THE COLD WAR (1945-1991) By quinnly Feb 11, 1945 Yalta Conference Mar 8, 1945 Germany surrenders to the Allies in W.W.II, Victory in Europe Period: Jul 17, 1945 to Aug 2, 1945 Potsdam Conference Period: Aug 6, 1945 to Aug 9, 1945 U.S. drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagaaki, Japan Aug 15, 1945 Japan Surrenders to Allies Mar 5, 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech by Winston Churchill Period: Jan 1, 1947 to Dec 31, 1957 McCarthyism/Red Scare begins Mar 12, 1947 Truman Doctrine Apr 3, 1948 Marshall Plan Period: Apr 15, 1948 to May 15, 1949 Berlin, Germany, blockade by USSR and US air lift Sep 20, 1948 Poland becomes communist Apr 4, 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) organized Jun 25, 1950 Korean War begins Nov 4, 1952 Dwight D. Eiosenhower elected POTUS Mar 5, 1953 Joseph Stalin leader of the USSR dies Jun 15, 1953 Rosenburg spy execution Jul 27, 1953 Korean War ends Apr 26, 1954 Vietnam split at the 17th parallel Sep 8, 1954 Southeast Asia treaty Organization (SEATO) created May 14, 1955 Warsaw Pact formed Nov 1, 1955 American Involvement in Vietnam Jan 5, 1957 Eisenhower doctrine Oct 4, 1957 USSR Sputnik in Orbit Mar 27, 1958 Nikita Khruschev becomes leader of the USSR Jan 1, 1959 Fidel Castro takes over Cuba Jul 24, 1959 Nikita Khruschev and Vice President Richard Nixon have "Kitchen Debate" May 1, 1960 US U2 spy plane shot down over USSR May 7, 1960 Leonoid Brezhnev becomes leader of the USSR Nov 8, 1960 JFK elected POTUS Apr 12, 1961 USSR Astronaut Gagarin orbits earth Apr 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion by the US Aug 1, 1961 Berlin Wall construction begins Aug 13, 1961 Berlin, Germany, border closed Period: Oct 14, 1962 to Oct 28, 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis Apr 22, 1963 JFK assassinated/LBJ becomes POTUS Jun 26, 1963 JFK's delivers "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" speech Aug 2, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident- start of Vietnam War Jan 31, 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam Nov 5, 1968 Richard Nixon elected POTUS Jul 20, 1969 US puts first man on the moon Feb 21, 1972 President Richard Nixon visits China Jan 28, 1973 Ceasefire in Vietnam Aug 9, 1974 President Richard Nixon resigns/ Ford become POTUS Apr 30, 1975 End of Vietnam War with the fall of Saigon Nov 2, 1976 Jimmy Carter elected President Oct 16, 1978 Cardinal Carol Wojtyla elected Pope of the Holy Roman Catholic Church (John Paull II) Period: Nov 4, 1979 to Jan 20, 1981 Iraninian Hostage crisis Dec 24, 1979 USSR invades Afghanistan Period: Jul 19, 1980 to Aug 3, 1980 US boycotts 1980 Summer Olympics Nov 4, 1980 Ronald W. Reagan elected POTUS Nov 10, 1982 Leonoid Brezhnev dies Apr 23, 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of USSR Jun 12, 1987 President Reagan's Berlin Wall speech Period: May 15, 1988 to Feb 15, 1989 Russian troops withdraw from Afghanistan Nov 8, 1988 George H.W. Bush elected POTUS Apr 4, 1989 Poland becomes independent Period: Apr 15, 1989 to Jun 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square in Chine Nov 9, 1989 Berlin Wall falls Oct 3, 1990 East and West Germany reunite Jun 13, 1991 Boris Yelstin elected President of Russia Jul 1, 1991 Warsaw pact ends Dec 25, 1991 Gorbachev resigns as leader of the USSR Dec 26, 1991 USSR dissolves/ Cold War ends
