Cold War Timeline by NAM NGUYEN

1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:11:23 UTC

As tensions between the Soviets and the west grew, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created. This was a military alliance between the US and several West European countries to deal with the growing Soviets. Just 6 years later, the Soviets create their own alliance.

1955 Warsaw Pact

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:15:31 UTC

To respond to the creation of NATO by the US and Western Europe, the Soviets created their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact. This created an alliance between the Soviets and its satellite communist countries in the East. One of the main purpose is to prevent Western influence in Communist Eastern Europe.

1950-1953 Korean War (East Asia)

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:16:53 UTC

As Communism spread into the world, one country it made it to was Korea. North Korea became communist, while South Korea followed democracy and capitalism. They got into a war after North Korea invaded South Korea, having both China and the US get involved into the war. The result of the war was a stand off with Korea still divided to this day.

1979-1989 Afghan - Soviet War (Middle-East)

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:24:30 UTC

The Soviets were happy learning that a new Marxist party has been growing in Afghanistan, which is a country in the Soviet's southern border. However, radical land reforms and ideas of liberating Afghan woman opposed the beliefs of many Muslims living in the country, leading them to oppose the party. Due to this, the Soviets went to war with Afghanistan for a whole decade. The Afghan guerrillas received US aid. The result was a major Soviet loss loss.

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis (The Americas)

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:30:39 UTC

Cuba, one of America's neighbor, became a communist country under the leadership of Fidel Castro. This angered Americans, and then Nikita Khrushchev, the current Soviet leader at the time, secretly sent and deployed Soviet missiles to Cuba to prevent the US from invading Cuba. The US later found out about this and they ended up negotiating to prevent nuclear warfare. The Soviets agreed to remove its missiles in exchange for the US not to invade Cuba.

1955-1972 Egypt Aswan Dam Shift (Africa)

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:42:52 UTC

The US in the mid-1950s refused to help Egypt construct the Aswan Dam. As a result, the Egyptians built a closer relationship with the Soviets. However, later in 1972, the Egyptians expelled 21,000 Soviet advisers because of arguments relating to the extent to Soviet military aid and became more aligned with the US again.

1965 Killing of Indonesian Communist Party (Asia)

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:44:36 UTC

Indonesia at the time received a lot of money and aid from the Soviets and Eastern European countries. However, the Indonesians still destroyed the communist party in its country. In the process, about half a million suspected communists were killed.

1960 Soviet Union and China's Bitter Relationship

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:51:21 UTC

Despite both the Soviet Union and China being the major communist powers, they were opposed each other mainly because of territorial disputes, ideological differences, and leadership rivalry. In 1960, the Soviets refused to give China prototypes of atomic bombs and withdrew all Soviet advisers and technicians. In the end though, the Chinese on their own developed a decent nuclear capability.

1960-1975 Vietnam War (East Asia)

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 21:57:20 UTC

Similar to the Koreans, Vietnam experienced a similar circumstance with a war between Communist North Vietnam and Democratic South Vietnam. The Americans, worried that Communism in Vietnam would lead to further spread of Communism in Asia, intervened in the war. They lost to the Northern Vietnamese, who were armed and supported by both China and the Soviets, as well as growing protest back in the states. The Communists take control of Vietnam in 1975.

1953-1959 Cuban Revolution (The Americas)

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 22:05:21 UTC

Communists grew slowly in Cuba, though their first revolt in 1953 under leadership of Fidel Castro failed horribly. He was captured, sent to jail, then exiled. However, he came back to Cuba in 1956 and gained even more supporters who are against the regime at the time and dedicated to economic and social reform. Fidel Castro was able to seize power in Cuba in 1959.

1948 Berlin Blockade

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 22:06:23 UTC

Berlin, the capital city of Germany lay deep within the Soviet occupied zone. In 1948, when the western nations agreed to create currency for their zones, the Soviet Union decided to close off all road and rail access to the western occupied zones in Berlin. This action, known as the Berlin Blockade, created a crisis for the West because it seemed as if they would either have to fight their way into Berlin to supply the people living there or give up their zones of occupation.

1948-1949 Berlin Airlift

5926010135 — 2024-04-07 22:06:52 UTC

The Berlin Blockade of 1948 left 2 million West Berliners without electricity, food, and fuel needed for survival. Unwilling to give up West Berlin to the Soviet Union and unwilling to fight the Soviet Army and risk Staring WWIII, President Truman decided to launch the Berlin Airlift. For 10 minutes, starting in August 1948, the United States sent 2 million tons of supplies to West Berlin on cargo planes. The planes had to land and take off 24 hours a day to keep from having to give up the West's occupation zones in the German Capital. The Soviet Union lifted the Blockade in may 1949.