-
Dicember
Civil war begins in China between the communist forces of Mao Zedong and the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai Chek -
March 12
Truman's speech to Congress asking for help for Turkey and Greece ("Truman Doctrine") -
25 February
Communist coup d'etat in Prague -
March 17
Treaty of Brussels -
14 May
Proclamation of the State of Israel. The first Arab-Israeli war begins -
Period: to
Soviet blockade of Berlin
-
28 June
Yugoslavia is expelled from the Kominform -
4 April
Signing of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) -
23 May
Adenauer proclaims the birth of the Federal Republic of Germany -
29 August
First Soviet atomic bomb -
1 October
Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China -
September
MacArthur's American troops regain the territory conquered by the North Koreans -
November
Intervention of Chinese troops in favour of North Korea -
14 February
Chinese-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance -
25 June
North Korea attacks South Korea -
11 April
Truman dismisses MacArthur as head of troops in Korea -
8 September
San Francisco Treaty between Japan and the United States -
3 October
Britain explodes its first atomic bomb -
4 November
Dwight Eisenhower elected president of the United States -
5 March
Stalin's death -
27 July
Armistice in the Korean War -
7 May
French defeat of Diem Bien Phu in Indochina -
18 June
A CIA-organized coup overthrows President Arbenz in Guatemala -
19 August
A CIA-organized coup overthrows President Mossadegh in Iran -
8 September
Signing of the Treaty of Southeast Asia (SEATO) -
February
Khrushchev establishes his leadership in the CPSU and the USSR -
5 April
Treaty of Baghdad (Middle East Treaty) later renamed the Centre Treaty (CENTO) in 1959 -
5 May
West Germany regains its sovereignty, five days later joins NATO -
14 May
Constitution of the Warsaw Pact -
25 February
Khrushchev denounces Stalin in his "secret speech"; to the 20th CPSU Congress -
29 June
Workers'; protests in Poland -
26 July
Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal -
21 October
Kremlin accepts Gomulka as Polish leader -
23 October
The beginning of the revolution in Hungary -
29 October
Suez crisis begins: Israel, supported by France and Britain, attacks Egypt -
4 November
Soviet invasion of Hungary -
25 March
The Six (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) sign the Treaties of Rome establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) -
4 October
USSR launches Sputnik I into space, the first artificial satellite -
31 January
First artificial North American satellite -
21 December
De Gaulle becomes the first President of the Fifth French Republic -
1 January
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba -
Period: to
15-27 September
Khrushchev's visit to the USA -
5 May
Khrushchev announces the downing of an American U-2 spy plane in the Soviet sky -
16 May
Failure of the Khrushchev-Eisenhower summit in Paris -
19 October
U. S. trade embargo on Cuba -
8 November
John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States -
May
USA sends his first military advisors to Vietnam -
3 January
United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba -
12 April
Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut in space -
17 April
Failure of the CIA-organized invasion of Cuba (Bay of Pigs or Playa Giron) -
Period: to
3-4 June
Summit between Khrushchev and Kennedy in Vienna -
13 August
GDR begins construction of the Berlin Wall -
14 October
U. S. Spy Plane Discovers Soviet Missiles in Cuba - Cuban Missile Crisis Begins -
March
After moments of serious tension, the USSR withdraws the missiles deployed in Cuba -
29 January
France vetoes UK entry into the EEC -
20 June
The "red phone"; is established between the White House and the Kremlin -
1 November
South Korean President Ngo Dinh Diem is overthrown and killed in a military coup -
22 November
John F. Kennedy is killed in Dallas -
14 October
Khrushchev is dismissed and replaced by Brezhnev in the CPSU General Secretariat -
16 October
The People's Republic of China explodes its first atomic bomb -
3 November
Lyndon B. Johnson wins U. S. presidential election -
7 February
First American bombing in Vietnam -
8 March
First American combat troops arrive in Vietnam -
28 April
USA intervenes militarily in the Dominican Republic -
9 March
France withdraws from NATO's military structure, but remains in the alliance -
5 June
Six Day War (Israel against Egypt, Syria and Jordan) -
21 October
Large protests at the Pentagon in Washington against the Vietnam War -
March
Dubcek starts the "Prague Spring"; -
30 January
Communist troops start Tet offensive in Vietnam -
16 March
American troops commit the My Lai massacre in Vietnam -
20 August
Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia -
5 November
Richard Nixon, new president of the United States -
2 March
First military clash on the Ussuri River between the USSR and People's China -
25 June
After withdrawing 25,000 troops, Nixon announces that Asian countries must now defend themselves ("Nixon Doctrine";) -
20 July
North American astronauts arrive on the Moon -
30 April
American and South Vietnamese troops invade Cambodia. Major anti-war protests in the US -
12 August
The FRG and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact whereby the FRG accepts the inter-German and GDR borders with Poland (" Ostpolitik"; by Willy Brandt) -
2 August
People's China joins the United Nations as a permanent member of the Security Council -
22 January
The Europe of Nine: the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland join the EEC -
21 February
Nixo's visit to People's China -
26 May
SALT I treaties signed in Moscow -
17 June
Watergate Scandal Begins -
27 January
The Peace Treaty on Vietnam is signed in Paris. End of the American intervention, although the war continues. -
11 September
CIA-backed military coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende -
6 October
Yom Kippur or Ramadan War (Israel against Egypt and Syria) -
9 August
As a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon is resigning the presidency. He is replaced by his vice president Gerald Ford -
23 August
Breznev and Ford meet in Vladivostok and agree on a draft SALT II treaty -
17 April
Khmer Rouge conquer Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh -
30 April
North Vietnamese troops take Saigon. End of the Vietnam War. -
1 August
Signature of the Helsinki Act -
2 July
Reunification of North and South Vietnam -
2 November
Jimmy Carter is elected president of the United States. -
17 March
Carter announces that human rights will be the biggest concern of U. S. foreign policy -
19 November
Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat visits Israel -
27 April
Pro-Soviet military takes power in Afghanistan -
Period: to
5-17 September
Carter, Begin and Sadat sign Camp David Agreements -
25 December
Vietnamese troops invade Cambodia and overthrow the Khmer Rouge regime -
1 January
USA and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations -
16 January
Islamic Revolution in Iran -
27 February
China attacks northern Vietnam in retaliation for Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia -
26 March
Israel and Egypt sign the Peace Treaty between the two countries in Washington -
8 June
Carter and Breznev sign SALT II agreements in Vienna -
17 July
Sandinista troops overthrow Somoza's dictatorship -
4 November
Assault on the US embassy in Tehran and hostage taking (The hostage crisis will last 444 days) -
27 December
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan -
3 January
Carter Withdraws SALT II Treaty from Congressional Consideration in Response to Afghanistan Invasion -
24 January
Carter announces that the United States will use force if another power threatens its access to Persian Gulf oil ("Carter Doctrine";) -
24 April
American attempt to rescue hostages fails -
Period: to
July-August
USA and 40 other nations boycott the Moscow Olympics -
31 August
Lech Walesa signs the agreement that signifies legal recognition of the Solidarity union -
4 November
Ronald Reagan is elected president of the United States. -
6 October
Egyptian fundamentalist officials kill Anwar el-Sadat during military parade -
13 December
Military coup in Poland. Martial law is decreed and Walesa is imprisoned. -
6 June
Israel invades southern Lebanon to prevent PLO guerrilla attacks -
10 November
Breznev dies. He is replaced by Yuri Andropov -
23 March
Reagan announces the launch of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) -
18 April
Terrorist attack on the US embassy in Beirut - 63 dead -
23 October
Suicide bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut - 241 dead -
25 October
American invasion of the island of Grenada -
23 November
The deployment of the "Euromisiles"; begins -
9 February
Yuri Andropov dies. He is replaced by old man Constantin Chernenko -
24 May
U. S. Congress bans continued aid to the Nicaraguan Contras -
Period: to
July-August
USSR and its allies (except Romania) boycott the Los Angeles Olympics -
26 September
Sino-British Agreement for the Return of Hong Kong in 1997 -
6 February
Reagan announces that the U. S. support rebels fighting communist regimes in the Third World ("Reagan Doctrine";) -
11 March
Mikhail Gorbachev Elected Secretary General of the CPSU -
11 June
Gorbachev proposes an in-depth reform of the Soviet economy -
19 November
First summit between Gorbachev and Reagan in Geneva -
13 February
France begins Operation Sparrowhawk to expel Libyans from Chadian territory -
28 February
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is killed by a gunman while leaving a cinema in Stockholm. -
15 April
US planes bomb Libya -
7 September
in Chile, members of the Marxist terrorist group Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez made an unsuccessful attempt on the life of General Augusto Pinochet -
11 October
The Reykjavik Summit begins, where Reagan and Gorbachev reach several agreements for the effective control of nuclear weapons. -
3 November
Iran-Contra scandal. The Reagan Administration announces that it has been selling weapons to Iran in exchange for hostages, and that the profits from this sale have been used to finance the Nicaraguan Contra paramilitaries -
June
Gorbachev announces Glásnost and Perestroika, an attempt to improve government transparency and extend freedom of information, along with economic liberalisation measures. -
10 September
The Battle of Cuito Carnevale begins in Angola. -
15 May
The military forces of the Soviet Union are beginning to withdraw from Afghanistan. -
22 December
South Africa withdraws from South West Africa (Namibia). -
30 December
Cuba enters El Salvador's civil war -
September
Vietnamese troops withdraw from Cambodia. -
2 February
Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan completed -
20 May
The protests in Tian'anmen Square are violently suppressed by the Chinese government. -
20 June
George H. W. Bush becomes President of the United States. -
9 November
The Berlin Wall falls. -
3 December
After the Malta Summit, George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev announce a new era of peace, beginning the beginning of the end of the Cold War -
14 December
Democracy is restored in Chile. -
3 October
Germany is reunited. -
19 November
President George H. W. Bush of the United States and President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation formally declare the end of the Cold War. -
19 August
Failed coup d'état in the Soviet Union in response to the New Union Treaty. -
25 December
Gorbachev resigns as Secretary General of the CPSU. George H. W. Bush, in his Christmas speech, ends the Cold War -
31 December
The hammer and sickle are lowered for the last time in the Kremlin. The Soviet Union dissolves.