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Meeting between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin to decide what would happened in the end of the war.
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Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam an independent republic.
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Victory in Europe as Germany surrenders to the Russian army
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The United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
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The UUEE dropped the second atomic bomb in Nagasaki.
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The Japanese surrendered bringing World War Two to an end.
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The Potsdam Conference formally divided Germany and Austria into four zones. It was also agreed that the German capital Berlin would be divided into four zones. The Russian Polish border was determined and Korea was to be divided into Soviet and American zones.
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President Truman promised to help any country facing a Communist takeover,
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This was a programme of economic aid offered by the United States to any European country.Consequently the aid was only given to Western European Countries.
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The French, USA and UK partitions of Germany were merged to form West Germany
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USA and UK partitions of Berlin was to cut all road and rail links to that sector. This meant that those living in Western Berlin had no access to food supplies and faced starvation.
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Russia ended the blockade of Berlin.
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation formed with member states Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States
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The Korean war began when North Korea invaded South Korea.
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Joseph Stalin died at the age of 74. He was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev.
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The Korean war ended. North Korea remained affiliated with Russia while South Korea was affiliated with the USA.
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This set of documents ended the French war with the Vietminh and divided Vietnam into North and South states. The communist leader of North Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh while the US friendly south was led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
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The Warsaw Pact was formed with member states East Germany, Czechoslovaquia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union.
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British and French invaded Egypt to regain control of the Suez Canal. This attack, was heavily criticised by World leaders. British and French were forced to withdraw and a UN peace keeping fprce was send to establish order.
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USSR Sputnik II carried Laika the dog, the first living creature to go into space.
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Russian Cosmonant Yuri Alekseyvich Garaing become the first human being in the space
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A force of Cuban exiles, trained by the CIA, aided by the US government attempted to invade Cuba and overthrow the Communist government of Fidel Castro. The attempt failed.
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Berlin wall built and borders sealed between East and West Germany.
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A US spy plane reported sighting the construction of a Soviet nuclear missile base in Cuba. President Kennedy set up a naval blockade and demanded the removal of the missiles. War was averted when the Russians agreed on 28th October to remove the weapons. The United States agreed not to invade Cuba.
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JF Kennedy was assassinated while on a visit to Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the murder but there has always been speculation that he was not a lone killer and that there may have been communist or CIA complicity.
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Nikita Krushchev removed from office. He was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev.
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150,000 US troops sent to Vietnam.
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Warsaw Pact forces entered Czechoslovakia in a bid to stop the reforms known as ‘Prague Spring’ instigated by Alexander Dubcek. When he refused to halt his programme of reforms Dubcek was arrested.
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US launched Apollo 8 – first manned orbit of the Moon.
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US Apollo 11 landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man on the Moon.
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President Richard Nixon ordered US troops to go to Cambodia.
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The Paris Peace Accords ended American involvement in Vietnam.
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Joint space venture between USA and USSR heralded as an end to the ‘Space Race’
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The Khmer Rouge attacked and took control of Cambodia. Any supporters of the former regime, anyone with links or supposed links to foreign governments as well as many intellectuals and professionals were executed in a genocide that became known as the ‘killing fields’.
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North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese led to the whole country becoming Communist
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Jimmy Carter became the 39th President of the United States
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Russia and 13 allied countries boycothed the summer Olympics held in Los Angeles in retaliation for the US boycott of 1980.
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A number of countries including the USA boycotted the summer Olympics held in Moscow in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Other countries including Great Britain participated under the Olympic flag rather than their national flag
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Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union
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An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine remains the worst nuclear disaster in history
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Mikhail Gorbachev announced his intention to follow a policy of glasnost- openness transparency and freedom of speech; and Perestroika- restructuring of government economy. He also advocated free elections and ending the arms race.
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The last Soviet troops left Afghanistan
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Anti Communist protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China were crushed by the government. The death count is unknown
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The Berlin wall was torn down
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The Velvet Revolution, also known as the Gentle Revolution, was a series of peaceful protests in Czechoslovakia that led to the overthrow of the Communist government.
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This meeting between Mikhail Gorbachov and George H W Bush reversed much of the provisions of the Yalta Conference 1945. It is seen by some as the beginning of the end of the cold war.
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East and West Germany were reunited as one country.
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The Warsaw Pact which allied Communist countries was ended
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The Strategic Arms Reduction treaty was signed between Russia and the USA
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Mikhail Gorbachev resigned. The hammer and sickle flag on the Kremlin was lowered
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Russia formally recognised the end of the Soviet Union.
