Recent Event Highlights: Berlin Wall Falls in Germany, SALT I and SALT II, Berlin Wall Construction, and 19 more...
Created by afkastad on Nov 4, 2010
Last updated: 11/15/10 at 10:40 AM
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The Soviet Union collapsed into 15 different countries, and the West celebrated as they saw it as a victory for freedom. Gorbachevs policies of Glastnost and Perestroika allowed pent up feelings of everyone in the country to be unleashed against the government. Gorbachev was more of a push-over than past leaders, and didn't like to use harsh punishments on those who rebelled againdt the country. He then got kidnapped, and without a leader, after a failed coup take over attempt, the citizens of the Soviet Union realised there was nothing left to accept but democracy.
When Germany united, it was the first time that capitalist and socialist economies combined. This raised a number of economic problems, and Eastern Germany went into a recession, while the West experienced a small economic boom, as the unification was managed by the West.
As Gorbachev slowly made the Soviet Union a little less communist, he found no need to have extreme separate of the east and west. As Reagan and Gorbachev continued to be able to co-operate with one another, Gorbachev decided it was time to rid the ideological separation of East and West Germany, and they were reunited into one whole Germany once again.
The events of the Romanian revolutiuon began in Poland and spread throughout eastern Europe. There were a number of protests against teh communist government, but the only violent protest occured in Romania.
Glasnost was a policy of openness and publicity with the actions of the government, eliminating censorship. Perestroika refers to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system, led by Mikhail Gorbachev.
Gorbachev helped to relieve tension between the two superpowers as he cut military by 10% to show the U.S he did not want war. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev found they could co-operate during their four different meetings with one another, and together they helped relieve much tension of the war.
(AKA Strategic Defense Initiative) It was created by Ronald Reagan to use ground and space-based systems to protect the U.S from nuclear missiles. This initiative was critisized as it threatened to destabiliz MAD and re-ignite an offensive arms race.
When Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election he ordered a massive build-up of military. This heightened tension in the Cold War.
(AKA Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) President Nixon and Brezhnev sign 2 negotiated settlements. These settlements are to reduce manufacture and deployment of nuclear weapons to ease the Cold War. SALT II (1979) was never confirmed by the US senate, so the Soviets invade Afghanistan and are deemed officially untrustworthy.
The Washington-Moscow Hotline directly connects the U.S.A and the Soviet Union. It linked the White House via the National Military Command Center with the Kremlin.
A U.S U-2 plane gets photographic proof that the Soviet Union placed missiles in Cuba that have the potential to hit the United States. This crisis was the closest the two powers got to nuclear warfare, and was ended when an agreement was made for the U.S to not invade Cuba, and the Soviets to return the missiles back to the Soviet Union.
The Berlin wall was put up by East Germany to completely cut off West Berlin from East Berlin. The wall included guard towers and a "death strip", where people would be shot down if they entered it. The East claimed that the wall was constructed to prevent the "negative influence of socialism."
A U.S U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The U.S was accused of spying on the Soviets, and was forced to admit it's purpose as a surveillance plane.
This revolution was an armed revolt led by Fidel Castro. The purpose was to overthrow President Fulgencio Batista. Batista was unprepared for the guerilla tactics of Castro's armies, and eventually gave up and fled to spain.
The launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union came as a surprise to the U.S because they thought they were ahead of the Soviets in space technology. This also posed a threat to the U.S, as if the Soviets could launch a satellite, that meant they could also launch a nuclear warhead or missile.
Hungarians tried to start a revolution to rid their country of communism. This angered the Soviets, so they brought in Army Tanks and military personel to eliminate anyone who revolted, and instilling fear into the hearts of those that didn't.
Senator Joseph McCarthy wanted to uncover any and all suspected communists in the US. The government begins to perform "loyalty reviews", as well as gives the FBI more power & doubling its force size. The government went so far with the anti-communism belief that all actors, doctors, lawyers, writers, etc. were blacklisted if they had absolutely any ties to communism, whether past or present.
North Korea (USSR) invades South Korea (U.S), and the U.S requests military assistance from the UN to stop communism. The UN forces the communists to the Chinese border, but the Chinese intervene and push them back to the 38th parallel. The 38th parallel becomes demilitarized, but a peace treaty is not signed when the war ends in 1953.
Growing Soviet influence alarmed the Western nations, so they decided they needed another form of sercurity against expanding communism. NATO is an organization in which the members of it agree to aid in mutual defence for one another if an outside nation attacks any of the nations in the organization. Originally, 12 nations were included in NATO: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States.
The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb "First Lightning" in Kazakhstan. It was almost equivilent to the bomb that the US dropped on Nagasaki. The Russians figured out how to make atomic bombs because of soviet spies inside the US nuclear program.
The Truman Doctrine was a policy that pledged that the US would economically & militarily aid Greece & Turkey so they would not fall to soviet communism during the Greek Civil War.
The Soviet Union blocks off access to West Berlin as it is surrounded by east communism, so the Western Allies cannot have road or rail access. The Soviets thought that if Berlin was suffering and starving, they would give in to communism. This attempt to turn West Berlin to communism failed, as the Allies used air transportation to give supplies to West Berlin.
A plan for European recovery, in which the U.S supplied money aid and support to all countries including the USSR, whom refused the offer. It also included technical assistance for those who joined the Organization for European Economic Co-operation.
France fought a war with the Vietnamese communists, and France was defeated, so Vietnam was then divided along the 17th Parallel. North Vietnamese Army and South Communist Guerillas try to capture South Vietnam. The USA steps in as they are practicing containment, but eventually realise that victory is not near, so they retreat and South Vietnam is captured.
Soviet Union (Stalin), United States (Truman), and the United Kingdom (Churchill) attended the conference to decide how to punish Nazi Germany. It was also to establish post-war order and peace treaties.
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