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Period: to
Cold War Time Span
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The Marshall Plan
The European Recovery Program (nicknamed the ‘Marshall Plan’) was set up because the economic infrastructure of Europe had been destroyed by the Second World War and because this – and the coldest winter on record – had by 1947 reduced the people of Europe to starvation. Also, in response to Soviet ‘salami tactics’, Congress had in March 1947 decided to ‘support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. -
Creation of NATO
After World War II the countries of Western Europe found themselves too weak politically and militarily to prevent the spread of the communist "iron curtain" on a national level. The alliance of France and the United Kingdom through the Brussels Treaty was found to be minuscule when compared to the Communist Soviet Union. Very little time passed before this weakness was realized and Western Europe turned to a more inclusive North Atlantic Treaty, an agreement that involved a total of 12 nations. -
Soviets create & test nuclear bomb
The Soviet effort was led by Igor Kurchatov at a secret site known as Arzamas-16. Early efforts were greatly aided by spies inside the Manhattan Project, most notably by Klaus Fuchs. After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the program accelerated into high gear. The Soviets began construction of a near copy of the Fat Man bomb, using the detailed design descriptions provided by Fuchs. This replica, named Joe-1 by the West, was detonated at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan. -
The Korean War
On June 25, 1950, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) launched a surprise attack on South Korea. People in South Korea were unaware of the upcoming attack on that morning, which started a war that would kill more than 3,000,000 lives. Seoul, the capital of South Korea was quick to be captured by the North Korean troops, due to the fact that the attack had been unaccounted for.Korean War Veterans Memorial commemorating men and women who died in the Korean War. -
Warsaw Pact formed
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. -
Soviet launch Sputnik
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S. -
Fidel Castro comes to power in Cuba
Fidel Castro became the first political leader of Cuba (1959–2008) who transformed his country into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. Castro became a symbol of communist revolution in Latin America. He held the title of premier until 1976 and then began a long tenure as president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
During the 1960s, relations between Cuba and the United States were not as amicable as they could have been. The United States felt threatened because Cuba was the only country in the Western hemisphere to adopt the ideas of communism. At first the Americans welcomed the Cuban revolution which brought Fidel Castro to power on December 31, 1958. However, Castro began to link himself with the other superpower, the Soviet Union. This led to a general discord between the United States and Cuba. O -
Construction of Berlin Wall begins
The city of Berlin became a centerpiece of the Cold War, playing a particularly significant role in Europe. East met West in this divided city where the Berlin wall was a tangible symbol of the "Iron Curtain." After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones administered by four nations: the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Furthermore, Berlin, located in the Soviet occupation zone which was to become East Germany, was itself similarly divided into -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, thanks to the bravery of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, war was averted. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War, the first televised war, pitted South Vietnam and the United States against Communist North Vietnam. It was feared that the fall of South Vietnam would lead to the fall of other South East Asian nations to Communism as well, in what was known as the "Domino Effect." Yet, at the same time, it was feared that extensive military involvement would lead to Chinese and Soviet intervention, resulting in a nuclear World War III. -
Olympic Rivalry: 1972 basketball game
Nearly 40 years ago, shortly after midnight on Sept. 10, 1972, the U.S. men’s basketball team took the floor in a sports hall in Munich to play the Soviet Union for the gold medal in the Olympics, a game that would be broadcast worldwide. -
1980 Olympic Hockey game
The Olympics came at a difficult time for Soviet–U.S. relations, as they were deep in the Cold War. Only months before the games began, the USSR had invaded Afghanistan, and there was speculation that the strong Soviet team might not show up. However, they competed in the Lake Placid games in the end, although the United States and 65 other nations later boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. -
Berlin Wall falls
At 06.53 pm on November 9, 1989 a member of the new East German government was asked at a press conference when the new East German travel law comes into force.He answered: "Well, as far as I can see, ... straightaway, immediately."Thousands of East Berliners went to the border crossings. At Bornholmer Strasse the people demanded to open the border and at 10.30 pm the border was opened there.That moment meant the end of the Berlin Wall. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved on 26 December 1991 by declaration № 142-H of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. This declaration acknowledged the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union following the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
