-
Marshall Plan
Set a precedent for helping countries combat
poverty, disease, and malnutrition. -
Period: to
Cold War Timeline
Timeline reflecting the effects that transpired during the Cold War -
Start of the Cold War
Tensions between Communistic and Democratic nations, mainly Russia and the United States, were less than ideal. The verge of nuclear war was nearing. -
Truman Doctrine
Harry Truman declares an active role in the Greek Civil War. -
Period: to
Cold War
The span of the Cold War -
Communist Czechoslovakia
Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia -
Loyalty Order
Truman's Loyalty Program created to catch Cold War spies -
Berlin Blockade
Lasts for 11 months -
NATO
Military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949, which sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II. Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the U-S. Joining the original signatories were Greece and Turkey (1952); West Germany (1955); Spain (1982). -
Soviet A-Bomb
The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. It came as a great shock to the United States because they were not expecting the Soviet Union to possess nuclear weapon knowledge so soon. Previously, the United States had used two atomic bombs on Japan to cause them to surrender during World War II. The impact that the possession of nuclear weapons by the Soviet Union had upon the United States was that it caused Americans to question their own safety. -
Communist China
With help from the Soviet Union the Kuomintang gradually increased its power in China. Chiang Kai-Shek took power in 1925 and began a purge against communists from the organization. Communists who survived established the Jiangxi Soviet. As soon the Japanese surrendered during WW 2, Comm. forces began a war against the Kuomintang. The communists gradually gained control of the country and on 1st October, 1949, Mao Zedong announced the establishment of People's Republic of China. -
Truman and the H-Bomb
Truman reveals his orders to the Atomic Energy Commission to develop the hydrogen bomb. -
205 Names
During a speech to the women's Republican club in Wheeling, West Virginia, Sen. Joseph McCarthy declared, "I have here in my hand a list of 205 names known to the secretary of state as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department." -
Korean War Begins
Nearly 100,000 North Koreans smashed across the 38th parallel and overran Seoul, the South Korean capital. On June 27, U.S. President Truman authorized the use of American land, sea, and air forces in Korea; a week later, the United Nations placed the forces of 15 other member nations under U.S. command. Communist China entered the war on Oct. 19, 1950. -
Seoul
Chinese soldiers capture Seoul. -
HUAC
House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee in the House of Reps. which was meant to look into suspected cases of subversion and disloyalty to U-S government. In 1951 the second wave of HUAC hearings begins with Sen. McCarthy leading the charge. Over the next three years McCarthy is a mainstay in the public eye, and he subpoenas some of the most prominent entertainers of the era before HUAC, demanding "the naming of names." McCarthyism ends with his censure in 1954. -
Economic Aid For Yugoslavia
President Harry Truman asks Congress for U.S. military and economic aid for the communist nation of Yugoslavia. -
NATO
Greece and Turkey join NATO. -
1st H-Bomb
The world's first hydrogen bomb was exploded by the U-S in the Marshall Islands in the mid-Pacific. It left a crater one-half mile deep and two miles across. Scientists and military personnel witnessed the blast from ships and planes 50 miles away. -
Fusion Bomb
The United States tests their first thermonuclear fusion bomb -
Stalin
Joseph Stalin came to power in the Soviet Union after the death of Vladimir Lenin on 21st January 1924. He did not have sole control. He acted as part of a troika with Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev. After Lenin's death Stalin eliminated Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Bukharin as well as Zinoviev and Kamenev to become sole leader in 1929. Stalin had more people put to death secretly than simply died while under his reign as dictator. 20 million is the accepted number. Died of a stroke at 74 in 1953. -
Spies Executed
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg became the first native-born Americans to be put to death for espionage by order of a civilian court. -
Korean War Ends
War's unpopularity played important role in victory of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had pledged to go to Korea to end the war. U.S. losses were placed at over 54,000 dead and 103,000 wounded, while Chinese and Korean casualties were each at least 10 times as high. Signing of armistice begins cease fire, calls for calls for demilitarized zone, voluntary repatriation of prisoners, and establishes the thirty-eighth parallel as boundary between North and South Korea. -
Edward R. Murrow vs. McCarthy
Murrow's most-celebrated piece was his 9 March 1954 telecast, in which he engaged Senator Joseph R. McCarthy in a program "told mainly in [McCarthy's] own words and pictures" regarding the communist witch hunt in Washington, D.C. In his review of the now legendary McCarthy program, New York Times' TV critic Jack Gould reflected an ongoing canonization process when he wrote that "last week may be remembered as the week that broadcasting recaptured its soul." -
SEATO
Foundation of the South East Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) by Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Like NATO, it is founded to resist Communist expansion, this time in the Philippines and Indochina. -
U-2 Planes Authorized
Eisenhower approves the building of thirty U-2 reconnaissance planes. -
Warsaw Pact
In May 1955, the Soviet Union institutionalized its East European alliance system when it gathered together representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania in Warsaw to sign the multilateral Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, which was identical to their existing bilateral treaties with the Soviet Union. Initially, the Soviets claimed that the Warsaw Pact was a direct response to the inclusion of the West Germany in 1955. -
NATO
West Germany joins NATO and begins rearmament. -
Start of Vietnam War
In Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 11/1/55 to fall of Saigon on 4/30/75. Fought b/t N.Vietnam, supported by communist allies, and the government of S.Vietnam, supported by U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The Viet Cong, a lightly armed S.Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war. The Vietnam People's Army (N.Vietnamese Army, Vietminh) engaged in a more conventional war. U.S. and S.Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower. -
Viet Cong
Viet Cong insurgency begins in South Vietnam, sponsored by North Vietnam. -
Suez Crisis
After Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, Britain and France began planning an invasion of Egypt, as did Israel. Aware of the Israeli plan to invade the Sinai, French officials suggested that a F-B force could enter Egypt to "separate the combatants", while seizing control of the entire Suez waterway. 5 November the SU sent diplomatic notes to B, F and I threatening to crush the aggressors and restore peace in the Middle East through the use of force. -
Hungarian Revolution
Students who gathered at Budapest Technical University to protest the hard-line Stalinist government, adopted a declaration demanding 3 reforms of the Hungarian Government: free press, democratic elections, and move away hard-line Stalinist policies. As the rebellion began to spread leaders within the Hungarian government made an appeal to the Soviet Union for troops to help quell the growing rebellion. The following day, H and S troops shot and killed approximately 300 demonstrators. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
Promised military or economic aid to any Middle Eastern country needing help in resisting communist aggression. The doctrine was intended to check increased Soviet influence in the Middle East, which had resulted from the supply of arms to Egypt by communist countries as well as from strong communist support of Arab states. Eisenhower proclaimed, with Congressional, that he would use the armed forces to protect the independence of any Middle Eastern country seeking American help. -
Sputnik
Launched by the Soviet Union, Sputnik was the world's first artificial satellite -- a 184-pound, beachball-sized sphere stuffed with eerily beeping radio transmitters. Americans reacted with shock and disbelief. -
Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2 was launched, with the first living being on board, Laika. -
Thor
Thor IRBM deployed to the UK, within striking distance of Moscow. -
Explorer I
First U.S. satellite, Explorer I, is sent into orbit. -
United Arab Republic
The United Arab Republic is formed. -
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro wins the Cuban Revolution and becomes the dictator of Cuba. In the next several years Cuban-inspired guerrilla movements spring up across Latin America. -
Explorer 6
Explorer 6 is launched into orbit to photograph the Earth. -
Luna 3
Luna 3 is launched to take photographs of the far side of the Moon. -
France A-Bomb
France successfully tests its first atomic bomb, Gerboise Bleue, in the middle of the Algerian Sahara Desert -
Malaya
Communist insurgents in Malaya are defeated. -
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev travels to New York City to address the U.N. General Assembly, beginning a month long visit to the United States. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by United States-backed Cuban exiles to overthrow the government of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Increasing friction between the U.S. government and Castro's regime led Eisenhower to break off diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961. Even before that, however, the CIA had been training anti-revolutionary Cuban exiles for a possible invasion of the island. The invasion plan was approved by Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy. -
Castro and Cuba
Fidel Castro came to power as a result of the Cuban Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and shortly thereafter became Prime Minister of Cuba. On this date Castor officially declared Cuba a socialist state. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin border between East and West Berlin is closed. The zonal boundary is sealed in the morning by East German troops. “Shock workers” from East Germany and Russia a seal off the border with barbed wire and light fencing that eventually became a complex series of wall, fortified fences, gun positions and watchtowers heavily guarded and patrolled. In the end, the Berlin Wall was 96 miles long and the average height of the concrete wall was 11.8 ft. -
Republic of India
Republic of India invades the former Portuguese territory of Goa. -
Laos
Neutralization of Laos is established by international agreement, but North Vietnam refuses to withdraw its personnel -
Mariner 2
Mariner 2 is launched to make a flyby of Venus. -
Mars 1
The Soviet Union successfully launches Mars 1 with the intention of making a flyby of Mars. -
JFK Speech
U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in Berlin. -
Ngo Dinh Diem
South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in coup. CIA involvement is suspected. -
John F Kennedy is assassinated
President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas while campaigning for re-election -
Brazilian coup d'état
A military-led coup d'état overthrows president João Goulart in Brazil. Goulart's proposals, such as land reform and bigger control of the state in the economy, were seen as communist. -
Vietnam Attacks American Destroyers
US President Lyndon B. Johnson claims that North Vietnamese naval vessels had fired on two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although there was a first attack, it was later shown that American vessels had entered North Vietnamese territory first, and that the claim of second attack had been unfounded. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident leads to the open involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War, after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. -
China
China tests its first atomic bomb. The test makes China the world's fifth nuclear power. -
Dominican Civil War
Dominican Civil War: Forces loyal to former President Juan Bosch overthrow current leader Donald Reid Cabral. -
Man on the moon
Ed White conducts the first American spacewalk from his spacecraft, Gemini IV. -
Indo-Pakistani war
Beginning of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. -
Luna 9
Luna 9 is launched. -
China
Communist China detonates a third nuclear device. -
South African Border War
South African Border War begins
