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Franklin D. Roosevelt dies
With the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd President of America),cooperation with the Soviet Union became now non-existent. Roosevelt was replaced by Harry S. Truman and by the end of April Truman and the new admisitration began to dispute the terms Roosevelt agreed to during The Yalta Conference (1945) . -
Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" Speech
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet Union's policies in the presence of American President Harry Truman, declaring: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. In his speech Churchill claimed that the Soviet Union were expanding their leverage and power without any restrictions, calling for a greater alliance between America and Britain in order to combat the growing power of the Soviet Union. -
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Cold War
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Marshall Plan
America injected 13 billion dollars into Europe to ensure its economic recovery. This raised the tensions between the Soviets and Americans considerably as the Soviets wanted to punish Germany and other parts of Europe for their actions in WW2, on the other hand America wanted Europe to recover as fast as possible. This caused even greater tensions and eventually led to the Berlin Blockade -
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Berlin Blockade
Due to growing tensions between America and the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union set up a blockade stopping the Western Allies from accessing sectors of Berlin under Western controll. America wanted to revitalize the economy of German through the Marshall plan which involved introducing a new currecy to replace the overinflated currecy currently in German. The Soviet Union wanted to make German pay for what they did in WW2 and thus didn't want to repair Germany, this led to the Berlin Blockade. -
USSR successfully detonats their first nuclear bomb
At a remote test site in Kazakhstan, the Soviet Union detonate their first atomic bomb code named 'First Lightning'. A German physist (Klaus Fuchs) who helped develope the Americans atomic bomb handed over the plans to the Soviets which allowed them to make their atomic bomb. This sent panic through the American public following Fuchs' arrest and introduced the seeds for Mccarthyism. -
Sputnik is launched
The first satellite is launched into space by the Soviet Union, shooking most of the American public as many though America would be the first nation to launch a satellite into space. This in turn led to a growing fear in America that the Soviet Union were developing technology faster and better than America, drastically increasing the tensions of the Cold War. As a result the American government rushed the development of their satellite (Vanguard) and it exploded on the launch pad. -
The Kitchen Debate
An improptu debate between Vice President Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev begins, with each leader trying to explain why their ideology is better than the others.