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The Cold War
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Potsdam Conference after atomic bombs dropped on Japan
This is the conference where President Truman, Stalin, and the British divide up Europe. This is a precursor for the Cold War as Stalin and communist USSR is able to gain a lot of land. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill gave his "iron curtain" speech on this date. Prior to the speech, the West had been distracted by their own post-war woes and somewhat grateful for the USSR and its commitments to ending the Great War. It was this day, that changed the way the Democratic west viewed the Communist East. This has been considered the "beginning of the Cold War." -
President Truman requests funds to support Greeks+Turks in fight against Communism
This marked the beginning of the Truman Doctrine. It established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts. It was a huge step away from isolationism -
Marshall Plan + Rio Pact
With the Truman doctrine declared, the U.S. took many security actions to protect themselves and the Western Hemisphere. The Marshall Plan was a U.S. sponsored program to designed to rehabilitate the economies of 17 European countries to create conditions in which the democracies could survive in. The Rio pact was signed a couple of months later where 19 Latin American countries created a security zone around the hemisphere. -
Berlin Airlift
President Truman's record against the Soviets up to this date was very ineffective; he allowed them to occupy Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Americans were calling him soft and it was true; the Soviets used this to their advantage. In early 1947, the British and U.S. combined their zones in Germany to one "bizone" in order to help the German economy. Eventually the French joined, and in further attempt to help the Germans,they tried to pass a four power currency through. -
Berlin Airlift continued
Soviets hoped Germany would overcirculate so they would continue to recess, and the Soviets could foster a communist uprising. Later, the Soviets, atttempting to push the West out of Berlin, required Western convoys travelling through Soviet Germany to be checked . As the Westerners refused to do so, the Soviets responded by cutting all surface traffic to Berlin on this day. Berlin was crying for support; Truman wanted no war again, so he agreed to western Berlin by air; thus, the Berlin Airlift -
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Berlin Airlift peiod
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NATO ratified
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed on this day by the U.S. and other Western European nation in order to defend Europe against Soviet aggression. -
Russia tests first atomic bomb
The nuclear arms race was on... -
Communists forces take over mainland China.
Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island of Taiwan. Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders set out to reshape Chinese society. Industry came under state ownership and China's farmers began to be organised into collectives. All opposition was ruthlessly suppressed. The Chinese initially received significant help from the Soviet Union, but relations soon began to calm. -
Korean War begins
The Korean War, the first conflict of the Cold War, begins on this day. Armed forces from communist North Korea smash into South Korea, and The United States, acting under the auspices of the United Nations, quickly sprang to the defense of South Korea and fought a bloody and frustrating war for the next three years. Meanwhile, the Soviets had established a communist regime in North Korea, and troughout the war had provided the North Koreans with supplies. -
CIA helps overthrow communist supported regime in Guatemala
While the KGB was being established, the CIA was assisting in the overthrow of the communist-influenced gov't of Guatemala. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam war was a prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the U.S (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. This warwas conceived as very bad decison by the U.S. side. Many viewed the U.S. was engaged in a war that they could not win, and it eventualy lost the support of the American public. The war was finally "ended" in 1973. -
Warsaw Pact formed
The Warsaw Pact is formed between the Soviet Union and other communist countries in Eastern Europe primarily as a defense organization to counter NATO. This put the Soviets in charge of the armed forces of satellite nations they controlled. The inclusion of West Germany in the NATO, and its attempt to remilitarize was the main reason the Soviets decided to form the Warsaw Pact. -
USSR sends military aid to Afghanistan
Another example of how the Soviets were trying to establish their presence in the Middle East and communize. -
Suez Crisis begins
Israeli armed forces pushed into Egypt toward the Suez Canal after Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-70) nationalized the canal in July of that same year, initiating the Suez Crisis. The Israelis soon were joined by French and British forces, which nearly brought the Soviet Union into the conflict, and damaged their relationships with the United States. In the end, the British, French and Israeli governments withdrew their troops in late 1956 and early 1957. -
Sputnik Launched
After the USSR launched their Sputnik into Space, the US and the USSR began the Space Race. -
Overthrow of the Hashemite government
The 14 July Revolution was a coup in Iraq. It involved the overthrow of the Hashemite government In 1958, the coup overthrew King Faisal II, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, and Prime Minister Nuri al-SaidThe coup established an Iraqi Republic. -
Cuba is taken over by Fidel Castro
On this day, Cuba became Communist after Fidel Castro was able to overthrow the gov't. He turned Cuba into the first Socialist state in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. tried many times to assonate Castro, but he had become closely aligned with the Soviet Union. -
U-2 Spy Plane shot down
An American U-2 spy plane is shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. The incident derailed an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month. The CIA has always been under duress and hate since, and the failed negotiations and Cold War continued. -
Cuba openly aligns itself with the Soviet Union
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Berlin Wall
The Soviet-controlled East Germany decides to divide Berlin with the Berlin Wall. It was erected at a time of great tension between the east and west of Germany, -
Bay of Pigs Incident
The U.S. orchestrates the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, an unsuccessful attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro's communist regime in Cuba. This only further escalated tensions during the Cold War period. It made conflict even closer to occurring. -
Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet missiles in Cuba
The Cuban Missile crisis sparks a major confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union when the U.S. discovers the existence of Soviet missile installations in Cuba. This proved the Soviets weren't backing down, especially after discovering about the Bay of Pigs. -
Syrian party’s military committee
Was a coup in Syria over getting the nation a Ba'ath government. The Syrian party’s military committee succeeded in persuading Nasserist and independent officers to make common cause with it, and successfully carried out a military coup installing the Ba'ath party to power. This revolution resulted in more than 800 killed -
Hotline
The Soviet Union and the United States agree to install a hot-line - which is a point-to-point communications link - that allows both countries to directly communicate during a crisis. Negotiations and peace soon? -
President Kennedy Assassinated
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Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Resolution
It gave broad congressional approval for expansion of the Vietnam War. During the spring of 1964, military planners had developed a detailed design for major attacks on the North, but at that time President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers feared that the public would not support an expansion of the war. By summer, however, rebel forces had established control over nearly half of South Vietnam, and Senator Barry Goldwaterwas criticizing the Johnson administration -
Marines sent to Dominican Republic to counter communism
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200,000 U.S. troops dispatched to Vietnam
Involvement in the Vietnam war largely increased, however the American public's opinion and support did not. The war lasted a long time -
"Six Day War"
The Soviet Union accuses the United States of encouraging the Israeli attack and seizure of the Sinai, Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. This attack is known as the six day war. -
Soviet Red Army invades Czechoslovakia
After putting down a revolt, the Soviet and Warsaw Pact allies invade Czechoslovakia to arrest the current leadership and restore hard-line Communists to power. It had to be done in order to in order to halt Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring political liberalisation reforms. -
Ostpolitik
The so-called Ostpolitik, a policy of rapprochement with the Eastern bloc championed by German Chancellor Willy Brandt, begins. His policy of "change through conciliation" bears its first fruits: The Germans and Russians agree to a treaty that renounces the use of force. -
Publication of the Pentagon Papers
The "Pentagon Papers" is the popular term for a 7,000-page United States government report on the internal planning and policy decisions within the U.S. government regarding the Vietnam War. -
President Richard Nixon visits China/Salt I signed
Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon, meeting in Moscow, sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements. At the time, these agreements were the most far-reaching attempts to control nuclear weapons ever.
July : SALT I signed- this limited the proliferation of weapons, including nuclear missiles. -
Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and United States
1973 January : Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and United States.
A cease-fire goes into effect at 8 a.m., Saigon time (midnight on January 27, Greenwich Mean Time). When the cease-fire went into effect, Saigon controlled about 75 percent of South Vietnam's territory and 85 percent of the population. The South Vietnamese Army was well equipped via last-minute deliveries of U.S. weapons and continued to receive U.S. aid after the cease-fire. -
President Nixon resigns
The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration, articles of impeachment, and the resignation of Republican Richard Nixon, the President of the United States, on August 9, 1974—the only resignation of a U.S. president to date. -
North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam which falls to Communist forces
North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam which falls to Communist forces.The Ho Chi Minh Campaign offensive was the final phase of the North Vietnamese plan to defeat South Vietnam. Despite the imposition of a cease-fire by the terms of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, fighting had continued between South Vietnamese forces and the North Vietnamese troops left in South Vietnam at the end of the 1972 Easter Offensive. -
February: Soviet and Cuban forces help to install Communist government in Angola.
Soviet and Cuban forces help to install Communist government in Angola. Communism forever changes Angola. -
Salt II signed
The primary goal of SALT II was to replace the Interim Agreement with a long-term comprehensive Treaty providing broad limits on strategic offensive weapons systems. The principal U.S. objectives as the SALT II negotiations began were to provide for equal numbers of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles for the sides, to begin the process of reduction of these delivery vehicles, and to impose restraints on qualitative developments which could threaten future stability. -
Soviet forces invade Afghanistan
n Christmas 1979, Russian paratroopers landed in Kabal, the capital of Afghanistan. The country was already in the grip of a civil war. The prime minister, Hazifullah Amin, tried to sweep aside Muslim tradition within the nation and he wanted a more western slant to Afghanistan. This outraged the majority of those in Afghanistan as a strong tradition of Muslim belief was common in the country. -
Sanctions on the Russians and boycotts the Moscow Olympic Games.
Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the US imposes sanctions on the Russians and boycotts the Moscow Olympic Games. -
Polish shipyard workers strike Solidarity Union formed.
Strike leader Lech Walesa is elected as the head of Solidarity. The origin of Solidarity traces back to 1976, when a Workers’ Defense Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotnikow; KOR) was founded by a group of dissident intellectuals after several thousand striking workers had been attacked and jailed by authorities in various cities. The KOR supported families of imprisoned workers, offered legal and medical aid, and disseminated news through an underground network. -
President Reagan proposes Strategic Defence Initiative
On March 23, 1983, in a nationally televised address on national security, President Ronald Reagan proposed the development of the technology to intercept enemy nuclear missiles. The plan, called the Strategic Defense Initiative, or S.D.I., was dubbed “Star Wars” by its critics. -
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union initiating a campaign of openness called "glasnost" and restructuring called "perestroika" -
President Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe
When it came to communism, socialism and other systems that denied people their basic human rights, President Reagan was tough as nails. A devoted anti-communist, he was not afraid to say what needed to be said or do what needed to be done to bring freedom to people who were living under repressive regimes. -
Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan
Exactly 25 years have passed since the Soviet Union pulled its troops out of Afghanistan. The US-led ISAF is on course to do the same this year. Washington can only hope that the bloody aftermath of the Russian will not be repeated. -
Poland becomes independent
The resistance of the society caused that in Poland, the only such country of the Soviet bloc, agriculture was not collectivised and the Catholic Church preserved its independence. -
Berlin Wall demolished
Berlin Wall is demolished and East Germany allows unrestricted migration to West Germany -
Lithuania becomes independent
he Soviet Union publicly stated that Lithuania had joined the USSR willingly, although secret protocols of the pact disputed this. Following World War II, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. In the period from WWII until 1987, Lithuanians continued resistance, both violent and nonviolent, to the Soviet rule and “Sovietization” of Lithuania. -
Boris Yeltsin elected as President of Russia
Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet. -
Germany reunited
Less than one year after the destruction of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany come together on what is known as "Unity Day." -
End of Soviet Union and the Cold War Ends
End of Soviet Union and the Cold War Ends
