Cold War Pictorial Timeline By shaina_tamminen Feb 4, 1945 Yalta Conference Agreement to temporarily divide Germany Aug 6, 1945 US first uses atomic bomb in war Aug 14, 1945 Jepaneses surrender (V-J Day) Mar 5, 1947 Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech Jun 5, 1947 Marshall Plan is announced Jun 24, 1948 Berlin Blockade begins Jul 4, 1949 NATO ratified Sep 18, 1949 Mao Zedong takes control of China Sep 29, 1949 USSR explodes first atomic bomb Feb 9, 1950 Joseph McCarthy begins communist witch-hunt Jun 25, 1950 Korean War begins Jun 19, 1952 Rosenberg executions Jul 27, 1953 Korean War ends Jul 21, 1954 Vietnam split at 17th paralell May 14, 1955 Warsaw Pact formed Oct 4, 1957 Sputnik launched Jan 1, 1959 Cuba taken over by communist Fidel Castro May 1, 1960 U-2 spy plane shot down over USSR Nov 20, 1960 John F. Kennedy elected President Apr 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion Aug 13, 1961 Construction of Berlin Wall begins Oct 16, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Apr 30, 1975 Saigon, South Vietnam falls to communism Nov 10, 1989 Berlin Wall falls Dec 24, 1989 Soviet empire falls Oct 3, 1990 Germany reunited Aug 19, 1991 US and Russia sign formal to end Cold War
