Cold War By Nick_Testa Feb 1, 1945 Yalta Conference Period: Feb 1, 1945 to Dec 1, 1992 Cold War Aug 6, 1945 US uses atomic bomb in war Aug 16, 1945 V-J Day Mar 1, 1946 Churchill gives "Iron Curtain" speech Jun 1, 1947 Marshall plan is announced Jun 24, 1948 Berlin Blockade begins Jul 1, 1949 NATO ratified Sep 1, 1949 Communist Mao Zedong takes control of China Sep 2, 1949 USSR explodes first atomic bomb Feb 1, 1950 McCarthy begins Communist witch-hunt Jun 1, 1950 Korean War Begins Jun 19, 1953 Rosenberg Executions Jul 1, 1953 Korean War Ends Jul 1, 1954 Vietnam splits at 17th Parallel May 1, 1955 Warsaw Pact formed Jan 1, 1957 Cuba goes Communist: Fidel Castro Oct 4, 1957 Sputnik Launched May 1, 1960 U-2 Spy plane shot down Nov 1, 1960 JFK elected Apr 1, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion Aug 1, 1961 Construction of Berlin wall begins Oct 1, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Apr 1, 1975 South Vietnam Falls to Comm. Nov 1, 1989 Berlin Wall Falls Nov 1, 1989 Soviet Empire falls Oct 1, 1990 Germany Reunited Aug 1, 1992 US and Russia sign formal end to Cold War