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February 4-11: Yalta Conference meeting of FDR, Churchill, Stalin - the 'Big Three'
Soviet Union has control of Eastern Europe. The Cold War Begins -
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May 8: VE Day - Victory in Europe. Germany surrenders to the Red Army in Berlin
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August 6: The United States drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima (20 kiloton bomb 'Little Boy' kills 80,000)
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August 9: The United States drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki (22 kiloton 'Fat Man' kills 70,000)
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June : Marshall Plan is announced setting a precedent for helping countries combat poverty, disease and malnutrition
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March 2: Truman's Loyalty Program created to catch Cold War spies
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In 1949, the prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 11 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
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The cold war was a fight between the United States and the USSR over the world's resources. South Vietnam was an allie of the US and North Vietnam was an allie of the USSR. The US feared if North Vietnam won the war other countries in South Asia would also fall to Communism.
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October 4 : Sputnik launched into orbit
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The Bay Of Pigs invasion refers to the CIA sponsored American attack of the Cuban government in order to overthrow Fidel Castro.
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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.
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Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I (SALT I) is signed by the Soviet Union and the United States, limiting the proliferation of weapons, including nuclear missiles.
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1987
U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign INF treaty, which removes medium and short-range nuclear missiles. -
Berlin Wall is demolished and East Germany allows unrestricted migration to West Germany
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August : End of Soviet Union and the Cold War Ends
