Cold War Timeline

  • Potsdam conference

    Where: Potsdam, Germany.
    Who: Harry Truman, Stalin, Churchill, and Clement Attlee.
    What happened: Agreed on reparations and how to restructure Germany. Japan was warned to surrender or face the consequences. Truman and Stalin saw each other as rivals. A war of ideas emerged that was more than fighting with armies.
    How did it effect liberalism: It stayed the same.
  • Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings

    Where: Hiroshima, Japan. Nagasaki, Japan
    Who: United States.
    What happened: America used an atomic on 2 populated cities in Japan to defeat them in the second world war.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • Yalta Conference

    Where: Yalta, Ukraine.
    Who: Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill.
    What happened: The big three tried to redraw the map of Europe, and a key principle was that the countries of Europe after the war would have free elections.
    How did it effect liberalism: There is more liberalism because they wanted to give countries free elections.
  • Truman Doctrine

    Where: Greece and Turkey.
    Who: Harry Truman.
    What happened: The US gave $400 million to Greece and Turkey to get rid of the appeal of communism.
    How did it effect liberalism: Increased liberalism by making Greece and Turkey not become communist.
  • Molotov plan

    Where: Europe.
    Who: Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania.
    What happened: Made trade agreements to help the economies of communist countries.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • Period: to

    Marshall Plan

    Where: 17 countries in Europe.
    Who: The US.
    What happened: Gave $13 billion to help countries recover after the war. If they accepted they had to have a free market economy and participate in a unified European economy.
    How did it effect liberalism: Increased liberalism by having countries turn capitalist or stay capitalist.
  • Brussels Treaty

    Where: Brussels.
    Who: Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
    What happened: Created a defense alliance and showed that the western European countries can cooperate.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • Period: to

    Berlin Blockade

    Where: West Berlin.
    Who: Stalin.
    What happened: Stalin blocked off all supplies going to West Berlin. The West responded by airlifting supplies into West Berlin. Stalin lifted the blockade on May 12th, 1949.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • NATO

    Where: North Atlantic.
    Who: Canada, United States, and multiple countries in Europe.
    What happened: A military alliance was made to defend against the Soviet Union.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • Soviet Creation of Nuclear weapons

    Where: Soviet Union.
    Who: Soviet Union.
    What happened: They first tested nuclear weapons in 1949, they got most of the information from Soviet spy's working on the Manhattan project.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • Period: to

    Korean War

    Where: North and South Korea.
    Who: China, America, North Korea, and South Korea.
    What happened: The communist North Korea attacked South Korea. The west supported South Korea while the East supported North Korea. They fought for three years until they agreed to an armistice.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect because the border between the two countries was in the same place before and after the war.
  • Stalin's Death

    Where: Soviet Union.
    Who: Joseph Stalin.
    What happened: Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union, died of a stroke.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect because he was just replaced by Nikita Khrushchev.
  • Warsaw pact

    Where: Warsaw, Poland.
    Who: Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
    What happened: Communist countries made a defense treaty to balance the power of NATO.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

    Where: Vietnam.
    Who: America and Vietnam.
    What happened: America went to war with North Vietnam and joined South Vietnam to try and stop the spread of communism even though Vietnam wanted to become communist. Eventually the North seized the South and won the war.
    How did it effect liberalism: Decreased liberalism because Vietnam became communist.
  • Hungarian revolution

    Where: Hungary.
    Who: Hungary and Soviet Union.
    What happened: The Hungary revolted against Stalin. A new government was formed trying to create a democratic state. Soviet tanks used force to reinstate a pro-soviet government.
    How did it effect liberalism: It decreased liberalism because it showed that the communist countries shouldn't rebel against the soveiet union.
  • NORAD

    Where: Canadas northern shores.
    Who: Canada and US.
    What happened: They built an air defence system along Canadas northern shores.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • Fidel Castro taking over

    Where: Cuba.
    Who: Fidel Castro.
    What happened: Fidel Castro led a socialist revolution because the Fulgencio Batista was a very corrupt military leader. This restricted foreign land ownership and redistributed land.
    How did it effect liberalism: Decreased liberalism because Cuba became socialist.
  • Bay of Pigs Invasion

    Where: Cuba
    Who: United States
    What happened: The US trained Cuban exiles to try and rise against Castro. The attack failed horribly because it wasn't planned well, not enough support from the US, and that they assumed that rebels in Cuba would join them.
    How did it effect liberalism: Decreased liberalism because this failed attack increased Castro's popularity.
  • Creation of the Berlin wall

    Where: West Berlin.
    Who: East Germany.
    What happened: The border between West Berlin and East Germany was locked down and a wall was made. The west saw this as a way to stop East Germans from going into West Berlin. While Eastern Germany claimed it was to protect it from Western aggression.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • End of the Cuban Missile Crisis

    Where: Cuba.
    Who: Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy.
    What happened: Soviet supported missile bases were being built in Cuba, so JFK had a naval blockade of Cuba. This got close to having a nuclear war. They made an agreement, JFK wouldn't invade Cuba and take missiles out of Turkey, and the Soviet Union would take their missiles out of Cuba.
    How did it effect liberalism: No effect.
  • Period: to

    Nuclear Arms Treaties

    Where: Lots of Countries.
    Who: Lots of countries.
    What happened: Banned the testing of nuclear weapons anywhere except underground. Stopped the production, trade, and aquisition of nuclear weapons, 189 countries signed it. Limited the amount of missiles aquired, armed, and aimed by the two countries.
    How did it effect liberalism: Increased liberalism by trying to make countries have less nukes.
  • Czechoslovakia revolution

    Where: Czechoslavakia.
    Who: Alexander Dubcek, Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary.
    What happened: Alexander Dubcek came to power and started a democratic transition. The Soviets tried to talk about the governments reforms, but they were unsuccessful. Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary invaded and occupied Czechoslavakia, this reversed all of Dubceks changes.
    How did it effect liberalism: Decreased because they turned Czechoslavakia back into a communist country.
  • Afghanistan/Soviet war

    Where: Afghanistan.
    Who: Soviet Union.
    What happened: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the CIA gave Afghan resistance fighters WWI weapons. This made the Soviet Union retreat and left Afghanistan with a strong insurgent force.
    How did it effect liberalism: Increased liberalism because Afghanistan didn't become communist.
  • Solidarity in Poland

    Where: Poland.
    Who: Poland.
    What happened: The first labour union in a Soviet-bloc country formed. This also gained popularity to an anti-communist movement.
    How did it effect liberalism: Increased it because people were starting to rebel against communism.
  • Berlin Wall falling

    Where: Berlin, Germany.
    Who: East and West Germany.
    What happened: The Berlin Wall fell and Germany was reunified. This was also the start of the fall of communism in Europe.
    How did it effect liberalism: Increased liberalism because it allowed people to cross the wall.
  • End of the Cold War

    Where: Everywhere.
    Who: America and Soviet Union.
    What happened: Free elections happened in Eastern Europe. In 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved into it's component republics.
    How did it effect liberalism: