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Soviet army marches into Berlin; the German capital city falls. World War II ends. Soviet Union, United States, Great Britain, and France divide Berlin and Germany into four zones of occupation, a decision made during the Yalta conference.
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British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's “Iron Curtain” speech marks beginning of the Cold War.
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U.S. President Harry Truman requests funds to support Greek and Turkish efforts to fight communism. It marks the beginning of the Truman doctrine.
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The Berlin airlift supplies West Berlin with basic necessities after the Soviet Union blocks off the city in an effort to force the West to give it up.
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The Soviets detonate their first atomic bomb.
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The Korean War begins, the first armed conflict in the Cold War, the global struggle between communism and democracy.
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The Warsaw Pact is formed by the Soviet Union and communist countries in eastern Europe as a military defense organization to counter NATO.
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The Cuban Missile crisis sparks a major confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union when the U.S. discovers the existence of Soviet missile installations in Cuba.
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The United States Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which grants President Johnson authority to send troops to South Vietnam.
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U.S. President Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. leader to visit communist China, leading to a thaw in Cold War relations.
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US President Ronald Reagan announces the development of a world-wide "Star Wars" missile defense system with his Strategic Defense Initiative.
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The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, beginning a decade-long war that ends with their withdrawal in 1988.
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U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign INF treaty, which removes medium and short-range nuclear missiles.
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The Berlin wall was separating families and keeping the people from job and opporunity in the west.
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US Presidnet George H.W. Bush, delivers a Christmas Day sppech acknowledging the end of the cold war.
