Timeline

Origins: 1945-1949

  • Feb 1945 - Yalta Conference

    • Demilitarisation of Germany

    • Splitting it between the powers

    • War reparations

    • Roosevelt wants little punishment of Germany to keep them onside, Stalin wants major reparations

  • 1945 - Roosevelt (Dem.) dies, Truman (Dem.) in

  • July 1945 - Potsdam Conference

    • Demilitarisation of Germany

    • Splitting it between the powers

      • US, UK, France, and USSR

    • War reparations

    • Stalin wants major reparations

    • Declaration on a Liberated Europe - promise to have free elections in previously Nazi-occupied countries which Stalin manoeuvres around using salami tactics

  • Sept 1945 - end of WWII

  • 1945-49 - Communist expansion in Eastern Europe

    • Poland - rigged elections

    • East Germany - GDR formed with Soviet backing

    • Romania - monarchy abolished, communists establish People’s Republic

    • Czechoslovakia - communist coup

    • Hungary - salami tactics - gradual removal of opposition

  • 1945 - Demilitarisation of Japan

    • US want a strong capitalist state in Asia to protect their economic interests

    • General MacArthur demilitarises and rebuilds Japan

  • Feb 1946 - Long Telegram

    • American ambassador to USSR warns the danger of communist expansion

    • Forms the basis for the Truman Doctrine and containment policy

  • March 1946 - Iron Curtain Speech

    • Churchill in Fulton, Missouri

    • Says there is an ‘iron curtain’ separating the East and West

    • Firmly sets the West against the East

  • 1946 - Greek Civil War

    • Communist vs capitalist

    • Stalin does not intervene and support the communists to keep good relations with US

  • Jan 1947 - Bizonia

    • Western sectors of West Germany join into ‘Bizonia’

    • Sign of division between East and West

  • March 1947 - Truman Doctrine

    • Expresses the need to ‘contain’ communism

    • Military and political aid offered to countries battling communist takeover

  • June 1947 - Marshall Plan

    • Economic aid offered to countries after destruction of WWII

    • West Europe took aid freely

    • East Europe pressured by USSR to refuse aid

  • Oct 1947 - Cominform

    • Designed to coordinate communist parties across Europe

    • Response to Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan

  • June 1948 - Deutschemark

    • New currency introduced in Bizonia

    • Solidifies split in Germany

    • Triggers Stalin to set up Berlin Blockade

  • June 1948 - May 1949 - Berlin Blockade

    • Stalin wants to pressure West to revoke Deutschmark in Bizonia and get out of West Berlin

    • Cuts off all land and water access to West Berlin

    • No access to food and other supplies

  • June 1948 - May 1949 - Berlin Airlift

    • US response to the Blockade is to send planes to drop food over West Berlin for its population

    • ‘Operation Plainfare'

    • Humiliating for USSR

    • Makes US into heroes plus advertises capitalism and consumerism

  • Jan 1949 - Comecon

    • Economic assistance for communist parties in Europe

    • Response to Marshall Plan

  • April 1949 - NATO

    • Alliance between Western nations against communist expansion

  • May 1949 - FGR in West Germany

    • West Germany becomes its own state

  • Aug 1949 - Soviet atom bomb

    • Beginning of the Arms Race

  • Oct 1949 - Chinese Civil War ends

    • Mao and the Communist Party in China win the civil war and force the GMD into exile in Taiwan

    • Establishes the People’s Republic of China

    • Communist expansion into Asia

    • Makes Truman look bad

    • Mao and Stalin have very different communist ideologies

  • Oct 1949 - GDR in East Germany

    • East Germany becomes its own state


Widening: 1950-55

  • Jan 1950 - Defensive Perimeter Strategy

    • Blockade around Asia to enact containment

    • Korea and Taiwan not included in border

      • Might have been the DPS that gave N. Korea permission to invade S. Korea as it was not included in the perimeter

  • April 1950 - NSC-68

    • US commitment to directing funds to defense spending

  • 1950s - Red Scare

    • Growth of anti-communist sentiment in the US

    • Frustration over Truman’s inability to stop the PRC or the Korean War

    • McCarthy said that there were communists hiding in the US government - start of ‘witch hunt’ for communists

    • Only dismissed after he started targeting the army

  • 1952 - Election year - Truman (Dem.) out, Eisenhower (Rep.) in

    • Eisenhower is much tougher on communists

    • Rollback policy as opposed to containment

    • Brinkmanship - taking the world to the brink of war to make the USSR back down

    • Domino theory - if one country falls to communism others will follow suit

  • March 1953 - Death of Stalin

    • Stalin dies and after a power vacuum Khrushchev is put in charge

  • July 1954 - Geneva Conference

    • French are losing the war in Indochina

    • Vietnam split between the communists under Ho Chi Minh and the capitalists under the brutal dictator Ngo Diem who is under the US’s thumb

    • US don’t want free elections in Vietnam because the communists will win due to popularity

    • Rigged votes in Vietnam keep Diem in charge

  • Sept 1954 - SEATO

    • NATO in Asia

  • May 1955 - Warsaw Pact

    • Pact between USSR and satellite states


Global: 1956-63

  • 1956 - Secret Speech

    • Khrushchev delivers a secret speech denouncing Stalin’s approach to rule

    • Announces plans for ‘deStalinisation’

  • June-Oct 1956 - Polish Uprising

    • Khrushchev allows this to take place

  • Oct-Nov 1956 - Hungarian Uprising

    • Khrushchev initially allows this to take place

    • Nagy takes power and announces Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact

    • This is a step too far and Khrushchev sends in tanks and troops to suppress the uprising

    • Nagy is executed

    • Khrushchev proves to the world that he is no better than Stalin

    • Eisenhower does not send help for the rebels

      • US Presidential Election is in Nov 1956 and he doesn’t want to jeopardize his chances

      • Scared to actually enforce ‘brinkmanship’ and take a direct stand against Khrushchev

      • Both US and USSR humiliated

  • Oct-Nov 1956 - Suez Crisis

    • Conflicts over control of the Suez Canal in Egypt

    • Nasser nationalises the use of the canal, which threatens French Israeli and UK control of trade

    • Nasser accepts aid from both US and USSR

    • US intervenes to make peace, redeeming their reputation after Hungary

  • Oct 1957 - Sputnik

    • Soviet satellite

    • Start of Space Race

  • Nov 1958 - Berlin Ultimatum

    • Khrushchev demands Western powers leave Berlin

    • Eisenhower refuses and Khrushchev lets it slide saying he was joking

  • Jan 1959 - Cuban Revolution

    • Fidel Castro begins a socialist state in Cuba

    • Threateningly close to the US

  • Sept 1959 - Camp David

    • Khrushchev visits America

  • May 1960 - Paris Summit/ U-2 Crisis

    • US U-2 spy plane is shot down over Soviet Union just before Paris Summit making tensions worse

  • 1960 - Kennedy (Dem.) wins elections

  • April 1961 - Bay of Pigs

    • Kennedy sends Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro in Cuba which is a massive failure

  • June 1961 - Vienna Summit

    • After the Bay of Pigs

    • Khrushchev re-declares the Berlin Ultimatum

  • Aug 1961 - Berlin Wall

    • Khrushchev permits the GDR to build a wall between East and West Berlin to prevent the ‘brain drain’

      • Doctors, teachers, young people in East Germany had all been moving to the West leaving the East destitute

    • Kennedy goes to Berlin and delivers a speech in support of West Germany - “ich bin ein Berliner’

  • 1962-63 - Strategic Hamlet Programme

    • Kennedy’s involvement in Vietnam, creating gated communities to prevent influence of the Viet Cong

    • Basically concentration camps in Vietnam

  • 1962-70 - Operation Ranch Hand

    • Chemical warfare in Vietnam

    • Using chemicals like ‘Agent Orange’ to destroy crops and livelihoods

    • Mostly disrupted the lives of civilians than Viet Cong

  • Oct 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis

    • 14th Oct

      • Soviet missile base discovered in Cuba

    • 16th Oct

      • The ExComm is set up to deal with the situation

    • 18th-19th Oct

      • Soviet Ambassador Gromyko talks with Kennedy trying to diffuse the situation

    • 22nd Oct

      • Kennedy makes a televised address

      • A naval blockade is set up to stop shipments of weapons into Cuba

    • 26th Oct

      • Khrushchev sends a letter direct to Kennedy willing to remove missiles from Cuba if Kennedy promises not to invade Cuba

    • 27th Oct

      • Khrushchev sends a second letter offering to remove missiles from Cuba if Kennedy removes missiles from Turkey

    • 28th Oct

      • Kennedy publicly accepts the terms of the 1st letter

      • Privately agrees to remove missiles from Turkey as well

  • Aug 1963 - Partial Test Ban Treaty

    • Placed limits on nuclear weapons tests

    • Showed a step towards reconciliation after terrifying Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Nov 1963 - Diem assassination

    • Diem is assassinated

  • Nov 1963 - Kennedy assassination

    • Kennedy is assassinated and replaced by Johnson


Confrontation and Cooperation:

  • 1964 - Election year - Johnson (Dem.) stays in

  • 1964 - Khrushchev resigns, Brezhnev in

  • Aug 1964 - Gulf of Tonkin crisis and resolution

    • Viet Minh attack US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin

    • Johnson uses this as an excuse to put forward the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, further involving the US in the Vietnam War

  • Oct 1964 - China develops nuclear weapons

  • Nov 1965 - Battle of Ia Drang

    • First major battle involving the US military

  • Johnson’s involvement of the US in the war is based on archaic methods of warfare that are rendered ineffective against modern guerilla warfare of the Viet Cong

    • Search and Destroy teams led by General Westmoreland are prone to ambushes and booby traps

    • Carpet bombing affects civilians more than it does the NLF

    • 1965-68 - Operation Rolling Thunder

    • NLF use underground tunnels, booby traps, ambushes etc.

    • US troops are not as accustomed to the environment of Vietnam as Viet Cong - e.g. forests

    • NLF are adept at increasing support in villages and towns

  • There is a credibility gap between what is actually happening in Vietnam vs what the US government are telling the public causing upset at home

  • Jan 1968 - Tet Offensive

    • Viet Minh attack all major cities in South Vietnam including the US embassy which is a major humiliation for the US as they are caught completely by surprise

  • July 1968 - Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    • Countries who do not yet have nuclear weapons cannot develop them

  • Aug 1968 - Prague Spring

    • Dubcek in Czechoslovakia implements more relaxed liberal reforms

    • Brezhnev shuts it down and exiles Dubcek

  • Nov 1968 - Brezhnev Doctrine

    • States that the USSR has the right to intervene in any socialist country if socialism was threatened

  • 1968 - Election year - Johnson (Dem.) out, Nixon (Rep.) in

    • Nixon and Kissinger want to remove US from the war

    • ‘Vietnamisation’ - handing back responsibility to the South Vietnamese

    • Slow removal of troops but keep the weapons and helicopters etc.

  • 1969-70 - Operation Menu

    • Carpet bombing of Laos and Cambodia

  • July 1969 - Apollo 11

    • Space Race

  • Nov 1969 - My Lai Massacre is uncovered

    • Reveals the credibility gap between what is happening in Vietnam and what the US public are hearing

  • Aug 1970 - Treaty of Moscow

    • Start of European detente

    • Brandt in West Germany wants to mend relations with East Germany and the Soviets, ultimately aims to reunify Germany

  • Dec 1970 - German-Polish Treaty

    • European detente

  • April 1971 - Ping Pong Diplomacy

    • US ping-pong team are the first Americans to enter China since the creation of the PRC

    • Start of Sino-US detente

  • July/Oct 1971 - Kissinger visits China

    • More proof of Sino-US detente

  • Sept 1971 - Berlin Agreement

    • European detente

  • Feb 1972 - Nixon visits China

    • Monumental moment for Sino-US detente

    • Mainly for publicity

    • Makes the USSR feel threatened as the two other superpowers build a relationship - forces them into detente as well

  • 1972 - Nixon is re-elected

  • May 1972 - SALT I talks begin

    • Start of superpower detente

  • Dec 1972 - Basic Treaty

    • European detente

  • Dec 1972 - Operation Linebacker II

    • Intense carpet bombing of North Vietnam with the aim of getting them to concede


Brezhnev Era

  • Jan 1973 - Paris Peace Accords

    • Kissinger organises peace treaty between ARVN and NLF

  • Sept 1973 - FRG and GDR join the UN

  • Oct 1973 - Yom Kippur War

    • US supports Israel, USSR supports Egypt and Syria

  • Aug 1974 - Watergate Scandal

    • Nixon (Rep.) out, Ford (Dem.) in

  • Nov 1974 - Vladivostok Summit

    • Control of nuclear weapons

  • April 1975 - End of the Vietnam War

    • North Vietnam invades South Vietnam and quickly takes control of it, reunifying Vietnam into one socialist state

  • April 1975 - Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot take control in Cambodia

  • Aug 1975 - Helsinki Accords

    • Peace negotiations

    • Consists of 3 baskets - Soviets ignore the 3rd one about human rights

  • 1975-76 - Angolan Civil War

    • USSR and mainly Cuba support the communist MPLA

    • US supports the anti-communist UNITA

  • 1976 - Election year - Ford (Rep.) out, Carter (Dem.) in

  • 1977 - Charter 77

    • Petition in protest of Soviet’s ignorance of Basket 3 of Helsinki Accords

  • Feb 1979 - Iranian Revolution

    • Islamic fundamentalism poses a threat to communism

  • Dec 1979 - Afghanistan

    • Soviet’s Vietnam

    • Trying to stop the spread of Islamic fundamentalism

  • Jan 1980 - Carter Doctrine

    • Voicing outrage over Soviet involvement in Afghanistan

  • July 1980 - Olympics boycott

    • US boycotts Olympics in Russia

  • 1980 - Election year - Carter (Dem.) out, Reagan (Rep.) in

  • Nov 1982 - Brezhnev dies, Andropov in

  • March 1983 - ‘Evil Empire’ speech

  • March 1983 - SDI

    • Strategic Defense Initiative

    • Plans for a defense system in space

    • ‘Star Wars’

  • July 1983 - Samantha Smith

    • Young American girl visits Soviet Union as an ambassador

  • Sept 1983 - KAL-007

    • Soviets shoot down plane causing outrage

  • Nov 1983 - Able Archer

    • NATO (US) military exercise mistaken as a declaration of war by the USSR

  • 1984 - Election year - Reagan stays in

  • Feb 1984 - Andropov dies, Chernenko in

  • July 1984 - Olympics boycott

    • USSR boycott Olympics in US

  • Feb 1985 - Reagan Doctrine

    • Dedication to help guerilla groups and rebels fighting the Soviets

  • March 1985 - Chernenko dies, Gorbachev in

    • Glasnost and perestroika

  • Nov 1985 - Geneva Summit

    • First meeting of Gorbachev and Reagan

    • Gorbachev has a different approach to rule than his predecessors

    • Looking for relaxed relations between powers

    • Gorbachev anti-SDI

    • No formal agreements but a mutual commitment to future talks


End:

  • April 1986 - Chernobyl

    • Gorbachev initially tried to cover it up, later took accountability

  • Oct 1986 - Reykjavik Summit

    • Plans to get rid of all nuclear weapons, never accomplished

    • Issues over SDI