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Period: to
Cold War 1947-1966
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Harry Truman announces Truman Doctrine and the provision of aid to Greece.
On 12th March, 1947, Harry S. Truman, announced details to Congress of what eventually became known as the Truman Doctrine. In his speech he pledged American support for "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures". -
General George C. Marshall announces the Marshall Plan.
George C. Marshall, Truman's Secretary of State, announced details of what became known as the Marshall Plan or the European Recovery Program (ERP). Marshall offered American financial aid for a programme of European economic recovery. -
Rio Pact
U.S. meet 19 Latin American countries and created a security zone around the hemisphere. -
Truman's Loyalty Program created to catch Cold War spies
Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government. -
Brussels Pact organized to protect Europe from communism
Brussels Treaty, (1948) agreement signed by Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, creating a collective defense alliance. It led to the formation of NATO and the Western European Union. -
Berlin Blockade begins lasting 11 months
The Berlin blockage has now lasted up to 11 mouths. -
NATO ratified
On 4 April 1949, the foreign ministers from 12 countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty) at the Departmental Auditorium in Washington, D.C.: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. -
Berlin Blockade ends
On May 12, 1949, an early crisis of the Cold War comes to an end when the Soviet Union lifts its 11-month blockade against West Berlin. The blockade had been broken by a massive U.S.-British airlift of vital supplies to West Berlin's two million citizens. -
Communist Mao Zedong takes control of China and establishes the People's Republic of China
The founding of the People's Republic of China was formally proclaimed by Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), on October 1, 1949, at 3:00 pm in Tiananmen Square in Peking, now Beijing (formerly Beiping), the new capital of China. -
Truman approved H-bomb development
Truman supported the development of the hydrogen bomb because the Soviet Union had exploded a fission bomb earlier in the year. Previously, the US had been the world's only nuclear power. Truman felt that the possession of a hydrogen bomb would restore America's superiority. -
Joe McCarthy begins Communist witch hunt and loyalty tests
Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was a little-known junior senator from Wisconsin until February 1950 when he claimed to possess a list of 205 card-carrying Communists employed in the U.S. Department of State -
Korean War begins. Stalin supports North Korea who invade South Korea equipped with Soviet weapons
The war broke out on June 25, 1950 when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel, invading South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Il-sung launched the attack once he had received a promise of support from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. -
Chinese soldiers capture Seoul.
Chinese troops celebrate the capture of Seoul. Date, December 31, 1950 – January 7, 1951; 1 week. Location. Seoul, South Korea. -
Federal Civil Defense Administration established
The Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) was organized by Democratic president Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) on December 1, 1950, and became an official government agency on January 12, 1951. -
Truman fires MacArthur
On 11 April 1951, U.S. president Harry S. Truman relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of his commands after MacArthur made public statements that contradicted the administration's policies. -
Greece and Turkey join NATO.
On 18 February, Greece was formally welcomed as one of NATO's first new members since the creation of the Alliance in 1949, along with Turkey. -
Japan signs the Treaty of Taipei
On April 28, 1952, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan signed the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty in Taipei, confirming the fact that Taiwan was restored to the ROC more than 50 years after China under the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty had ceded Taiwan to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. -
the United States lays the keel for the world's first nuclear-powered submarine,
USS Nautilus was the first nuclear-powered submarine. Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut—the same company that had sold the U.S. Navy its first submarine in 1900—laid her keel 14 June 1952. -
Nuclear Arms Race atomic test series of 11 explosions at Nevada Test Site
The Nevada Test Site (NTS), 65 miles north of Las Vegas, was one of the most significant nuclear weapons test sites in the United States. -
Korean War ends
This armistice signed on July 27, 1953, formally ended the war in Korea. North and South Korea remain separate and occupy almost the same territory they had when the war began. -
Ike's Atoms for Peace speech
In his Atoms for Peace speech before the United Nations General Assembly on December 8, 1953, President Eisenhower sought to solve this terrible problem by suggesting a means to transform the atom from a scourge into a benefit for mankind. -
KGB established CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran and Guatemala
In 1953 and again in 1954, the CIA successfully deposed of the democratically elected leaders of Iran and Guatemala. The success of these operations led the CIA and other government officials to believe that similar results could be achieved in Cuba. -
H-bomb Castle-Bravo test
Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of Operation Castle -
Vietnam split at 17th parallel
In Vietnam, the accords create two “regroupment” zones separated by a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) roughly along the 17th parallel, and restrict the activities of foreign military personnel in Southeast Asia. French forces must withdraw south of the DMZ and Communist forces north. -
West Germany joins NATO and begins rearmament
West German rearmament (German: Wiederbewaffnung) began in the decades after the World War II. Fears of another rise of German militarism caused the new military to operate within an alliance framework, under NATO command. The events led to the establishment of the Bundeswehr, the West German military, in 1955. -
Warsaw Pact formed
Formally known as the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance, the Warsaw Pact was created on 14 May 1955, immediately after the accession of West Germany to the Alliance. -
official beginning of the Vietnam War.
The Saigon Military Mission, a covert operation to conduct psychological warfare and paramilitary activities in South Vietnam, is launched under the command of U.S. Air Force Col. Edward Lansdale. This marks the beginning of the Vietnam War. -
USSR sent tanks into Poznan, Poland, to suppress demonstrations by workers
About 400 tanks and 10,000 soldiers of the Polish People's Army and the Internal Security Corps under the command of the Polish-Soviet general Stanislav Poplavsky were ordered to suppress the demonstration and during the pacification fired at the protesting civilians. -
Egypt took control of Suez Canal
On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, the joint British-French enterprise which had owned and operated the Suez Canal since its construction in 1869. -
USSR sent military aid to Afghanistan
Afghanistan received more than $1 billion in Soviet aid, including substantial military assistance. From 1956, a major arms agreement with the USSR allowed Afghanistan to modernize their army for the first time since World War II. -
Vostok rocket launched 1st ICBM
a modified R-7 launched the first manned spacecraft, Vostok, which carried cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Refined versions of the R-7 are still in use today. A workhorse of the Soviet space program, the R-7 rocket has launched many missions. -
Sputnik launched into orbit
On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. The satellite, an 85-kilogram (187-pound) metal sphere the size of a basketball, was launched on a huge rocket and orbited Earth at 29,000 kilometers per hour (18,000 miles per hour) for three months. -
Sputnik II launched - Laika died in space
A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into low orbit on 3 November 1957. As the technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, Laika's survival was never expected. She died of overheating hours into the flight, on the craft's fourth orbit. -
Explorer I launched
Explorer 1 was the first satellite launched by the United States in 1958 and was part of the U.S. participation in the International Geophysical Year. The mission followed the first two satellites the previous year; the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2, beginning the Cold War Space Race between the two nations. -
NASA began Mercury project using Atlas rocket
The first Atlas rocket launched with a Mercury capsule exploded. The first Mercury-Redstone launch only went about four inches off the ground. From these flights, NASA learned how to fix the rockets and make them safer. Three other "astronauts" also helped make sure Mercury was safer. -
Khrushchev demands withdrawal of troops from Berlin
On November 10, 1958, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev delivered a speech in which he demanded that the Western powers of the United States, Great Britain and France pull their forces out of West Berlin within six months. -
Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro
The Cuban communist revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro took part in the Cuban Revolution from 1953 to 1959. Following on from his early life, Castro decided to fight for the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's military junta by founding a paramilitary organization, "The Movement". -
Khrushchev visits United States; The Kitchen Debate
In the Kitchen Debate, Khrushchev claimed that Nixon's grandchildren would live under communism and Nixon claimed that Khrushchev's grandchildren would live in freedom. -
Luna 3 is launched to take photographs of the far side of the Moon.
The Luna 3 spacecraft returned the first views ever of the far side of the Moon. The first image was taken at 03:30 UT on Oct. 7, 1959 at a distance of about 39,457 miles (63,500 kilometers) after Luna 3 had passed the Moon and looked back at the sunlit far side. -
Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory
The U-2 incident was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union in 1960 and that caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. -
John F. Kennedy elected President of USA
The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee. -
Cuba openly aligns itself with the Soviet Union and their policies.
After the establishment of diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet markets and military aid and was an ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. -
Bay of Pigs invasion see Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline
The disaster at the Bay of Pigs had a lasting impact on the Kennedy administration. Determined to make up for the failed invasion, the administration initiated Operation Mongoose—a plan to sabotage and destabilize the Cuban government and economy, which included the possibility of assassinating Castro. -
Berlin border is closed
East German premier Walter Ulbricht, after consultation with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, decided to close the border separating East and West Berlin. Ulbricht's chief motivation was to halt the 'brain drain': the growing emigration of educated and skilled workers from East Germany to the West. -
Construction of Berlin Wall begins
The Berlin Wall became the symbol of the Cold War and a tangible manifestation of the world's separation into two distinct ideological blocs. Map from the era, illustrating Berlin's division between the Allied forces. -
U.S. involvement in Vietnam increases
US involvement in Vietnam increased during the 1950s and 1960s, following the communist revolution in China and the rise of Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. -
End of the Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War also known as Indo-China War, Indo-China War of 1962 or Sino-Indian War of 1962, took place between China and India from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino-Indian border dispute. -
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified
On August 5, 1963, the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. -
President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, often referred to by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person to assume the presidency by election and the youngest president at the end of his tenure. -
Kenya becomes independent from the UK.
A coalition government of the two parties was formed in 1962, and after elections in May 1963 Kenyatta became prime minister under a constitution that gave Kenya self-government. Following further discussions in London, Kenya became fully independent on Dec. 12, 1963. -
Gulf of Tonkin incident
The Gulf of Tonkin incident was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. -
A-bombs developed by China
The People's Republic of China has developed and possesses weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons. -
Mariner 4 was launched.
The Mariner 4 mission, the second of two Mars flyby attempts launched in 1964 by NASA, was one of the great early successes of the agency, and indeed the Space Age, returning the very first photos of another planet from deep space. -
Winston Churchill dies.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955 -
U.S. Marines sent to Dominican Republic to fight Communism
Triggered by concerns about possible German use of the Dominican Republic as a base for attacks on the United States during World War I, the U.S. Government began a military occupation and administration of that country -
Announcement of dispatching of 200,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam
By 1965, President Johnson authorized US troops to begin military offensives and started the systematic bombing of North Vietnam. By 1968, the number of US forces surpassed 500,000. -
Luna 9 is launched
Luna 9, internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a survivable landing on a celestial body. -
France withdraws from NATO command structure.
France decided to withdraw its Mediterranean naval fleet from NATO command. In June, it refused to store foreign nuclear weapons on its territory, forcing the United States to transfer 200 military aircraft out of France. -
South African Border War begins.
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia, Zambia, and Angola from 26 August 1966