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World War II Ends and the Cold War Begins
The war was "cold" only in that the United States and USSR never fought each other in a direct military confrontation, but both superpowers threatened each other with nuclear annihilation -
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Cold War
The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc and powers in the Western Bloc. -
Winston Churchill Iron Curtain speech
Winston Churchill the British prime minister gave this speech to express the division of Communist Eastern Europe and Democratic Western Europe -
US and Britain break the Soviet blockade of West Berlin with the Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift, 1948–1949. At the end of the Second World War, U.S., British, and Soviet military forces divided and occupied Germany. Also divided into occupation zones, Berlin was located far inside Soviet-controlled eastern Germany. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization is formed
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an alliance of 28 countries from North America and Europe committed to fulfilling the goals of the North Atlantic Treaty signed on 4 April 1949 -
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Korean War
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance. -
Vietnam War Begins
The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. -
Warsaw Pact is formed
The Warsaw Pact, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. -
US is defeated and humiliated at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on 17 April 1961 -
Berlin Wall is Built
The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989 -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union -
Vietnam War is over
Ending the Vietnam War, 1969–1973. President Richard M. Nixon assumed responsibility for the Vietnam War as he swore the oath of office on January 20, 1969. He knew that ending this war honorably was essential to his success in the presidency. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was torn down as a symbol of the fall of the repressive East German communist government. When East Germans were finally allowed to freely enter West Germany, on Nov. 9, 1989, -
Germany is reunited
Accordingly, on Unification Day, 3 October 1990, the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist, and five new Federal States on its former territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany. -
Soviet Union Collapses (Establishment of the Russian Federation)
Russia has been a powerful country throughout its history. In the 1900s it was the center of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. ... The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought independence, and great political and economic changes, to Russia.