1. Soviet Leaders and Cold War Events

2. Remember
this guy?
A bunch of
stuff happened
while he was
in charge of
the Soviet Union

3. The Iron Curtain Speech (1946)

4. The Truman Doctrine (1947)

5. The Marshall Plan (1947)

7. The Molotov Plan (1947)

8. Berlin Blockade (1948)

10. Berlin Airlift (1948)

11. NATO (1949)

12. USSR Tests the A-Bomb (1949)
Andrei Sakharov
Igor Kurchatov
RDS-1
(code named “Joe 1” by the U.S.
in reference to Josef Stalin)

13. The Korean War ( )

14. Joseph Stalin Dictator who led purges and killings
Industrialized Russia with 5-year plans
Created labor camps (gulags)
Set up communal farms

15. Then we get
Nikita Khrushchev
And the
Cold War
continues...

16. Warsaw Pact (1955)

17. Invasion of Hungary (1956)

18. The Arms Race (1950s-80s)

19. The Space Race (1950s-70s)

20. The U-2 Incident (1960)

21. The Berlin Wall ( )

22. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

23. Nikita Khrushchev
Led a De-Stalinization program to promote social freedoms
Continued military and industrial buildup
Attempted to have a peaceful co-existence with the USA
Overthrown due to poor economic conditions

24. Here comes Leonid Brezhnev
Step aside,
Nikita...
Here comes Leonid Brezhnev

25. The Vietnam War (1955/ )

26. Invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968)

27. Invasion of Afghanistan (1979)

28. Boycott of Moscow Olympics (1980)

29. Leonid Brezhnev
Restricted social freedoms and silenced critics of the party
Focused on foreign affairs, especially fighting off threats to communism
The economy worsened under his control
He died in office

30. Yuri Andropov
...HE IS SOOOO BORING

31. Nothing happens
while he is
in charge

32. Yuri Andropov Promised change and reform Died of kidney problems
Nothing really happened

33. Mikhail Gorbachev is not so boring
I really matter!

34. The Chernobyl Disaster (1986)

35. Peace Talks Ensue ( )

36. Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)

37. Mikhail Gorbachev Promoted change and supported the reform movement
His policies triggered the fall of the Soviet Union

38. I’m the first elected Russian president… but I suck.
Boris Yeltsin

39. I’m still kind of in charge of Russia right now!
Vladimir Putin

40. I was elected May 7th, I am a very controversial leader, as most foreign powers consider me a puppet of Vladimir Putin. Am I a good leader? Some say yes…some say no…
Dmitry Medvedev