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The Yalta Conference
Near the end of the 2nd World War, Churchill (UK), Roosevelt (USA), and Stalin (USSR) met together to discuss plans for the post war world. Also at this conference, it was decided that the USSR would help the US defeat Japan 6 months after Hitler was defeated. The USSR were also told to give open elections in any occupied countries. The conference becomes important because Stalin ignores it, and forces his occupied countries into communism, which is an important cause of the Cold War. -
Iron Curtain Speech
With Soviet expansion into Europe, Winston Churchill gave a speech saying that an "Iron Curtain has descended on Europe." The Iron Curtain is the imaginary border (that later becomes a physical wall in some places) separating the communist and capitalist nations of Europe. -
Soviet Famine
Partly due to Stalin's 4th 5-year plan, partly due to the end of WW2, and partly due to natural causes, the USSR experienced a dramatic slump in food production for about a year. Over 300,000 people died from starvation as a result of the famine. Another result of this was the USSR being one of the only countries to not experience a post-war baby boom. This put the USSR at a disadvantage in population and potential future production numbers in the decades to come. -
The Truman Doctrine
Scared of the swift spread of communism in Europe and Asia, President Truman introduced the Truman Doctrine, which stated that the United States would give military and/or economic support to any nation fighting communism. It was edited later to exclude Europe from military support. -
The Marshall Plan
Also called the European Recovery Plan, it was America's plan to give vast economic support to Europe (but not military support) in order to rebuild the country after World War 2 and to help fight communism. -
Berlin Blockade / Berlin Airlift
After the WW2, the USSR was responsible for reparations on the Eastern half of Germany, and the Eastern half of the capital Berlin (its West half was controlled by US and UK). The USSR blockaded West Berlin, hoping that it would give up and join the USSR. In response, the US and UK started a 24/7 airlift to bring supplies to the people of West Berlin. The USSR saw that the US and UK would not stop the airlift, and lifted the blockade on May 12th, 1949. This showed the US's power in the Cold War. -
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is formed
With the USSR ever expanding, and communism ever spreading, the US (and 11 other North West capitalist countries) formed NATO to create an alliance to protect themselves and each other against the spread of communism. Any attack against one of the nations would be seen as an act of war against all of them. NATO is still formed to this day, and serves as a powerful bond between now 28 member nations. -
Korean War
Officially regarded as a police action, the Korean War started when the communist North Korea began an attack on the capitalist South Korea. The US managed to convince the UN into sending an army to fight the North Koreans, though it might as well have been sent from the US, and the vast majority of troops were American. This was meant to prevent the USSR from attacking the US, as the US was not at war with North Korea; the UN was. This war showed the lengths the US would go to to slow communism -
Stalin Dies
Joseph Stalin, the aggressive and militaristic leader of the Soviet Union for WW2 and the early Cold War, dies, giving way to the more level headed Khrushchev. -
The Warsaw Pact Forms
As a reaction to the formation of NATO, the USSR forms the Warsaw pact, an alliance of all the communist nations worldwide. This served to pull even more nations into the ever escalating Cold War between America and the USSR. -
Space Race
A battle for superior spaceflight technology between the US and the USSR, this technology race ended in the 1970's after the US had successfully sent a dozen astronauts to and from the moon, while the USSR had failed to even reach the moon. -
Vietnam War
South Vietnam, governed by a US instituted capitalist government, had dealt with poor leadership and corruption since it was founded, while the communist North Vietnam remained fairly stable. In an effort to reunite the two countries once more, North Vietnam launched a military attack into South Vietnam. Because of the Truman Doctrine, the US was obligated to go and fight North Vietnam. This was important, because the war was the first war that the US ever lost, and showed they could be defeated -
The Great Leap Forward
Following Mao's rise to power in China in 1949, he launched the Great Leap Forward, and effort to transform an archaic feudal society to a modern communist superpower. While China did indeed advance greatly in technology and production, government errors caused a devastating famine, which killed ~42 million people in just a few years. This eventually forced new developments and policies, separating the communism of China from that of the USSR, causing some friction between the two. -
U-2 Incident
A US spy plane (called a U-2) is shot down over the USSR, inciting further friction between the US and USSR, and pulling the Cold War out of a slow period. -
Bay of Pigs
Following the communist revolution in Cuba, many people fled the country, and entered the US. Seeing an opportunity, the FBI took these refugees and taught them how to fight. The goal was to then send them back to Cuba where they would launch a capitalist revolution. However, due to spies and information leaks, Cuba was prepared, and the revolution failed miserably. It harshly damaged US international relations, and would later lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis, as Cuba did not trust the US. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
While flying over Cuba, now a communist nation, US spy planes discovered nuclear launch equipment. 90 miles out from Cuba, they also discovered a ship carrying USSR nuclear missiles. Not wanting Cuba, who was very close to the US, to have nuclear missiles, the US blockaded the island to prevent them from entering. President J.F. Kennedy and Soviet Khrushchev then entered intense negotiations that brought the world closer to nuclear war than it had ever been. Eventually, the missiles were removed -
JFK Assassination
President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while driving through Dallas, Texas in the presidential motorcade. -
Soviets Invade Afghanistan
Following a communist coup in Afghanistan, a Civil War broke out between the deeply hated new communist government and the oppressed rebels. The Soviet Union sends troops to support the government, while the United States helped fund the rebels. In the end, the Soviets failed to stop the rebels. -
Berlin Wall Falls / Germany Reunited
With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the weakening of the Soviet Union, East Germany managed to leave the Warsaw Pact without Soviet retaliation. -
Soviet Union is Dissolved
Economically ruined by the arms race with the US, the Soviet Union is dissolved back into independent nations, most of whom returned to capitalism. This effectively ended the Cold War
