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Yalta Conference
The Yalta conference was attended by the "Big Three" (USA, Britain,USSR). The purpose of this conference was to discuss how Germany would be governed after its defeat in World War 2, and divvy up European Territory. The USSRs agenda for Germany was much different than what the USA and Britain wanted. The USSR wanted a weak Germany, and the USA/Britain wanted a strong German Economy. -
USA Detonates Atomic Bomb, becoming first nuclear superpower
The Atomic Bomb dropping by the USA is often referred to as the beginning of the Cold War. The USA wanted to Japan to surrender so that the war in the Pacific would end. Rather than inform the USSR of their plans to use atomic weaponry against Japan, they kept this a secret, thinking that they could scare the USSR into being more lenient in the division of European Territory. This did not go over well with the Russians, sparking the beginnings of the Cold War -
Truman Doctrine
The USA did not want the communist ideology to spread. In order to make sure that this didn't happen, President Truman promised aid to any democratic nations being threatened by Authoritarian regimes. In the Truman Doctrine, Truman focused on aiding Greece in their civil war, and Turkey in their resistance against the USSR, giving 400 million dollars to Turkey and Greece -
McCarthyism (the red scare)
Anti communist movement lead by McCarthy, this movement was focused on bashing communism and scaring the public into believing McCarthy's stance. This fear was promoted by the red scare which caused unrest involved the house of un-American activities committee which constantly wanted to expose the communists and paint them in a negative light. -
The Marshall Plan and The Molotov Plan
Also called the European Recovery Program and named after the secretary of state George Marshall, the Marshall Plan provided aid for countries negatively effected by the war. The USA was offering a total of 13 billion dollars to help ALL European nations. Money was accepted by Western Europe, but rejected by the USSR and Eastern Europe. Instead, the USSR responded with their own plan (The Molotov Plan) to provide aid to countries who supported the USSR and their communist ideology -
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
The Capital of Berlin had been divided back in 1945, along with the rest of Germany, and could be seen as West Germany(ruled by French,English and American), and East Germany(ruled by the Soviet) In 1948, the USSR attempted to take sole control of Berlin, by blocking all ground access to West Berlin. To try to stop the siege, the West participated in an airlift, flying in supplies to the population of West Berlin.The Blockade and the Airlift lasted for 318 days, until Stalin lifted the blockade. -
Arms Race (USSR detonates Atomic Bomb)
It was now known that there were 2 nuclear superpowers, that had successfully managed to detonate an atomic bomb, this marked the true beginning of the Arms Race between USA and the USSR -
NATO (North American Treaty Organization)
NATO was a military alliance between the Western Countries of Europe. This Military Alliance was made with the goal of fighting against the USSR in Western Europe -
Maos Revolution
Maos Revolution marked the end of the Chinese Civil War that started in 1929. Mao becomes the leader of the newly established Peoples Republic of China Party (PRC), and is supported by the USSR. -
The Korean War
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The UN and USA sided with South Korea, and the PRC and USSR aided North Korea. The war ended in a truce in 1953 -
Stalins Death
Stalins death in 1953 eased some Cold War Tensions. The new leader of Russia, Premier Kruschev even called for there to be "a peaceful coexistence" between East and West Europe -
The Warsaw Pact
Wartime Alliance made between Eastern Europe to fight against the Western countries -
The Poland Revolution
The Poland Revolution began due to the discontent of Polish workers. During the Poland revolution, Poland gained more autonomy after negotiations with Russia, this symboled the end of Stalinization in Poland -
Hungary Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution was a nationwide uprising against the Hungarian People's Republic and their policies put in by the soviets. -
sputnik
The first ever satellite to go into orbit, set up by the USSR and officially starting the space race. -
Khrushchev's Reforms as Premiere
After coming into power, Khrushchev introduced 3 reforms in Russia which included peaceful coexistence in Europe, Detente (the lessening of hostility) and Destalinization -
Berlin Wall construction
The Berlin Wall was put up dividing Berlin into east and west. It's purpose was to keep people from migrating from east Berlin to West Berlin -
Bay of Pigs
The CIA had put together a mission using former Cuban exiles who were loyal to Batista. They planned to have the 1600 exiles land at the Bay of Pigs, however the mission had failed as they fought for 3 days and lost which further cemented Castro's relationship with Khrushchev. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The USA and USSR were in a 13 day standoff over the fact that the USSR wanted to station nuclear missiles in Cuba only 90 miles away from the American shoreline -
Ich Bin Ein Berliner
Ich Bin Ein Berliner which translates to "I am a Berliner" was a speech given by then American president John F Kennedy. This speech is one of the most known Cold War speeches and was an anti-communist speech given to show the West Berlin people what Communism really was about. -
Vietnam War
War between North and South Vietnam, however each side had support from different countries. The North had support from the USSR, China and other communist countries while the South had support from USA, South Korea, Philippines and more. -
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution led by Mao, was a purge of any 'opponents' of the Communist Ideology, that supported capitalism in any way, as well as show China that he was still very much their leader. The Cultural ended in 1976, when Mao passed away. -
Soviet-Afghan War
The Soviet-Afghan War was fought between insurgent groups such as the Mujahideen and the USSR with the support of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. There was a 9 year guerrilla warfare between these groups ending in the USSR pulling itself from the war -
Gorbachev comes to power
Gorbachev becomes the final leader of the USSR as soon after the USSR would fall and go back to being known as Russia -
INF Treaty
This treaty between the USA and USSR saw the elimination of both of their land based intermediate and short ranged missiles -
Berlin Wall Falling
The people of east Berlin had created large protest to knock down the wall as the USSR guards were overwhelmed with the amount of protesters the wall came down.
