Cold War Timeline

1917

Bolshevik Revolution

1939

Soviet non-aggression pact

1943

Tehran Conference

1945

Yalta Conference, WWII ends, Potsdam Conference

1946

Iron Curtain Speech & Long Telegram

1947

Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan

1948

Berlin Airlift

1949

NATO, Soviet Union’s 1st atomic bomb, China falls to Communism

1950

U.S. and UN fight North Korea & 2nd Red Scare

1953

Stalin dies & end of Korean War

1954

SEATO & fall of Dien Bien Phu & Geneva Accords

1955

West Germany joins NATO & Warsaw Pact

1956

Khrushchev’s secret speech

1957

Sputnik

1959

Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba

1960

U2 Spy plane shot down

1961

Bay of Pigs & Berlin Wall built

1962

Cuban Missile Crisis

1964

Gulf of Tonkin Incident & Resolution

1965

U.S. sends troops to Vietnam

1968

Tet Offensive

1970

Paris peace talks

1972

Detente with PRC & Nixon visits china

1973

Paris peace accords & OPEC

1975

South Vietnam falls to Communist forces

1978

Camp David Accords signed

1979

Soviet Red Army invades Afghanistan

1983

U.S. invades Grenada & SDI announced

1985

Gorbachev - glasnost & perestroika

1989

Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan & Berlin Wall demolished & communist gov’ts fall and Soviet empire ends

1991

Soviet Union is abolished