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~ Yalta Conference/End of the War
The Yalta Conference was a meeting between the leaders of the three superpowers of World War II, Britain, the U.S., and Russia, to discuss the future of Europe after the war. The war ended on September 2, 1945 when the Japanese surrendered. -
- Communist Government Formed in Bulgaria
In 1945, a Communist coalition was elected, and the Communists proceeded to execute the non-Communists and took complete power. -
~ The Containment Policy
George F. Kennan, a diplomat and expert on Russia, introduced the Containment Policy, which said that the Soviet’s insecurities and Stalin’s need to maintain authority in his country motivated the Soviet Government to try to acquire more land and power. He also said that the Soviet Union would stop its expansionism efforts if the United States responded with an “unalterable counter-force,” and this theory was later tested by the U.S. -
! ~ Iron Curtain Speech
The Iron Curtain Speech was delivered by former prime minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. In this speech, which was given on March 5, 1946 in the presence of President Harry Truman, Churchill assessed the Soviet Union’s actions in harsh terms. This served to alienate the Soviet Union even more from Great Britain and the United States. -
- Communist Government Forms in Poland
In 1947, Stalin arrested a number of non-Communist leaders, and as a result, the Communists took power in the national elections. -
+ The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine, which was passed on March 12, 1947, said that the United States would not only resist Soviet military power, but it would also support those who were being oppressed by the Soviet Union. This set the precedent for the rest of the Cold War, during which the U.S. aided any kind of government if the opposing government appeared to be Communist. -
+ CIA Established
The Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, was created by the National Security Act of 1947 to gather information and perform activities related to national security. Some of these activities included sabotage, economic warfare, propaganda, and supporting anti-Communist governments in other countries. -
- Communist Government Set Up in Hungary
In 1947, the Communist party leader in Hungary, Rakosi, took control of the secret police, arrested his opponents, and forced President Zoltan Tildy out of power. Rakosi and his Communist government arrested their non-Communist opponents until they had complete control of Hungary. -
- Communist Government Emerges in Romania
In 1945, the Communist Party in Romania won the national elections. The Communists gradually took over until they abolished the monarchy in 1947 and took complete power. -
- Communist Government Formed in Czechoslovakia
The Communist leader in Czechoslovakia, Gottwald, ensured that his party controlled the radio, the army, and the police force. When he became prime minister, he set up a secret police force and used it to arrest non-Communists and take over the government, making Czechoslovakia a Communist country. -
! + Berlin Airlift
In the late 1940s, the Western Allies began pushing to organize West Germany as a separate country, and in retaliation, the Soviet Union, which controlled East Germany, cut off all roads, train tracks, and supply lines to West Berlin. British and American pilots were forced to airlift 2.3 million tons of goods to sustain the West Berliners for a year-long period. The Berlin Airlift ended on May 12, 1949. -
+ NATO Established
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was established in 1949 to counter a Soviet threat to Western Europe. For the first time, the United States entered into a peacetime military alliance with Canada and Western European nations. Through NATO, the United States pledged to go to war if one of its allies was attacked. -
- ! Soviet Union’s First Atomic Bomb
On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in a test. The United States was surprised because it hadn't expected the Soviet Union to deǀelop nuclear power so quickly. This caused Americans to question their own safety and prompted President Truman to call for the U.S. to build up its nuclear power and stop the global spread of Soviet influence. -
- Communist Takeover of China
In October 1949, Mao Zedong, the leader of China's Communist Party, established the People’s Republic of China, or the PCR. He fought the official Nationalist government in the Chinese Civil War, and when he won, he and the rest of the Communist Party took over the Chinese government, creating the PCR, and then signed a mutual defense treaty with the Soviet Union. -
¡ McCarthyism
In the late 1940s and mid-1950s, a Wisconsin senator named Joseph R. McCarthy started a frantic Communist "witch hunt" called the Red Scare. During the Red Scare, many innocent people were accused of conspiring with the Soviet Union. Many people's reputations and livelihoods were ruined by false accusations, and on December 2, 1954, a jury convicted McCarthy of lying to congressional investigators. -
¡ The Rosenberg Trial
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were accused of being Communist spies by a British physicist who had worked on the atomic bomb and confessed in 1950 to being a Communist spy. The Rosenbergs pleaded not guilty, but they were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, and they were wrongly electrocuted in 1953. They were the only Americans to be electrocuted for treason during the Red Scare. -
! + - The Korean War
In June 2015, troops from Communist North Korea invaded South Korea, which began a three year war that ended in 1953. The United States sent troops to implement the Containment Policy and the Truman Doctrine. United States participation in the Korean War marked the militarization of American foreign policy. -
+ Overthrow of Iranian Government
In 1953, the CIA intervened to oust the elected government in Iran, support an unpopular dictatorship, and maintain Western access, especially British access, to Iranian oil. The country's president, Mohammed Mossadegh, had nationalized Iran's oil refineries and fields, so the British came to the United States for help. The CIA responded by staging a military coup on the premise that having Mossadegh in power "left Iran vulnerable to Communism." -
KGB Established
In March 1954, the Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopanosti, or KGB, was established in Moscow. The KGB was meant to be a Soviet state security committee, but it operated instead as a spy network that became involved in every aspect of the Soviet Union’s citizens’ lives. Its main duties were to gather intelligence in other countries, maintain the secret police, conduct counterintelligence, suppress internal resistance, maintain military corps and border guards, and conduct electronic espionage. -
! + Overthrow of Guatemalan Government
In 1953, the popularly elected reformist president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz, accepted support from the local Communist Party and nationalized uncultivated land owned by U.S. companies. This angered the U.S., even though the land was nationalized to help poor peasants who had no land. In retaliation, the CIA organized and supported an opposition army that overthrew the government and installed a military dictatorship, and as a result, Guatemala experienced civil wars through the 1990s. -
! - Warsaw Pact is Formed
In May 1955, Albania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Poland became allies through the signing of the Warsaw Pact. This formation of a Communist alliance was a counteraction to the formation of NATO, and it became a symbol of Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. -
! - Sputnik is Launched
In October of 1957, Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to circle the earth, was launched by the Soviet Union. This worried Americans that the United States lagged behind the Soviets in missile development, space exploration, science, and education. The launching of Sputnik also prompted President Eisenhower to establish NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. -
- Communist Takeover of Cuba
In 1959, a revolution led by Fidel Castro drove out the ruling dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who was supported by the United States. As the new dictator, Castro asked the U.S. for loans and offered to buy American companies in Cuba, but he was denied, so he turned to the Soviet Union for support and began nationalizing Cuban land. As a result, Eisenhower broke diplomatic relations with Cuba with the now-Communist Cuba. -
! ¡ JFK Announces Space Race
In May of 1961, President John F. Kennedy called for a new commitment to the space program with the goal of sending a man to the moon by 1970. Congress authorized the Apollo program, and Kennedy's announcemeant quickly solidified the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
! - Berlin Wall Built
Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union during part of the civil war, was concerned about the mass exodus of German living in East Berlin who were moving to West Berlin, and since it was such an embarrassment to the Communists, he erected a wall in August of 1961 to stop the migration. The building of the Berlin Wall threatened American access to West Berlin. -
! Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a period of 13 days beginning on October 16, 1962, when both the United States and the Soviet Union came closest to using their nuclear weapons. Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, had nuclear regime from further U.S. involvement, but the U.S. took this as a threat. The Cuban Missile Crisis ended after a series of negotiations. -
! + - U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War lasted from 1964 to 1975, but the United States was involved in Vietnam as early as 1954. It sent monetary aid to the South Vietnamese, as well as supplies, weapons, and military advisors. United States involvement in the Vietnam War officially began in 1965 when President Johnson began sending troops. American involvement ended on January 27, 1973, when the U.S., South Vietnam, and North Vietnam signed a formal accord in Paris. -
+ Apollo Moon Landing
In 1969, the United States landed two astronauts on the moon, a feat that had not been accomplished before. These two men were Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. As a result, President Kennedy's Apollo program reached its goal of sending men to the moon by 1970. -
+ * Nixon Visits China
In February of 1972, President Nixon repaired relations with China by becoming the first American president to visit. The United States held two years of secret negotiations with the Communist country, and as a result of Nixon's diplomatic visit, several cultural and scientific exchanges were enabled. This proved to be a significant step toward globalization. -
* SALT I Signed
In 1969, the United States and the Soviet Union began the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, or SALT, in order to prevent nuclear war. SALT I limited the number of antiballistic missiles each country could possess so neither nation would build a secure defense and instigate nuclear war. The SALT I treaties were signed on May 26, 1972. -
! SALT II Signed
SALT II, or the second of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, began in 1972 and set more specific regulations on the United States' and the Soviet Union's possession of nuclear missiles. It was signed on June 18, 1979, but was never ratified by Congress, so both countries kept building up arms. -
! * Iran-Hostage Crisis
In 1979-1980, a revolution in Iran overthrew its leader, the Shah, because Iranian citizens were unhappy with his methods of ruling and his adoption of Western culture and values. President Carter allowed the ousted Shah into the U.S. for medical treatment, which outraged Iranians, who wanted him returned to Iran. When Carter refused, they attacked the U.S. Embassy in Iran and took 66 Americans hostage while Carter continued to keep the Shah in the U.S. The hostages were eventually released. -
* - Gorbachev Promotes Glasnost and Perestroika
In order to solve the many problems of the Soviet Union, including a lack of social freedoms, low-quality products, inefficient factories, and a lack of technological advancements, Communist Party secretary Mikhail Gorbachev promoted the democratization of his party from 1985 to 1991. He specifically supported the ideas of perestroika, or the reconstruction of the political and economic system, and glasnost, political reformation to restore rights to the people. -
* + Non-Communist Government Set Up in Poland
In June 18, 1989, the Solidarity Party won the national elections in Poland, and the Communist leadership lost power. -
* Fall of the Berlin Wall
In November 1989, Communist authorities opened the Berlin Wall to permit free travel between East and West Germany. Over 400 East Europeans had been killed while trying to flee to West Germany while the Berlin Wall was up, and its destruction served as a symbol of freedom and triumph over Communism. -
* + Non-Communist Government Formed in Czechoslovakia
In November 1989, the Communist leadership in Czechoslovakia was ousted, and in December of that year, Vaclav Havel was named president. -
* + Non-Communist Government Set Up in Hungary
In April of 1990, national free elections gave non-Communists power, and Hungarian leaders lost power. -
+ * Non-Communist Government Emerges in Romania
In December of 1989, the Communist dictator was overthrown and executed, and in May 1990, the Salvation Front (a political party) won the free elections. -
* + Non-Communist Government Formed in Bulgaria
In November of 1989, the Communist leadership in Bulgaria was ousted, and non-Communists were elected to power in the August 1990 free elections. -
* German Reunification
Popular uprisings demanded an end to repression, so East Germany opened its border with West Germany because Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, didn't want to expend soldiers to stem the uprisings. President Bush convinced Gorbachev that reunification of the two haves of Germany was inevitable, and it became a reality in 1990. -
* + Fall of the Soviet Union
In December of 1991, the former Iron Curtain countries decided to join NATO, and the president of the Russian Republic, Boris Yeltsin, announced the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which included Russia and eleven other republics that had declared their independence. With no Soviet states to govern, Gorbachev resigned.
