-
Postwar Occupation/Division of Germany
After WW|| ended the Allies (United States, Britian, France, and the Soviet Union) divided Germany into 4 occupational zones. Each zone was ruled by one of the Four Powers. The zones were created to rebuild civil authority and rebuild parts of Germany that were destroyed during the war. -
Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech
Churchill delievered the Iron Curtain Speech at Westminister College in Missouri. During his speech Churchill talks about how important it is for the U.S. and Great Britian to continue to have a close relationship during the postwar. He also speaks about the importance of the U.S. and Great Britian keeping the Soviet Union from expanding and spreading communism. The Soviet Union wasn’t pleased with Churchill’s words and even said they were “war mongering”. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a speech that President Truman gave asking for the U.S. to assist Turkey and Greece in fighting off communist domination from the Soviets. Many believe that the speech was the beginning of The Cold War. Two months after his speech, Congress approved his motion to assist Greece and Turkey with $400 million. -
Enactment of Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was an initiative passed by the U.S. to aid Western Europe in its economic rebuilding. The U.S. gave Western Europe more than $15 billion after WW|| to help. The plan was to reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbors. -
Formation of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was established to defend the members in the organiztion from communist attack. It was later expanded to defend its memebers from any attack (i.e. the U.S. after 9/11). NATO, since its establishment in 1949, has expanded from 12 members to 29. -
Period: to
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Berlin blockade, international crisis that arose from an attempt by the Soviet Union, in 1948–49, to force the Western Allied powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) to abandon their post-World War II jurisdictions in West Berlin. In March 1948 the Allied powers decided to unite their different occupation zones of Germany into a single economic unit. In protest, the Soviet representative withdrew from the Allied Control Council. -
Chinese Communist Revolution and the Great Leap Forward
China’s Communist leader Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in order to reassert his authority over the Chinese government. He Believed that current Communist leaders were taking the party, and China itself, in the wrong direction. Mao called on the nation’s youth to purge the “impure” elements of Chinese society and revive the revolutionary spirit. -
Period: to
Korean War
The Korean War was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. After some early back-and-forth across the 38th parallel, the fighting stalled and casualties mounted with nothing to show for them. Finally, in July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. The Korean peninsula is still divided today. -
Period: to
Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution, armed uprising in Cuba that overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. The revolution’s leader, Fidel Castro, went on to rule Cuba from 1959 to 2008. -
Formation of Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact was signed in Warsaw, included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members. This passage referred to the decision by the U.S. and the other members of (NATO) to make West Germany a member of NATO and allow that nation to remilitarize. The Soviets saw this as a direct threat and responded with the Warsaw Pact. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War pitted North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its ally, the United States. The conflict was worsened by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year. -
Sputnik (Space Race)
Space exploration served as a dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit. By landing on the moon, the United States effectively “won” the space race that had begun with Sputnik’s launch in 1957. -
Period: to
Bay of Pigs Invasion
On January 1, 1959, a young Cuban nationalist Fidel Castro drove his army into Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista. For the next two years, officials at the U.S. CIA attempted to push Castro from power. In April 1961, the CIA launched a definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba. The invasion did not go well: The invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro’s troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting. -
Building of the Berlin Wall
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) began to build a barbed wire and concrete between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state. -
Period: to
Cuban Missle Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba. Disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey. -
Period: to
Soviet-Afghan War
On December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978. As midnight approached, the Soviets organized a massive military airlift into Kabul. The Soviets were met with fierce resistance when they ventured out of their strongholds into the countryside. New Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev decided it was time to get out. Demoralized and with no victory in sight, Soviet forces started withdrawing in 1988. -
Period: to
Tiananman Square Massacre
Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The savagery of the Chinese government’s attack shocked both its allies and Cold War enemies. The U.S. Congress voted to impose economic sanctions against the People’s Republic of China in response to the brutal violation of human rights. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to cease across Eastern Europe. At midnight that day, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders.Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since 1945. The reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3, 1990, almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
The fall of the Soviet Union occurred on 26 December 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The once-mighty Soviet Union had fallen, largely due to the great number of radical reforms that Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev had implemented.
