Cold War Dates

4-11th February 1945

Yalta Conference:

Agreements =

• Occupied Germany divided into 4 zones administered by USA, UK, France, USSR; Berlin also divided into 4 zones

• United Nations organisation to be created;

• USSR would gain land from Poland (security); Poland would gain land from Germany

• Declaration on Liberated Europe: Allies will Ensure peace in Europe, form temporary ‘broadly representative’ democratic governments in countries they occupied, and hold elections when needed

12th April 1945

Truman becomes President (Truman Doctrine + Containment)

8th May 1945

Germany Surrenders + WW2 ends in Europe

16th July 1945

Trinity test; First successful detonation of an atomic bomb (US)

17th July – 2nd August 1945

Potsdam Conference

Agreements =

• The 4 Ds in Germany: Demilitarisation: Germany to be disarmed and demilitarised; De-Nazification and war crimes trials for Nazi leaders; De-Centralisation Decentralisation of Germany political system; Democratisation: Freedom of speech, press and religion

• Germany to be a single economic unit

• USSR receive reparations from the Soviet-occupied zone in Germany plus 25% from the western-occupied zones

6th and 9th August 1945

US nuclear bomb on Hiroshima + Nagasaki; Seen as a tactic to intimidate the USSR + show the atomic strength of the USA

2nd September 1945

Japan Surrenders + officially ends of WW2; Korea split on the 38th parallel

24th October 1945

UN established

9th Feb 1946

Stalin’s Bolshoi Speech in Moscow ; Blames capitalism for WW2

22nd Feb 1946

George Kennan’s Long Telegram; Viewed compromise with the USSR as futile and saw the USSR as aggressive and expansionist; Inevitable collapse of relations

5th March 1946

Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech ; “an iron curtain has descended across the continent”

21st April 1946

Forced merger of KPD and SPD into the SED; Socialist Union Party

27th May 1946

Clay blocks USSR from taking Reparations from the US Zone

August 1946

Zhdanov Doctrine ; Viewed the world as being divided into two camps; The ‘imperialistic’ camp led by the USA and the ‘anti-imperialist’ camp led by the USSR; He viewed conflict between these two camps as inevitable

6th September 1946

James Byrne’s Speech of Hope; Speech about Germany’s future and it being a free and democratic country; essentially a propaganda stunt to win the hearts of the Germans

October 1946

Communists in Bulgaria win 75% of vote in rigged elections

November 1946

Socialists and Communist party merged in Romania + win 80% in rigged elections

1st January 1947

Bizonia created; Merger of the British and American zones in Germany

January 1947

Communists led by Gomulka claim 80% in rigged elections in Poland

1st February 1947

Reverse course policy develops in Japan; This period marked a transition from the initial occupation goals of punishing and demilitarizing Japan toward rebuilding Japan as a self-supporting, anti-communist ally in Asia.

February 1947

Britain withdraws from Greek Civil War

12th March 1947

Truman Doctrine announced

March – April 1947

Moscow conference ; Western powers reject USSR’s demands for a centralised Germany

5th June 1947

Marshall Plan announced; It terms were; Providing $13.5 bn in money + goods to 16 countries through the creation of the Organisation of European Economic Co-operation (OEEC); Aimed to promote European unity + a single European market; The condition of the aid was importing US made goods + sharing economic info with the US; The aid was controlled by the US e.g. the OEEC asked for 67,000 tractors but got half because American farmers did not want too much competition from Europe

2nd July 1947

Soviets walk out of Paris Peace Conference; Viewed American economic aid as a threat to their control over Eastern Europe and a scheme for ‘American economic imperialism’

August 1947

Communist in Hungary win 60% of the vote in rigged elections

September 1947

Cominform established ; as a response to the Truman doctrine + the Marshall plan; ensured Stalin’s complete dominance of all communist parties in Europe

2nd September 1947

Rio Treaty; An armed attack by any state against an American state would be considered an attack against all American states, requiring each party to assist in meeting the attack + US viewed South America as their backyard.

November – December 1947

London Conference ; Evident that the 4-power system would not work, led the west to have an urgency to create a western zone to ensure economic stability

25th February 1948

Czech Coup ; USSR consolidated control over Czechoslovakia

February – June 1948

London Conference ; Western powers meet in London to plan a new currency + constitution for West Germany

June 1948

Trizonia formed; Bizonia merger with the French zone of Germany

20th June 1948

New currency Deutschemark established ; Immediate trigger for Berlin Crisis

23rd June 1948

Deutschemark introduced to the economy of Trizonia

24th June 1948

Berlin Blockade begins ; The US/UK respond with the Berlin Airlift

28th June 1948

Tito defies Stalin + Yugoslavia is expelled from Cominform

15th August 1948

Republic of South Korea established under Syngman Rhee

9th September 1948

Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea established under Kim II Sung

25th January 1949

Comecon ; Direct response to the Marshall Plan, it was designed to coordinate economic development and foster trade among the satellite states

4th April 1949

NATO created

12th May 1949

Berlin Blockade ends

23rd May 1949

Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) created

5th August 1949

Acheson’s ‘China White Paper’; Made to defend the Truman administration against criticism over the impending "Loss of China" to Communist forces, highlight that the outcome in China was beyond US control

29th August 1949

USSR tests nuclear bomb

1st October 1949

Communist victory in Chinese Civil War + Mao visits the USSR

7th October 1949

German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) created

16th December 1949

Mao visits Moscow

Early 1950s 1950

McCarthyism develops

12th January 1950

Defensive perimeter speech ; US commits to defending countries in Asia

14th February 1950

Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance + Mutual Assistance ; China signs military alliance with the USSR

7th April 1950

NSC 68 issued; The key points were: Massive weapons build-up: Build-up of both conventional and nuclear weapons, which should be paid through increased taxation; Under the Truman administration, defence spending almost tripled as a percentage of GDP (5% to 14.2%); Military readiness is key to containment: The US military must be ready to counter Soviet military aggression at any time, but a preventative strike was too dangerous; Global Cold War: The US should ally with capitalist countries in both Europe and Asia to prevent the spread of communism; Alliances: The US cannot return to isolationism and must support the free world politically, economically and militarily

25th June 1950

Korea War begins ; North invades South

October 1950

China joined Korean War in support of North

June 1951

First attempts at peace talks over Korea

1st September 1951

ANZUS treaty with Australia

8th September 1951

San Francisco Peace Treaty ; Security treaty signed between US + Japan

1st November 1952

US Hydrogen bomb test

20th January 1953

Eisenhower becomes President (“New Look” + Massive Retaliation)

5th March 1953

Stalin Dies

17th June 1953

East German uprising + 400 executed

27th July 1953

Korean War armistice (No peace treaty signed)

12th August 1953

Soviet Hydrogen bomb test

7th September 1953

A new council made for the USSR + Khrushchev becomes the First Secretary

27th June 1954

Guatemalan coup

7th May 1954

Battle of Diem Bien Phu ; French defeated

21st July 1954

Geneva Conference + Geneva Accords ; Vietnam separated along the 17th Parallel

3rd September 1954

First Taiwan Strait Crisis begins

8th September 1954

SEATO established

2nd December 1954

Mutual defence pact signed between USA + Taiwan

1955 1955

Start of the period of peaceful coexistence

29th January 1955

Formosa resolution ; Authorised Eisenhower to take whatever action he felt necessary to defend Taiwan

1st May 1955

First Taiwan Strait Crisis ends

9th May 1955

FRG joined NATO

14th May 1955

Warsaw Pact established

15th May 1955

Austrian State Treaty

16th July 1955

Diem refuses to hold elections on reunification

21st July 1955

Geneva Summit + Geneva Open Skies Proposal

16th September 1955

USSR SLBMs

22nd September 1955

Hallstein Doctrine; The FRG declared it would not maintain diplomatic relations with any country (except the USSR) that recognised the GDR

1st November 1955

Eisenhower sent personnel 200 personnel into Indochina

25th February 1956

20th Communist Party Congress in Moscow; Khrushchev consolidated power, becomes leader + Secret Speech

28th-30th June 1956

Polish Uprising

23rd October – 11th November 1956

Hungarian uprising + 4000 dead

29th October – 7th November 1956

Suez Crisis

21st August 1957

Soviet ICBMs

4th October 1957

Soviet launches Sputnik

15th October 1957

New Defence Technical Accord; USSR agree to support China to develop atomic bombs

January 1958

USA’s ICBMs

July 1958

NASA established

23rd August 1958

USA’s naval fleet activated in response to PRC threat to Taiwan ceasefire negotiated

27th November 1958

Khrushchev issues the Berlin Ultimatum; rejected by the west

31st December 1958

The west rejects the Ultimatum

January 1959

North Vietnam decides to use revolutionary violence to reunite Vietnam

1st January 1959

The Batista regime in Cuba overthrown by Castro

5th-17th September 1959

Khrushchev visits Camp David for talks

2nd October 1959

Dispute between Mao + Khrushchev during his visit to Beijing + Nuclear advisors are withdrawn

20th July 1960

USA’s SLBMs

July 1960

Castro allies with USSR

October 1960

US trade embargo with Cuba; US ban Cuban imports

14th August 1960

Castro seizes $1 billion in US assets