cold war

• Yalta Conference, Feb 1945: discussed the division of Germany and Berlin in 4 zones, formed the UN, and allowed for free elections in central and eastern European countries.
• Potsdam Conference, July 1945: decided on the division of Germany and Berlin, banned the Nazi party, and tried former leaders as war criminals.
• Atomic Bomb: first bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing 70,000 people immediately and thousands more from radiation and severe burns.
• Second Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, killing 40,000 people.
• Cominform, 1947: aimed to coordinate the various communist governments in eastern Europe, unifying the countries behind the Iron Curtain and ensuring Stalin's dominance.
• Comicon, 1949: aimed to coordinate the industries and trade of eastern Europe, giving the USSR a good market to sell goods and stopping countries from trading with the West.
• On 7th October 1950, MacArthur invaded North Korea.
• From 25th November 1950 to 31st December 1950, 200,000 Chinese troops attacked MacArthur.
• The Chinese troops had modern weapons supplied by Russia.
• From 31st December 1950 to 2nd March 1951, 500,000 more Chinese troops entered the war and attacked the Americans.
• From 2nd March 1951 to 1953, the Americans threatened to use the atomic bomb if China didn’t stop fighting.
• The Korean War was the first proxy war of the Cold War and showed how likely to be conducted moving forward.
• The dismissal of MacArthur showed that the USA is unwilling to go to a ‘hot’ war, especially now the USSR have their own nuclear weapon.
• The American fear about communism is going to grow.
• The USA can dominate the UN and raise Soviet suspicions.
• The USA is willing to contain communism with violence and is prepared to actively attack it, although they back down.
• China enters conflict for the first time and is clearly not going to an Asian Yugoslavia.
• Soviet Expansion: the USSR occupied much of eastern Europe, with each country having its own leader but becoming hard for non-communists to gain power.
• Iron Curtain: on March 6, 1946, Churchill made his 'Iron Curtain' speech, criticizing the USSR's actions and accusing it of spreading its influence and gaining power at all costs.
• Truman Doctrine: on March 12, 1947, Truman made a speech to US Congress, introducing the 'policy of containment' to keep communism in the countries that had already fallen to it and to stop it from spreading further.
• Marshall Plan: on April 3, 1948, the Marshall Plan was official, aiming to create a market for American goods for the US economy, aid the economic recovery of Europe, and promote unity in Europe.
• Berlin Blockade: by 1948, Germany was working as 2 zones (one by the USSR and the other by UK, USA + France), with Trizonia planning to introduce a new currency 'Deutschmark' which would help stimulate the economy.
• Soviet Union wanted a weak Germany instead of a strong and stable Germany, as a new currency would bring Germany closer to capitalism, opposite of what Stalin wanted.
• Soviet Union created traffic restrictions to blockade West Berlin, leading to tensions between communists and antis.
• Stalin decided on a full blockade.
• Khrushchev allowed Hungary to have a limited right to create its own version of communism
• The US did not intervene in the Hungarian uprising, leading to a sense of betrayal
• The USSR rejected a vote for Soviet troops to withdraw at the UN
• 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled to Austria
• The U-2 Crisis was a confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union
• The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to prevent spies and people from defecting
• The usa developed a new atom bomb in 1945.
• The ussr did not believe the usa would use weapons against them in 1947.
• The ussr exploded an atom bomb in 1949.
• The usa exploded a hydrogen bomb in 1952.
• The ussr exploded a hydrogen bomb in 1953.
• The ussr developed intercontinental ballistic missiles (icbm) for the first time in 1957.
• The usa tested their first icbm in 1958.
• The usa launched a submarine armed with nuclear missiles (polaris) in 1959.
• The ussr detonated the largest bomb the world had ever seen in 1961.