Events of the Cold War

Cold War
Yalta Conference, February 1945
last meeting of the "Big Three"
decisions about the temporary post-war division and occupation of Germany
Soviets granted Kurile Islands and southern half of Sakhalin Island
Soviets given part of Poland with provision for free elections
Potsdam Conference
United Nations
Truman's foreign policy

Containment: George Kennan
Long Telegram
"confront the Russians with unalterable counterforce at every point where they show signs of encroaching upon the interests of a peaceful and stable world"
Truman Doctrine March 12, 1947
Marshall (European Recovery) Plan
economic equivalent to the containment policy
$16 billion in aid by the end of Truman's presidency
Soviet counterpart in COMECON (Molotov Plan)
Berlin Airlift

Click here to see a map of the airlift
June 23, 1948 - May 12, 1949
277,264 flights by U.S. Air Force and Britain's R.A.F. to Berlin
NATO/ Warsaw Pact

NATO agreement signed in Washington on April 4, 1949
accompanied in September by Mutual Defense Assistance Act with appropriation of $1 billion for military aid
Warsaw Pact of communist countries formalized in 1955
Creation of Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) or West Germany, May 23, 1949
German Democratic Republic (GDR) or East Germany created on October 7, 1949
Korean War
invasion by North Korea on June 24, 1950
UN resolution to support the anti-communist government of Syngman Rhee in South Korea
appointment of General Douglas MacArthur as commander of UN forces
amphibious assault at Inchon
entrance of the Chinese army into the war
Truman's removal of MacArthur from command for insubordination
armistice agreed to in 1953 restoring 38th parallel as boundary
Fear of communism
Fall of China (1949)

Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung): Communist leader
Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek): Nationalist leader
Soviet development of atomic weapons (1949)
Vietnam
outline of the conlict
Japanese surrender
Declaration of Independence by Ho Chi Minh
response by President Harry Truman
French efforts to re-take former colony

French defeat at the Battle of Diem Bien Phu on May 7, 1954
French withdrawal from Vietnam
Geneva Conference of 1954
division of Vietnam at 17th parallel
Communists in north under Ho Chi Minh
South controlled by Bao Dai with, hopefully, a democratic government
free elections to be scheduled within two years for unification of Vietnam
American support for Ngo Dinh Diem
Commitment of military advisers by President Kennedy
Escalation of war by president Johnson
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Tet Offensive
Withdrawal of American forces in 1975
Cuba
U-2 Shootdown
Bay of Pigs
Berlin Crisis
closing of border and construction of Berlin Wall begins on August 13, 1961
Berlin Wall site
Cuban Missile Crisis