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Yalta Conference meeting of FDR, Churchill, Stalin - the 'Big Three'
Soviet Union has control of Eastern Europe. The Cold War Begins -
VE Day - Victory in Europe. Germany surrenders to the Red Army in Berlin
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Potsdam Conference - Germany was officially partitioned into four zones of occupation.
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The United States drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima (20 kiloton bomb 'Little Boy' kills 80,000)
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The United States drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki (22 kiloton 'Fat Man' kills 70,000)
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Russia declares war on Japan
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The Soviet Union having declared war on Japan by invading Manchuria, Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945, ending the war in Asia and cementing the total victory of the Allies.
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Emperor surrender broadcast - VJ Day
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Japanese surrender End of World War II
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Stalin hostile speech - communism & capitalism were incompatible
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Truman demands Russia leave Iran
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Operation Crossroads with Test Able was the first public demonstration of America's atomic arsenal
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Truman declares active role in Greek Civil War
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Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia
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Truman's Loyalty Program created to catch Cold War spies
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Berlin Blockade begins lasting 11 months
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NATO ratified including 12c nations
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Berlin Blockade ends
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Russia tested its first atomic bomb
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Truman approved H-bomb development
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Korean War begins. Stalin supports North Korea who invade South Korea equipped with Soviet weapons
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Truman fires MacArthur
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Korean War ends by an agreement of the victorious allies
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USSR sent military aid to Afghanistan
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Suez Crisis began with Israeli attack led by Moshe Dayan against Egyptian forces in the Sinai. Egypt took control of Suez Canal
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Sputnik launched into orbit
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Sputnik II launched - Laika died in space
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Explorer I launched, the first satellite of the United States
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Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro by force
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Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory
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John F. Kennedy elected President of USA
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Bay of Pigs invasion see Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline. Kennedy authorized a clandestine invasion of Cuba by a brigade of Cuban exiles .
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Berlin border is closed and the building of the Berlin wall begins August 17th
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South Vietnam signed a military and economic aid ... but U.S. military aid to South Vietnam increased
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Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified after more than 8 years of tough negotiation
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President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas as he rode through a motorcade in Dealey Plaza
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Announcement of dispatching of 200,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam
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President Johnson does not run for the presidency and Richard Nixon Elected President of the USA
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Apollo 11 lands on the moon carryin the first humans including Neil Armstrong.
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President Nixon resigns because he was facing impeachement
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President Reagan proposes Strategic Defence Initiative also known as the Star Wars Initiative. The ambitious initiative was widely criticized as being unrealistic, even unscientific, as well as for threatening to destabilize MAD and re-ignite "an offensive arms race"
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Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union initiating a campaign of openness called "glasnost" and restructuring called "perestroika"
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Reagan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear missiles. Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter- Range Missiles. ... Until the late 1970s NATO had clear superiority over USSR in INF systems
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Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan after a bloody year of combat
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This led to gradual economic decline, eventually necessitating the need for reform.
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End of Soviet Union and the Cold War Ends
