Timeline: Cold War

Feb 8, 1904

Russo-Japanese War begins

Jan 9, 1905

Bloody Sunday

Sep 5, 1905

Treaty of Portsmouth ends Russo-Japanese War

Dec 7, 1905

Moscow Uprising begins

Apr 27, 1906

Meeting of the First Duma

Aug 1, 1914

Russian Empire enters World War I

Oct 25, 1917

Bolshevik Revolution

Mar 3, 1918

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed

Jul 23, 1921

Foundation of the CCP

Apr 3, 1922

Stalin appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union

Jan 21, 1924

Vladimir Lenin dies

May 2, 1926

Nicaraguan Civil War begins. Sandino rises to prominence amongst the Liberal Army

May 4, 1927

Peace of Tipitapa ends Nicaraguan Civil War. Enhances Sandino's dissatisfaction

Aug 1, 1927

Nanchang Uprising. Start of the intermittent Chinese Civil War

1928

First Five Year Plan implemented by Stalin

1932

Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected President of USA

1932

Manchukuo puppet state established

1933

United States extends diplomatic recognition of the USSR

Mar 4, 1933

Cordell Hull selected as Secretary of State

1934

The Long March begins

Sep 18, 1934

USSR joins the League of Nations

Jan 15, 1935

Zunyi Conference. Mao becomes Chairman of the Politburo of the CCP, and de facto leader of the party and the Chinese Red Army

Aug 23, 1939

Molotov-Ribbentrop pact signed

Eastern Europe divided up between USSR and Nazi Germany in secret protocol

Sep 1, 1939

Germany invades Poland

Penetrate up to line agreed in Molotov-Ribbentrop secret protocol

Jul 1, 1944

Bretton Woods Conference commences

Establishment of the IMF

Aug 1, 1944

Warsaw Uprising

Oct 9, 1944

Tolstoy/Moscow Conference. Percentages Agreement

Dec 31, 1944

Stalin recognises the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland

1945

Postdam Agreement

Provisions for future meeting of newly formed Council of Foreign Ministers included

1945

Council of Foreign Ministers meeting. London

Dispute between US and USSR on Japanese occupation.

1945

Council of Foreign Ministers meeting. Moscow

Preparation of peace treaties with many Axis powers. Far Eastern Commission formed. Allied Council for Japan formed. Atomic energy commission for UN.

1945

Unconditional German surrender ends war in Europe

1945

Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Pacific war ends.

Feb 4, 1945

Yalta Conference

Mar 7, 1945

Josip Broz Tito becomes Prime Minister of the provisional government of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia

Apr 12, 1945

Death of President Roosevelt. Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes president.

Jul 3, 1945

James Byrnes appointed Secretary of State

Jul 26, 1945

Clement Attlee becomes British Prime Minister

Dec 10, 1945

Alcide De Gasperi becomes Italian Prime Minister

1946

Council of Foreign Ministers. Paris

France joined earlier

1946

CoFM meeting. New York

Outstanding issue of Free Territory of Trieste resolved

1946

Formation of Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)

Merger between Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)

1946

Socialist Unity Party wins 1946 German elections under supervision of Soviet army.

Mar 2, 1946

Soviet troops refuse to withdraw from Iran

Mar 5, 1946

Churchill delivers his 'Sinews of Peace' or 'Iron Curtain' speech in Fulton, Missouri

Mar 30, 1946

Outbreak of the Greek Civil War

May 1, 1946

Soviet troops withdraw from Iran

actual date not found, but sources typically agree on late April to Early May

Jul 1, 1946

Bikini Atoll detonations

Aug 7, 1946

Soviet Union demands revision of Montreux Convention

1947

Mr X article appears in Foreign Affairs

George Kennan articulates policy of 'Containment'

1947

CoFM Moscow

1947

CoFM London

Failed to agree peace treaty for Germany and Austria

Jan 21, 1947

General George Marshall appointed Secretary of State

Mar 29, 1947

Truman Doctrine articulated

Sep 18, 1947

Foundation of the CIA

National Security Act of 1947

Sep 18, 1947

National Security Act of 1947 takes effect

Oct 5, 1947

Cominform established

1948

CoFM Paris

Failed to agree procedure for former Italian colonies

1948

Soviets withdraw from the Allied Control Council

Feb 25, 1948

Czechoslovakia forced to reject Marshall Plan

Mar 10, 1948

Jan Masaryk dies

Apr 3, 1948

Marshall Plan enacted

Apr 18, 1948

Democrazia Cristiana wins Italian general elections.

Jun 20, 1948

Deutsche Mark introduction

Jun 24, 1948

Berlin Blockade begins

Jun 26, 1948

Berlin airlift begins with Operation Vittles

Jun 28, 1948

Culmination of Tito-Soviet Split. Expulsion of Yugoslavia from Cominform.

Nov 2, 1948

Truman reelected US president.

Beat Thomas Dewey (Rep.) and Strom Thurmond (Dixiecrat)

Dec 5, 1948

West Berlin elections. Ernst Reuter becomes mayor.

1949

CoFM Paris

End Soviet Blockade on Berlin Failed to agree on German Reunification

Jan 5, 1949

Comecon established

Jan 21, 1949

Dean Acheson appointed Secretary of State by Truman

Apr 4, 1949

NATO forms

May 12, 1949

Berlin Blockade lifted

Aug 15, 1949

Konrad Adenauer elected German Chancellor

Aug 29, 1949

First Soviet Atomic bomb test

Oct 1, 1949

People's Republic of China declared

Oct 4, 1949

NSC-49 presented to Truman

Oct 7, 1949

German Democratic Republic Constitution Adopted. Formation of the GDR. Soviets turn control over East Germany to Socialist Unity Party

1950

Senator Joseph McCarthy initiates a series of accusations against 'Communist in Government'

Mar 7, 1950

NSC-68 presented to Truman

Jun 25, 1950

KPA forces cross the 38th parallel. Outbreak of Korean War

Jul 25, 1950

Walter Ulbricht confirmed as First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany

Mar 10, 1952

Stalin note

Jul 23, 1952

Egyptian Coup. Gamel Abdel Nasser becomes president

Nov 4, 1952

Dwight D. Eisenhower elected US president

Jan 14, 1953

Josip Broz Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia

Jan 26, 1953

John Foster Dulles appointed Secretary of State by Eisenhower

Mar 5, 1953

Stalin dies

Mar 6, 1953

Georgy Malenkov succeeds Stalin as Premier of the Soviet Union

Also listed first amongst list of secretaries of the Secretariat

Jun 16, 1953

Uprising in East Germany begins

Jul 26, 1953

Cuban Revolution begins

Jul 27, 1953

Korean Armistice Agreement ends Korean War

Aug 15, 1953

Iranian Coup

Sep 14, 1953

Central Committee elects Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the CPSU

Dec 23, 1953

Lavrentiy Beria executed

1954

CoFM Berlin

Jun 18, 1954

Guatemalan Coup

Jul 26, 1954

Geneva Conference (Indochina)

1955

Bandung Conference

Bandung, Indonesia

1955

CoFM Geneva Summit

Failed to agree on German reunification or Euro security and disarmament.

1955

Hallstein Doctrine formed

Feb 24, 1955

Formation of the Baghdad Pact

Mar 8, 1955

Malenkov forced to resign

Apr 6, 1955

Anthony Eden elected British Prime Minister

May 9, 1955

West Germany joins NATO

May 14, 1955

Formation of the Warsaw Pact

Oct 26, 1955

Ngô Đình Diệm becomes First President of the Republic of Vietnam

Nov 1, 1955

Outbreak of Vietnam War

1956

Sino-Soviet Split begins

Feb 25, 1956

20 Party Congress. Khrushchev delivers his 'Secret Speech' 'On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences'

Jun 23, 1956

Hungarian Revolution

Popular revolt against Soviet policies of Hungarian People's Republic. Budapest

Oct 29, 1956

Suez Crisis begins

Nov 6, 1956

Eisenhower reelected US president

Oct 4, 1957

Sputnik launch inaugurates Space Race

1958

Khrushchev issues Berlin Ultimatum

1958

Great Leap Forward begins

Feb 22, 1958

Formation of the United Arab Republic

1959

On Peaceful Coexistence. Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev publishes article in Foreign Affairs. Advocates some form of peaceful competition and coexistence between Capitalist and Communist states. Upholds Socialism and Soviet Union as peaceful systems.

1959

CoFM Geneva

Western powers wanted comprehensive peace treaty with unified Germany

Jan 8, 1959

Fidel Castro's victory march into Havana

Feb 16, 1959

Fidel Castro sworn in as Cuban Prime Minister

Sep 15, 1959

Khrushchev visits the United States. The first Soviet leader to do so.

May 1, 1960

U-2 Incident

Gary Powers' plane shot down in the Soviet Union

May 16, 1960

Paris Four Power Summit

Nov 8, 1960

John F. Kennedy elected US President

Beats Richard Nixon (Rep.)

Jan 6, 1961

Khrushchev's '6th of January' speech leads Kennedy Administration to believe in a hardening of Soviet attitudes towards the West

Jan 20, 1961

JFK Inaugural Address espouses a conciliatory attitude to the Soviet Union

Jan 21, 1961

Dean Rusk appointed Secretary of State by Kennedy

Jan 30, 1961

JFK State of the Union Address

Takes a harder line towards the Soviet Union following Kennedy's misinterpretation of Khrushchev's 6th January Speech

Apr 12, 1961

Yuri Gagarin successfully orbits the earth

Apr 17, 1961

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Jun 4, 1961

Vienna Summit

Khrushchev reissues ultimatum asking for separate peace treaty with East Germany.

Aug 12, 1961

Construction of Berlin Wall begins

Oct 16, 1962

Cuban Missile Crisis begins

Nov 1, 1963

Ngô Đình Diệm assassinated

Nov 22, 1963

President Kennedy assassinated. Lyndon B Johnson assumes presidency

Aug 7, 1964

Gulf of Tonkin resolution

Oct 14, 1964

Politburo votes Khrushchev out of power. Leonid Brezhnev chosen General Secretary of the CPSU

1966

Cultural Revolution begins

Jun 5, 1967

Six Day War breaks out

1968

Prague Spring

Period of political liberalisation and mass protest by Czechoslovaks against Communist State

Nov 5, 1968

Richard Nixon elected president of the USA

Jan 20, 1969

Henry Kissinger appointed National Security Advisor

Oct 22, 1969

Willy Brandt elected Chancellor of Germany

Aug 12, 1970

Treaty of Moscow

Nov 3, 1970

Salvador Allende becomes president of Chile

Dec 7, 1970

Treaty of Warsaw

May 3, 1971

Eric Honecker replaces Walter Ulbricht as General Secretary of the GDR

Ulbricht was removed by Brezhnev

Sep 3, 1971

Four Power Agreement on Berlin

1972

Basic Treaty

Feb 21, 1972

Nixon's visit to China

May 22, 1972

Moscow Summit

May 26, 1972

Transit Treaty

Jun 17, 1972

Watergate scandal begins

Sep 18, 1973

Both the GDR and FDR are admitted to the UN

Oct 6, 1973

Yom Kippur War

1974

Reunification clause removed from East German constitution

Aug 9, 1974

President Nixon resigns from office. Gerald Ford assumes presidency

Aug 1, 1975

Helsinki Accords

Nov 11, 1975

Angolan Civil War begins

Sep 9, 1976

Mao dies

Nov 2, 1976

Jimmy Carter elected US president

1978

Deng Xiaoping becomes paramount leader of China

Apr 27, 1978

'April Revolution'. War in Afghanistan begins.

Military coup in Kabul. Sectarian leftists take power. Proclaim April Revolution. Neither Soviet leadership nor KGB had any intimation of beginning.

Dec 6, 1978

Brezhnev and Nur Muhammad Taraki sign 20-year 'treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation'

1979

Herat uprising

Islamist forces rebel against secular state during Afghan war

Apr 1, 1979

Islamic Republic of Iran declared

Culmination of Iranian Revolution of 1978

Oct 31, 1979

Soviet intervention in Afghanistan begins

Response to several requests by Taraki, then Amin, for Soviet assistance against mujahideen insurgence.

Sep 17, 1980

Solidarność founded

Lenin Shipyard. Gdańsk. Lech Wałęsa

Nov 4, 1980

Reagan elected President of the USA

Dec 13, 1981

General Jaruzelski imposes Martial Law in Poland (Stan wojenny w Polsce)

A response to Solidarność protest.

Nov 10, 1982

Leonid Brezhnev dies

Nov 12, 1982

Yuri Andropov elected General Secretary of the CPSU

1983

Able Archer exercises

Mar 8, 1983

Reagan gives 'Evil Empire' speech

Sep 1, 1983

Korean Airlines Flight 007 shot down.

Feb 9, 1984

Yuri Andropov dies

Feb 13, 1984

Konstantin Chernenko elected General Secretary of the CPSU

Mar 10, 1985

Konstantin Chernenko dies

Mar 11, 1985

Mikhail Gorbachev appointed General Secretary of the Soviet Union

Jul 19, 1985

Operation Pimlico successfully executed

Nov 19, 1985

Geneva Summit

Reagan and Gorbachev discuss Nuclear arms limitation, easing emigration, and SDI

Apr 26, 1986

Chernobyl disaster

Nov 9, 1989