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The Cold War
1945
1945 Soviet army marches into Berlin; the German capital city falls.
World War II ends. Soviet Union, United States, Great Britain, and
France divide Berlin and Germany into four zones of occupation, a
decision made during the Yalta conference.
1946 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's “Iron Curtain” speech
marks beginning of the Cold War.
1947 U.S. President Harry Truman requests funds to support Greek
and Turkish efforts to fight communism. It marks the beginning of the
Truman doctrine.
1948 The Berlin airlift supplies West Berlin with basic necessities after
the Soviet Union blocks off the city in an effort to force the West to
give it up.
1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is formed by the
United States and many western European countries to defend Europe
against Soviet aggression.
1949 Communist forces under Mao Zedong take over mainland China.
The United States continues to support the government of Nationalist
China, led by Chiang Kai-shek, which is forced to retreat to the island
of Taiwan.
1950
1950 U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy begins his communist witch hunt
in the United States.
1950 The Korean War begins, the first armed conflict in the Cold War,
the global struggle between communism and democracy.
1953 More than 300,000 East Germans flee to West Berlin and then to
West Germany.
1954 The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assists in the overthrow of
Guatemala's communist-influenced government.
1954 Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is formed to thwart
the spread of communism in Southeast Asia.
1954 The Vietnam War begins shortly after Vietnam is divided into
communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam. The
United States' involvement spans 1961-73, making it the country's
longest war.
1955
1955 The Warsaw Pact is formed by the Soviet Union and communist
countries in eastern Europe as a military defense organization to
counter NATO.
1959 Cuba becomes communist under Fidel Castro.
1960
1961 Soviet-controlled East Germany divides Berlin with the Berlin
Wall.
1961 The Alliance for Progress is formed, a U.S.-sponsored program
to counter communism in Latin America.
1961 The U.S. orchestrates the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, an
unsuccessful attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro's
communist regime in Cuba.
1962 The Cuban Missile crisis sparks a major confrontation between
the United States and the Soviet Union when the U.S. discovers the
existence of Soviet missile installations in Cuba.
1963 U.S. President John F. Kennedy tells a crowd of Germans in
Berlin that the Wall proves the failure of the Soviet system.
1965
1970
1972 U.S. President Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. leader to
visit communist China, leading to a thaw in Cold War relations.
1972 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.
1973 The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secetly helps overthrow
Chile's socialist government under Salvador Allende.
1975
1979 The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, beginning a decade-long
war that ends with their withdrawal in 1988.
1980
1985
1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader; he begins to ease
away from old communist policies.
1987 U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev sign INF treaty, which removes medium and short-range
nuclear missiles.
1989 The Berlin Wall falls.
1990
1990 East and West Germany are reunited.
1991 The Strategic Arms Reduction Talk (START) is signed by U.S.
President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev,
Gorbachev calling for additional disarmament of U.S. and Soviet
nuclear weapons.
1991 The Soviet Union breaks up into independent republics; the Cold
War ends.
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