Cold War Timeline By jessiecohan Jan 5, 1945 Comecon Created Period: Feb 4, 1945 to Feb 11, 1945 Yalta Conference May 8, 1945 Victory in Europe Day Period: Jul 17, 1945 to Aug 2, 1945 Potsdam Conference Sep 2, 1945 Japanese Surrender Mar 5, 1946 “Iron Curtain” Speech Mar 12, 1947 Truman Doctrine Period: Jun 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949 Berlin Blockade/Airlift Jul 3, 1948 Marshall Plan Apr 4, 1949 NATO Established Oct 1, 1949 China Becomes Communist Period: Jun 25, 1950 to Jul 27, 1953 Korean War Mar 14, 1954 KGB Established Apr 7, 1954 Domino Theory Apr 26, 1954 Vietnam is divided May 14, 1955 Warsaw Pact Established Period: Nov 1, 1955 to Apr 30, 1975 Vietnam War Oct 29, 1956 Suez Crisis Oct 4, 1957 Sputnik Jan 1, 1959 Fidel Castro Takes Over Cuba May 1, 1960 U2 Spy Plane Shot Down Apr 12, 1961 First Man in Space (Yuri Gagarin) Period: Apr 17, 1961 to Apr 19, 1961 Bay of Pigs May 5, 1961 First American in Space (Alan Shepard) Aug 16, 1961 Berlin Wall Built Period: Oct 16, 1962 to Oct 28, 1962 Cubin Missile Crisis Aug 7, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident/Resolution Period: Jun 5, 1967 to Jun 10, 1967 Six-Day War Period: Jan 30, 1968 to Sep 23, 1968 Tet Offensive Jul 20, 1969 Apollo 11 Lands on the Moon Period: Oct 6, 1973 to Oct 26, 1973 Yom Kippur War Period: Jul 19, 1979 to Feb 25, 1990 Nicaraguan Revolution Period: Nov 4, 1979 to Jan 20, 1981 Iranian Hostage Crisis Period: Mar 10, 1985 to Dec 25, 1991 Perestroika Mar 11, 1985 Glasnost Period: Aug 20, 1985 to Mar 4, 1987 Iran-Contra Affair Period: Apr 15, 1989 to Jun 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Aug 24, 1989 Poland Becomes Independent Oct 23, 1989 Hungary Becomes Independent Nov 9, 1989 Berlin Wall Falls Dec 22, 1989 Communist Governments in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria fall Mar 15, 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev takes office May 29, 1990 Boris Yeltsin elected president of Russia Oct 3, 1990 Germany Reunites Mar 31, 1991 Warsaw Pact Ends Dec 25, 1991 USSR Dissolved