Download Cold War Overview

For 45 years, the Cold War dominated world affairs.
From Yalta to Malta, the struggle between East and
West fueled a succession of crises and flash points
made ever more dangerous by the possibility of
nuclear confrontation.
1945 -- Yalta
With the defeat of Nazi Germany imminent, the Big
Three Allies meet in the Crimean resort town of Yalta
from February 4-11. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin
agree to jointly govern postwar Germany, while Stalin
pledges fair and open elections in Poland.
1946 -- Iron Curtain
On March 5, at Westminster College in Fulton,
Missouri, Winston Churchill declares, "From Stettin in
the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has
descended across the continent."
1947 -- Truman Doctrine
On March 12, President Truman requests $400 million
in aid from Congress to combat communism in Greece
and Turkey. The Truman Doctrine pledges to provide
American economic and military assistance to any
nation threatened by communism.
1947 -- Marshall Plan
On June 5, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall
proposes a massive aid program to rebuild Europe from
the ravages of World War II. Nearly $13 billion in U.S. aid
was sent to Europe from 1948 to 1952. The Soviet Union
and communist Eastern Europe decline U.S. aid, citing
"dollar enslavement."
1948 -- Berlin airlift
On June 24, the Soviet Union makes a bid for control of
Berlin by blockading all land access to the city. From June
1948 to May 1949, U.S. and British planes airlift 1.5
million tons of supplies to the residents of West Berlin.
After 200,000 flights, the Soviet Union lifts the blockade.
1949 -- China
In June, Chinese communists declare victory over
Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces, which later flee to
Taiwan. On October 1, Mao Tse-tung proclaims the
People's Republic of China. Two months later, Mao
travels to Moscow, where he negotiates the Sino-Soviet
Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance.
1950 -- Korean War
On June 25, North Korean communist forces cross the
38th parallel and invade South Korea. On June 27,
Truman orders U.S. forces to assist the South Koreans
while the U.N. Security Council condemns the invasion
and establishes a 15-nation fighting force. Chinese
troops enter the conflict by year's end.
1951 -- Rosenberg Spy Case
On March 29, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are
convicted of selling U.S. atomic secrets to the
Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs are sent to the
electric chair in 1953, despite outrage from liberals
who portray them as victims of an anti-communist
witch hunt.
1952 -- Hydrogen bomb
On November 1, the United States explodes the first
hydrogen bomb at a test site in the Marshall Islands.
Less than a year later, the Soviets announce their first
test of a hydrogen bomb.
1953 -- Stalin dies; Korean War ends
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dies of a stroke on March 5.
On July 27, an armistice is signed ending the Korean War,
with the border between North and South roughly the
same as it had been in 1950. The willingness of China
and North Korea to end the fighting was in part attributed
to Stalin's death.
1954 -- Guatemalan coup
A U.S.-sponsored coup topples leftist Guatemalan
President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman on June 27. In
1952, his government had nationalized 400,000
acres of unfarmed banana plantations belonging to
the American-owned United Fruit Company.
1954 -- Dien Bien Phu
After a long siege, Vietnamese communists under Ho Chi
Minh defeat French colonial forces at Dien Bien Phu on
May 7. In July, the Geneva Accords divide the country at
the 17th parallel, creating a North and South Vietnam. The
United States assumes the chief responsibility of providing
anti-communist aid to South Vietnam.
1955 -- Massive Retaliation
On January 12, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles first announces the doctrine of Massive
Retaliation. It threatens full-scale nuclear attack on the
Soviet Union in response to communist aggression
anywhere in the world.
1956 -- Khrushchev's 'secret speech'
In a speech before Communist Party members on February
14, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounces the policies
of Stalin. Khrushchev rejects the Leninist idea of the
inevitability of war and calls for a doctrine of "peaceful
coexistence" between capitalist and communist systems.
1957 -- Sputnik
On October 4, the Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the
first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth. In 1958, the
U.S. creates the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, and the space race is in full gear.
1959 -- Castro takes power
On January 1, leftist forces under Fidel Castro overthrow
the government of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba. Castro soon
nationalizes the sugar industry and signs trade
agreements with the Soviet Union. The next year, his
government seizes U.S. assets on the island.
1960 -- The U-2 Affair
On May 1, an American high-altitude U-2 spy plane is
shot down on a mission over the Soviet Union. After the
Soviets announce the capture of pilot Francis Gary
Powers, the United States recants earlier assertions
that the plane was on a weather research mission.
1961 -- Bay of Pigs
An U.S.-organized invasion force of 1,400 Cuban
exiles is defeated by Castro's government forces on
Cuba's south coast at the Bay of Pigs. Launched
from Guatemala in ships and planes provided by the
United States, the invaders surrender on April 20
after three days of fighting. Kennedy takes full
responsibility for the disaster.
1961 -- Berlin Wall
The United States rejects proposals by Khrushchev to
make Berlin a "free city" with access controlled by East
Germany. On August 15, communist authorities begin
construction on the Berlin Wall to prevent East Germans
from fleeing to West Berlin.
1962 -- Cuban Missile Crisis
After the failed Bays of Pigs invasion, the Soviet Union
installs nuclear missiles in Cuba capable of reaching most
of the continental United States. After U-2 flights confirm
their existence, Kennedy orders a naval blockade of Cuba
on October 22 until the Soviet Union removes its missiles.
On October 28, the Soviets agree to remove the missiles,
defusing one of the most dangerous confrontations of the
Cold War.
1963 -- Hot line
The United States and Soviet Union agree on June 20
to install a hot line allowing the leaders of both countries
to directly communicate during a crisis. Kennedy and
Khrushchev were often forced to communicate through
public broadcasts during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1964 -- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
North Vietnamese patrol boats fired on the USS Mattox
in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2. On August 7, the U.S.
Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,
granting President Johnson authority to send U.S.
troops to South Vietnam.
1966 -- Indonesian Coup
An anti-communist coup by Gen. Suharto topples
Indonesian President Bung Sukarno on March 12. At
least 500,000 alleged communists and ethnic Chinese
are slaughtered in army-organized massacres during the
next two years.
1967 -- Six Day War
On June 5, Israel launches an attack that becomes
known as the Six Day War, seizing the Sinai and
Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East
Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from
Syria. The Soviet Union accuses the United States of
encouraging Israeli aggression.
1968 -- Tet Offensive
Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese Army
troops launch attacks across South Vietnam on
January 30, the start of the lunar new year Tet. In
Saigon, guerrillas battle Marines at the U.S. Embassy.
In March, Johnson orders a halt to the U.S. bombing of
North Vietnam and offers peace talks.
1968 -- Prague Spring
On January 5, reformer Alexander Dubcek becomes
general secretary of the Communist Party in
Czechoslovakia, pledging the "widest possible
democratizations" as the Prague Spring movement
sweeps across the country. Soviet and Warsaw Pact
leaders send an invasion force of 650,000 troops in
August. Dubcek is arrested and hard-liners are restored
to power.
1969 -- Vietnamization
On June 8, U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his
"Vietnamization" plan, designed to withdraw U.S ground
forces from Vietnam and turn control of the war over to
South Vietnamese forces.
1969 -- SALT
On November 17, the first phase of Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks begins in Helsinki, Finland. The finished
agreement, signed by Nixon and Brezhnev in Moscow on
May 26, 1972, places limits on both submarine-launched
and intercontinental nuclear missiles.
1972 -- Nixon visits China
Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to visit China,
meeting with Mao Tse-tung on February 21. The two
countries issue a communique recognizing their "essential
differences" while making it clear that "normalization of
relations" was in all nations' best interests. The
rapprochement changes the balance of power with the
Soviets.
1973 -- Vietnam War agreement
On January 27, 1973, the United States, South Vietnam,
North Vietnam and the Viet Cong sign the Paris Peace
Treaty, establishing a cease-fire and a 60-day window for
the withdrawal of all U.S. troops. The United States is
allowed to continue providing aid to South Vietnam.
Saigon falls in April 1975.
1975 -- Cambodia
The communist Khmer Rouge takes power in Cambodia
on April 16. Cambodia's educated and urban population is
forced into the countryside as part of a state experiment in
agrarian communism. Under the regime of Pol Pot, as
many as 3 million Cambodians die from 1975 to 1979.
1979 -- Afghanistan
On December 25, 100,000 Soviet troops invade
Afghanistan as communist Babrak Karmal seizes control
of the government. U.S.-backed Muslim guerrilla fighters
wage a costly war against the Soviets for nearly a
decade before Soviet troops withdraw in 1988.
1980 -- Solidarity
On August 14, electrician Lech Walesa leads massive
strikes at the Lenin shipyards in Gdansk, Poland. The
strikes soon spread to other cities and form the nucleus of
the Solidarity movement. The communist government of
Edward Gierk concedes to worker demands on August 31,
recognizing their right to form unions and strike.
1983 -- Star Wars
On March 23, Reagan outlines his Strategic Defense
Initiative, or "Star Wars," a space-based defensive shield
that would use lasers and other advanced technology to
destroy attacking missiles far above the Earth's surface.
Soviets accuse the U.S of violating the 1972 Antiballistic
Missile Treaty.
1985 -- Gorbachev comes to power
On March 11, Gorbachev comes to power in the Soviet
Union, ushering in an era of economic reforms under
perestroika and greater political freedoms under glasnost.
1987 -- INF
On December 8, Reagan and Gorbachev sign the
Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in Washington.
It mandates the removal of more than 2,600 medium-range
nuclear missiles from Europe, eliminating the entire class of
Soviet SS-20 and U.S. Cruise and Pershing II missiles.
1989 -- Berlin Wall falls
Gorbachev renounces the Brezhnev Doctrine, which
pledged to use Soviet force to protect its interests in Eastern
Europe. On September 10, Hungary opens its border with
Austria, allowing East Germans to flee to the West. After
massive public demonstrations in East Germany and
Eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall falls on November 9.
1990 -- German unification
At a September 12 meeting in Moscow, the United
States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France and the two
Germanys agree to end Allied occupation rights in
Germany. On October 3, East and West Germany unite
as the Federal Republic of Germany.
1991 -- Soviet Union collapses
While vacationing in the Crimea, Gorbachev is ousted in
a coup by Communist hard-liners on August 19. The coup
soon falters as citizens take to the streets of Moscow and
other cities in support of Russian President Boris Yeltsin,
who denounced the coup. Military units abandon the
hard-liners, and Gorbachev is released from house arrest.
He officially resigns on December 25 as the Soviet Union
is dissolved.
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