Timeline of the Cold War
1940s
February
1945: Yalta Conference meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin
4-11
August 8 Russia enters war against Japan
August 14 Japanese surrender: End of World War II
1946: March Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" Speech
1947: March Truman declares active role in Greek Civil War
June Marshall Plan is announced
1948: February Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia
June 24 Berlin Blockade begins
1949: July NATO ratified
May 12 Berlin Blockade ends
September Mao Zedong, a Communist, takes control of China
September Soviets explode first atomic bomb
1950s
1950: June Korean War begins
1952: US explodes first hydrogen bomb
1953: June 19 Rosenberg executions
July Korean War ends
Soviets explodes hydrogen bomb. Stalin died
1954: March KGB established
CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran and
Guatemala
July Vietnam split at 17th parallel
1955: May Warsaw Pact formed. ‘Peaceful coexistence’ called for.
October -
1956: Hungary revolts against Russia
November
Egypt took control of Suez Canal; U.S. refused to help take it
back
, 1957: October 4 Sputnik launched
1958: November Khrushchev demands withdrawal of troops from Berlin
1959: January Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro
September Khrushchev visits United States
1960s
Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down over
1960: May
Soviet territory
November John F. Kennedy elected President
1961: April Bay of Pigs invasion
July Kennedy requests 25% spending increase for military
August 13 Berlin border closed
August 17 Construction of Berlin Wall begins
1962: U.S. involvement in Vietnam increased
October Cuban Missile Crisis
1963: July Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified
November President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas
1964: August Gulf of Tonkin incident
Announcement of dispatching of 150,000 U.S. troops to
1965: July
Vietnam
1967: Six-Day War in the Middle East
1968: January North Korea captured U.S.S. Pueblo
August Soviet troops crush Czechoslovakian revolt
1969: July 20 Apollo 11 lands on the moon
1970s
1970: April President Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia
1972: July SALT I signed
Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and United
1973: January
States
September United States helps overthrow Chile government
October Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid
1974: August President Nixon resigns
1940s
February
1945: Yalta Conference meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin
4-11
August 8 Russia enters war against Japan
August 14 Japanese surrender: End of World War II
1946: March Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" Speech
1947: March Truman declares active role in Greek Civil War
June Marshall Plan is announced
1948: February Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia
June 24 Berlin Blockade begins
1949: July NATO ratified
May 12 Berlin Blockade ends
September Mao Zedong, a Communist, takes control of China
September Soviets explode first atomic bomb
1950s
1950: June Korean War begins
1952: US explodes first hydrogen bomb
1953: June 19 Rosenberg executions
July Korean War ends
Soviets explodes hydrogen bomb. Stalin died
1954: March KGB established
CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran and
Guatemala
July Vietnam split at 17th parallel
1955: May Warsaw Pact formed. ‘Peaceful coexistence’ called for.
October -
1956: Hungary revolts against Russia
November
Egypt took control of Suez Canal; U.S. refused to help take it
back
, 1957: October 4 Sputnik launched
1958: November Khrushchev demands withdrawal of troops from Berlin
1959: January Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro
September Khrushchev visits United States
1960s
Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down over
1960: May
Soviet territory
November John F. Kennedy elected President
1961: April Bay of Pigs invasion
July Kennedy requests 25% spending increase for military
August 13 Berlin border closed
August 17 Construction of Berlin Wall begins
1962: U.S. involvement in Vietnam increased
October Cuban Missile Crisis
1963: July Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified
November President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas
1964: August Gulf of Tonkin incident
Announcement of dispatching of 150,000 U.S. troops to
1965: July
Vietnam
1967: Six-Day War in the Middle East
1968: January North Korea captured U.S.S. Pueblo
August Soviet troops crush Czechoslovakian revolt
1969: July 20 Apollo 11 lands on the moon
1970s
1970: April President Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia
1972: July SALT I signed
Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and United
1973: January
States
September United States helps overthrow Chile government
October Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid
1974: August President Nixon resigns
