Cold+War+Major+Developments

Cold War Origins

Who Caused the Cold War?

Berlin Blockade 1948-49

The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

Korean War 1950-53

The Berlin War 1961

Politics 1950s and 60s

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

Vietnam

For Further information refer to the following pages: The Vietnam War Cold War Key Developments Cold War Superpower Relations End of the Cold War Policy Changes of Nikita Khrushchev The Soviet Union Under Stalin The Soviet Union Under Brezhnev Brezhnev Foreign Policy Brezhnev Cold War Significant Events Timeline Cold War Timeline Fulgencio Batista Gorbachev Khrushchev Mao Zedong and the PRC NATO Stalin 1941-1953 Stalin's domestic policies Stalin's foreign and domestic policies

Timeline adapted from the book "The Cold War: Collapse of Communism" by Earle Rice Jr.
 * 1917 || November 7 || Bolsheviks seize power in Russia ||
 * 1942 || November 6 || NKVD chief Laventy Beria informs Soviet premier, Joseph Stalin of atomic research by Western power ||
 * 1945 || February 4-12 || Yalta Conference; meeting of President F.D.R, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin ||
 * || March 23 || Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov announces that Polish elections will be conducted Soviet-style ||
 * || April 12 || President Roosevelt dies; VP Harry S. Truman takes over ||
 * || June 26 || Signing of the UN Charter ||
 * || July 17-August 2 || Potsdam Conference; meeting of President Truman, Prime Minister Churchill (is replaced by Clement Attlee on July 28), and Premier Stalin ||
 * || August 6 || The US drops A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 9th ||
 * || August 8 || The Soviet Union declares war on Japan ||
 * || September 2 || Japan surrenders, WW2 ends ||
 * || October 24 || UN Day (UN Charter ratified) ||
 * 1946 || January 5 || Truman's letter is sent to Secretary of state James F. Byrnes which starts the American policy against the USSR ||
 * || March 5 || Churchill makes his "iron curtain" speech ||
 * 1947 || February 21 || Britain informs the US that it will stop sending aid to Greece and Turkey on March 31 ||
 * || March 12 || President Truman announces his Truman Doctrine ||
 * 1948 || June 5 || Marshall Plan announced ||
 * || June 18 || Western powers introduce a new deutshe mark (currency) intp West Germany ||
 * || June 23 || Soviet Union issues their own version of the mark to East Germany ||
 * || June 24-May 5, 1949 || Berlin Blockade and airlift ||
 * 1949 || April 4 || NATO is formed ||
 * || May 23 || West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) is formed ||
 * || August 29 || The Soviet Union detonate their first nuclear weapon ||
 * || October 7 || East Germany (German Democratic Republic) is formed ||
 * 1950 || June 25 || Korean War begins ||
 * 1952 || November 1 || US tests the Hydrogen bomb ||
 * || November 4 || Eisenhower becomes president ||
 * 1953 || March 5 || Stalin dies ||
 * || June 19 || The Rosenbergs are executed for spying on behalf of the USSR ||
 * || July 27 || Korean war ends ||
 * 1955 || November 9 || The Soviet Union test their hydrogen bomb ||
 * 1956 || July 19-December 4 || Suez Crisis, occurs because the US withdrew financial support for the Aswan Dam ||
 * 1957 || January 5 || Pres Eisenhower gets the US to defend the Middle East, Eisenhower Doctrine ||
 * || October 4 || Sputnik 1 is lunched (space race) ||
 * 1959 || April 4 || Pres Eisenhower gets the US to support South Vietnam ||
 * || July 8 || First American serviceman killed by the Viet Cong ||
 * 1960 || November 8 || J.F.K becomes pres ||
 * 1962 || October 14-Nov 7 || Cuban Missile Crisis ||
 * 1963 || August 5 || US, Great Britain and the USSR sign the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 ||
 * || November 22 || J.F.K is assassinated, VP Johnson becomes pres ||
 * 1972 || May 26 || Nixon and Kosygin (Soviet premier) sign SALT I ||
 * 1973 || December 31 || US forces in Vietnam is reduced to fifty men ||
 * 1975 || April 30 || Vietnam War ends ||
 * 1979 || December 27 || The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan ||
 * 1985 || March 11 || Gorbachev is elected Soviet Secretary ||
 * 1987 || June 12 || Reagan asks Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall ||
 * 1988 || May 31 || Reagan addresses students at Moscow University during summit meetings with Gorbachev ||
 * || June 28 || 19th Conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union convenes in Moscow ||
 * || October 1 || Gorbachev is elected Soviet president and Chief of state ||
 * 1989 || February 15 || The Soviet Union leaves Afghanistan ||
 * || November 9 || The Berlin Wall is breached ||
 * 1991 || January 22 || Gorbachev denies any role in the Vilnius revolt ||
 * || March 17 || Soviet citizens approve referendum aimed at preserving the Soviet Union ||
 * || June 12 || Boris Yeltsin wins election as president of the new Russian Federation ||
 * || July 29 || George Bush and Gorbachev signs START treaty ||
 * || August 19-22 || Coup against Gorbachev fails ||
 * || December 8 || Russia, Ukraine and Belarus sign an agreement creating the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as the successor to the Soviet Union ||
 * || December 25 || Gorbachev resigns, marking the collapse of Communism ||


 * Analysis of Sources used in this Cold War Project**

__Learning Curve__ It is a site designed to help teach history through original documents, photographs and film from "The National Archives", supported with background information. This makes the site a secondary or historiographical source which provides primary documents and films while providing background information to assist in the analysis of such sources.

__Credits from Learning Curve: Cold War__ Author: Ben Walsh General editors: Tom O'Leary and Sarah Price Researcher: Sarah Price Website Design: Robert Daoust and Harpal Sabharwal We would like to thank the following copyright holders for permission to use items in this exhibition: Associated Newspapers; Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature; Daily Telegraph; David King Collection; Imperial War Museum; John Jensen; Korea Film Export and Import Corporation; Liz Lochead; Medical & Scientific Aid for Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia; National Archives and Records Administration; Punch Archive; US Government Printing Office, Dr James Fox and the Bunker Preservation Trust and the Vietnamese Embassy. ITN Archive://The Production is licensed to end user for access only on end user's personal computer solely for the end user's private use. No part of the Production shall be copied, downloaded, stored, manipulated, reformatted, republished, redistributed, posted, printed, displayed, broadcast, transmitted or otherwise used in any way.//

__The Cold War: Collapse of Communism__ Book written by Earle Rice Jr. This book is a historiographical source that discusses the social, economic and political reasons behind the events of the Cold War Unfortunately this source was not thoroughly investigated for the purpose of this Cold War project