Cold War Timeline by Damian Hughes By dhughes1011 Feb 15, 1945 Yalta Conference Aug 6, 1945 America first uses the atomic bomb Aug 14, 1945 Japan surrenders [V-J Day] Mar 20, 1946 Winston Churchills iron curtain speech Jun 15, 1947 Marshall Plan is announced Jun 24, 1948 Berlin Blockade Begins Jul 15, 1949 NATO Ratified Sep 19, 1949 communist Mao Zedong takes control of china Sep 20, 1949 USSR explodes first atomic bomb Feb 15, 1950 Joseph McCarthy begins communist witch-hunt Jun 15, 1950 Korean War begins Jun 19, 1953 Rosenberg executions Jul 15, 1953 Korean War ends Jul 15, 1954 Vietnam split at 17th parallel May 15, 1955 warsaw pact formed Oct 4, 1957 Sputnik launched Jan 15, 1959 Cuba taken by communism May 15, 1960 U-2 spyplane shot down over ussr Nov 15, 1960 John F. Kennedy elected president Apr 15, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion Aug 18, 1961 Berlin wall is constructed Oct 15, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Apr 15, 1975 south vietnam falls to communisim Nov 15, 1989 Berlin wall falls Dec 20, 1989 soviet empire falls Oct 18, 1990 Germany reunited Aug 16, 1991 U.S and Russia sign formal agreement to end the war