THE COLD WAR

By ludmihischeir

  • UN - Security Council

    • The US formalizes the future creation of the UN.
    • The US, the UK, the URSS, China and France become the five permanent members for the Security Council.

  • The Postdam Conference

    Germany, Berlin, Austria and Vienna are divided into 4 zones of occupation.

  • Attack to Japan

    • The US obtains a commitment from the USSR to attack Japan.
    • The US, the UK and the USSR want to recreate Poland. The USSR will keep the territory already conquered and the country will be moved to Germany's detriment.
    • Germany and Austria will be occupied and partitioned.

  • Surrender of Germany

    The UN is then created in San Francisco.

  • Hiroshima

    • First signs of disagreement between the three powers.
    • The US drops its first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

  • Nagasaki

    • A second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
    • The USSR begins a military invasion of Manchuria, southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
    • After negotiate, the US obtains a temporary division of Korea.

  • End of World War II

    • Japan signs its surrender, making the end of World War II.
    • The US and the USSR are the world's two superpowers.

  • The Zhdanov Doctrine

    Andrei Zhdanov, a Soviet represenative, makes a speech in which he confirms that the world is now divided into two camps:
    - One imperialist, led by the US.
    - The other democratic, led by the Soviet Union.

  • Marshall Plan

    In Western Europe:
    - The Communist parties rise.
    - The Marshall Plan is promulgate: designed to provide credit to speed up reconstruction, stabilize economies, and strenghten US influence.

  • Cominform

    Stalin reacts by founding the Cominform, an alliance of Communist countries dominated by the USSR.

  • The Truman Doctrine

    • Truman makes a speech in which he declares that the world is now divided between democracies and authoritarian regimes and that the US will embark on an inventionist policy around the world to stem the spread of communism.
    • The US supports Turkey and takes over the arming of royalists in Greece.

  • CIA

    The CIA is created in the US to defend the country's interests around the world.

  • USSR

    • As tensions mount, the USSR invests massively to make up for its military and industrial lag with the USA, and to develop atomic weapons.
    • Stalin fails to impose his policies on Tito, leading to the first tensions between the two.
    • In the heart of Europe, Czechoslovakia is still seen as a bridge between the two blocs.

  • The Treaty of Brussles

    In response, the UK, France, and the Benelux countries form a military alliance to repel any attack from the East.

  • Czechoslovak coup d'État

    • The country remains a democracy with a strong Communist party. But in February 1948, after some tension, the Soviets support a coup d'état, and the country falls entirely into the Eastern bloc.

  • 1948

    • In Germany, the four fail to reunify the country. The United States and the United Kingdom then persuade France to unite their zones of occupation to create a federal, democratic German state to block the spread of communism.
    • Stalin responds with a coup de force, imposing a blockade on West Berlin.
    • The Westerners then organize an airlift that supplies the two million inhabitants of West Berlin for a year.

  • Stalin and Yugoslavia

    • Stalin formalizes the split with Tito, and excludes Yugoslavia from the Cominform. As a result, Yugoslavia stops supplying arms to the Communist camp in Greece.