Cold War By davidmasch Feb 4, 1945 Yalta Conference Aug 6, 1945 United States first used atomic bomb in war Dropped bomb on Japan Aug 14, 1945 Japanese surrender Mar 5, 1946 Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech Jun 1, 1947 Marshall Plan is announced Jun 24, 1948 Berlin Blockade begins Jul 1, 1949 NATO ratified Sep 1, 1949 USSR explodes first atomic bomb Sep 21, 1949 Communist Mao Zedong takes control of China Feb 1, 1950 Joseph McCarthy begins Communist witch-hunt Jun 25, 1950 Korean War begins Jun 19, 1953 Rosenberg executions Jul 1, 1953 Korean War ends Jul 1, 1954 Vietnam split at the 17th parallel May 1, 1955 Warsaw Pact formed Oct 4, 1957 Sputnik launched Jan 1, 1959 Cuba taken over by Communist Fidel Castro May 1, 1960 U-2 spy plane shot down over USSR Nov 1, 1960 John F. Kennedy elected for President Apr 1, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion Aug 1, 1961 Construction of the Berlin Wall begins Oct 1, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Apr 1, 1975 Saigon, South Vietnam falls to Comminism Nov 1, 1989 Berlin Wall falls Dec 1, 1989 Soviet Empire falls Oct 1, 1990 Germany reunited Aug 1, 1991 U.S. and Russia sign formal end to the Cold War
