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Truman Approves H-Bomb Development
President Truman approved the developement of the Hydrogen-Bomb after the Soviets had successfully tested a nuclear bomb. Keep in mind that after WWII the US did not want to create another, and that the only reason it was further developed was due to the Soviets. -
Joe McCarthy Begins Communist Witch Hunt
This was a time during the Red Scare when the Senator of Wisconson, Joe McCarthy, started the tests and trials accusing people of communism. The goal was to eliminate communism from the US, and stop the spread in the US as well. -
Korean War Begins
The Korean War was fought between the Communist North Korea and the capitalist South Korea. The North was assisted by the USSR and Communist China while the South was assisted by the United Nations headed by the US. -
Period: to
The Cold War
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General MacArthor Resigns
On this date President Harry S. Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur for overstepping his command in the Korean War. Later MacArthur gave his resgnation speech. -
RAND Reports Vulnerablity of US Strategic Air Power
Was a report on the alleged overflights that the USSR had taken over the US. and the ones by the US over the USSR. It also gave estimates on production value. -
Korean War Ends
The Korean War ended with neither side truely winning the war. The UN and South Korea were not able to regain the territory in North Korea. As a result two new countrys were formed one communist, and one capitalist. -
Nikita Khruschev Succeeds Joseph Stalin
Nikita Khrushchev was the successor to the rule of Stalin in the USSR. He called for the de-Stalinization of the Svoiet Union. He gained rule during a period of unkown for the USSR. -
Vietnam Split at 17th Parallel
Here was another war fought indirectly fought between the US and the USSR, which was capitalist democracy versus communism. The war started by the split of Vietnam with the Viet Cong and Sout Vietnam. -
Baghdad Pact
The Pact was a defensive organization for promoting shered political, military and econimc goals. It was founded by the counrties of the middle east and Britain. -
WARSAW Pact formed
The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty of the countries in the Soviet Union. It was created in response to West Germany entering NATO. -
Geneva Summit
This was a Cold War meeting of the leaders of the US, USSR, France and Britain (The Big Four). The goal was to begin disscusions on peace for the war. -
Vietnam War Begins
The Vietnam War began starting another indirect conflict with the US and the USSR. In other words it was a proxy war which was a fight between communists and capitalists. -
Khruschev's "DeStalinization" Speech
"Personality Cult and its Consequences Speech" was the speech iven to the people of the USSR over the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union. This was done as the people of the USSR did not like the rule under Stalin. -
Suez Crisis
Here Irael, France and Britain invaded the Suez Canal in Eygpt in an attempt to gain western control of it. It was stopped though by the actions of the US, USSR, and the UN. -
VOSTOK ICBM
This was a rocket designed by the Soviets to send people into space. It was a part of the Soviet R-7 ICBM rockets before. This only increased the Space Race during the Cold War. -
Sputnik I Launch
Start of the Space Race. Here the Soviets launched the space race as they were the first to send a satelite into space. After this the US increased its spending for Space exploartion. -
Eisenhower Reviews National Security
Here President Dwight D. Eisenhower reviewed the NSC. This system evolved into a more effective planning and creative process of the council. -
Formation of NASA
The US saw the creation of NASA to spearhead the Race to send a man to the Moon with the USSR. THis helped see that a man would be put on the moon before the Soviets. -
End of the Cuban Revolution
In the island of Cuba, Communist Leader Fidel Castro lead a guerilla fighter force from July 26th, 1958, to Jan. 1st, 1959 in opposition of the corrupt, US supported dictator of a president, Fulgencio Batista. Having succesfully overthrown Batista, Cuba fell to the communist wave, and the US was determined to remove Castro and the Cuban Communist Party -
Kitchen Debate
The Kitchen Debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Leader Nikita Khruschev was a series of exchanges between the two leaders discussing which nation was superior over the other. Though the overall reception of the debate was mixed in the US, the debate elavated Nixon's popularity, giving him a political platform to run for presidency, of which he won in 1968. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Determined to remove Castro and the Communist Party, JKF approved of the CIA mission of sending US trained Cuban Exiles in an attempt to contain the spread of communism in Latin America. The campaign was unsuccessful, and the Cuban government soon made allies with the USSR, leading to Russia to deploy missiles in Cuba. -
JKF's Annoucement of Project Mercury
After NASA launched several missions to send men into space, the US had the capability to build a space shuttle. Soon after, President Kennedy announces the US plan to send a man to the moon, by the end of the decade, placing a big responcibilty on NASA to fullfil this promise before the Soviets do. -
US Deploys Jupiter Missiles in Turkey
The first of man Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles to be produced. The US deployed the Jupiter missiles with the terrortory of Turkey, then their ally. By placing this long range missiles so close to Russia, the USSR was forced to retaliate by an equal threat, eventually finding their new ally Cuba a perfect place for their missiles to the deployed next to US terrortory. -
Berlin Wall Construction Begins
While Germany, and it's capital Berlin, remained divided into French, Russian, British, and US prior to the start of the Cold War, fear that the Soviet East Germany would take over West Germany, and vice versa, kept the Eastern Side under the Iron Curtain of the USSR. Though the Berlin Wall was built to keep East Berliners from the West, this wall epitomizes the USSR despotic policy over East Germany and it's efforts to keep any defectors from fleeing into the West. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the US and Soviet Union from Oct. 16th to Oct 28th concerning Soviet Deployment of ICBMs in Cuba. Though the conflict was resolved where the US removed their IRBMs in Turkey while the USSR removed their ICBMs in Cuba, the crisis is often considered the peak of the Cold War, as it would be the closest the two nations ever reached to declare war on one another. -
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, The United States, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom signed a treaty in moscow to limit nuclar weapons tests underground. This treaty was signed to slow down the production of nuclear weapons, and would be the first of many treaties to limit the nuclear arsenal a nation can have. -
JKF Assasination
During his time to start his relection campaign, President Kennedy took his campaign to win over the vital State of Texas, where he was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas. Though why JKF was killed and whether or not Oswald killed Kennedy alone, or at all, remains unknown, JKF's death would lead to President Lydon B. Johnson to preserve the "Great Society," while also continuing support for the Vietnam War due to Kennedy's failures with foreign policy. -
Tet Offensive
On this Day, The Communist Northern Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched an attack on 100 South Vietnamese cities. Though the South Vietnamese survived the offensive with the help of the US, news reports on the offensive painted a haunting picture to the abominations caused by the US, beginning the turning point of the Vietnam War to the eventual withdrawl of American forces -
Praque Spring Ends
Beginning at Jan. 5th and Ending at Aug. 20th, The Praque Spring was a period of reforms passed by First Secretary of the State of Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, to decentralize the state economcy and democracy. This later resulted into spliting Czechoslovakia into two seperate states, Czech Republic and Republic of Slovakia, a decision that would later result in many more Soviet States to push for their own freedom movements, causing the fall of the Soviet Union. -
Apollo 11 Lands on Moon
On this day, The Apollo 11 Shuttle landed on the moon, making the US the first country to successfully send a man to the moon, on July 20th, and back, on July 24th. With this successful landing, Kennedy's promise to reach the moon before the soviets by the end of the decade had been fulfilled, and the Space races ends. -
SALT I
Known as the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, this treaty between the US and USSR limited the number of Anti-Ballistic Missiles both nations can hold. Though this treaty, along with SALT II, didn't end the cold war, improved relations between the two superpowers because of these treaties led to the START Treaties, which both limited the nuclear arsenal of both nations and brought the cold war to an end. -
Chirstmas Bombing Begins
On this day, President Nixon announced the bombardment of Northern Vietnamese industrial power and economy after winning reelection. Soon after the bombings, protests against the war, even after Nixon won reelection, soon led the US to attend the Paris Peace Accords, where the US agreed to withdraw its military from Vietnam and could no longer directly support the war. -
Fall of Saigon
Also known as the Liberation of Saigon, this day marks the victory of the North Vietnamese in their effort to take the Southern Vietnamese city of Saigon. With this city taken, the last of the US military forces were evacuated and the Vietnam War ends as an unpopular war to the American public, for its failed attempt to contain communism in Vietnam
