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The leaders of three allied powers in WWII met to discuss how Germany and the rest of Europe would be reorganized after the war. Winston Churchill (Great Britain), Franklin D. Roosevelt (U.S.A), Joseph Stalin (USSR) met in Yalta, a city on the Crimean peninsula. The main goal was to decide how to deal with the countries of eastern Europe. The USSR and USA had a tense relationship because of their differing economic views (Communism vs Capitalism) and each countries dislike of the others system.
The terms agreed to called for “interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population…and the earliest possible establishment through free elections of governments responsive to the will of the people."  Stalin does not keep this promise and instead communist government were established in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Genuinely democratic elections were never held.

In the Pacific theater it was decided that if Russia would enter the war with Japan within a few months of Germany's surrender.  In exchange the USSR would obtain the Kuril Islands and regain territory they lost in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.

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August 6 & 9, 1945 The United States deploys Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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August 6 & 9, 1945 The United States deploys Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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During WWII all sides were trying to develop new weapons to use against their enemies. In response to fears German scientists had been working on weapons using Nuclear Technology. The Manhattan Project was the American led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon. President Roosevelt authorized the project bringing together scientists and military officials working in nuclear research. The first atomic bomb was successfully detonated on July 16, 1945 in Los Alamos, New Mexico and is known as the Trinity Test.

Following unsuccessful attempts to force Japan to surrender with the Potsdam Declaration, promising "prompt and utter destruction" if Japan did not surrender.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped its first atomic bomb from a B-29 bomber plane called the Enola Gay over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The “Little Boy” exploded with about 13 kilotons of force, leveling five square miles of the city and killing 80,000 people instantly. Tens of thousands more would later die from radiation exposure.

Japan did not immediately surrender so the United States dropped a second bomb three days later. On August 9, 1945 "Fat Man" was dropped on the city of Nagasaki killing 40,000 on impact.

The use of these bombs changed warfare forever. The following decades were consumed by the USSR and US engaging in an Arms Race to develop more advanced thermonuclear weapons.

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Tensions between the USSR and its former allies  were rising. In February of 1946 Stalin makes a speech declaring that communism and capitalism were incompatible.
This is followed by Winston Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" speech declaring that an Iron Curtain has fallen in Europe. Watch the video above!

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This Week in History: Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech

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Containment is the idea that communism would spread to non-communist countries so communism needed to be "contained" by force if necessary. The US had accepted Communism in Eastern Europe but did not want any other cou

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Also know as the European Recovery Program. The U.S Program would give 15 billion dollars to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. This was also aimed at stopping countries from turning to communism to fight poverty and hunger.

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After WWII the capital city of berlin in eastern Germany was divided into 4 sections and later into two. West Germany was controlled by the US, France and Great Britain. East Germany was controlled by the USSR. The USSR blocked all roads leading to west Berlin forcing the US and its allies to airdrop supplies to the city. The Blockade lasted 11 months.

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1949- Mao Zedong establishes the People's Republic of China

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1949- Mao Zedong establishes the People's Republic of China

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Mao Zedong was a communist who came to power and established the Chinese government we know today. The west's concern for the spread of communism grew after this.

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Senator Joe McCarthy begins his hunt for communists within the US Government. His baseless claims of communist ties ran many out of government and began a wider social movement to root out communists in the US.

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One of many Proxy wars fought between the US and USSR. A proxy war is where two powerful countries fight a war using other countries. The Soviet Backed Democratic People's Republic of North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and attacked the pro Western Republic of Korea. Russia and the United States supported their respective side and the war ended with an armistice in 1953 neither side had gained any land.

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The United States, Great Britain and Russia are all racing to create and stock up on more weapons.

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A Treaty organization formed among communist countries. It was officially a treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance. Countries included; Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania

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Egypt nationalized and took control of the Suez canal which had previously been controlled by a French and British Company. The goal was to use toll fees for infrastructure projects in Egypt. Egypt was unaligned in the Cold War and wanted to protect the Arab world from Imperial influence. The British and French organized the government of Israel to invade the peninsula in order to control the canal. The UN had to get involved but it ended with Egypt being seen as the defender of the Arab World

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Another front of the Cold war was the race to space "the new frontier". Both the USSR and the USA spend lots of money and human power into getting into space.

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Cuba officially aligns with the Soviet Union and their policies

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A 13 day political and military standoff between the USSR and the USA. The USSR installed nuclear armed missiles on Cuba just 90 miles off the US shore.  Many feared the destruction of the world for just short of two weeks. The standoff ended with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreeing to remove the missiles in exchange for the US promising not to invade Cuba and to remove their missiles from Turkey.

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1962 U.S. involvement in Vietnam increases
October : Cuban Missile Crisis 1963 July : Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified
November 22: President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas
1964 August : Gulf of Tonkin incident
October: A-bombs developed by China
1965 April : U.S. Marines sent to Dominican Republic to fight Communism
July : Announcement of dispatching of 200,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam
1966 B-52s Bomb North Vietnam 1967 The US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara admits that the US bombing raids had failed to meet their objectives
1968 January : North Korea captured U.S.S. Pueblo
President Johnson does not run for the presidency and Richard Nixon Elected President of the USA
August : Soviet Red Army crush Czechoslovakian revolt
1969 July 20 : Apollo 11 lands on the moon

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Originally published in the NYTimes government documents reveled among other information that the US government knew that the War in Vietnam was a lost cause but chose to keep fighting to save face. This caused public outrage as many Americans died in the extra years. It also settled an important question of free speech. The US Supreme Court decided that newspapers had the right too publish government documents as long as there was no information that would put national security at risk.

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1972
February: President Richard Nixon visits China
July : SALT I signed
1973
January : Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and United States
September : U.S. supported coup overthrows Chilean government October : Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid 1974
August : President Nixon resigns 1975
April 17: North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam which falls to Communist forces
1976
February: Soviet and Cuban forces help to install Communist government in Angola.
1979
January: U.S. and China establish diplomatic relations.
July : SALT II signed
November : Shah of Iran overthrown; Iranian Hostage Crisis December: Soviet forces invade Afghanistan
1980
August: Polish shipyard workers strike Solidarity Union formed. Strike leader Lech Walesa is elected as the head of Solidarity 1983
President Reagan proposes Strategic Defense Initiative October : U.S. troops invades and overthrows regime in Grenada
1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union initiating a campaign of openness called "glasnost" and restructuring called "perestroika"

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President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev met in Iceland to discuss eliminating nuclear weapons. The Summit was labeled after as a failure at the time because it was poorly prepared for and the negotiations were chaotic.

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1987
October : Reagan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear missiles 1989
January : Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan
June : Poland becomes independent
September : Hungary becomes independent
November : Berlin Wall is demolished and East Germany allows unrestricted migration to West Germany
December : Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania
1990
March : Lithuania becomes independent
May 29 : Boris Yeltsin elected as President of Russia
October 3: Germany reunited 1991
August : End of Soviet Union and the Cold War Ends