Cold War (1945-49)

The "Big Three" Meetings:

Tehran (1943), Yalta (Feb 1945), and Potsdam (July 1945).

Potsdam Division:

The conference where Germany and Berlin were officially divided into 4 zones.

Death of FDR:

April 1945 event that signaled the end of the "Grand Alliance" and a tougher US stance under Truman.

Atomic Bomb Debut:

1945; the Trinity Test followed by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August.

The Long Telegram:

February 1946; George Kennan's 8,000-word warning about Soviet expansionism.

Iron Curtain Speech:

March 1946; Winston Churchill's speech in Fulton, Missouri, describing the division of Europe.

The Novikov Telegram:

September 1946; The Soviet response to Kennan, claiming the US was striving for world domination.

Soviet Satellite States:

Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland fall under Soviet influence by 1945.

The Truman Doctrine:

March 12, 1947; the policy of "containment" to stop the spread of Communism.

Aid for Greece & Turkey:

$400 Million; the amount Truman requested to prevent a Communist takeover in these nations.

The Marshall Plan:

June 1947; the European Recovery Program (ERP) designed to rebuild war-torn Europe.

Marshall Aid Total:

$13.3 Billion; distributed among 16 Western European nations.

"Dollar Imperialism":

Stalin's nickname for the Marshall Plan, viewing it as a way for the US to buy influence.

Cominform:

September 1947; organization set up to coordinate Communist parties across Europe.

Comecon:

January 1949; the Soviet alternative to the Marshall Plan for economic trade in the East.

Czech Coup:

February 1948; the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, the last democracy in the East.

Jan Masaryk:

The Czech minister found dead (defenestrated) following the 1948 Communist coup.

Bizonia & Trizonia:

The unification of the US/UK zones (1947) and later the French zone (1948) in Germany.

The Deutschmark (DM):

June 20, 1948; the new currency introduced in Western zones that triggered the blockade.

The Ostmark:

The currency introduced by Stalin in East Germany in response to the Western Deutschmark.

Berlin Blockade Begins:

June 24, 1948; Stalin cuts off all land and water routes to West Berlin.

The Berlin Airlift:

June 26, 1948; the Allied operation to fly supplies into the 2.1 million citizens of West Berlin.

Operation Vittles:

The US codename for the Berlin Airlift.

The "Candy Bomber":

Gail Halvorsen; the pilot who dropped chocolate and gum for Berlin children.

The "Easter Parade":

April 16, 1949; the busiest day of the Airlift with 13,000 tons of supplies delivered.

End of Blockade:

May 12, 1949; Stalin admits defeat and lifts the restrictions after 324 days.

NATO:

April 4, 1949; the North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed for collective Western defense.

Article 5:

The NATO clause stating that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

The FRG:

May 23, 1949; the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) with its capital in Bonn.

Konrad Adenauer:

The first Chancellor of the FRG (West Germany).

The GDR:

October 7, 1949; the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) with its capital in East Berlin.

Walter Ulbricht:

The leader of the GDR (East Germany).

Soviet Atomic Test:

1949; the year the USSR successfully tested their first bomb (RDS-1), ending the US monopoly.

Chinese Revolution:

1949; Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China, shifting the Cold War to Asia.

Containment:

The core US strategy (1947-1989) to prevent the further spread of Communism.

The Cold War:

A state of political hostility characterized by threats and propaganda short of open warfare.

Satellite State:

A country that is formally independent but under heavy political, economic, and military influence from another.

Collective Defense:

The principle that an alliance will respond together if any member is attacked.

Secret Police:

State agencies like the Stasi used to maintain control through surveillance and fear in the East.

The "Standard of Living" Gap:

The growing economic disparity between the prosperous West and the struggling East by 1949.