Cold War Timeline B-Day by Katherine Davis

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katherinedavis13 — 2025-02-26 16:33:44 UTC

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A city divided in two

2025-02-27 16:07:30 UTC

On August 13, 1961 East Germany started building the Berlin Wall to stop people from escaping to West Berlin. The wall was made of concrete and barbed wire, with armed guards watching over it. The east German government supported by the soviet union, said the wall was to protect their country, but really, it was to keep people from leaving. Families and friends were separated and many people risked their lives trying to cross. For almost 30 years the wall stood as a symbol of the cold war. Finally on November 9, 1989 protests and political changes forced east Germany to open the border and the wall was torn down, bringing Berlin back together.

Six-Day War in the Middle East

2025-02-27 19:05:26 UTC

The Six Day War had its origins in disputes between Israel and Egypt over the rights of Israeli shipping to pass through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. An Israeli ground offensive was also launched in the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. These territories were all captured by Israel, though the Sinai Peninsula was later returned to Egypt.

Soviet Union Tests Atomic Bomb

2025-02-27 19:08:48 UTC

The Soviet Union conducted its first atomic bomb test on August 29, 1949, at the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan. The bomb was called the "RSD-1" or the "First Lightning". This bomb very closely resembled the U.S.As Fat Man bomb design. This is because of Soviet spies in the U.S that would relay information to the Soviet Union. This marked the beginning of the cold war nuclear arms race.

Battle of la Drang

2025-02-27 19:12:09 UTC

On November 14, 1965, the 1st Battalion (Bn), 7th Cavalry Regiment (Regt), 1st Air Cavalry (Cav) Division (Div) was sent on a search and destroy mission deep into the jungles of a plateau in the Central Highlands in the Ia Drang River Valley, thirty-seven miles west of Pleiku in the Gia Lai Province, Republic of (South) Vietnam (RVN). There they met the 32nd, 33rd, and 66th Regts of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The U.S. had fought against local Vietnamese Communist (Viet Cong) forces in small skirmishes since the withdrawal of the French in 1954; however, the Ia Drang Valley marked the first time U.S. forces faced off against trained North Vietnamese regulars in the battle that has become synonymous with the beginning of full scale U.S. involvement in the RVN. While the Battle of Ia Drang constitutes roughly a month-long period, the two major battles occurred at Landing Zones (LZ) X-Ray and Albany.

Beginning of Hydrogen War

2025-02-27 19:15:44 UTC

On January 31, 1950 president Harry Truman announced his decision to support the development of the hydrogen bomb . A bomb that is over 500 times more powerful than the bombs we dropped on Hiroshima and nagasaki. The creator of the hydrogen bomb was Edward Teller ,who is known as “the father of the hydrogen bomb “. They created this bomb because they thought it was the best way to count the Soviet Union dabbling in creating atomic weapons .Then after two long years of research and development of the hydrogen bomb they did a test drop on November 1 of 1952 . The bomb was equivalent to 15 megatons of tnt being detonated at the same time , and within seconds the fireball that the bomb created was over three miles in diameters,and gouged a crated a mile wide where it was dropped.

Atoms for Peace

2025-02-27 19:15:52 UTC

Threats of nuclear warfare had no end in sight. President Dwight D. Eisenhower aimed to decrease tensions between countries due to these threats. At the United Nations general assembly on December 8, 1953, Eisenhower delivered the speech entitled “Atoms for peace.” In his speech, Eisenhower brought to light the dangers present with increased atomic weaponry. Eisenhower told the assembly that his goal was to “move out of the dark chamber of horrors into the light”. Eisenhower pushed for atomic power to be used peacefully, and to be used as an alternate source of power.

US Launches Explorer into Space

2025-02-27 19:16:50 UTC

The first successful launch of a satellite into Earth's atmosphere on January 31, 1958. This was in response to the Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik 1. Created in the NASA Jet propulsion laboratory, it held a cosmic ray detector that was designed to measure the radiation environment in Earth's orbit. This allowed a man named James Van Allen’s discovery of radiation belts that were held in place by Earth's magnetic field. As well as discovering that there was less cosmic radiation than expected.

Apollo 11 Moon Landing

2025-02-27 19:20:07 UTC

In 1969, the Apollo spacecraft took off in Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral), Florida on July 16th. The Apollo held 3 people, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. and Michael Collins. They became the first people ever to walk on the moon and became the first people to land on the moon. America decided to fly to space because of the fact that President John F. Kennedy set a goal to beat the Soviet Union in sending out the first people to the moon. If we didn't win that race then we would have not been known as the superpower we are known as today. The astronauts came back on July 24, 1969.

Sputnik ll Launched

2025-02-27 19:21:14 UTC

Sputnik 2 was launched in the Soviet Union on November 3, 1957. Sergei Korolev was the head of the Soviet Union’s space program and designed Sputnik 1 and 2 and the Soviet scientists and engineers helped build the rockets. The rocket was launched in the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was built in the same place. The Soviets did this in an attempt to show that socialism/communism is better than capitalism. The communist leaders also saw a military advantage in space exploration and decided to start researching it. The sputnik 2 was the first platform to make scientific measurements in orbit and also the first to rocket to send something living to space sadly the dog Laika did not make it.

Assassination of John F. Kennedy

2025-02-27 19:21:15 UTC

John F Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States. On november 23 1963 President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas while riding in a motorcade with his wife, at approximately 12:30. President John F Kennedy was then rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 1:00 pm.This event really affected the American people and put them in a ton of disbelief and grief and rage. This event will forever be remembered and honored because it was so tragic to the Americans.

Soviet Nuclear Missiles are Pointed Directly at the US’s Throat

2025-02-27 19:26:03 UTC

On October 14, 1962 the US discovered that Soviet ballistic nuclear missiles were being assembled in cuba. In response the US blockaded Cuba and demanded that the soviet union remove the missiles. After some tense initial negotiations the two nations agreed to peace. The soviet union would remove the missiles and the US would remove their own missiles from turkey and promise to not attack Cuba.

JFK elected as president

2025-02-27 19:34:15 UTC

John F. Kennedy was elected as the 35th president on November 8th, 1960. His presidency ended on November 22nd 1963, when he was assassinated in Dallas. JFK became the youngest person to be elected as president and the first catholic president. He was elected as president resulting from a combination of strategic campaigning and addressing the nations desire for change. While initially cautious, Kennedy took steps to support the civil rights movement, Including sending federal troops to enforce desegregation and proposing what would later become the civil rights act of 1964. His assassination on november 22nd, 1963, shocked the nation and the world, turning him into a symbol of hope.

Korean War

2025-02-27 19:35:08 UTC

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950. This war was started due to North Korea wanting to conquer South Korea to make Korea unified under communist rule. Most of the war happened on the Korean Peninsula and as a result an armistice was signed and the Peninsula was still left divided as it was before. This event shows its significance to this day because it was the first war the US military was desegregated, showing that we are able to move military around the world to stop communism.

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

2025-02-27 19:37:08 UTC

In the December of 1979 The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The Soviet forces swiftly over threw the president of the Afghanistan and replaced him with a puppet president and created many social and religious forms for Afghanistan. Many Afghans resented the new communist government named the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Many Muslim Afghans began rebelling against the communist forces and formed the Mujahideen. They conducted uncoordinated Gorilla warfare and received Arms and Military resources from Pakistan and the United States. The Soviet forces held many large and important cities and began to attack civilian cities in the countryside to defeat the elusive Mujahideen. The Mujahideen were able to fight back against the Soviets with success. In 1988, the Soviet Union, United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan signed an Accord and in 1989, troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan and the grueling 9 year War was over. The War amounted in roughly to 4.3 million Afghan refugees, 1 million Afghan civilian casualties and 125,000 combatant casualties on both sides.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: President Elect of 1952

2025-02-27 19:46:53 UTC

On November 4, 1952 the presidential election occurred. Nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower achieved victory against Adlai Stevenson II. The Electoral vote was 442 to 89 and the popular vote was 34,075,529 to 27,375,090. 39 states were carried by Eisenhower and 9 by Stevenson. Eisenhower's popularity and Truman's unpopularity assisted in Eisenhower's ability to gain 55.18% of the popular vote. He received over 34 million votes which for the time was the biggest share of the popular votes.

The Berlin Blockade

2025-02-27 19:53:51 UTC

On June 24, 1948, the Berlin blockade began. It was an attempt to force the allies to abandon the city. All ground traffic was cut off in and out of West Berlin and West Germany. "The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche Mark from West Berlin." This made it so the allies wouldn’t be able to get to their sectors in Berlin.

The Creation of NASA

2025-02-27 19:55:00 UTC

NASA was created on July 29, 1958 because they began a fight to space against Russia during the cold war. This was the day that President Eisenhower signed the act of National Aeronautics and Space. This was based off of the previously existing NACA because Eisenhower believed that it would do more good if civilians worked on it rather than the military. This worked very well and NASA began its first operation on October 1, 1958.

VE Day: Victory on the Eastern Front

2025-02-27 20:28:14 UTC

On May 8th, 1945 Germany unconditionally surrendered their military forces to the allies. This includes Europe and the US. This event marked the end of the war for the Eastern front. During this time Japan and America were still at war.

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

2025-02-27 20:45:06 UTC

The conference started the first of July in 1968 and went to 5th of March in 1970. It was done in New York. It was done to aime the danger of Nuclear war. It was signed on July 1 1968. In May 1995, it was made extending indefinity. It is still ongoing. Fun fact: North Korea withdrew in 2003.

the end of the Korean war

2025-02-27 21:00:43 UTC

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950. The war ended with the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953.The Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, when North Korea, China, and the United Nations Command, led by the U.S., signed the Korean Armistice Agreement. The war had devastated both North and South Korea, with millions of casualties. The armistice established the Korean Demilitarized Zone near the 38th parallel, serving as a buffer between North and South Korea. Although the fighting stopped, no official peace treaty was ever signed, meaning the two Koreas remain technically at war. The war’s end solidified the division of Korea, shaping Cold War tensions in East Asia for decades. Significant photo: A possible photo choice could be an image of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement or a picture of the DMZ as a symbol of the war’s unresolved status.

First U.S. combat troops land in Vietnam

2025-02-27 21:09:12 UTC

On March 8, 1965, the United States landed its first troops in Southern Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the U.S. air base. The U.S. actions in Vietnam began slowly with the deployment of advisors in the early 1950s and expanded incrementally to include combat forces in July 1965. The conflict continued until January 1973, when representatives of the United States, North and South Vietnam, and the Vietcong signed a peace agreement in Paris. Marine Expeditionary Brigade arrived in Da Nang to protect the U.S. airbase there from Viet Cong attacks.

The failed invasion

2025-02-28 01:29:35 UTC

April 17th, 1961-April 20th, 1961

In the Bay of Pigs invasion, the U.S. CIA and a group of Cuban exiles attempted to overthrow the communist government of the leader of Cuba, Fidal Castro. The U.S. government was worried about the communist idea being close to the borders, so under the president at that time, Dwight D. Eisenhower, they worked on a plan to invade the country to overthrow the Cuban leader. They had planned to disguise themselves behind the Cuban rebels (about 1,500 of them) who were anti-Castro. John F. Kennedy, who became president in January 1961, continues with Eisenhower’s plan. However, when they got to the Bay of Pigs, Castro’s military quickly came together to form a strong resistance toward the invaders, killing 100 invaders and capturing more than 1,000 of them, being totally defeated by the Cuban military in under 3 days. After this event, Fidal Castro describes why the invasion failed, stating “The invaders were defeated because they underestimated the people of Cuba and overestimated their own strength.”

Joe McCarthy Makes First Accusations

2025-03-04 19:03:39 UTC

On February 9, 1950 McCarthyism started. In April, 1952 McCarty accused the U.S. and so THE WAR BEGAN. After three largely unsuccessful years in the Senate, McCarthy finally rose suddenly to national fame. In February 1950 when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were apparently employed in the State Department. THE STONE DAYS WERE AHEAD. The McCarthyism claimed that the CPUSA was so completely under Moscow's control that any American communist was a puppet of the Soviet intelligence services. McCarthy Says. "Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of And, ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down they are truly down. While the official outcome of the hearings was all in this vulnerability of McCarthy to the American public, sadly it resulted in a decrease with his popularity. So in less than a year, McCarthy was censured by the Senate, and his position as an important force in anti-communism and finally ended.

China enters the Korean War

2025-03-04 20:33:05 UTC

In late October 25, 1950, the People's republic of china (PRC) launched their first offensive. China’s intervention was based on a misperception of American commitment to stop communist expansion. There were three main reasons that drove China to engage in the Korean war, for security concerns, the need to consolidate CCP's regime and domestic control, and the ideologies possessed by the individual leaders. According to the LSU scholarly repository, “American actions seemed to communicate the desire to avoid confrontation. The withdrawal of U.S. troops and the limited equipment and training of the South Korean army implied Washington's lack of interest in the fate of Korea. Therefore, Mao endorsed North Korea's proposal for the military reunification of Korea. China stood to gain international prestige and access to Soviet equipment and training at little cost.”

Paris Peace Accords Signed

2025-03-14 19:19:28 UTC

The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973. It was a set of agreements written in hopes to bring peace to Vietnam. It took several years of negotiating between the United states, North Vietnam, south Vietnam, and Viat Cong. The agreement called for the US to withdraw all their forces in a 60 day period. The US wanted their military personnel returned from communist imprisonment, which was their negotiation. The ceasefire collapsed in 1975. 3 days after his inauguration, President Nixon proudly stated, "we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia."