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Chinese Communist Revolution
The Chinese Communist Revolution started from 1946, after the end of Second Sino-Japanese War, and was the second part of the Chinese Civil War. It was the culmination of the Chinese Communist Party's drive to power after its founding in 1921 -
Postwar occupation and division of Germany
On May 8, 1945, the surrender of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) was signed, ending World War II for Germany. The entire German territory was occupied by foreign armies. Large portions of the population were suffering from hunger and the loss of their homes. After World War II Nazi Germany west of the Oder-Neisse line was divided into four occupation zones. They were occupied by the allied powers who defeated Germany (the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States) and France. -
Greek Civil War
Τhe Greek Civil War was fought in Greece from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek government army—backed by the United Kingdom and the United States—and the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE)—the military branch of the Greek Communist Party (KKE), backed by Yugoslavia and Albania as well as by Bulgaria. It is considered as the first proxy war of the Cold War. The fighting resulted in the defeat of the Communist insurgents by the government forces. -
Enactment of Marshall Plan
On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948. It became known as the Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George Marshall The plan channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole. -
Berlin Blockade & Airlift
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche mark from West Berlin. -
End of Berlin Blockade & Airlift
In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin. Aircrews flew over 200,000 flights in one year.The Soviets did not disrupt the airlift for fear this might lead to open conflict. By the spring of 1949, the airlift was clearly succeeding, and by May 12, 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of West Berlin. -
End of Greek Civil War
The Civil War left Greece in ruins and in even greater economic distress than it had been following the end of German occupation. Additionally, it divided the Greek people for ensuing decades, with both sides vilifying their opponents. Thousands languished in prison for many years or were sent into exile on the islands of Gyaros and Makronisos. Many others sought refuge in communist countries or emigrated to Australia, Germany, the US, the UK, Canada and elsewhere. -
End of Chinese Communist Revolution
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. In December 1949 Chiang proclaimed Taipei, Taiwan the temporary capital of the Republic, and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority of all China. The last direct fighting between Nationalist and Communist forces ended with the communist capture of Hainan Island in May 1950, though shelling and guerrilla raids continued for a number of years. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war between North Korea (with the support of China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (with the principal support of the United States). The war began on June 25, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the border. 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 also gave some assistance to the North. -
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro's revolutionary 26th of July Movement and its allies against the authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The revolution began in July 1953 and continued until the rebels finally ousted Batista on January 1, 1959, replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state. July 26, 1959 is celebrated in Cuba as the Day of the Revolution. -
End of Korean War
The fighting ended on July 27, 1953, when an armistice was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty was signed, and according to some sources the two Koreas are technically still at war, engaged in a frozen conflict. In April 2018, the leaders of North and South Korea met at the demilitarized zone and agreed to sign a treaty by the end of the year to formally end the Korean War. -
Formation of the Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc is a term for the countries and colonies in Central and Eastern Europe. This encompasses the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact. When Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov expressed concern that the Yalta Agreement's wording might impede Stalin's plans in Central Europe, Stalin responded negatively. After Soviet forces remained in Eastern and Central European countries, with Stalinist puppet regimes installed in those countries, by falsified elections. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies.The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. -
End of Cuban Revolution
The 26th of July Movement later reformed along communist lines, becoming the Communist Party in October 1965.The Cuban Revolution had powerful domestic and international repercussions. In particular, it transformed Cuba's relationship with the United States, although efforts to improve diplomatic relations have gained momentum in recent years. The revolution also heralded an era of Cuban intervention in foreign military conflicts, including the Angolan Civil War and the Nicaraguan Revolution. -
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on April 17,1961. A counter-revolutionary military group trained and funded by the CIA, Brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front and intended to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro. The invading force was defeated within three days by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, under the direct command of Castro. -
Building of Berlin Wall
Two days after sealing off free passage between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, East German authorities begin building a wall–the Berlin Wall–to permanently close off access to the West. For the next 28 years, the heavily fortified Berlin Wall stood as the most tangible symbol of the Cold War–a literal “iron curtain” dividing Europe. In the West, the Berlin Wall was regarded as a major symbol of communist oppression. Thousands of East Germans were captured during attempted crossing. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. -
End of Cuban Missile Crisis
After a long period of tense negotiations, an agreement was reached between U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a U.S. public declaration and agreement to avoid invading Cuba again. Secretly, the United States also agreed that it would dismantle all MRBMs, deployed in Turkey against the Soviet Union. -
End of Vietnam War
Direct U.S. military involvement ended on August 15, 1973.The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities. Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.1 million. 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict, and a further 1,626 remain missing in action. -
Soviet War in Afghanistan
The Soviet–Afghan War lasted over nine years. Insurgent groups known collectively as the mujahideen and smaller Maoist groups, fought a guerrilla war against the Soviet Army and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan government, mostly in the rural countryside. The mujahideen groups were backed primarily by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, making it a Cold War proxy war. Between 562,000 and 2,000,000 civilians were killed and millions of Afghans fled the country as refugees. -
End of Soviet War in Afghanistan
By the mid-1980s, the Soviet contingent was increased to 108,800 and fighting increased, but the military and diplomatic cost of the war to the USSR was high. By mid-1987 the Soviet Union, announced it would start withdrawing its forces after meetings with the Afghan government. The final troop withdrawal ended on February 15, 1989, leaving the government forces alone in its battle against the insurgents, which continued until 1992 when the former Soviet-backed government collapsed. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 were student-led demonstrations in Beijing in 1989. It refers to the popular national movement inspired by the Beijing protests during that period. The protests were suppressed after the government declared martial law. Troops with automatic rifles and tanks killed at least several hundred demonstrators trying to block the military's advance towards Tiananmen Square. The number of civilian deaths has been estimated variously from 180 to 10,454. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
On November 9, 1989, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight he said, citizens were free to cross the country’s borders. More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited that weekend to celebrate. People used hammers and picks to knock away chunks of the wall, while cranes and bulldozers pulled down section after section.The reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3, 1990. -
Fall of Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union officially granted self-governing independence to the Republics of the Soviet Union. Declaration 142-H acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 25, 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev declared his office extinct, and handed over its powers to Russia. That evening, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag.
