1945-1992 History Timeline By amanda_ Apr 30, 1945 Adolf Hitler commits suicide in German bunker Period: Apr 30, 1945 to Dec 26, 1991 1945-1992 Aug 6, 1945 Germany surrenders to Allies Aug 6, 1945 The USA drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima Aug 8, 1945 USSR enters the war against Japan Aug 14, 1945 Japan surrenders, ending World War 2 Mar 5, 1946 Winston Churchill delivers 'Iron Curtain' speech Mar 12, 1947 Truman Doctrine speech made Jun 5, 1947 Marshall plan announced Jun 24, 1948 The Berlin blockage begins May 12, 1949 The Berlin blockade ends Aug 29, 1949 USSR explodes its first atomic bomb Jun 25, 1950 Korean War begins Mar 5, 1953 Death of Joseph Stalin Jul 27, 1953 Korean war ends May 14, 1955 Warsaw pact is created Oct 4, 1957 USSR launches Sputnik into Earth orbit, initiating the space race. Nov 20, 1958 Khrushchev demands U.S leave Berlin Nov 8, 1960 John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States Apr 12, 1961 USSR astronaut Gagarin is the first to orbit Earth Aug 13, 1961 Berlin boarder closed Aug 17, 1961 Construction of the Berlin wall begins Oct 1, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Nuclear war is narrowly avoided Nov 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy assassinated Aug 2, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident - start of the Vietnam War Oct 16, 1964 China detonates its first atomic bomb Nov 5, 1968 Richard Nixon is elected as President Jul 20, 1969 USA lands first man on the moon - wins space race Jun 17, 1972 Break in at the Watergate office complex, which resulted in the watergate scandal. Jan 1, 1973 End of the U.S military draft Oct 6, 1973 Eygpt and Syria attack Israel - Eygpt requests Soviet aid Aug 9, 1974 Richard Nixon resigns the only president in U.S history to do so Nov 20, 1980 Ronald Regan elected President Jan 1, 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev ascends to power in USSR Aug 20, 1986 Gorbachev ends economic aid to Soviet satellities Oct 11, 1986 Regan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe Dec 8, 1987 Regan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range missiles from Europe by signing a treaty Jun 1, 1989 Hungary becomes indepedent Jun 4, 1989 China puts down protests for a democracy Jun 7, 1989 Poland becomes independant Nov 9, 1989 The Berlin wall falls Nov 28, 1989 Communist governments in Czechoslovakis, Bulgaria and Romania fall May 29, 1990 Boris Yeltskin elected to presidency of Russia Oct 3, 1990 East Germany and West Germany united Jul 1, 1991 Warsaw pact ends Dec 25, 1991 USSR dissolves, ending the Cold War