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Russian Revolution
Groups in Russia revolted and Stalin came to power to create The Soviet Union, a communist ruled society that troubled the United States. March 8, 1917 - November 7, 1917 -
The Potsdam Confrence
The major powers got together to decide what would happen to post war Europe and what to do about Japan. The Soviet Union openly spoke about wanting to spread communism which worried the United States and Great Britain. July 17, 1945 - August 2, 1945 -
The Atomic Bomb Hiroshima/Nagasaki
The United States dropped the first atomic bombs in Japan on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This gave the United States leverage over the Soviet Union because they did not yet have this technology. August 6, 1945 - August 9, 1945 -
Iron Curtain
The boundary that divided Europe between Soviet controlled land and everything else. The idea was first introduced by Winston Churchill shortly after the end of WWII. 1945 - 1991 -
Molotov Plan
The Soviet Union's plan to rebuild European countries that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union. -
The Hollywood 10
A group of 10 big names in Hollywood who did not agree to appear before court, as other actors, producers, and directors had during the Red Scare. These 10 were eventually convicted of contempt and sent to prison. -
Truman Doctrine
The United States policy proposed by Harry S. Truman that stated that the United States would provide aid to any country that opposed Soviet expansion. March 12, 1947 - July 12, 1948 -
Alger Hiss Case
Alger hiss was accused of being a Soviet spy and was convicted of perjury in 1950. He sentenced two five-year sentences, but only ended up serving three and a half. Before he was tried and convicted, he was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a US State Department official and as a U.N. official. This began the fear of communism in America. -
Marshall Plan
An American initiative to aid West Europe where the United States gave over $13 Billion in economic assistance. -
Berlin Blockade
To force the Western Allies out of west Berlin, Stalin cut off all roads leading to Berlin in hopes to starve its people into submission. June 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949 -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift took place to show Stalin that the United States would not let the Soviet Union take control of Berlin. After the Berlin Blockade planes were flown into West Berlin to give supplies to the Western Allies, this led to Stalin giving up and ending the blockade. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance between several North American and European countries. It was initially formed to combat the threat of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. -
Soviet Bomb Test
The Soviet Bomb Test was unexpected by the United States. They believed it would take much longer for the Soviet Union to produce an atomic bomb. This took away the United States' advantage of being the only country with atomic weapons. -
Korean War
North Korea invaded South Korea with the support of communist China and Soviet Union. The United States aided South Korea in an effort to contain communism. -
Rosenberg Trial
Julius and Ethel Rosenburg were accused of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were United States citizens who were tried and convicted of committing espionage and were eventually sentenced to death. They were executed by electric chair and their deaths only aided to the growth of the fear of communism throughout America. -
Army-McCarthy Hearings
The Army-McCarthy hearings were a series hearings of held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations. These hearings investigated accusations made between Joseph McCarthy and the United States Army. -
Battle of Dien Bien Fhu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climatic confrontation in the First Indochina War between the Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries and the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps. The French meant it to be a battle to draw out the Vietnamese and destroy them. However, the battle ended in a French defeat. The outcome of the battle influenced negotiations that were occurring at the Geneva Conference at the time. -
Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference was a conference among several nations the took place in Geneva, Switzerland. It was held to help settle issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War. It did not end up affecting Korea, but it did have long-lasting repercussions on the dismantling of French Indochina. The agreement temporarily separated Vietnam into two zones, and three separate ceasefire accords were signed which covered Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance between the Soviet Union and several Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. It was made to oppose NATO. -
Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a nationwide revolt against the Hungarian People's Republic and it's Soviet-imposed policies. It was the first threat to Soviet power since Nazi Germany at the end of the war. -
U2 Incident
The U2 Incident refers to when a U-2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace while it was taking pictures military bases and contained American spy technology. The Soviets exposed the US' motives. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed CIA mission to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro. The group was defeated by Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces within three days. Due to this failed invasion, the relationship between the US and Cuba became even worse than it already was and made Castro a national hero. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. It was constructed by the German Democratic Republic, and it cut of West Berlin from the rest of the city and ideally quarantined the section. The division was an attempt by the Soviet Union to force Berlin's people to accept communistic rule. No food or supplies was allowed in the West Berlin, and soon its citizens were starting to starve and suffer. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It concerned the Soviet Union's missile deployment in Cuba. The Soviet Union placed missiles on Cuba in order to deter any future invasions after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. The U.S. feared the Soviet Union would use the missiles in an attack. It resulted in withdrawal of the missiles from Cuba and an agreement between the Soviet Union and the U.S. that they would not invade Cuba without provocation. -
Assassination of Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem was the U.S. supported president of South Vietnam. He was greatly disliked by his people and he wasn't seen as truly Vietnamese. Eventually, Diem, along with his brother, were arrested and assassinated by ARVN officers. The plot was also known of and supported by the United States, because they had grown to dislike South Vietnam leader. This led to the U.S. instituting a new leader, but he was eventually discovered to be just the same as the last U.S. supported leader. -
Assassination of JFK
John F. Kennedy was riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas when he was shot and killed by former U.S. Marine, Lee Harvey Oswald, who acted alone in carrying out the assassination. This was the fourth time a president had been assassinated. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was a joint resolution to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. It was passed by the United States Congress in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The resolution authorized the president to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war by Congress. The resolution began the rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam and open warfare between North Vietnam and the U.S. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was a campaign conducted the the U.S. 2nd Air Division, U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force which had four main goals. The campaign wanted to boost the morale of the Saigon regime in the Republic of Vietnam, to persuade North Vietnam to stop its efforts to make the South contain a communistic government, to destroy North Vietnam's transportation system, industrial base, and air defenses, and to stop the flow of men and material into South Vietnam. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was one of the largest military campaigns during the Vietnam War. It was a surprise attack by North Vietnam against command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. It resulted in heavy casualties on both sides, a U.S. and South Vietnamese tactical victory, a North Vietnamese propaganda, political, and strategic victory, and depletion of Viet Cong leading to the use of greater North Vietnamese manpower. -
Assassination of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a sniper, James Earl Ray, while he was staying at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The death of the Civil Rights Movement's most famous leader brought the black community even closer together and fueled their fight for justice. -
Assassination of RFK
Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He was killed not long after winning the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian/Jordanian immigrant, was convicted of Kennedy's murder and sentenced to death in 1969. However, he ended up serving a life sentence in prison. His death took a blow to the optimism of the U.S. population. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia was a joint invasion by five Warsaw Pact nations. These nations were the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, and Poland. The country was attacked at night by 250,000 Warsaw pact troops. It resulted in the Warsaw Pact victory, which instituted the Moscow Protocol, resignation of the First Secretary of the Communist Party, election of a new secretary and the beginning of the Normalization era. -
Riots of Democratic Convention
The riots of democratic convention occurred in Chicago when tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters battled with the police in the streets. At the democratic convention, the Democratic Party was debating its stance on Vietnam. The riots sparked a large-scale change in American society; Americans started to oppose the war because they believed it was pointless and wrongheaded. -
Election of Nixon
Richard Nixon ran as the Republican nominee and won the 1968 election. He campaigned to bring peace to the U.S. and end the war. Nixon also pledged to bring the divided nation together. -
Kent State
The Kent State shootings occurred during a protest by college students on the unnecessary U.S. involvement of the Vietnam War. Four unarmed college students were killed by guardsmen trying to contain the protest. Nine others were also wounded. The event created a national response-over 4 million students went on strike, causing schools to close. The event also further affected public opinion over the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. -
Nixon Visits China
President Nixon's visit to China was an important strategic and diplomatic overture which caused the rapprochement between the U.S. and China. Nixon stayed in China for seven days, and his arrival there brought an end to 25 years of no communication or diplomatic ties between the two countries. The visit resulted in a peaceful settlement of the political status in Taiwan and to open trade in other contacts. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
In the beginning of 1973, President Nixon ordered a ceasefire on the aerial bombings in North Vietnam. After Dr. Henry Kissinger came back to Washington from France with a draft peace proposal, the decision was made. However, combat missions continued in South Vietnam. -
Fall of Saigon
Saigon fell when North Vietnamese forces began there final attack on the city. They bombarded the Army of the Republic of Vietnam forces with heavy artillery. The fall of Saigon resulted in the end of the Vietnam War, where Vietnam had a provisional government. There was a mass surge of refugees, Vietnamese reunification, and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. -
Reagan Elected
Reagan was elected in the 1980 presidential election. The main debate between the election's candidates was on the ongoing Iran hostage crisis. Reagan proposed to lower taxes to stimulate the economy, have less government involvement in people's lives, focus on states' rights, and harness a strong national defense. Reagan brought changes to the U.S. economy and expanded its military, and he also was a key contributor to the end of the Cold War. -
SDI Announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization(SDI), was a proposed missile defense system to protect the United States from attacks by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. The concept was announced by Ronald Reagan, who asked U.S. scientists and engineers to develop a nuclear weapon defeating system. The plan was unofficially labeled "Star Wars". At the end of the Cold War support for the SDI collapsed and it ended in 1993. It paved the way for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization(BMDO). -
Geneva Confrence with Gorbachev
The Geneva Conference was held in Geneva, Switzerland. Talks were held by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on international diplomatic relations and the arms race. The conference did not accomplish much, but did lead to more similar conferences in the future with Gorbachev and George W. Bush when he later became president as well as a personal relationship between the two. -
'Tear Down This Wall' Speech
Ronald Reagan traveled to West Berlin in 1987 to confront the Soviet leader to tear down the wall that had divided West and East Berlin for so long. It was a call for change and human rights, and it was a daring and moving speech. Soon after the speech was made, the Soviet leader did tear down the wall and united Berlin once more. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
Two years after the famous "Tear Down This Wall" speech made by Ronald Reagan, the Berlin Wall began to be demolished. People with any tool they could find attacked the wall and took as much of it as apart as was possible for themselves. Bulldozers knocked down walls and crowds appeared on both sides cheering and waiting with anticipation to reunite with family and friends for the first time in many years. The fall of the wall marked the first critical step towards German reunification.
