The Cold War from 1945-1991

The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

Feb 1, 1945

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bomb_on_Japan The bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima killed more than 100,000 people just on the first day. Others suffered from burns and radiation.

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Period: Nov 21, 1945 to Nov 21, 1991

The Truman Doctrine was established to offer assistance to countries.

Jan 1, 1947

http://csrmedia.education.asu.edu/Lectures/SS3/HistoryCore/Basic9/index.htm This Doctrine helped countries that were threatened by communism especially Greece and Turkey.

The first major Berlin crisis during the Cold War from the Soviet blockade of West Berlin.

Jun 24, 1948

http://csrmedia.education.asu.edu/Lectures/SS3/HistoryCore/Basic9/index.htm Cut off from the outside world, provisions are delivered to the isolated city by the Americans in the Berlin Air Bridge action.

The NATO Treaty is signed in Washington.

Apr 4, 1949

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO The NATO Treaty is basically for all parties invloved to protect each other from external parties.

The Federal Republic of Germany is established.

May 23, 1949

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany Right after this event, on October 7th, the communist German Democratic Republican (GDR) is founded.

The Soviets detonate their first atomic bomb.

Aug 29, 1949

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/Sovwpnprog.html According to legend, the Soviet physicists who worked on the bomb were honored for the achievement based on the penalties they would have suffered had the test failed.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin offers to hold negotiations on reunification of Germany on the condition that a united Germany remain neutral.

Jan 1, 1952

http://csrmedia.education.asu.edu/Lectures/SS3/HistoryCore/Basic9/index.htm The Western allied powers reject the offer because of the support of the WEst German parliament.

The Berlin Wall begins construction.

Aug 13, 1961

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Berlinermauer.jpg Completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin

After the Soviets position nuclear was heads in Cuba, the US threatens war.

Jan 1, 1962

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-cold-war-a-562290.html This became known as the Cuba Crisis. The world was on the verge of nuclear war for days.

The US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union agree to suspend surface and underwater tests of nuclear weapons.

Jan 1, 1963

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-cold-war-a-562290.html The Treaty was signed and ratified by the governments of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States during the fall of 1963.

Ronald Reagan announces the development of a world-wide "Star Wars" missile defense system with his Strategic Defense Initiative.

Jan 1, 1983

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-cold-war-a-562290.html The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)

The Berlin Wall falls.

Nov 9, 1989

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-cold-war-a-562290.html After the Berlin Wall came down, East and West Germany reunified into a single German state on October 3, 1990.

The Warsaw Pact is dissolved and Gorbachev resigns and the Soviet Union disappears.

Jan 1, 1991

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-cold-war-a-562290.html Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned, declaring his office extinct, and handed over the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes to Russian President Boris Yeltsin.