Cold War Timeline by NOAH TAYLOR

Marshall Plan

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 04:27:00 UTC

On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948. It became known as the Marshall Plan. Its goal was to provide economic assistance to help restore post-war Europe. It affected the Cold War by speeding up recovery and was instrumental in stemming the communist tide in Western Europe.

Truman Doctorine

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 04:30:48 UTC

On March 12, 1947, President Truman gave the Truman Doctrine speech, which stated that the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to stop the spread of communism at all costs. This eventually led to U.S. involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Winston Churchill's Iron Cutrain Speech.

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 04:34:47 UTC

On March 5, 1946. Winston Churchill gave his famous iron curtain speech. Which called for the Western democracies to unite against communism. It was also used as a metophor or the extreme political and ideological division that separated Western Europe from the Soviet Union.

SALT 1

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 04:42:19 UTC

The first series of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, extended from November 1969 to May 1972. The US and the USSR agreed to a limited number of ballistic missiles, as well as a limited number of missile deployment sites. Additionally, the two countries agreed to a principle of non-interference and respect for national sovereignty. This led to an arms race between the U.S and USSR.

South Vietnam falls to the North

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 04:51:41 UTC

On April 30, 1975, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army, effectively ending the Vietnam War. This led to economic struggles in the U.S also led to doubt of the government in the U.S public.

Falling of the Berlin Wall

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 04:57:00 UTC

The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain. The wall broke the barrier of the Communist East and the Democratic West. This was basically the soviets saying their political system did not work.

Berlin Blockade and Airlift

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:00:28 UTC

The Berlin Blockade started on June 24, 1948, and was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The U.S. bypassed this by flying over the blockade and dropping supplies into Berlin. This led to a rise in tension between the U.S. and USSR.

NATO Alliacne Formed.

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:05:30 UTC

On April 4, 1949 the NATO Alliance was created to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. These alliances defined and intensified the divisions between democratic and communist nations.

Creation of the Warsaw Pact

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:07:55 UTC

On May 14, 1955. The Warsaw Pact was established as a balance of power or counterweight to NATO and the Western Bloc.

Korean War

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:12:55 UTC

On June 25, 1950. Communist Northern Korea invaded South Korea. Due to the Truman Doctorine the U.S. sent troops and military aid to help South Korea and to stop the spread of Communism. After three years of fighting, the war ended in a stalemate with the border between North and South Korea near where it had been at the war's beginning. This led to many Americans thinking that the war was not worth fighting and that stopping the spread of Communism was not important.

Yalta Conference

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:18:23 UTC

The Yalta Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. In the end the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France agreed to split Germany into four zones of occupation after the war. This led to tensions between capitalist U.S and Communist USSR.

Potsdam Conference

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:21:00 UTC

The Potsdam Conference was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan postwar peace while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Potsdam Agreements resulted in the military occupation and reconstruction of Germany and the entire European Theater of War territory. It also included divisions of Germany through reparations of each allied side's occupation zones and divisions of European countries between the US and the USSR.

Bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:24:40 UTC

On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was ultimately the end of WWII in the Pacific. This was the first use of atomic weaponry which shaped the arms race between the U.S and the USSR.

Rosenburg Trial

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:33:15 UTC

Durring the second red scare, Mccarthyism was at a high. Many Americans were being arrested for being Communist. The trial of the Rodenburg was the height of this. They had been accused of passing atomic secrets to the USSR. The trial began on March 6, 1951, and ended on March 29. This feared Americans making them think that anyone could be a Communist spy.

McCarthyism/Second red scare (1947–1957)

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:36:17 UTC

McCarthyism, also known as the Second Red Scare, was the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s. This led to the fear of communism in the U.S.

Sputnik launched into Orbit

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:43:00 UTC

October 4, 1957, the Soviet Sputnik launched into orbit. The success of Sputnik gave the U.S the Fear that they had fallen behind. This led U.S. policymakers to accelerate space and weapons programs.

U-2 Incident

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:45:15 UTC

On May 1, 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. This led to tensions building between the U.S and the Soviet Union.

Bay of Pigs Invasion (April 17, 1961 – April 20, 1961)

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:47:49 UTC

The president authorized the CIA to send a force consisting of 1,000 Cuban exiles to invade Cuba, instigate an insurrection and overthrow the leader Fidel Castro's Communist regime. The Cuban army, however, easily defeated the rebels, most of which were killed or captured within two days. The failed invasion strengthened the position of Castro's administration, which proceeded to openly proclaim its intention to adopt socialism and pursue closer ties with the Soviet Union.

Cuban Missile Crisis

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 05:54:08 UTC

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis, was a 13-day confrontation lasting from October 16, 1962 to October 29, 1962 between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The Cuban missile crisis showed that neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were ready to use nuclear weapons for fear of the other's retaliation.

Vietnam War

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 06:04:08 UTC

From 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975, the U.S fought the Viet Kong. It was the first televised war and was not supported by the U.S public. The U.S. was fighting to stop the spread of Communism. After the war, the U.S public thought the war was not worth fighting.

Apollo 11 Moon Landing

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 06:05:54 UTC

From Jul 16, 1969 – Jul 24, 1969 the Apollo 11 launched and landed on the moon. It was a major victory for the United States in the Space Race, and it demonstrated the superiority of American technology and engineering. This was a major blow to the Soviet Union, which had been leading the Space Race up until that point.

President Nixon Visits China

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 06:08:19 UTC

Nixon's 1972 visit to China ushered in a new era of U.S.-China relations and effectively removed China as a Cold War foe. The Nixon administration signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union and organized a conference that led to the signing of the Helsinki Accords after Nixon left office. This was a driving an ideological wedge between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, resulting in significant Soviet concessions and its eventual fall.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 06:09:58 UTC

Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, a treaty signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963, by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom banned all tests of nuclear weapons except those conducted underground. This treaty did not have much practical effect on the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons, but it established an important precedent for future arms control.

USSR Collapse

ntaylor26_ — 2024-04-11 06:11:40 UTC

On December 25, 1991, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was dissolved on 26 December 1991 by Declaration № 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, formally establishing the dissolution of the Soviet Union as a sovereign state and subject of international law. Officially ending the cold war.