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Germany surrenders in May; Japan surrenders in September after atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
U.S. commits to containing communism, marking the official start of the Cold War. -
Soviet Union blocks access to West Berlin; U.S. and allies respond with an airlift to supply the city. -
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union successfully tests its first nuclear weapon. -
North Korea invades South Korea; the U.S. and UN intervene to stop communist expansion. War ends in stalemate with Korea remaining divided. -
Joseph Stalin dies; Nikita Khrushchev eventually takes power, leading to a shift in Soviet policies. -
Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc nations form a military alliance in response to NATO. -
Anti-Soviet revolution in Hungary is brutally crushed by Soviet forces. -
The Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite, starting the Space Race. -
The East German government builds a wall to stop East Berliners from fleeing to the West. -
The U.S. and Soviet Union come close to nuclear war over Soviet missile installations in Cuba. -
Reform movement in Czechoslovakia is crushed by Soviet military intervention. -
The U.S. wins a major victory in the Space Race as Apollo 11 lands on the Moon. -
The U.S. and USSR agree on arms control measures to limit nuclear weapons. -
Soviet troops enter Afghanistan, leading to a long, costly conflict and U.S.-backed resistance. -
Independent trade union "Solidarity" emerges as a major challenge to communist rule. -
Gorbachev introduces reforms like glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). -
Symbolic end of communist control in Eastern Europe as East Germans dismantle the Berlin Wall. -
East and West Germany officially reunite under democratic rule. -
Gorbachev resigns, and the Soviet Union officially dissolves in December, marking the Cold War’s end.