Cold War Timeline by ELIZANNA HAHN

Yalta Conference: Feb. 4, 1945

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 00:53:53 UTC

The Yalta Conference was meant to establish free elections and independence in all Eastern European countries. This, however, was ignored by Stalin and he kept full military control of Eastern Germany to have a separation between the USSR and Germany. This angered the United States because they strongly believed all of Germany should be maintained under a democratic government.

Potsdam Conference: July 17, 1945

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 01:03:54 UTC

During the Potsdam Conference, the world powers were able to set up 4 different zones that would be controlled by each one (Britain, France, U.S., USSR). With the new zones being made, they also wanted to try Nazi war criminals that they had captured from the war. This conference also demanded that Germany pay for the damage that it had caused the USSR along with having the USSR join the war against Japan.

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: August 6, 1945

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 01:09:28 UTC

To end the war between America and Japan, the United States deemed it the only way to use its strongest weapon. President Truman decided to drop two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and show them the power that the United States had. Directly after the bombings, Japan surrendered, and the war was over. The only thing was that now the world knew the weaponry America had, and they wanted it as well. The USSR started to show that they were also working on building atomic weapons, and that was the start of the 'Arms Race' between America and the USSR. This also made great distrust start to form between the two world powers.

Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech: March 5, 1946

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 01:22:47 UTC

Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech is one of American history's most famous speeches. In this speech, he expressed how he believed that all Western democracies need to come together to take down communism and stop it in its tracks. He wanted to put an "Iron Curtain" between the Western countries and the USSR to help prevent it from spreading from there. This speech arguably helped encourage distrust between America and the USSR because he described communism as a great threat to democracy.

McCarthyism/Second Red Scare: 1947-1957

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 01:33:10 UTC

After Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech, Americans started feeling a great unease about the USSR and communism. People started to believe that the Soviet Union had been sending spies to steal classified information from the United States to use against them. Senator McCarthy made the public fear of Soviet spies even worse when he started coming out with multiple lists and naming hundreds of people, claiming they were all spies for the USSR and committing espionage. For years, he did this, ending thousands of lives and causing panic around America and in its government. However, his reign of fear came to an end when he started listing military officers who had fought in WW2 and claiming that they were Soviet spies. This snapped people out of their feared minds and made them realize how intense this had gotten, and only caused more distrust between America and the Soviet Union.

Truman Doctrine Speech: March 12, 1947

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 14:48:05 UTC

President Truman discussed during this speech his ideals with the Truman Doctrine. This was a part of America's foreign policy explaining how America would use any means necessary to stop the spread of communism from the USSR. Truman sent economic and military help to any countries that were being taken over by communism. He claimed that letting other countries (Greece and Turkey) fall to communism would start the downfall of democracy, and the spread of communism would never end. He continued his actions and preached his beliefs throughout the entirety of the Cold War.

Marshall Plan: April 3, 1948

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 17:51:17 UTC

The Marshall Plan was made to help rebuild Europe after the War. By sending billions of dollars to improve their economy, they hoped to show the European countries that a democratic government can be stable and provide economic benefits to the people under the government. As they continued to rebuild Europe, America stressed to make sure these countries would not fall to communism, as the United States believed that an impoverished country is a breeding ground for it. The U.S. wanted the rebuilding European countries to adopt a democratic government to prevent the spread of communism.

Berlin Blockade and Airlift: June 24, 1948

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 17:55:40 UTC

Feeling threatened by the United States, the Soviet Union blockaded the western side of Berlin from the East and cut off all supplies, including food, water, and electricity. The people in West Berlin were starving and being given no aid, this is when America stepped in. While they had created the Marshall Plan, there was no real opportunity to step in and help Berlin; the USSR's blockade gave them a reason to intervene. For over 11 months, America and the United Kingdom sent food and supplies to Berlin through airdrops. This was a massive help to America's fight against the spread of communism and helped sway more European countries to the side of democracy.

NATO Alliance Formed: April 4, 1949

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 20:17:40 UTC

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This organization is consisted of countries that all want to have a defense for Western European countries and the United States. While NATO was formed as an alliance to defend Western Europe from being taken over by communism and to keep it in the USSR. The Soviet Union viewed this as a threat and pushed against it, angering the countries involved in NATO.

Korean War: June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 20:18:45 UTC

After the war with Japan was over, America took the southern part of Korea while the Soviet Union took the North. The South was run by a democratic government while the North was run by a communist government (38th parallel). Because of the separation of the country, there were often small conflicts between the sides, and they did not agree with each other's governments. In June, North Korea started to invade the South, wanting to become one country again and have a government run by communism. America saw this as a threat because of communism spreading and trying to overthrow the democratic government they had set up in South Korea. War soon started between the two sides and ended with both sides back at the 38th parallel line and a stalemate between both armies. In July of 1953, peace was finally made to end the war. While America was calling the end of the war, Stalin still wanted to fight. However, Stalin died later that year before he could keep fighting in Korea. This war was the first violent conflict caused by the Cold War between the democratic and communist governments.

The Rosenberg Trial: March 6, 1951

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 20:19:40 UTC

While the Cold War is going strong, so is America's second Red Scare. Since 1947, Americans have been extremely cautious of Soviets and suspecting anyone who didn't fit in could be a Soviet spy working against America. Fear of spies only increased when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested and accused of being spies for the USSR to send them classified information about U.S. atomic weapons. They were found guilty of espionage with Julius leading groups of communists and exchanging information to the Soviet Union. The distrust between the United States and the USSR only got worse after this trial and made America's want to stop communism grow.

Creation of the Warsaw Pact: May 14, 1955

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 20:20:59 UTC

After NATO was created in 1949, the Soviet Union felt directly threatened and expressed its hatred for the organization by ignoring it and forming the Warsaw Pact in 1955. This went against NATO by making an alliance of the USSR and Eastern Europe against the Western side of Europe and the United States. Tensions worsened from this, and both America and the Soviet Union grew more and more aggressive towards each other.

Vietnam War: November 1, 1955-April 30, 1975

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 20:22:21 UTC

After Vietnam fought against France and won its Independence, it became split with the 17th parallel line with China and the USSR leading the North and the United States leading the South. A few years later, North Vietnam started a conflict with the South as they wanted to be one country again with a communist government. Since the Truman Doctrine stated that America would do anything in its power to stop the spread of communism, the U.S. joined the fight to support South Vietnam. With American ships lining the coast, it was reported that North Vietnamese torpedo boats started fighting at U.S. battleships. Soldiers who report back to the United States claim this happened more than once and that they hadn't been in battle for this to happen. This became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and while it's contested if these events were completely true, it was enough for President LBJ to expand presidential war power and start sending troops to fight in Vietnam. This war was an extremely rude awakening for U.S. troops with the guerrilla warfare that they were facing and cost many American lives. As the war went on, American morale started to decrease as they saw the brutality of the battles on TV and the public started to question if the war was even worth fighting when they couldn't even track if they were making any headway. American leaders started sending more and more people who were drafted over to Vietnam which led to outrage and Americans saying how unfair the draft was. The wealthy had a very low chance of getting drafted because they were political leaders or in college. This caused more protests against the war from Americans and the war was very unpopular and unwanted. The morale of America's soldiers got worse and worse as the war carried on, giving the Soviet Union hope that America would give up this fight and let Vietnam be taken over my communism.

Sputnik launched into Orbit: October 4, 1957

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-10 20:24:00 UTC

In 1957, the USSR launched the first-ever satellite into Earth's orbit. This was a terrifying fact for America because of the thought that the Soviets were ahead of them by having a successful launch, which they had still not accomplished. The satellite was based on V2 technology that both America and the USSR had been using to make their satellites, but the Soviet Union was already ahead of America because of the rocket projects they had with Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Because of this public showing of the USSR's creation of space technology, the Cold War took a turn into the 'Space Race', and each country worked to make its mark in space.

U-2 Incident: May 1, 1960

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 00:42:10 UTC

With the Cold War as popular as ever, President Eisenhower's Administration claimed that there was a major missile gap between America and the USSR. To get more information about the Soviet missile arsenal, America sends spy planes continuously to get pictures of the USSR's missiles. The United States demanded that the Paris Conference with the Western European powers and the Soviet Union confront them about their weapons and disband them. During this time, however, Francis Gary Powers was spotted over Soviet land spying and getting secret images of the USSR's military weapons. He was shot down and taken prisoner. After this, the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, left the meeting after condemning the United States for their spying.

Bay of Pigs Invasion: April 17, 1961

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 01:13:59 UTC

After dictator Fidel Castro made an effort to overthrow the previous dictator Batista, Cubans welcomed him with open arms, seeing as he had 'saved' them from such a horrible and corrupt leader. This made America extremely anxious because while Batista was corrupt, he was fairly pro-American and supported their corporations. Many of the big sugar plantations were owned by wealthy businessmen in America seeing since Batista never restricted them. On the other hand, Castro was a communist and wanted American businesses to back up so Cubans could take control of their land. As a response, Eisenhower gathered a few thousand Cuban exiles and trained them to be able to overthrow Castro. Castro then started forming political relations with the USSR, and they agreed to have them buy Cuba's sugar cane since the United States made up nearly 80% of their market. President Kennedy inherited Eisenhower's plan when he took office to overthrow Castro, but he wanted to take an act of secrecy with the plan. He silently sent troops to Cuba to slowly start a rebellion against Castro, if they didn't get caught first. Kennedy set up plans to attack Cuba's Navy disguised as Cuban airplanes, but this failed because Castro knew the whole time about what he was planning. Another part of this plan was the Invasion of Pig Bay, which was an almost immediate failure for the Americans, though, because the agency radio had a leak that was broadcasting the whole plan to those listening around Cuba. Castro's troops took down the invasion at an extreme pace and killed over 100 while capturing almost 1,400 men. Cuba stayed a communist country, with Kennedy not wanting to continue fighting and having the possibility of causing another World War. With this, the Cold War continued to grow with more tension every day.

Construction of the Berlin Wall: August 13, 1961

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 01:32:39 UTC

Because of how much the Cold War was escalating, East and West Berlin were also at each other's throats. In August of 1961, the East German leader had ordered a barbed-wire fence to be put up at the separation line of East and West Berlin. He did this because he wanted to keep the Western "fascists" out of his side of the country. He was also tired of the endless flow of people leaving East Berlin and going to the West instead; it was embarrassing for the USSR and enraged them extremely. While the people of Berlin were horrified by the building of the wall, President Kennedy did what he could to support West Berlin, but did not take aggressive action towards the wall, as he thought that a wall was better than being in an active war.

Cuban Missile Crisis: October 16, 1962

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 01:51:48 UTC

After Kennedy's failed attempt at invasion at the Bay of Pigs, he started planning a different approach to overthrow Castro when images were sent to the White House of a secret agreement between the Soviet Union and Cuba. The USSR had secretly started storing nuclear missiles in Cuba to scare America from going through with another invasion attempt. Americans were in great distress and constant fear of Cuba's attack with those missiles and the start of a nuclear war between the United States and the USSR. Kennedy sent a direct letter to Khrushchev (leader of the USSR) explaining that the United States did not condone the missiles that they placed in Cuba and asked for the removal of all the missiles. In response, Khrushchev sent back a long letter communicating how the two world powers could get into a nuclear Holocaust with the circumstances and tensions. He also said that he would remove the missiles only if America promised to not launch another invasion of Cuba again. He then sent a second letter later saying he also wanted America to take their Jupiter missiles out of Turkey. Kennedy took the risk of ignoring the second letter and only replying to the first proposition. After the United States agreed to not infiltrate Cuba, the Soviet Union's public ally announced the removal of the missiles. This was the closest and most direct event that almost led to nuclear warfare between the Soviets and the United States and left both countries on edge while continuing the Cold War.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Ratified: September 24, 1963

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 02:07:56 UTC

With nuclear power becoming more frequent, the amount of atomic testing did as well. The world powers around the world soon realized the toll that the testing was taking on the environment. Running numerous tests left almost every region in the world touched by some type of nuclear debris. This caused great concern about the future environmental and genetic effects that could appear from the nuclear side effects. The five biggest countries were the first to sign and ratify the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (USA, USSR, UK, Canada, and France). This was a time for these countries to come together and agree to end the man-made contamination that comes with nuclear power. This was the first time since the Cold War had started that the USSR and the United States had come to an agreement that didn't involve any sort of threat against each other.

Apollo 11 lands on the Moon: July 20, 1969

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 02:39:40 UTC

With the Space Race at its peak, America won in 1969 by meeting the goal that Kennedy set for them. After failed attempts to try and keep a shuttle in space long enough to make it to the moon, the United States Space Program was finally able to achieve it. The whole world watched Apollo 11 launch and start the journey to the Moon. Apollo 11 made it peacefully to the Moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin able to walk on the Moon and place an American flag down, claiming victory in the Space Race. This was a step closer to ending the Cold War, with the USSR feeling defeated.

President Nixon visits China: February 21, 1972

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 02:47:51 UTC

After almost 30 years of isolationism from the Chinese Republic, President Nixon decided to break that and start to form communication between the United States and China. Nixon went to China and made sure to discuss numerous issues that had been floating between China and the US. He did not want any miscommunication that could lead to a war between them, since the Cold War with the Soviet Union was still strong. Having an understanding and later an alliance with China would strongly benefit the United States and possibly make China more hesitant to declare war on them if the Cold War ever became an active war.

SALT 1 Signed: May 26, 1972

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 02:57:14 UTC

After learning about the extreme missiles that the Soviets were surrounding Moscow with in case of an American invasion, US officials were concerned that the USSR might be being a little excessive. When Nixon took presidential power, he and Brezhnev met in Finland to discuss limitations on nuclear power and the weapons they were each building. Both countries were concerned with the power the other had, this led to an agreement between Nixon and Brezhnev to sign SALT 1 to limit their nuclear weapons. This was the first time in the Cold War that the USSR and the US agreed to limit their power for the benefit of both sides.

South Vietnam falls to Communist North Vietnam: April 30, 1975

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 03:03:29 UTC

In 1968, President Nixon was elected into office, and he created his doctrine, saying that America would send money and supplies to countries fighting communism, but not troops. After the doctrine was made, Nixon started the process of pulling troops from Vietnam, claiming they would do it with 'honor'. This failed horribly because pulling out troops was extremely difficult with North Vietnam imminently pushing into the South and taking over. Vietnam quickly fell to North Vietnam and was taken over by a communist government. This was a huge embarrassment for the United States, and other countries looked down on America for it. Americans didn't agree with fighting with force to stop communism anymore because of how badly Vietnam had gone, but the Cold War remained, and if anything, this was a victory for the Soviets.

Berlin Wall Falls: November 9, 1989

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 03:13:35 UTC

After years of separation between the two sides of Berlin, East Germany finally agrees to open the border between East and Western Berlin open back up. People from both sides of the wall immediately flooded in to the border and started running through both sides in celebration. While everyone was able to experience their missed freedom, hundreds of people took sledgehammers and drills to the walls and started to tear it down themselves. This is seen by most as the start of the end of the Cold War.

USSR Collapses: December 26, 1991

ehahn26_ — 2024-04-11 03:45:01 UTC

Political unrest was stirring in the Soviet Union and slowly different states in the Soviet Union were declaring their separation from the USSR and becoming their own countries. After several years with more and more states leaving, Mikhail Gorbachev stepped down from leading the USSR leaving a new and independent Russia for Boris Yeltsin to lead. This officially ended the Cold War and was the end of the Soviet Union.