Cold War

By shaydance16*

  • Yalta conference 1945

    Before the second world war ended three countries decided to meet to discuss the remaining wartime actions they will take and the future of Europe. These countries were the Soviet Union, Britain, and the USA.
    They met in Yalta and the tree leaders ( Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill) tried to redraw the map of Europe. They ended up deciding that European countries would be able to have free elections and decide their own futures.

  • Korean War 1945

    Korea by agreement of the world powers had divided into two zones. From this, the country became an ideological battleground for hot wars between the SU and US. This lead to high civilian numbers and military casualties as well as long-term political and economic setbacks.

  • Potsdam Conference 1945

    The major leaders met once again during this they agreed on reparations to be made to reconstruct Germany.

    They also all wanted Japan to surrender or face the consequences of a "new weapon" which was the atomic bomb.
    Then there became a political and economic division between communism and democracy.
    Britain and the US were getting concerned about the Soviet influence. Then the Soviets were concerned about protecting their borders. The US and SU then became at odds from their different views

  • Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing

    In 1945 the US had unleashed what they had been working on as the nuclear bomb on August 6 and 9th. From this, it was later found only 2% of the bomb was actually used so the bombs full potential had still been unknown. To this day there has only ever been 2 nuclear bombs dropped an that was on Hiroshima. They were dropped their to try and end the second world war as the Cold War was beginning between the US and SU.

  • Truman Doctrine 1947

    At this time the US fought its ideological conflict by creating allies and giving aid to some postwar governments such as Greek and Turkish. The US had provided $400 million in aid. They then asked for support in defeating the appeal of communism in their countries.

  • Marshall Plan 1947-1952

    There became a plan to have a $13 billion plan to help recovering countries that were communist or democratic that was ravaged by war. 17 countries got aid from the US by receiving funds and technical expertise.
    The US required all recipients of aid to submit through economic assessment. This Marshall Plan imposed on the free market policies in Europe. Also, it was incompatible with the Soviet ideology.

  • Molotov Plan 1947

    this involved bilateral trade agreements that helped to consolidate the economics of Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. This would solidify the Soviet presence in Europe at this time.

  • Brussels Treaty 1948

    This was an agreement signed by Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This lead to the formation of NATO and the Western European Union.

  • Berlin Blockade 1948

    Stalin the leader of the SU blocked all road, rail, and canal transportation to West Berlin. The 2.1 Million West Berliners were cut off from all supplies. The US then said that the remaining of Berlin was essential to the nation's prestige in Germany and in Europe. This blockade went on for months and flights with supplies was landing at a rate of one -three minutes.

  • NATO 1949

    Canada at this time becomes a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This was a military alliance designed to defend member countries against attack from the Soviet Union and its allies.

  • The creation of the Berlin Wall. 1945-1949

    In 1945 Germany became divided into four zones from the Cold War going on with Germany and the SU. The SU wanted a weaker Germany and for it to be used as a buffer zone between the capitalist west and the communist east. However, the US and British wanted a strong German economy in a revitalized Europe economy. From this resulted in some places in Germany being west and others east which lead to the creation of the wall to divide Germany into two from west and east.

  • The SU creating nuclear weapons 1949

    The SU started using deterrence as a tactic against the US so they would seemingly have the upper hand. Deterrence created the fear of one country having the capacity to fight a hot war if it came to it. The SU started creating a weapon at this time that could have mass destruction. Then the US also started creating these weapons in case of an attack and was thought to protect their country. But if both countries used these it would end in mutual destruction.

  • Fidel Castro taking over 1953

    Fidel Castro was a Cuban politician who was eventually Prime Minister that took part and encouraged the Cuban Revolution. He sided with the SU during the Cold War due to his impression they could give Cuba more protection than the US could. From his choice to side with the SU had a big impact on the Cold War with events occurring such as Bay of the pigs.

  • Stalin's death 1953

    When Stalin died in 1953 at the age of 73 lead to a major change in the Cold War. After his death many occurrences happened such as the Berlin Wall was destroyed and e Cuban Missile Crisis was over soon after these changes the Cold War ended.

  • Vietnam War 1954

    Vietnam had the same situation as Korea had except the Vietnam War was at a later date. They also were divided and became an ideological battleground for a hot war between the US and SU. There became high numbers of casualties and have long-term political and economic setbacks.

  • NORAD 1955

    Canada and the US cooperated in building a united air defence system along Canada's northern shores which helped create the North American Aerospace Defence Command. The DEW line (Distant Early Warning line) would give the US an early warning of incoming missiles that would come from the SU. Missile bases and nuclear-armed missiles were also apart of the plan for the US that was a controversial topic in Canada.

  • Hungarian Revolution 1956

    This revolution was caused by the Hungarian people uprising against SU's policies they were putting in the country. This had thousands of people lives lost. This impacted the Cold War from showing how SU's policies can fail in some countries.

  • Bay of Pigs 1961

    There was an attack on Cuban soil exiles trained and supported by the US military. 1511 members of Cuban Expeditionary Force landed on the south of Cuba. The US did this under the assumption that the rebels in Cuba would be inspired to rise against Castro. However, the invasion failed and Cuba solidified it's military, political, and economic relationships with the SU. After the US then stopped trade with Cuba in 1962.

  • End of the Cuban missile crisis 1962

    When the US president John F Kennedy was aware of the Soviet-supported missile bases located in Cuba so JFK ordered a naval blockade of Cuba. In a diplomatic breakthrough, Kennedy agreed not to invade Cuba if the SU withdrew its missiles from Cuba. This lead to a period of peaceful relations between the US and the SU after both realizing how close they both came to MAD (mutually assured destruction)

  • Czechoslovakia revolution 1968

    The SU Warsaw Pact lead troops into Czechoslovakia to halt the peace reform it still had a communist bloc.

  • Nuclear Arms Treaties 1968

    This was signed by large nuclear and non-nuclear powers around the world in stemming the spread of nuclear technology in the world. Though this treaty did not stop nuclear arms being made it helped take on the nuclear factor from the Cold War.

  • Warsaw Pact 1968

    Eastern armies from four of the Warsaw Pact countries (SU, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary) invaded and occupied the CSSR and within a year Dubcek's reforms had then be reversed.

  • Afghanistan War 1979

    The SU invaded Afghanistan. In response, the CIA equipped Afghan resistance fighters with rifles from WW1 and other arms as well. When the SU retreated in 1989 they left the Afghan army to fight strong and well-armed which over time lead to the creation of Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and supported the Taliban.

  • Solidarity in Poland 1980

    Solidarity was suppressed by the Polish government in 1981. Then reemerged again in Poland in 1989 to become the first opposition movement to participate in free elections in a Soviet-bloc nation. This impacted the Cold War from another country trying to break from SU's rules.

  • Berlin Wall Falling 1989

    East Berlin communists announced a change with the West side of Berlin saying that the people may now cross the border when they pleased. From this citizens became ecstatic and started chipping away at the wall now signifying the beginning of the end for the Cold War.

  • End of the Cold War 1991

    After the Berlin Wall came down and boarders were open once again the communist regimes were all over Europe and in late 1991 the SU had slowly dissolved in itself that could be the cause of having their great leader Stalin dying years before . After that the Iron Curtain was lifted and the Cold War came to an end