The United States and Russia: A Cold and Complex History
setting the scene a timeline 1809 1867 1917 1933 1941 1962 The Russian Empire grants formal recognition to the United States The Russian Empire sells Alaska to the United States The Russian Revolution takes place in March and November Hitler invades the Soviet Union and the United States enters World War II as a Soviet ally Under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt the United States grants formal recognition to the Soviet Union The Cuban Missile Crisis puts the United States and Soviet Union on the brink of World War III 6 the united states and russia a cold and complex history
1973 1989 1991 2000 2016 The Soviet Union dissolves The Berlin Wall comes down The Russian Federation interferes in the U S presidential election U S troops pull out of Vietnam Vladimir Putin becomes President of the Russian Federation setting the scene a timeline 7
Introduction Iconic moments in russian-american relations The United States and Russia have a complicated relationship and there are a few famous remarks around which one can begin to understand how these two world powers came to view one another These remarks were all spoken during the Cold War the period from 1947 to 1991 when tensions between the two countries were at their peak and when the Soviet Union and the United States inched closer to World War III It was inevitable that the United States and the Soviet Union the two remaining superpowers after World War II would each seek to establish a dominant position in world affairs Their leaders quarreled then sought an easing of tensions now known as a détente In the process they uttered some of the most famous words of the 20th century Such iconic statements are so well-known that they have become part of pop culture and almost every American who lived through that era recognizes them immediately A War of Words In 1956 former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev escalated tensions between his country and the West when he told a group of foreign ambassadors that he would bury them Historians still debate whether he meant this warning literally or not and Khrushchev later took back his words However many Americans interpreted his death threat as a direct reference to the Soviet Union’s growing growing nuclear armaments Khrushchev did equal harm to Soviet-American relations in another iconic moment four years later when he is said to have angrily banged his shoe on the table at the United Nations after listening to a harsh critique of Soviet dominance in Europe Many Americans came to feel that the Soviet Union was being run by a madman who also happened to control a nuclear arsenal A year later in 1961 Soviet dominance over Germany in the aftermath of the Germany’s defeat in World War II led to 8 the united states and russia a cold and complex history
Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev shown here was known for his fiery language iconic moments in russian-american relations 9
