagreed over Berlin
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Two new states were formed: the German Federal Republic (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic.
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The Western Powers formed NATO
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Robert Schuman proposed the creation of a common market of coal and steel to avoid rivalries and to be more competent.
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Stalin died in 1953 and he was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev
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Truman looked for peace and a cease-fire was agreed on in 1953.
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South East Asia had been controlled by France, but French forces were completely defeated by the North Vietnamese
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By the Geneva Agreement of 1954 France withdrew from Indochina, losing their Empire.
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The Eastern Bloc formed the Warsaw Pact
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Polish workers in Poznan went on strike
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The people of Budapest protested against the harsh government of Rakosi.
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A rebel named Fidel Castro attempted to overthrow the government, but was defeated and forced into exile.
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Castro began a guerrilla war and soon marched on Cuba´s capital, Havana, and overthrew the government.
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The Democrat John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the president
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President Kennedy authorised an invasion of Cuba by rebels trained by the CIA.
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A 30 mile barrier was erected across the city of Berlin dividing the Eastern sector from the West
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Cuban missile crisis
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Leonid Brezhnev led the USSR between Khrushchev’s death in 1964 and 1982
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Civil Rights Act was finally passed.
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The czech government, led by Dubcek, tried to install its own type of socialism (Socialism with a Human Face)
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The USSR and the USA agreed to limit their nuclear weapons and they signed the strategic Arms Limitation Talks Agreement
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A ceasefire was arranged.
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Saigon had been captured by the Vietcong.
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Ronald Reagan was elected president of the USA and the period of détente ended.
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The USSR began to change its policies
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The year the Soviet Union collapsed
