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Russian revolution
A period of political and social revolution across Russia which started with the abolishment of a monoarchy and establishment of the soviet union after the bulshavik revolution -
Potsdam Conference
A meeting between the three main allied forces: Russia, England, united states. Germany's economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations were all discussed at the meeting. it would be the last meeting between the three countries. -
atomic bomb
The Manhattan project was the first nuclear explosion. the US used two other atomic bombs which ended ww2. One was dropped on Hiroshima which was no surprise to Stallin after his spy's informed him of the Manhattan project. the second was dropped on Nagasaki which ultimately ended ww2 -
Long telegram - containment
George Kennan sends an 8,000 word telegram to the Department of State detailing the Soviet Unions (SU) outlook on the world. the US tried to use this information to stop the spread of communism creating a policy that would last 40 years. -
Iron curtain
the iron curtain was formed by the soviet and was an imaginary line across Europe separating the Soviet from the west. the soviet wanted to seal themselves from the west politically, economicly and military wise -
Hollywood 10
10 members of the Hollywood film industry refused to answer questions given to them during trial , citing protection under the first amendment. They were convicted with contempt and sent to prison. -
Truman doctrine
the Truman doctrine represented dramatic change in US foreign policy. It established that the US was responsible for suppressing the expansion of communism and would provide political, military, and economic support to nations under threat from communism. -
Molotov Plan
A plan created by the Soviet union in 1947 to provide aid and war reparations to countries in Europe who were aligned politcally or economically -
Marshall plan
the Marshall plan was an initiative passed in 1948 to aid western Europe in rebuilding after in the devastation of ww2. the US gave over $15 billion to help rebuild cities, industries and infrastructure as well as remove trade barriers between neighboring countries. the US also acted with the purpose of stopping communism -
Berlin airlift
The United States and Britain ordered to resupply the city of Berlin. A flight landed on West Berlin every 3 minutes and more than 2 million tons of cargo as delivered to Berlin during the 15 month operation supplying civilians with necessities. -
Berlin blockade
after WW2 the agreement between the allied powers was to divide Germany and Berlin. in 1948 the SU attempted to cut off their part of Berlin, with people staving and conditions getting worse the western powers created and airlift that supplied the people of West Berlin -
Alger Hiss case
Alger Hiss was a US government official who was accused of spying for the SU and passing up top secret documents. he was charged with perjury and faced four years -
N.A.T.O
Military alliance that stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Which has 29 member states from North America and Europe. -
First Soviet bomb test
The Soviets successfully tested their first nuclear device, called RDS-1 at Semipalatinsk. This shocked the world. -
Chinese Communist Revolution
Communist Revolutionary Mao Zedong supported and created a decades long civil war against the Chinese nationalist government. Nearly 500 million Chinese fell under communist rule. Mao lead the revolution in Asia, he supported Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaya, and Korea -
Rosenburg Trial
Executed in 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested in connection of a plan to pass U.S bomb secrets to the Soviets. The Rosenberg's denied all charges. They were being persecuted as Jews and for their left-wing views. They were convicted and sentenced to die in the electric chair. -
Koran war
the Korean war started when soviet backed north Korea invaded the south. The US eventually came to south Korea's aid but the war came to a stale mate and the US had nothing to show for the war -
Army-Mccarthy hearings
Senator of Washington,Joseph McCarthy, claimed he had a list of 205 communist working in the State department. These hearings tore away at his mask of selfishness and uncovered his true identity. McCarthy was revealed to be an arrogant, blustering, tyrant. Just overnight, his popularity disappeared. -
Warsaw Pact
In response to N.A.T.O, the Soviet Union and its satellites formed a competing political and military alliance. -
Hungarian Revolution
A nationwide revolution between the Hungarian's Peoples Republic and Soviet-imposed policies. This was the first major threat against the Red Army/communism. -
U2 Incident
Confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union which caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
A failed invasion operation in which the US wanted to stop leader, Fidel Castro due to his communists appearance. The CIA armed and trained a band of Cuban exiles for the corporate operation. President Kennedy approved the plan, but then crippled the operation by refusing air and naval support. The invasion force was crushed. -
Berlin Wall
A guarded concrete wall that divided Berlin into two different sections.The East Berlin side was held underneath Soviet control whereas West Berlin was held underneath the United States. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviet ships traveled through the Atlantic ocean to Cuba, carrying Soviet troops, military hardware, and soviet missiles. US military forces began to prepare for a possible invasion of Cuba. If a nuclear strike was launched from Cuba, America planned to destroy every major city in the Soviet Union. Once things were very intense between both forces, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles. -
Assassination of JFK
President Kennedy was riding in a motorcade in Dallas at around 12:30 P.M during a campaign visit. He was then shot in both the neck and head. He was pronounced dead at 1 PM, at the age of 46. He killer was named Lee Harvey Oswald. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Soviet Union led about 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks in an invasion of Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague" a brief period of liberalization in the communist country. -
Nixon visits China
To symbolize Detente, President Nixon embarked on a diplomatic trip. Nixon was the first American president to be welcomed in the communist republic of China. Both leaders made great progress toward normalizing relations. This was a historic opening in the Cold War -
Reagan Elected
Reagan's biggest desire was to destroy communism and he did not have a problem telling the world how he felt. The Reagan administration made plan to win the Cold War. The National Security Directive 75 outlined a strategy to improve the nations military defense and encourage political change within the Soviets fear. -
SDI announced
The Strategic Defense Initiative was the concept of satellites zapping incoming Soviet missiles with lasers. This plan was referred to as "Star Wars". When the Soviet heard about this plan, they felt threatened. They did not have the money nor the space to try and create the same type of protection from the missiles as the U.S, but they didn't have a choice so they began to try and keep up with America's technology. -
Geneva Conference with Gorbachev
During this tense conference, Gorbachev was ready to negotiate an arms reduction on condition that Reagan dismiss Star wars, but he would not budge. In private however, the two leaders started the beginning of a personal relationship. This conference did not produce any arms limitation agreements, but provided a historic breakthrough. -
'Tear down this wall' Speech
Delivered by president, Ronald Reagan, where he called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to open the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Berlin since 1961.
