Cold War Pictorial Timeline

  • Yalta Conference/ Agreement to temporarily divide Germany

    Yalta Conference/ Agreement to temporarily divide Germany
  • United States first used atomic bomb in war

    United States first used atomic bomb in war
  • Japanese surrender (V-J Day)

  • Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech

    Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech
  • Marshall Plan is announced

  • Berlin Blockade begins

    Berlin Blockade begins
  • NATO ratified

  • Communist Mao Zedong takes control of China

    Communist Mao Zedong takes control of China
  • USSR explodes first atomic bomb

  • Joseph McCarthy begins Communist witch-hunt

    Joseph McCarthy begins Communist witch-hunt
  • Korean War begins

    Korean War begins
  • Rosenberg executions

    Rosenberg executions
  • Korean War ends

    Korean War ends
  • Vietnam split at 17th parallel

  • Warsaw Pact formed

    Warsaw Pact formed
  • Sputnik launched

    Sputnik launched
  • Cuba taken overt by Communist Fidel Castro

    Cuba taken overt by Communist Fidel Castro
  • U-2 spy plane shot down by USSR

    U-2 spy plane shot down by USSR
  • John F. Kennedy elected President

    John F. Kennedy elected President
  • Bay of Pigs invasion

    Bay of Pigs invasion
  • Construction of Berlin Wall begins

    Construction of Berlin Wall begins
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis
  • Saigon, South Vietnam falls to communism

  • Berlin Wall falls

    Berlin Wall falls
  • Soviet empire falls

  • Germany reunited

  • U.S. and Russia sign formal end to the Cold War