Cold War Timeline By Dhj1 Jan 1, 1946 Policy of Containment Mar 22, 1947 Truman Doctorine Apr 1, 1948 Marshall Plan Jan 1, 1949 Comecon Apr 4, 1949 NATO Formed May 1, 1949 Berlin Airlift Ends Blockadeof West Berlin May 1, 1949 Creation of Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) Aug 1, 1949 Soviet Union Tests First Atomic Bomb Period: Jan 1, 1950 to Jan 1, 1953 Korean War Mar 5, 1953 Stalin's Death Oct 4, 1957 Soviet Launches Sputnik 1 into Space Jan 1, 1959 Johnson Escalates Troop Numbers to Start Vietnam War Aug 13, 1961 Berlin Wall Erected Jan 1, 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis Jan 1, 1969 Nixon Signs Agreement to Withdraw from Vietnam Jan 1, 1975 Communistis Defeat Nationalists in China Dec 1, 1979 Soviet Invasion of Afganistan Oct 3, 1990 Berlin Wall Torn Down