Timeline: Cold War

Sep 2, 1945

End of World War II

With the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, World War II was over.

Oct 24, 1945

United Nations is established

The United Nations came into existence, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories.

Mar 5, 1946

Churchill gives his "Iron Curtain" speech.

Churchill gave his now famous "Iron Curtain" speech to a crowd of 40,000. In this speech, Churchill gave the very descriptive phrase that surprised the United States and Britain, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

Mar 12, 1947

Truman doctrine

The provision by president Harry Truman (1884–1972) of US aid to Greece and Turkey as part of the anti- Communist foreign policy which signaled the start of the Cold War containment policy.

Mar 1, 1948

Marshall plan

George C. Marshall issued a call for a comprehensive program to rebuild Europe. Fanned by the fear of Communist expansion and the rapid deterioration of European economies in the winter of Congress passed the Economic Cooperation Act in March 1948 and approved funding that would eventually rise to over $12 billion for the rebuilding of Western Europe.

Apr 1, 1948

Berlin airlift begins

One of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under allied control.
Last 11 months

Apr 4, 1949

NATO ratified

May 12, 1949

Berlin Blockade ends

Aug 29, 1949

USSR's first atomic bomb test

Russia tested its first atomic bomb.

Oct 1, 1949

China's Civil War

Jan 30, 1950

Truman approved H-bomb development

Jun 24, 1950

Korean War begins

Stalin supports North Korea who invade South Korea equipped with Soviet weapons

Jan 30, 1952

Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president

Mar 5, 1953

Stalin's death

Jul 15, 1953

Korean war ends

Mar 1, 1954

H-bomb Castle-Bravo test

Sep 1, 1954

The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is signed

May 15, 1955

Warsaw Pact formed

Jan 5, 1957

Eisenhower Doctrine

In response to the increasingly tense situation in the Middle East, President Dwight Eisenhower delivered a proposal to a joint session of the U.S. Congress calling for a new and more proactive American policy in the region.