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Potsdam Conference (July 17 -Aug 2, 1945)
Conference at the end of the war in Europe between the U.S, Russia, and the UK. Discussion of post-war Germany. Stalin promises free elections in E. Europe -
Atomic bomb Hiroshima &Nagasaki (Aug 6-9, 1945)
The Atomic bomb changes the way of war, a weapon with great explosive power that results from the sudden release of energy upon the splitting, or fission, of the nuclei of a heavy element such as plutonium or uranium. With rising tensions with the Soviet Union, The U.S.A had a hand over the others with this new technology. The Soviets knew of the mass destruction and had been informed of the production from spies even before the destruction of Japan and was working on getting their own -
Long Telegram (February 1946 (date unknown))
Long Telegram is an 8,000-word telegraph sent by George F. Kennan a U.S. ambassador in Russian addressing actions to take in the future referring to Stalin's dictatorship and foreign affairs. He stated that the Soviet union's people were not ready for another war. He also described of Stalin's unpopular rule where he suppressed all that would not bend to his beliefs. George believed that the best action is the containment strategy, stopping them from advancing. -
Iron Curtain Speech (March 5, 1946)
Winston Churchill the former British prime minister gave a speech in Fulton Missouri warning the U.S of Russian rule saying that we need to act, keeping peace as the new super power to hold Soviet communism at bay. -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry S. Truman presented an address before a joint congress asking money for Greece and Turkey to support them against the Soviet Union. This implied that the United States would be helping all democratic nations under threat from the soviet union by providing political-military and economic assistance to help stop communism. -
Marshall Plan
Launched by the secretary of state George Marshall, the proposal to donate a lot of money to west Europe to build back after the war. The purpose was to prevent the spread of communism and have democracy & free trade be favorited. -
Hollywood 10
October 1947 A group of 10 motion picture producers and screenwriters in Hollywood refused to answer under the first amendment rights about whether they were connected with communism before the House Un-American Activities Committee(HUAC). They were all sent to prison from anywhere from 6mounths to a year for contempt of Congress and blacklisted by Hollywood studios. Both Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan, the President of the Screen Actors Guild testified. -
The Berlin Airlift (June 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949)
The Soviet Union blockaded rail, road, & water and access to the western side of Berlin. The Berlin Airlift was when the United States & United Kingdom airlifted food & fule to Berlin to keep the citizens in the city and not let the Soviet Union take over the rest of the capital. -
Berlin Blockade (June 24, 1948 – May 12, 1949)
The Berlin blockade is the separation of around 2.5 million civilians of Berlin on either democratic France, United Kingdome & United states side or the side of communist Soviet Union. The Soviet Union tried to block supplies from western Berlin to drive out that side of the city but western countries came to their rescue with Berlin Aircraft flights delivering resources to the city. -
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO is a military alliance connecting Democratic nations against the communist nations specifically the Soviet Union. The original members are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United kingdomes and the United States. -
First Soviet bomb test
The United States and other developed countries were alarmed by the Soviet's early development of bombs. Because of Soviet spies that were in the USA's Manhattan project the Soviet Union was able to secretly work on these bombs becoming on the same playing field as the USA. The first test was on Aug 29, 1949. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
Mao Zedong the communist leader created the Republic of China (PRC) after WW2 ending the civil war between the Chinese Communist party, the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT). Mao said that the PRC had a plan to lower rent, redistribute land, energize the industry and uphold women's rights, which they accomplished with great violence, killing millions. -
Alger Hiss case
Alger Hiss an educated former government layer and State Department official was proven guilty on January 21, 1950, for lying to a federal grand jury. Alger Hiss was suspected to have some ties to the Soviet Union, which Hiss denied on multiple occasions. Though when "pumpkin Papers" or state Department Materials including Hiss' own handwriting proving him guilty, he was charged with perjury and sentenced to 5 years in prison. -
Korean War ( June 25, 1950 - July 27, 1953)
A war between North (Communist) and South (Democratic) Korea. It started with North Korea Invading South Korea. North Korea was supported by both China and the Soviet Union both communist countries, while South Korea was supported by the United Nations. The war ended in a tie where the original country was split in half according to the Yalu River. -
Rosenberg trial (March 6, 1951- June 1953 executed)
Julius Rosenberg and his wife Ethel were tried and convicted of espionage(spying) for the Soviet Union on the Manhattan Project and were later executed in 1953. Julius was a U.S citizen and electrical engineer. Both were young members of the communist party in the 1930s and met each other in 1936 later getting married in 1939. Though at first both partners refused to answer on any claims put against them in court, other spies slowly gave up their own testimonies accusing the couple. -
Korean Armistice
This was an agreement signed by United States Army Lieutenant, United Nations Command (UNC), North Korean General representing the Korean People's Army (KPA), and Peng Teh-huai representative of the Chinese people's Volunteer Army (PVA). This agreement stated that the Korean Demilitaration Zond (DMZ) the new border must cease-fire and finalize the repatriation of prisoners of war. South Korea ended up never signing because the president refused to accept the deficit in not unifying all of Korea. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu (March 13-May 7 1952)
Battle of Dien Bien Phu ended the French colonial control over Vietnam where it was separated into both North and South Vietnam to try and stop the spread of Communism to south Vietnam (Supported by the USA). -
Army-McCarthy hearings
The hearings were held by the US Senate's Subcommittee to investigate different accusations from the US Army and US Senator Joseph McCarthy. The army said that Roy Cohn the Cheif Committee Counsel pressure them into giving partial treatment to a friend of Cohn and former aid of McCarthy, G. David Schine. McCarthy said that these claims were false and prejudiced because of the recent aggressive investigations of suspected communists and security risks. Roy guilty, MC not but⬇polotical power -
Warsaw Pact
Treaty signed by communist countries to counter NATO. The "treaty of friendship" signed in Warsaw Poland included the Soviet Union, Romania, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Albania. -
Hungarian Revolution (October 23, 1956 - Nov 10, 1956)
The Hungarian Revolution was a countrywide revolution against the Stalinist government of the Hungarian People's Republic, which is the first major nationalist challenge to the Soviet Union's control of hungry. A group of students was protesting in and outside the Hungarian Radio broadcasting their "sixteen demands" for political and economic reforms, many were jailed and a few were killed. In the end, the Soviet Union stopped the rebellion with Soviet tanks and troops killing thousands. -
U2 Incident
A US spy plane was shot down deep in the Soviet Union territory while taking aerial photography. The aircraft was hit by a surfice-to-air missile by an S-75 Dvina aircraft. The USA's ship fell near Sverdlovsk and the piolet parachuted out safely, but was captured. -
Bay of Pigs invasion (April 17-20 1961)
A failed CIA attack on the communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro to try and take him out of power. The US tried to make an attack with 1,400 American trained Cubans who originally left their homes when Castro came into power but they were outnumbered and surrendered after less than 24 hours. -
Berlin Wall
Easter Germany controlled by the Soviets started building a wall on Aug 13, 1961. The purpose was to keep Western views away from threatening the socialist state and stopping the movement between different branches. -
Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct 16-28 1962)
The USA discovered the planting of missiles located in Cuba 90 miles off the united states put there by the Soviet Union. To try to combat this the USA planned and executed a naval blockade around Cuba to show we were willing to take action on the removal of the missles. In the end, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles if we did not invade Cuba and if we removed our own nuclear bombs out of Turkey. -
Assassination of JFK
While traveling through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas the 35th president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. From a near by building former US Marine Lee Harvey Oswald fired three bullets killing the president while both his wife, the Texas Governer and his wife. He died November 22, 1963 at 12:30pm. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in response to the belief that Veamese ships were firing on USA ships. The Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to take any measures he believed were needed to keep and maintain international Peace -
Tet Offensive (Jan 31 - Sep 23, 1968)
A coordinated series of North Vietnamese (communism) attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam (democracy & USA) where 14,000 civilians were killed and 24,000 were wounded. These events ended up leading to the weakening of USA public support for the Vietnam war. -
1968 riots at Democratic convention
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, there were mass protesters about the Vietnam War and the stance of different parts of the democratic party on the subject during the conflict said protestors were battling police in the streets divided on whether the loss of over 2 million Vietnamese and 58,000 American lives was worth maybe saving Vietnam from Communism. The protest was caught on TV creating a giant change in American society of which oppose the Vietnam War. -
Kent State
A massacre took place at Kent State University 40 miles south of Cleveland. Four Kent State University students were killed and 9 were wounded by the Ohio National Guard. The event took place during a peace rally exposing further involvement in the Vietnam war. These killings were the first time that a student had been killed in an anti-war gathering in USA history. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
The USA and North Vietnam started secretly working portions of the Paris Peace Accords where North Vietnam handed over names of 10 US prisoners both military and civilian and the US gave records of 317 unaccounted for people. Though there were these discussions they never really worked. Both sides believed that the other was infringing on the other rules so there was a constant spew of fighting. -
Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon is the capture of Saigon the Capital of South Vietnam by North Vietnam, specifically the People's Army of Vietnam, Marking the end of the Vietnam war where it would be turned into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The Saigon city ended up being renamed Hồ Chí Minh City after the President of North Vietnamese. -
Reagan elected
Reagan was elected in the 49th quadrennial presidential election where he defeated Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter by a landslide. Reagan had the popular 50.7% while Carter only had 41%. -
SDI announced
On a national-advised tv program, Regan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative of SDI (nicknames Star Wars project), which is a missile defense system intended to protect the US from nuclear weapon attacks. -
‘Tear down this wall’ speech
This speech was delivered by at the time president Ronald Regan in West Berlin right in front of the wall. In the said speech, Regan puts direct blame on the Soviet Union (which he is advised against) for their false promises of reforms and openness. This is a success because, on November 9, 1989, the wall ended up being torn down. To add to this, this speech also helped lead to the end of the Soviet Union. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall, a barrier dividing Berlin in half, dividing west from east. democratic from communistic was torn down helping to lead towards the first steps into reunifying Germany.
