|
1945 |
Defeat of Germany and Japan
February 4-11: Yalta
Conference meeting of FDR, Churchill, Stalin - the
'Big Three'
Soviet Union has control of Eastern Europe. The Cold
War Begins
May 8: VE Day - Victory in
Europe. Germany surrenders to the Red Army in Berlin
July: Potsdam Conference -
Germany was officially partitioned into four zones
of occupation.
August 6: The United States drops atomic bomb on
Hiroshima (20 kiloton bomb 'Little Boy' kills
80,000)
August 8: Russia declares
war on Japan
August 9: The United States drops atomic bomb on
Nagasaki (22 kiloton 'Fat Man' kills 70,000)
August 14 : Japanese surrender End of World War II
August 15: Emperor
surrender broadcast - VJ Day
|
|
1946 |
February 9: Stalin hostile
speech - communism & capitalism were incompatible
March 5 : "Sinews of Peace"
Iron Curtain Speech by Winston Churchill - "an "iron
curtain" has descended on Europe"
March 10 - Truman demands
Russia leave Iran
July 1: Operation
Crossroads with Test Able was the first public
demonstration of America's atomic arsenal
July 25: America's Test
Baker - underwater explosion
|
|
1947 |
Containment
March 12 : Truman Doctrine -
Truman declares active role in Greek Civil War
June : Marshall Plan is announced setting a
precedent for helping countries combat poverty,
disease and malnutrition
September 2 - Rio Pact -
U.S. meet 19 Latin American countries and created a
security zone around the hemisphere
|
|
1948 |
Containment
February 25 : Communist
takeover in Czechoslovakia
March 2: Truman's Loyalty
Program created to catch Cold War spies
March 17: Brussels Pact
organized to protect Europe from communism
June 24 : Berlin Blockade begins lasting 11 months
|
|
1949 |
Containment
April 4 : NATO ratified
May 12 : Berlin Blockade
ends
29 August : Russia tested
its first atomic bomb
October 1 : Communist Mao Zedong takes control of
China and establishes the People's Republic of China
December 1 - Chiang
Kai-shek moved to Formosa and created Nationalist
government
|
|
1950 |
January 30 - Truman approved
H-bomb development
February : Joe McCarthy begins Communist witch hunt
and loyalty tests
June 24: Korean War begins. Stalin supports North
Korea who invade South Korea equipped with Soviet
weapons
|
|
1951 |
January 12 : Federal Civil
Defense Administration established
April 11 - Truman fires
MacArthur
|
|
1952 |
A-bombs developed by Britain |
|
1953 |
March 17-June 4 Nuclear Arms
Race atomic test series of 11 explosions at Nevada
Test Site April 15:
RAND report on the "Vulnerability of U. S. Strategic
Air Power"
July : Korean War ends
December 8: Ike's Atoms for
Peace speech
|
|
1954 |
March 1: H-bomb Castle-Bravo
test
March : KGB established
CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran and
Guatemala
July : Vietnam split at 17th parallel
|
|
1955 |
May : Warsaw Pact formed |
|
1956 |
June 29: USSR sent tanks into
Poznan, Poland, to suppress demonstrations by
workers September 4:
USSR sent military aid to Afghanistan
October - November :
Rebellion put down in Communist Hungary.
October 29: Suez Crisis
began with Israeli attack led by Moshe Dayan against
Egyptian forces in the Sinai
Egypt took control of Suez
Canal
|
|
1957 |
August 26: Vostok rocket
launched 1st ICBM
October 4 : Sputnik
launched into orbit
November 3: Sputnik II
launched - Laika died in space
|
|
1958 |
January 31: Explorer I
launched July : NASA
began Mercury project using Atlas rocket
November : Khrushchev
demands withdrawal of troops from Berlin
|
|
1959 |
January : Cuba taken over by
Fidel Castro
September : Khrushchev visits United States; The
Kitchen Debate
|
|
1960 |
A-bombs developed by France
May : Soviet Union reveals
that U.S. spy plane was shot down over Soviet
territory
November : John F. Kennedy elected President of USA
December 19: Cuba openly
aligns itself with the Soviet Union and their
policies.
|
|
1961 |
April : Bay of Pigs invasion
see
Cuban
Missile Crisis Timeline
August 13 : Berlin border is closed
August 17 : Construction of Berlin Wall begins
|
|
1962 |
U.S. involvement in Vietnam
increases see
Vietnam War
Timeline October :
Cuban Missile Crisis see
Cuban
Missile Crisis Timeline
|
|
1963 |
1963: July : Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty ratified
1963: November : President Kennedy assassinated in
Dallas, Texas
|
|
1964 |
August : Gulf of Tonkin
incident - see
Vietnam War
Timeline
October: A-bombs developed by China
|
|
1965 |
April : U.S. Marines sent to
Dominican Republic to fight Communism
July : Announcement of dispatching of 200,000 U.S.
troops to Vietnam
|
|
1966 |
B-52s Bomb North Vietnam |
|
1967 |
The US Secretary of Defence
Robert McNamara admits that the US bombing raids had
failed to meet their objectives
|
|
1968 |
January : North Korea captured
U.S.S. Pueblo President Johnson does not
run for the presidency and Richard Nixon Elected
President of the USA
August : Soviet Red Army crush Czechoslovakian
revolt
|
|
1969 |
July 20 : Apollo 11 lands on
the moon |
|
1970 |
April : President Nixon
extends Vietnam War to Cambodia |
|
1971 |
Publication of the Pentagon
Papers |
|
1972 |
February: President Richard
Nixon visits China
July : SALT I signed
|
|
1973 |
January : Cease fire in
Vietnam between North Vietnam and United States
September : U.S. supported coup overthrows Chilean
government
October : Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt
requests Soviet aid
|
|
1974 |
1974: August : President Nixon
resigns |
|
1975 |
April 17 : North Vietnam
defeats South Vietnam which falls to Communist
forces |
|
1976 |
February: Soviet and Cuban
forces help to install Communist government in
Angola. |
|
1979 |
January: U.S. and China
establish diplomatic relations.
July : SALT II signed
November : Shah of Iran overthrown; Iranian Hostage
Crisis
December: Soviet forces
invade Afghanistan
|
|
1980 |
August: Polish shipyard
workers strike Solidarity Union formed. Strike leader Lech Walesa is
elected as the head of Solidarity
|
|
1983 |
President Reagan proposes
Strategic Defence Initiative
1983: October : U.S. troops invades and overthrows
regime in Grenada
|
|
1985 |
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes
leader of the Soviet Union initiating a campaign of
openness called "glasnost" and restructuring called
"perestroika"
|
|
1986 |
October : President Reagan and
Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear
missiles from Europe
|
|
1987 |
October : Reagan and Gorbachev
agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear
missiles |
|
1989 |
January : Soviet troops
withdraw from Afghanistan
June : Poland becomes independent
September : Hungary becomes independent
November : Berlin Wall is demolished and East
Germany allows unrestricted migration to West
Germany
December : Communist governments fall in
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania
Decline of the Soviet empire
|
|
1990 |
March : Lithuania becomes
independent
May 29 : Boris Yeltsin elected as President of
Russia
October 3 : Germany reunited
|
|
1991 |
August : End of Soviet Union
and the Cold War Ends |
