Cold War Timeline

  • Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombs

    Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombs
    sent an indirect message to the USSR stating "we have nuclear weapons and will use them"
  • Truman Doctrine

    Its aim was to stop the spread of Communism
  • Berlin Blockade/Airlift

    Berlin Blockade/Airlift
    It exposed the deep ideological differences separating East and West.
  • USSR develops a nuclear weapon

    It conducted its first successful weapon test
  • Korean War

    Korean War
    The first time that the two superpowers, the USA & Soviet Union had fought a "proxy war" in a third country.
  • Vietnam War

    It resulted in nearly 60,000 American deaths and an estimated 2 million Vietnamese deaths.
  • Suez Crisis

    was arguably one of the most significant episodes in post-1945 British history
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis
    The closest we ever came to a nuclear war
  • Russians invade Afghanistan

    The US supported Afghanistan, providing weapons, then leaving when the Soviets gave up. The US leaving without helping Afghanistan rebuild the devastation led to much resentment towards the US and eventually the rise of the Taliban.
  • Collapse of the Soviet Union

    1988-1991 it marks the end of the Cold War