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The first use of the Atomic Bomb
The US is in an arms race with Germany to create the first atomic bomb. With the help of Albert Einstein the Manhattan project, the US successfully develops an Atomic bomb. The US drops an atomic bomb over Hiroshima Japan killing 71 000 people and injuring 68 000. This ended the Second World War. -
The Gouzenko Affair
Igor Gouzenko took intelligence training in 1943 and was appointed cipher clerk at the Soviet legation in Ottawa. This is where he learned that Soviet intelligence operated several spy networks in Canada. Threats of the capturing and deportation of Gouzenko by the Soviets lead to the Canadian government providing him protective custody. Several suspects were arrested and detained. The communist soviets were not to be trusted symbolizing the beginning of the Cold War. -
The Formation of the United Nations
Canada along with China, France, the United Kingdom, the US and the Soviet Union were among the 50 countries from around the globe that met in San Francisco to sign the United Nations Charter. The United Nations mission is to promote peace, security, economic development, social justice and fundamental human rights and freedom. The formation of the United Nations put an end to the unsuccessful League of Nations. -
The Formation of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in order to protect member countries from an attack by the USSR. NATO members agreed to defend one another if an attack from the USSR ever occurred. Countries including Canada, Luxembourg, US, France, Denmark, Iceland, Belgium, Italy, Great Britain, Norway, Holland and Portugal are members of NATO. -
The Korean War
The Korean war was caused because North Korea wanted South Korea to become a communist country. North Korean armed forces invaded South Korea. 26,791 Canadian soldiers fought in the war for the UN and severed as peace keepers afterwards. An armistice treaty was signed on July 27 1953 and the spread of communism to South Korea was stopped. -
The Formation of the Warsaw Pact
The Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact alliance in response to the creation of NATO. The Warsaw pact was to protect communist countries from NATO. The countries in the Warsaw pact included the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania. -
The Vietnam War
There was a conflict between communist Northern Vietnam and Southern Vietnam. Communist China backed Northern Vietnam while the US supported Southern Vietnam. Canada was neutral during the Vietnam War and served as peacekeepers. The Vietnam war was extremely fatal, with a total of 1.7 million Vietnamese people dead, 3 million wounded and 13 million declared refugees. The Vietnam war ended in April 1975 and remained as a communist state. -
The Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis was a military and political confrontation in Egypt that threatened to divide the United States and Great Britain. Canadian Lester B. Pearson, won a Nobel Peace Prize for using the world’s first, large-scale United Nations peacekeeping force to de-escalate the situation. This was the height of Canada's role as the middle power and was the beginning of the Canada’s peacekeeping involvement in the united nations. -
The Formation of NORAD
The US and Canada created the North American Air Defense Agreement (NORAD). NORAD combined the air defense forces of the two countries with an American commander and a Canadian second-in-command. Canada, joined with the US, built three lines of radar to provide an early warning of an attack by the USSR. -
The Cancellation of the Avro Arrow
Avro Arrow (CF-105) was an advanced, supersonic, tall-weather interceptor jet aircraft that was designed to carried nuclear tipped missiles. The purpose of the Avro Arrow could was to counter a potential soviet attack. The government had doubted a Soviet attack and did not want to use nuclear weapons. This caused the cancellation of the Avro Arrow. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis began when American surveillance planes took photographs that showed the USSR was installing a missile base in Cuba. This caused a nuclear crisis because missiles launched from Cuba would be able to hit Canadian and American cities. The American forces and NORAD were prepared for war. The crisis was averted when the USSR ship containing carried missiles turned around and dismantled the missile base if the US promised to they would not invade Cuba. -
The SALT Treaty
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) treaty is to contain the arms race. Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev, met with U.S. President Richard Nixon and the treaty was signed on May 26th 1976. This treaty was used to control the amount of nuclear weapons created in the arms race between the USSR and the US. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The US President Ronald Reagan developed a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from the Soviet Union. His defense plans included space- and ground-based nuclear X-ray lasers, subatomic particle beams, and computer-guided projectiles fired by electromagnetic rail guns—all under the central control of a supercomputer system. This hopeful and revolutionary defense system that was eventually abandoned. -
The Fall of The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall separated communist eastern Germany from fascist western Germany. Eastern Germany changed its relationship with the west and the Berlin Wall was knocked down. This unified Germany and symbolized that the cold war was the beginning to end. -
The Break up of the Soviet Union
The Break up of the Soviet Union began when Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia declared their Independence from Moscow. Then,11 soviet representatives (Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) declared that they were no longer a part of the soviet union. These countries became common wealth of independent states.
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/fall-of-soviet-union
