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Soviet Union tests thier first Atomic Bomb
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Truman Doctrine
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Marshall Plan
On June 4, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech in which he announced that the United States was willing to offer economic assistance to the war-torn nations of Europe to help in their recovery.Molotov immediately made clear the Soviet objections to the Marshall Plan. First, it would include economic assistance to Germany, and the Russians could not tolerate such aid to the enemy that had so recently devastated the Soviet Union. Second, Molotov was adamant in demanding that -
BERLIN AIRLIFT ENDS BLOCKADE OF WEST BERLIN
The west decided to create a separate government in their zones. To prevent this, the Soviets increasingly harassed the western traffic to and from Berlin. It intensified into the Berlin Blockade on June 24, 1948. To counter the blockade, the western powers organized and airlifted a total of 2,326,406 tons of food, coal, passengers, and other items into the city in a total of 278,228 flights. The mission nicknamed “Operation Vittles” by the United States and “Plain Fare” by the British, was a s -
Comecon Founded
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Creation of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany (popularly known as West Germany) is formally established as a separate and independent nation. This action marked the effective end to any discussion of reuniting East and West Germany. -
Communists defeat Nationalists in China
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KOREAN WAR BEGINS
Korean War began when 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People's army poured across the 38th parallel,This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s side -
Stalin's Death
Josef Stalin the leader of the U.S.S.R. communist party died -
KOREAN WAR ENDS
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Soviets launch Sputnik I
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S. -
Berlin Wall erected
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete "Antifascistischer Schutzwall," or "antifascist bulwark," between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western "fascists" from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. -
President Johnson sends more troops to Vietnam
News has arrived from Saigon, from General Westmoreland. He wants 41,000 combat troops in Vietnam and 52,000 more later. And he will need "even greater forces" later to "take the war to the enemy." "We're in a hell of a mess." -
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Nixon decides to withdraw troops from Vietnam
President Richard Nixon announces the second round of U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam. This was part of the dual program that he had announced at the Midway conference on June 8 that called for "Vietnamization" of the war and U.S. troop withdrawals, as the South Vietnamese forces assumed more responsibility for the fighting. The first round of withdrawals was completed in August and totaled 25,000 troops (including two brigades of the 9th Infantry Division). And more to come -
Soviets invade Afghanistan
In Christmas 1979, Russian paratroopers landed in Kabal, the capital of Afghanistan. The country was already in the grip of a civil war. The prime minister, Hazifullah Amin, tried to sweep aside Muslim tradition within the nation and he wanted a more western slant to Afghanistan. -
Berlin wall torn down
The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.
