Timeline of the Cold War by WILLIAM CONGER

Berlin Airlift (1948 - 1949)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:18:49 UTC

Stalin stopped all road, railway, and canal links with Western Berlin to try and stop the revival of Germany under the leadership of the USA. America saw this as a sign of war and proceeded to secretly airlift supplies into Western Berlin for 11 months. They dropped about 2 million tons of supplies. This forced Stalin to concede and lift the blockade in May of 1949.

Method of Containment: Economic Aid

Korean War (1949 - 1953)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:19:10 UTC

Mao Zedong successfully led the Communist Revolution in China and quickly became dictator. They allied with the Soviet Union and agreed to give each other economic aid. The USA had been allied with China, so they were alarmed when they saw the alliance. North Korea and the Soviet Union went to war with South Korea and the USA in 1950. After the Axis powers started their invasion of South Korea, the USA immediately sent over tons of troops. After the Initial battle the war ended in a stalemate in July of 1953.

Method of Containment:

Military Aid

U.S. Detonates It's First Hydrogen Bomb (1952)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:19:51 UTC

With the development of the American H-Bomb, it put the arms race to a new level. This bomb was 450 times more powerful than the bomb dropped in Nagasaki. The bomb went under the name "Operation Ivy" and yielded 10.4 Megatons.

Method of Containment:

Building up Defenses

Bay of Pigs (1961)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:20:04 UTC

During the Cuban Revolution against Fidel Castro, JFK supported an invasion of Cuba with anti-Castro supporters. They were backed up by the U.S. FBI and were hopeful that it would lead to a popular uprising against Castro. However, it failed miserably and was a huge political embarrassment. They were forced to pay $53 million in compensation to Cuba.

Method of Containment: Clandestine Operations

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:20:25 UTC

The relationship got so tense with Cuba and the U.S. that Cuba looked towards the Soviet Union for help. The soviets helped by supplying Cuba with nuclear warheads and missiles. The U.S. was very alarmed due to the fact that 90% of the U.S. was in range of those missiles. After 6 days of hard consideration on what to do on the situation, JFK decided to set up a blockade and heavy offensive weapons aiming at Cuba and the USSR in case of an attack. They had 54 bombers with 4 nuclear warheads each aiming at Cuba and 150 missiles aiming at the USSR. Khrushchev sent multiple notes negotiating that if the U.S. did not invade Cuba the USSR would lay off their weapons. JFK agreed and they stopped all actions against each other.

Method of Containment: Negotiations

U.S. Sends Troops to Vietnam (1963 - 1975)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:20:45 UTC

The U.S. had provided funding for the democratic South of Vietnam. They did not send any supplies to the north due to the fact that they were communists. Tensions crew between the North and the South until President JFK decided to expand military aid programs in the South. He was assassinated in 1963 and President Lyndon B. Johnson continued the plan JFK had started. He did this out of fear of the communists party growing in Southeastern Asia. In 1965 Johnson waged war on North Vietnam. By 1966 more than 400,000 troops were deployed to Vietnam. To this day our intervention in the Vietnam war is very controversial.

Method of Containment:

Boycotts and Economic Sanctions

Pinochet's Coup in Chile (1970 - 1973)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:21:03 UTC

The people of Chile elected a Socialist by the name of Salvador Allende as president. Although he was elected by the people fairly, Nixon believed it represented a communist threat because the USSR supported the Socialist Party. In response Nixon and Henry Kissinger authorized a "destabilization" strategy. This involved the CIA encouraging the Chilean military to organize a violent overthrow of the government. By 1973 Allende was assassinated and replaced by a brutally repressive but pro-U.S. dictatorship under the rule of General Augusto Pinochet.

Method of Containment:

Proxy Wars

Nixon's Detente Policy/SALT 1 (1969 - 1972)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:21:52 UTC

When Nixon was elected into office in 1969, him and the secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, pursued a foreign policy designed to promote global balance of power. The name of this policy was Detente which was "a relaxation of tensions" in French. With this policy Nixon ended three decades of hostility by making a trip to communists china in 1972. In a friendly visits Mao Zedong and Nixon both agreed the Soviet Union should be permitted to expand into Asia. As another part of the policy, Nixon expanded trade relations with the Soviets. He hoped this would result in a check of the Soviets expansion. In 1972 Nixon initiated the SALT program which resulted in a treaty between the Soviets and the U.S., which stated that both sides were limited to how many defensive nukes and missiles they were aloud to have and a 5 year freeze on the number of offensive missiles each side could maintain.

Method of Containment: Negotiations

Soviets Invasion of Afghanistan (1979 - 1982)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:22:18 UTC

Moscow vied Afghanistan as an important buffer zone. They sent Soviet troops over to try and take control and over through the Islamic Mujahedeen. By 1982 the Mujahedeen had controlled 75% of Afghanistan and the weaknesses of the Russian Army were really starting to show. The Soviets had to fall back and stop all operations after 10 days due to the harsh conditions and mountainous terrain. After this event, America stopped all grain trade with Russia and ended the SALT talks. Later the Russians boycotted the Olympics due to it taking place in Moscow.

Method of Containment:

Proxy Wars

Reagan's Defense Buildup (1983)

3451171 — 2025-05-07 13:22:39 UTC

When Reagan was elected into office he started a U.S. "Strategic Defense Initiative" or "Star Wars". This was a program that involved a space based defense system. This device was supposed to be able to protect the U.S. from nuclear attacks by intercepting them before they hit. Unfortunately, it was never actually made.

Method of Containment:

Building up Defenses