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Yalta Conference
The February 1945 Yalta Conference was the second wartime meeting of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the conference, the three leaders agreed to demand Germany’s unconditional surrender and began plans for a post-war world. -
Potsdam Conference
Yhe Potsdam Conference was the last of the World War II meetings featuring American President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, the talks established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for administration of Germany. -
First A-bomb dropped on Japan
The United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II. -
V-J Day
Japan had surrendered to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since the day that had surrendered, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” -
“Iron Curtain Speech”
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet Union's policies in Europe and declares, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent." -
Truman Doctrine announced
President Harry S. Truman asks for U.S. assistance for Greece and Turkey to forestall communist domination of the two nations. Historians have often cited Truman's address, which came to be known as the Truman Doctrine, as the official declaration of the Cold War. -
Marshall Plan announced
The Marshall Plan had gotten over$13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. It helped the economy and got Europe back on its feet. -
Berlin Airlift begins
When the Soviet Union created a blockade into West Berlin, the United States began delivering massive airlifts of food, water, and medicines to all the citizens and the United States had kept this up for a year saving over two million lives in West Berlin, -
NATO treaty ratified
The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty) treaty was a treaty in which the United States and eleven other nations had a mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet aggression against Western Europe. The NATO stood as the main U.S. led military alliance against the Soviet Union throughout the duration of the Cold War. -
Soviets explode A-bomb
At a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazahtstan, the USSA successfully detonates its first atmoic bomb, code name "first lightning". It was equal to the first U.S. atomic explosion. -
End of Berlin Blockade
An early crisis of the Cold War comes to an end when the Soviet Union lifts its eleven-month blockade against West Berlin. The blockade had been broken by a massive U.S. British airlift of vital supplies to West Berlin's two million citizens. -
Communist takeover in China
The September 1949 conference in Peking was both a celebration of the Communist victory in the long Civil War against Nationalist Chinese forces and the unweiling of the communist regime the world henceforth rule over China. -
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed
Juluis and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951, are put to death in the electric chair. The execution marked the dramatic finale of the most controversial espionage use of the Cold War. -
Beginning of McCarthyism
During the Cold War, accusations of disloyalty were enough to convince many Americans that their government was packed with spies and traitors. McCarthy's accusations were very intimidating. It was not unil he attacked the army in 1954 that his actions earned him the censure of the U.S . Senate. -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. -
Geneva Summit
Geneva Summit, meeting in Geneva of the leaders of the U.S., France, Britain, and the Soviet Union that sought to end the Cold War. Such issues as disarmament, unification of Germany, and increased economic ties were discussed. Though no agreements were reached, the conference was considered an important first step toward easing Cold War tension. -
Hungarian Uprising
The people of Hungary and the rest of Eastern Europe were ruled over with a rod of iron by Communist Russia and anybody who challenged the rule of Stalin and Russia paid the price. The death of Stalin in 1953 did not weaken the grip Moscow had on the people of Eastern Europe and Hungary, by challenging the rule of Moscow, paid such a price in 1956. -
Suez War
On October 29, 1956, Israeli armed forces pushed into Egypt toward the Suez Canal after Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal in July of that same year, initiating the Suez Crisis. -
Launching of Sputnik
The Soviet Union had launched the world's first satelite that ever orbited around the earth called Sputnik. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for "satellite," -
U.S. U-2 plane shot down
An American U-2 spy plane is shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. The incident had went wrong during an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month.
