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Cold War Timeline January 1, 1947 through December 31, 1966
Timeline of the history of the Cold War from years 1947 through 1966 -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces -
Truman's Loyalty Program
President Harry S. Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government. -
Rio Pact
The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance is an agreement signed in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro among many countries of the Americas. The central principle contained in its articles is that an attack against one is to be considered an attack against them all; this was known as the "hemispheric defense" doctrine. -
Brussels Pact
The Treaty of Brussels, also referred to as the Brussels Pact, was the founding treaty of the Western Union between 1948 and 1954, when it was amended as the Modified Brussels Treaty and served as the founding treaty of the Western European Union until its termination in 2010. -
Marshall Plan
On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948. It became known as the Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George Marshall, who in 1947 proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe. -
Berlin Blockade Begins
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. -
NATO Ratified
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered outside of the Western Hemisphere. -
Berlin Blockade Ends
The United States and the United Kingdom responded by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany. The crisis ended on May 12, 1949, when Soviet forces lifted the blockade on land access to western Berlin. -
Russia Tested First Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, known in the West as Joe-1, on Aug. 29, 1949, at Semipalatinsk Test Site, in Kazakhstan. -
Truman approved h-bomb development
On January 31, 1950, U.S. President Harry S. Truman publicly announces his decision to support the development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. -
Joe Mccarthy Begins Communist Witch Hunt and Loyalty Tests
He is known for alleging that numerous Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately, the smear tactics that he used led him to be censured by the U.S. Senate. -
Korean War Begins
The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea -
Seoul
Chinese soldiers capture Seoul -
Federal Civil Defense Administration Established
U.S. Federal Civil Defense Administration, Blackbird. The Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) was organized by Democratic president Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) on December 1, 1950, and became an official government agency on January 12, 1951. -
Truman Fires MacArthur
Harry Truman’s decision to fire Douglas MacArthur at the height of the Korean War in April 1951 shocked the American political system and astonished the world. Much of the world didn’t realize the president had the power to fire a five-star general; much of America didn’t realize Truman had the nerve. -
Economic Aid for Yugoslavia
President Harry Truman asks Congress for U.S. military and economic aid for the communist nation of Yugoslavia. -
NATO
Greece and Turkey join Nato -
Fusion Bomb
The United States tests their first thermonuclear fusion bomb -
1st H-Bomb
The world's first hydrogen bomb was exploded by the U-S in the Marshall Islands in the mid-Pacific. It left a crater one-half mile deep and two miles across. Scientists and military personnel witnessed the blast from ships and planes 50 miles away. -
Stalin
Joseph Stalin came to power in the Soviet Union after the death of Vladimir Lenin on 21st January 1924. He did not have sole control. He acted as part of a troika with Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev. After Lenin's death, Stalin eliminated Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Bukharin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev to become the leaders in 1929. Stalin had more people put to death secretly than simply died while under his reign as dictator. 20 million is the accepted number. Died of a stroke at 74 in 1953. -
Spies Executed
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg became the first native-born Americans to be put to death for espionage by order of a civilian court. -
Korean War Ends
War's unpopularity played important role in the victory of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had pledged to go to Korea to end the war. U.S. losses were placed at over 54,000 dead and 103,000 wounded, while Chinese and Korean casualties were each at least 10 times as high. The signing of the armistice begins to cease fire, calls for a demilitarized zone, voluntary repatriation of prisoners and establishes the thirty-eighth parallel as the boundary between North and South Korea. -
Edward R. Murrow vs. McCarthy
Murrow's most-celebrated piece was his 9 March 1954 telecast, in which he engaged Senator Joseph R. McCarthy in a program "told mainly in [McCarthy's] own words and pictures" regarding the communist witch hunt in Washington, D.C. In his review of the now legendary McCarthy program, New York Times' TV critic Jack Gould reflected an ongoing canonization process when he wrote that "last week may be remembered as the week that broadcasting recaptured its soul." -
SEATO
Foundation of the South East Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) by Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Like NATO, it is founded to resist Communist expansion, this time in the Philippines and Indochina. -
U-2 Planes Authorized
Eisenhower approves the building of thirty U-2 reconnaissance planes. -
Warsaw Pact
In May 1955, the Soviet Union institutionalized its East European alliance system when it gathered together representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania in Warsaw to sign the multilateral Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, which was identical to their existing bilateral treaties with the Soviet Union. Initially, the Soviets claimed that the Warsaw Pact was a direct response to the inclusion of West Germany in 1955. -
NATO
West Germany joins NATO and begins rearmament. -
Start of Vietnam War
In Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 11/1/55 to the fall of Saigon on 4/30/75. Fought b/t N.Vietnam, supported by communist allies, and the government of S.Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The Viet Cong, a lightly armed S.Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war. The Vietnam People's Army engaged in a more conventional war. U.S. and S.Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower. -
Viet Cong
Viet Cong insurgency begins in South Vietnam, sponsored by North Vietnam. -
Suez Crisis
After Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, Britain and France began planning an invasion of Egypt, as did Israel. Aware of the Israeli plan to invade the Sinai, French officials suggested that an F-B force could enter Egypt to "separate the combatants" while seizing control of the entire Suez waterway. 5 November the SU sent diplomatic notes to B, F, and I threatening to crush the aggressors and restore peace in the Middle East through the use of force. -
Hungarian Revolution
Students who gathered at Budapest Technical University to protest the hard-line Stalinist government, adopted a declaration demanding 3 reforms of the Hungarian Government: free press, democratic elections, and move away hard-line Stalinist policies. As the rebellion began to spread leaders within the Hungarian government made an appeal to the Soviet Union for troops to help quell the growing rebellion. The following day, H and S troops shot and killed approximately 300 demonstrators. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
Promised military or economic aid to any Middle Eastern country needing help in resisting communist aggression. The doctrine was intended to check increased Soviet influence in the Middle East, which had resulted from the supply of arms to Egypt by communist countries as well as from strong communist support of Arab states. Eisenhower proclaimed, with Congressional, that he would use the armed forces to protect the independence of any Middle Eastern country seeking American help. -
Sputnik
Launched by the Soviet Union, Sputnik was the world's first artificial satellite -- a 184-pound, beach ball-sized sphere stuffed with eerily beeping radio transmitters. Americans reacted with shock and disbelief. -
Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2 was launched, with the first living being on board, Laika. -
Thor
Thor IRBM deployed to the UK, within striking distance of Moscow. -
Explorer l
The first U.S. satellite, Explorer I, is sent into orbit. -
United Arab Republic
The United Arab Republic is formed. -
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro wins the Cuban Revolution and becomes the dictator of Cuba. In the next several years Cuban-inspired guerrilla movements spring up across Latin America. -
Explorer 6
Explorer 6 is launched into orbit to photograph the Earth. -
Luna 3
Luna 3 is launched to take photographs of the far side of the Moon. -
France A-Bomb
France successfully tests its first atomic bomb, Gerboise Bleue, in the middle of the Algerian Sahara Desert -
Malaya
Communist insurgents in Malaya are defeated. -
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev travels to New York City to address the U.N. General Assembly, beginning a month-long visit to the United States. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by United States-backed Cuban exiles to overthrow the government of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Increasing friction between the U.S. government and Castro's regime led Eisenhower to break off diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961. Even before that, however, the CIA had been training anti-revolutionary Cuban exiles for a possible invasion of the island. The invasion plan was approved by Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy. -
Castro and Cuba
Fidel Castro came to power as a result of the Cuban Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and shortly thereafter became Prime Minister of Cuba. On this date Castor officially declared Cuba a socialist state. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin border between East and West Berlin is closed. The zonal boundary is sealed in the morning by East German troops. “Shock workers” from East Germany and Russia a seal off the border with barbed wire and light fencing that eventually became a complex series of wall, fortified fences, gun positions and watchtowers heavily guarded and patrolled. In the end, the Berlin Wall was 96 miles long and the average height of the concrete wall was 11.8 ft. -
Laos
Neutralization of Laos is established by international agreement, but North Vietnam refuses to withdraw its personnel -
Mariner 2
Mariner 2 is launched to make a flyby of Venus -
Mars 1
The Soviet Union successfully launches Mars 1 with the intention of making a flyby of Mars. -
JFK Speech
U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in Berlin. -
Ngo Dinh Diem
South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in coup. CIA involvement is suspected. -
John F. Kennedy is assassinated
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the united states of America is assassinated in Dallas, Texas