Important events from the cold war

By Shelby Seeger

  • War begins

    War begins
    February 4-11: Yalta Conference meeting of FDR, Churchill, Stalin - the 'Big Three'
    Soviet Union has control of Eastern Europe. The Cold War Begins
  • Period: to

    1945-

  • VE Day

    VE Day
    May 8: VE Day - Victory in Europe. Germany surrenders to the Red Army in Berlin

  • Hiroshima

    Hiroshima
    August 6: The United States drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima (20 kiloton bomb 'Little Boy' kills 80,000)

  • Nagasaki

    Nagasaki
    August 9: The United States drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki (22 kiloton 'Fat Man' kills 70,000)

  • Marshall plan

    Marshall plan
    June : Marshall Plan is announced setting a precedent for helping countries combat poverty, disease and malnutrition

  • Trumans loyalty program

    Trumans loyalty program
    March 2: Truman's Loyalty Program created to catch Cold War spies

  • NATO

    NATO
    In 1949, the prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 11 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

  • Vietnam War

    Vietnam War
    The cold war was a fight between the United States and the USSR over the world's resources. South Vietnam was an allie of the US and North Vietnam was an allie of the USSR. The US feared if North Vietnam won the war other countries in South Asia would also fall to Communism.

  • Sputnik

    Sputnik
    October 4 : Sputnik launched into orbit

  • bay of pigs

    bay of pigs
    The Bay Of Pigs invasion refers to the CIA sponsored American attack of the Cuban government in order to overthrow Fidel Castro.

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    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.

  • SALT 1

    SALT 1
    Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I (SALT I) is signed by the Soviet Union and the United States, limiting the proliferation of weapons, including nuclear missiles.

  • INF Treaty

    INF Treaty
    1987

    U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign INF treaty, which removes medium and short-range nuclear missiles.

  • The Berlin Wall falls.

    The Berlin Wall falls.
    Berlin Wall is demolished and East Germany allows unrestricted migration to West Germany

  • End of cold war!

    August : End of Soviet Union and the Cold War Ends