-
America drops atomic bombs on Japanese
-
At the end of WWII, Korea is divided at the 38th Parallel and two new states are established. North and South Korea
-
Vietnamese nationalist declares Vietnam's independence from France
-
Czechoslovakian Communists win control of the national government
-
After the US, Britain, and France introduce the Deutsche Mark to serve as a single currency for their three zones of occupation in western Germany, the Soviets impose the Berline blockade
-
COMECON is formed as a Soviet answer to the Marshall Plan
-
Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb, causing shock and fear in the US
-
Vietnamese nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh visits Soviet leader Josef Stalin to discuss whether an alliance will be benefitual
-
The Korean War begins as North Korean troops attack across the 38th parallel in effort to "liberate" South Korea
-
President Harry Truman orders American forces to assist South Korea, which is being overrun by Communist North Korean troops
-
North Atlantic Treaty rganization forms a joint military command, choosing American general Dwight Eisenhower as Supreme Commander
-
Peace negotiations begin in Korea, but will drag on for two more years
-
Nearly seven years after V-J Day, the US ends its military occupation of Japan
-
Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Communist Party leader aftere triumphing in the intra-party power struggles that follow Josef Stalin's death
-
President Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin meet in Geneva for the first postwar Soviet-American summit meeting.Eisenhower makes his "Open Skies" proposal to the Soviets, offering to allow each superpower to conduct surveillance flights over the other in order to put to rest both sides' fears of surprise attacks. Bulganin rejects the idea.
-
Americans fly the first U2 spy plane over Moscow. The U2 is designed to fly at such a high altitude that it remains out of range of Soviet weapons and undetectable to Soviet radar.
-
The Hungarian Revolution is crushed by a Soviet Red Army invasion. Hungarian leader Imre Nagywaits in vain for Western help, but the Soviets install a new, servile government under staunch Communist Janos Kadar.
-
The Soviets launch Sputnik, the first man-made object to orbit the earth. The Soviets' technological success in building the world's first satellite strikes fear in the hearts of Americans and launches the space race.
-
The United States and Canada join together to form the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to monitor the skies for Soviet nuclear attack.
-
The United States creates NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to lead the space race with the Soviet Union.
-
American pilot Gary Powers's U2 spy plane is shot down over the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower denies responsibility for the international incident and refuses to apologize, precipitating the collapse of a planned Paris summit between the United States and Soviet Union.
