Timeline by Rachel Ruiz

The Cold War (1947-1991)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-06 21:04:54 UTC

The competition between the United States and the Soviet Union when tension rises between the two, but there was no direct military conflict between them. The main issue was that the United States was anit-communism while the Soviet Union was pro communism. As the soviets wanted to continue to spread communism to have more control of the world the US was determined to stop the soviets.

Yalta Conference (Feb. 4-11, 1945)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-20 20:56:51 UTC

This was a meeting that took place during world war 2. The allies discussed how Germany would be ran after the war was over. They agreed that the Soviet Union would govern Eastern parts of Europe (Germany) and have a broad representative government,. The US governed the southwestern parts of Germany. France, and the UK also had places that they were in control over in Germany. This means that Germany was then split into 4 different zones.

Potsdam Conference (July 17, 1945)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-20 20:57:43 UTC

This was the meeting between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, US president Harry Truman, and British minister Winston Churchill. This is where they discussed the future of Germany after they had surrendered. In this meeting Stalin vocalizes his plan on not allowing free elections and the US and UK not agreeing with the idea of no free election. This is where the conflict between the two lead to the beginning of the Cold War.

Iron Curtain (March 5, 1946)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-20 20:58:12 UTC

The iron curtain was an invisible line/border that was made to separate the communist nations from the capitalist nations (Eastern and Western Europe). The term "iron curtain" was created by Churchill. It symbolized division. The iron curtain was also the cause for many of the events that come after.

Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-20 20:59:31 UTC

Truman Doctrine was a promise made by US president Truman to aid capitalist nations that are struggling against communism. This provided both economic, and military aid. This was considered the key event that started the Cold War.

Policy of Containment (1947)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-20 21:03:21 UTC

The ultimate goal of the policy of containment was to stop the spread of communism and to keep communism contained within its already existing borders. It was put together after the Soviet Union had threatened to continue their expansion of communism. After the US created this they also came up with NATO and the Marshall plan as other methods of trying to contain the spread of communism.

The Marshall Plan (April 3, 1948)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-21 21:43:10 UTC

The Marshall Plan was when the US provided financial/economic aid to nations in western Europe to help them recover from ww2. The US gave $13 billion in grants and loans. They also provided food to help reduce the famine that was increasing, fuel to help generate heat, houses and factories were created to help create more opportunities to earn money to to jump start economic growth again.

Germany Divide (1949)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-21 21:49:53 UTC

After the war Germany was divided by the allies into 2. The soviets controlled Eastern Germany and France, US, GB controlled Western Germany. This left Eastern Germany to be left under the communist rule while Western Germany was non-communist territory. Since Western Germany was under US control they showed more culture, economic growth, and had a social system. Meanwhile Eastern Germany was under Soviet rule and were more limited to their opinions and elections.

Berlin Blockade (June 24, 1948-May 12, 1949)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-21 21:50:30 UTC

This was when the Soviets cut off all access to Western Germany. Berlin was cut into 2 due to the iron curtain. Western Berlin was controlled by the allies and Eastern Berlin was controlled by the Soviet Union. In Western Berlin they were showing their democratic freedom and other greater opportunities they had being controlled by the allies. Due to this the soviets blockaded western Berlin from Eastern Berlin since they didn't like how western Berlin was showing their freedom to Eastern Berlin. This was created to in the intent to pressure western allies into abandon their original plan of unifying west Berlin. This played an important role in the Cold war because it was able to show the allies the true intentions of the soviets and their plans with communism.

Berlin Airlift (June 26, 1948)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-21 21:59:30 UTC

The Berlin Airlift saved West Berliners from food and supply shortages. This happened after the Berlin blockade. The US and UK were the ones to send the supplies by airplanes.This showed the commitment that they had to help save and aid Berlin.

Building of the Berlin Wall (August 13, 1961)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-21 22:00:44 UTC

The Berlin wall was built to essentially stop East Germans who were under the control of communism from going to West Berlin. The wall cut off West Berlin from both East Berlin and East Germany. It entirely surrounded West Berlin. The wall signified the division between the different view points between communism and capitalism. This became an important symbol of the Col War.

The Formation of NATO (April 4, 1949)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 01:35:42 UTC

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The nations involved in this organization were Belgium, Denmark, Canada, France, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, the UK, and the US. This was a military alliance that was formed to counter Soviet expansion. Basically a defense system against the Soviet Union.

Bay of Pigs invasion (April 17, 1961)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 18:53:35 UTC

This was a failed attempt created by the US to overthrow the communist government in Cuba that was being led by Fidel Castro. Castro was seen as a threat by the US after he had successfully overthrown the former ruler of Cuba who was an ally to the US. Since Castro was a supporter of a communist government the US had to stop him from continuing to overthrow other countries. The plan was to invade Cuba with little military and a surprise attack. They also hoped the exiles who had gone to the US and left Cuba would provide support. The invasion was poorly planned out and was a major disaster. After this played out it raised the tension with the soviets since now Cuba and the Soviet Union were now allies.

Cuban Missile Crisis (October 28, 1962)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 19:03:13 UTC

This was a 13 day stand off between the Soviet Union and the US. The soviets had secretly been installing and testing nuclear missiles in Cuba a now communist nation. This was seen as a threat to the US because Cuba was in close proximity to the US so they feared that there was a possibility that they would strike major cities in the US. In response to this the US decided to blockade Cuba off from the Soviet Union, almost leading to a nuclear war. The Soviet Union agreed to stop testing the nuclear missiles only if the US gave them back Cuba, ending the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Korean War (June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 19:10:18 UTC

The Korean War was the conflict between North and South Korea. North Korea was backed up by the soviets, and China, while South Korea was backed up by the US and other UN allies. It was divided by North Korea being pro-communism and South Korea being non-communism. The North slowly began invading the south first which set off alarms to the south. Due to this the UN believed it was right for them to help South Korea. In the late 1950's China joined which caused problems for the UN. China began pushing the UN to the 38th parallel (where the north and south parts of Korea were divided). After some time the war ended in a stalemate leaving no clear winner.

Vietnam War (November 1, 1954-April 30, 1975)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 19:17:17 UTC

The conflict between North Vietnam which had a communist government and South Vietnam which was a non-communist government. North Vietnam's goal was to unify with South Vietnam and make them go under communist rule. They were supported by both the Soviet Union and China. Due to the Truman Doctrine being in place the US became involved since they had promised to aid all countries fighting against communism. The Soviet Union believed that if they lost control of South Vietnam then other Southeast Asia countries would soon follow, which he didn't want to happen. Altogether this made the Cold War even larger by raising the already high tensions between the Soviet Union and the US.

The Antiwar Movement (1964-1973)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 19:24:49 UTC

This was a social movement by the people that opposed a nation's decision to start or continue a war or any further conflict. People would protest and support against military conflict. They wanted to stop getting involved and taking on many wars. This overall showed how the people didn't like participating in war. They even began to practice civil disobedience which was when people would not go to war even is they had been drafted.

Detente (1970's)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 19:30:02 UTC

Detente in the Cold War was when there was eased tension and a period where relations improved between the US and the Soviets. It was the change from harsh conflict to now the two having more cooperative approaches to the point where now they were exploring areas where there may have mutual interests.

Nixon's Trip to China (February 21, 1972)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 19:35:16 UTC

US president Nixon traveled to China which caused a major shift in the US relations with China. This helped strengthen the relationship between the US and China. With the US improving more strained relationships it helped de-escalate the conflicts in the Cold War.

Fall of the Soviet Union (December 25, 1991)

raruiz11300 — 2025-05-22 19:39:38 UTC

The fall of the Soviet Union was caused by many major events and didn't happen over night. In the end the Cold War and the policy of containment put an end to the Soviet Union,a rise to nationalism within its areas and the competition throughout the Cold War and other internal factors also led to the fall of the soviets.