Cold War Timeline By rileycreditor Feb 4, 1945 Yalta Conference May 8, 1945 Victory in Europe Day Jul 17, 1945 Potsdam Conference Sep 2, 1945 Japanese Surrender Mar 5, 1946 "Iron Curtain" Speech Mar 12, 1947 Truman Doctrine Period: Jun 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949 Berlin Blockade/Airlift Jan 5, 1949 Comecon Created Apr 4, 1949 NATO Established Oct 1, 1949 China Becomes Communist Period: Jun 25, 1950 to Jul 27, 1953 Korean War Mar 13, 1954 KGB Established Apr 7, 1954 Domino Theory Sep 2, 1954 Vietnam is Divded May 14, 1955 Warsaw Pact Established Period: Nov 1, 1955 to Apr 30, 1975 Vietnam War Oct 26, 1956 Suez Crisis Oct 4, 1957 Sputnik Jan 1, 1959 Fidel Castro Takes Over Cuba May 1, 1960 U2 Spy Plane Shot Down Apr 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs May 5, 1961 First American in Space (Alan Shepard) Aug 13, 1961 Berlin Wall Built Period: Jan 1, 1962 to Jan 1, 1990 Nicaraguan Revolution Oct 16, 1962 Cubin Missile Crisis Aug 2, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident/Resolution Period: Jun 5, 1967 to Jun 10, 1967 Six-Day War Jul 30, 1968 Tet Offensive Jul 20, 1969 Apollo 11 Lands on the Moon Oct 6, 1973 Yom Kippur War Nov 4, 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis Period: Jan 1, 1985 to Jan 1, 1991 Perestroika Mar 1, 1985 Glasnost Aug 20, 1985 Iran-Contra Affair Jan 1, 1989 Poland Becomes Independent Jan 1, 1989 Hungary Becomes Independent Jan 1, 1989 Communist Governments in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria fall Apr 15, 1989 Tiananmen Square Nov 9, 1989 Berlin Wall Falls Jan 1, 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev takes office May 29, 1990 Boris Yeltsin elected president of Russia Oct 3, 1990 Germany Reunites Mar 31, 1991 Warsaw Pact Ends Dec 25, 1991 USSR Dissolved