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Japan surrenders -- End of World War II
The United States dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This led to the surrender of Japan, and thus the ending of WWII. -
Marshall Plan is announced
The Marshall Plan was designed by the U.S with the purpose of helping European countries recover economically after WW2 and to prevent them from the spread of Soviet communism. -
Berlin Blockade by USSR begins
The Soviet Union blocked off the Western allied sectors. The reasoning behind the Western sector being blocked off was to give Soviets full control of Berlin. -
NATO ratified as a military organization
North Atlantic Treaty Organziation (NATO) was formed to be a defensive system. It was orginally used to protect the United States from an attack from the Soviets. -
Warsaw Pact formed
The Warsaw Pact was a treaty between eight communist states of Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. The founding treaty was initiated under the Soviet Union and signed on May 14, 1955. -
USSR launches Sputnik into Earth orbit
The USSR launched the very first sattelite to be launched into the earth's orbit. It was the first of many for humankind. -
John F. Kennedy elected President
In November of 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected to be the 35th President of the United States. He was in office from 1961 - 1963 after his assasination. -
Construction of Berlin Wall begins
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the GDR (German Democratic Republic). It's intent was to seperate West Berlin from East Germany and East Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, thanks to the bravery of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, war was averted. -
Gluf of Tonkin incident; Start of Vietnam War
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident' involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox, while performing a signals intelligence patrol as part of DESOTO operations, engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron. -
China detonates its first atomic bomb
October 16, 1964, China successfully exploded its first atomic bomb. The Chinese people had finally developed their own nuclear technology. -
U.S. lands first man on the moon
1969, the first man was landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong was the astronaut, and he was an American which makes the U.S. the first country to put a man on the moon. -
Salt 1 Nuclear treaty signed
An agreement signed in 1972 by U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev after the first round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I), held from 1969-72. It consisted of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an Interim Agreement on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. -
Egypt & Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid
in 1972, Sadat promised war if America did not force Israel to return the land that did not belong to them. After America refused to force Isreal to do anything, Egypt turned to the Soviet Union to put pressure on America. -
Ronald Reagan elected President
In November 1980 a new President of the United States was inaugurated. Ronald Reagan won his campaign against Jimmy Carter by a landslide, and became the 40th President of the U.S.A. -
Reagan reveals Strategic Defense Initiative, "Star Wars"
SDI ( strategic defence initiative) was a U.S government program responsible for research and development of a space-based system to defend the nation from attack by strategic ballistic missiles . -
Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe
In 1986, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe. -
Berlin Wall falls
On the 9th of November, 1989, the Border separating Western from Eastern Germany was effectively opened. The Fall of the Berlin Wall, which will always be used as a symbol for the end of the Cold War, made the "West" available in the middle of the "East", resulting in widespread chaos. -
Warsaw Pact Ends
After 36 years in existence, the Warsaw Pact; the military alliance between the Soviet Union, and it's Eastern European satellites comes to an end. -
USSR Dissolved -- Cold War Ends
Tanks at Red Square during the 1991 Soviet coup d'etat attempt. (Picture). The USSR dissolved in later 1991. This resulted in the end of the Cold War, and the end to the world's largest communist state.
