Cold War Timeline by KEVIN CAI

Yalta Conference[Feb 11, 1945]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:30:50 UTC

A lot of important agreements were reached about the end of WW2, but the disagreement between the fate of eastern europe, particularly Poland, foreshadowed the cold war and lead to further mistrust between the U.S. and the USSR

Postdam Conference[July-Aug, 1945]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:32:17 UTC

The Potsdam conference discussed many things, but the most concerning was the fate of Germany. Stalin wanted to have a unified but very very weak Germany, and the Allies(the U.S. and U.K.) became suspicious of the Soviet intention with many of the USSR's army still occupying Eastern Europe.

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki[Aug, 1945]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:33:23 UTC

Ended WW2 globally, but with this, the U.S. had showed their hand- the soviets now knew of the great power that America has, and this began the arms race.

Iron Curtain Speech[Mar 5, 1946]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:34:49 UTC

This was Churchill acknowledging the Cold War- The very obvious anti-soviet and anti-communism tone in this speech is what established the Cold War between the West (the Allies) and the East (eastern Europe and USSR)

Truman Doctrine Speech[1947]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:35:29 UTC

This created a basis for the U.S. to wage wars and proxy wars against the Soviet union, and led to many indochina wars such as the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

Marshall Plan Signed[Apr 3, 1948]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:36:04 UTC

The marshall plan quickly aided Western europe in it's recovery, and created the Economic battle between Capitalism and democracy and Communism and dictatorship.

Berlin Blockade/Airlift [June 1948-May 1949]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:38:28 UTC

Showed the failures of Communism in Eastern Germany- and created a legitimate fear of war with the Soviets. Instead of slowing down the allies, it actually accelerated the creation of a independent west Germany to be a buffer to the East.

NATO is formed[1949]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:39:42 UTC

NATO was created as an international Alliance, with the U.S. as it's center. The alliance created a president that if the Soviet Union attacked one country, the others would come to it's aid. Meaning that it would be very easy to go into a global war, WITH nuclear weapons as both the U.S and USSR had warheads at that point.

McCarthyism/Red Scare Begins[1950]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:40:48 UTC

The second Red Scare brought the cold war and the fear of communism into the mainstream. It led to a policy of containment, intervening in countries simply out of fear of them becoming communist.

Korean War Begins[1950]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:41:35 UTC

The first indochina war, and the first war that demonstrated the power the aid of a superpower could give. Both the U.S. and soviets sent weapons and supplies, and eventually troops. China also looked to become involved. All of the interference, because of the truman doctrine and other policies, made the war more deadly then it would have been

Rosenberg Trial[Mar 6, 1951]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:42:20 UTC

This was the peak of the red scare, because 2 seemingly ordinary citizens were convicted of a crime so severe as treason. This made the american public much more fearful of communism

Korean War Ends[1953]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:43:20 UTC

McCarthyism/Red Scare Ends[1954]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:44:12 UTC

Creation of Warsaw Pact[May 1955]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:45:24 UTC

Created in response to NATO, as it strengthened the alliances of the soviet union to eastern europe, referred to as the eastern block. This lead to an arms race of not just 2 countries, but 2 alliance systems that could potentially set off another global war.

Vietnam War Begins[1955]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:46:35 UTC

The longest active military engagement of the Cold War, the U.S. using it's containment policy, waged war in Vietnam. as the war went on, U.S. morale lowered and the commitment to the war was super unpopular. Eventually it became too much of a drain on the american economy and people and the forces had to withdraw

Sputnik Launched[Oct 4, 1957]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:48:17 UTC

PANIC. the USSR and U.S. had been in a space race behind the scene for a while now, but with this it was very clear that the Soviets were winning. The american public became very worried that the U.S. might not have the clear victory over the USSR as it had thought. This sparked a flood of investment and resources into NASA, and led to the Apollo missons.

U-2 Incident[May 1, 1960]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:49:43 UTC

The U-2 Spy plane that was shot over Soviet territory was bad news. both sides knew they were being spied on, but this was one of the times that america was very actively caught. This resulted in the highest tensions ever in the Cold War, and the canceling of any possibility of a peace or disarmament treaty.

Bay of Pigs invasion[Apr 1961]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:51:05 UTC

The failed invasion of Cuba was another lose for the US on top of mounting casualties in Vietnam. The invasion, meant to overthrow the communist gov there, failed and actually led to cuba having closer relations to the USSR. This was bad news because while the more powerful missiles in russia couldn't reach the mainland U.S, if they sent their missiles to Cuba, then it could easily the majority of America. The failure of the Bay of Pigs would soon set the scene for the cuban missile crisis.

Construction of Berlin Wall Begins[Aug 1961]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:52:15 UTC

The Berlin wall being constructed blocked travel from the communist East to the Capitalist West in Berlin, and separated all communication and trade between the sides. However, the most important impact was the failure of communism that was shown, and it would later become an iconic symbol of the Cold War.

Cuban Missile Crisis[Oct 1962]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:53:23 UTC

The Cuban Missile crisis was the closest that the world had ever come to nuclear war. However, with some very fast communication and negotiation, The nukes were removed from Cuba, and america removed there nukes from greece. This showed that neither side were wanting Nuclear war, and layed the ideas of the nuclear test ban treaty.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Ratified[Oct 7, 1963]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:55:13 UTC

One of the first steps to regulated Nukes on both sides, it was built on the president that neither sides wanted war. This changed the attitude of the war from a military basis to more of an arms race PLUS the economy and space race.

Apollo 11 Lands on Moon[July 20, 1969]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:56:01 UTC

The Final goal of the space race-landing on the moon- had been reached, and it was america that was there first. This raised public opinion very high, and showed that while both America and the soviet union had nukes, the U.S. was ahead in its economy and it's tech.

President Nixon Visits China[Feb 1972]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:57:29 UTC

This was the first thawing of China and the U.S's communication, and throwing a rift in Chinas and USSR's (technical?) alliance. this would be one of the important events that lead to the fall of the Soviet Union.

SALT Signed[May 26, 1972]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 00:59:02 UTC

SALT 1 limited the amount of Nuclear warheads that both sides had, and the amount of testing that could be conducted. This was a huge step towards peace, and both of them self imposing limits gave the rest of the world hope that nuclear war wouldn't be a threat forever.

South Vietnam falls/End of Vietnam[Apr 30, 1975]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 01:00:21 UTC

In 1975, The U.S. finally surrendered Vietnam, and the whole peninsula fell under a communist regime. This was a huge loss on the U.S.'s part, as it had sunk so many men and money to what ultimately was nothing. after Vietnam, The U.S. never sent soldiers to die in a foreign war, and the seemingly invincible America had lost a war. After Vietnam, both America and the soviet union realized the Cold War was bleeding their coffers dry.

Berlin Wall Falls[Nov 9, 1989]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 01:02:14 UTC

The fall of the Wall was the end of the war for many. With Gorbachev in charge, he realized that the Soviet people didn't want to be communist, and he eventually relented to dissolve the soviet union.

USSR Falls[Dec 26, 1991]

kcai26 — 2024-04-10 01:03:00 UTC

With a mini Coup, the Soviet Union collapsed. What followed was the complete reorganization of the eastern block, who until now couldn't hold elections. Russia Emerged as a key player in World politics in the late 1990s, and the U.S. was cemented as the dominate superpower on the world stage.