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The Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting in 1945 in which the leaders from the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union agreed on a set of measures and stipulations to be implemented after the defeat of Germany in May 1945. Franklin D. Roosevelt represented America, Winston Churchill represented Great Britain and Joseph Stalin came to represent Soviet Russia. The Yalta Conference caused Stalin to agree to allow free voting in Eastern Europe. Yalta is important because it sealed WWII. -
Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech sparked a fire in the hearts of the people living in America. The speech was given in Westminster College and used the term "Iron Curtain" to describe Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe. A famous line from his speech states, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” -
The Start of The Cold War
The Cold War was a state of political and military tension between the Communist Eastern Europe and the Capitalistic/Democratic Western Europe. The Cold War is also responsible for putting the world the closest it had ever been to atomic annihilation due to the newfound potential of atomic bombs -
The Berlin Airlift
Russia Blocked off Berlin to end supplies coming in. The reason why they blocked off Berlin was because they wanted full control of the city. Since the Soviets blocked off Berlin, we couldn't get supplies to the civilians therefore we had to fly supplies in with planes. After about a year of flying supplies in, we delivered 2.3 million tons of cargo. Eventually the Soviets take down the blockades. The Berlin Airlift was important because it prevented the creation of a unified West German State. -
Soviet Union tests Atomic Bomb
In 1949, The Soviet Union tests it's first Atomic Bomb. The test was done with a 22 kiloton Atomic Bomb in Semipalatinsk, Modern day Kazakhstan. A few days later, a U.S. spy plane caught the first bit of evidence of a nuclear detonation and brought the news back to America. President Harry S. Truman reacted by arresting Klaus Fuchs, a scientist that helped build America's first A-Bomb, for giving blueprints to the Soviet Union. This event is important because it showed that Russia had nukes. -
The start of The Korean War
The Korean War started when Communist North Korean invaded South Korea with aid from The Soviet Union and China. America and Great Britain gave aid to South Korea. The Korean War was more of a civil conflict than a war. -
Hydrogen Bomb exploded in Pacific
America tested the worlds first Hydrogen Bomb in the Pacific in 1952. The name given to the test was "Operation Ivy Mike". It is said that Mike vaporized an island once it detonated. Having the first Hydrogen Bomb gave America an advantage during the Cold War. Russia was intimidated by this so they started production on the next new bomb, "RDS-37" which was a bigger Hydrogen Bomb than ours. This is important because it was the world's first Hydrogen Bomb, therefore an arms race would take place. -
The Death of Stalin
Joseph Stalin dies on March 5, 1953. Joseph's death took the Soviet Union by surprise when he died by a massive heart attack. Some say he was poisoned by a close friend or general, but it is unknown. The death of Stalin caused the Soviet Union to elect a new leader, Nikita Krushchev. This benefited America because Nikita was not as ruthless as Stalin. This event is such a big deal because Joseph Stalin is accountable for around 8 to 10 million deaths of just his own people. -
East and West Germany formed
East and West Germany were formed because both belived in a polar opposite structure of government and political rule. East Germany was ruled by Communist extremists that believed in full Communist rule, and Western Germany was ruled by Democratic/ Capitalist that believed in more of an "American" way of government. -
The Geneva Conference in Switzerland
The Geneva Conference was a convention held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955. The conference was also known as "The Big Four" because it featured 4 political leaders from 4 different nations. Dwight D. Eisenhower from America, Anthony Eden from Great Britain, Nikolai A. Bulganin from Soviet Russia, and Edgar Faure from France. The leaders discussed terms of peace and also rules of warfare such as no chemical warfare. This caused nations to obey rules of war for the most part. -
USSR launches Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1, an artificial satellite most commonly known as the first thing to be launched into space, was launched by the USSR on October 4, 1957 at 7:28 PM. The satellite took about 98 minutes to orbit the earth on its elliptical path. The Soviets changed history that day. -
The United States launches Explorer 1
The United States launched their first satellite into space about a year after The Soviet Union launched their first 2 satellites, Sputnik 1 and 2. The United States named their satellite Explorer 1. The US's rocket weighed only about 30 pounds compared to Sputnik 1 that weighed about 180 pounds. Explore 1 was about the size of a fire hydrant. -
Nikita Krushchev becomes Soviet Premier
Nikita Krushchev, a close associate of Joseph Stalin, the former leader and premier of the Soviet Union took power after Stalin's death in 1953. Krushchev was less of a dictator than Stalin therefore America admired him more than Joseph Stalin. -
NASA created
NASA was founded by Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 29, 1958. The purpose of the NASA program was to carry out operations and missions in space, such as landing on the moon and putting satellites into orbit. NASA was 2 years behind USSR in the "Space Race". The Soviet's launched their first piloted shuttle to space in 1961, America launched their first in 1963. The Space Race between NASA and the USSR is so important because at the time we were at an "arms race" and space was the new thing. -
The U-2 Incident
The U-2 incident was an event that happened during The Cold War that really messed up the trust between The Soviet Union and The United States. The United States were secretly flying spy planes over Soviet soil to gather pictures without the USSR knowing, Then one day one of our planes was shot down and the pilot was taken by the Soviets. Krushchev and Eisenhower were able to come to an agreement that if we gave them captured Soviet spies, then we would get our pilot back. -
John F. Kennedy is elected
John F. Kennedy was elected on November 8, 1960. Kennedy had to deal with a lot of pressure due to The Bay of Pigs Invasion. Kennedy was told about The Bay of Pigs Invasion just 9 days after his election. Kennedy is most known for being assassinated shortly after his election and he is held responsible for the failure of The Bay of Pigs Invasion. -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was the mission that the US secretly conducted to launch a full scale attack on Cuba. This event was seen as a massive failure for the US, and left Kennedy ashamed for letting the invasion fail. This caused Cuba and it's dictator, Fidel Castro to support aid from The Soviet Union even more. Kennedy took full blame for the incident even though he was responsible for only some of it. The Bay of Pigs invasion is so important because it was the first invasion on Cuban soil. -
The construction of The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall's main purpose was to separate Communistic Eastern Europe from the Capitalistic/Democratic Western Europe. The wall was built by East Germans and took about 14 years to build from start to finish. The Berlin Wall first started at a barbed wire fence but then quickly upgraded to a concrete wall. The Berlin Wall was about 87 miles and was torn down in 1989 in November. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the outcome of The Arms Race between The Soviet Union and The United States. In order to gain nuclear control, The Soviet Union put nuclear missiles and missile silos in Cuba so that they can target anywhere in the US. The United States reacted by quarantining Cuba and not allowing any Soviet ships to come within 500 miles of the island. -
John F. Kennedy's Assassination
John F. Kennedy's assassination took America by surprise and outraged many Americans. Kennedy's assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine and American Sniper. Oswald was arrested for murdering an officer 45 minutes after he killed Kennedy. Oswald was later shot and killed in the basement of a police station while being transported somewhere else. The death of Kennedy caused vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson to take office. This event is so important because it was the death of a president.
