Cold War Timeline By WilCo Period: Feb 4, 1945 to Feb 11, 1945 Yalta Conference Period: Jul 16, 1945 to 1987 Arms Race Period: Jul 17, 1945 to Aug 2, 1945 Potsdam Conference Mar 12, 1947 Truman Doctrine Jun 5, 1947 Marshall Plan Period: Apr 1, 1948 to May 12, 1949 Berlin Airlift Period: Jun 24, 1948 to 1949 Berlin Blockade Apr 4, 1949 NATO formed Feb 9, 1950 Red Scare (McCarthyism) Period: Jun 25, 1950 to Jul 27, 1953 Korean War Period: May 14, 1955 to Jul 1, 1991 Warsaw Pact Oct 4, 1957 Launch of Sputnik Period: Nov 1, 1957 to 1975 Space Race May 1, 1960 U-2 Spy Incident Apr 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs Aug 13, 1961 Rise of Berlin Wall Period: Oct 14, 1962 to Oct 28, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Period: 1965 to Aug 15, 1973 Vietnam War Period: Jul 16, 1969 to Jul 24, 1969 Apollo 11 Oct 3, 1972 SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) Period: Dec 25, 1979 to 1988 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Nov 10, 1989 Fall of Berlin Wall Dec 2, 1989 End of the Cold War Dec 26, 1991 Fall of the Soviet Union