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1 st Event
Yalta Conference
World War II ends in Europe.
U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
Potsdam Conference - Truman - Stalin and British divide up Europe -
2 Event
First East European Communist government set up in Albania. -
3 Event
Communists seize power in Poland.
Truman Doctrine announced. -
4 Event
Berlin Airlift begins (ends May 19, 1949) -
5 event
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established.
Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.
Communists win Chinese Civil War. -
6 event
U.S. and other U.N. members fight North Korean forces. (the Korean War ends July 27, 1953) -
7 event
U.S. sponsored coup overthrows Iranian government. -
8 event
U.S. sponsored coup overthrows Guatemalan government.
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed. -
9 event
Warsaw Pact formed. First Summit Meeting between President Dwight Eisenhower and Premier Nikita Khrushchev. -
10 event
Red Army crushes the Hungarian Revolution. -
11 event
Soviets launch first man‑made satellite. -
12 event
Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba, installs Communist government. -
13 event
Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. East Germany builds Berlin Wall. -
14 event
Sino‑Soviet Conflict begins.
Cuban Missile Crisis. -
15 event
China explodes its first atomic bomb. -
16 event
U.S. sends troops to the Dominican Republic.
U.S. commits combat troops to South Vietnam. -
16 event
Soviet Red Army crushes Czech Uprising. -
17 event
President Richard Nixon visits China. -
18 event
U.S. supported coup overthrows Chilean government. -
19 event
South Vietnam falls to Communist forces. -
20 event
Soviet and Cuban forces help install Communist government in Angola. -
21 event
U.S. and China establish diplomatic relations.
Soviet Red Army invades Afghanistan -
22 event
Polish shipyard workers strike, Solidarity Union formed. -
23 event
U.S. invades Grenada. -
24 event
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union, the following year he declares glasnost and perestroika. -
25 event
Led by university students, over one million Chinese in Tiananmen Square demand reforms by
the Chinese Communist government.
Solidarity forms the first post-war non-Communist government in Poland
Hungary declares a non-Communist government.
East Germany allows unrestricted migration to West Germany.
Berlin Wall is demolished. -
26 event
George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev agree to the reunification of Germany in 1994 -
27 event
Hard-line Communists stage unsuccessful coup against Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Soviet Union is abolished. Boris Yeltsin becomes President of Russia.
