IB History Cold War Chronology

March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945 = Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)
April 12, 1945 – 1953 = Truman
1953 - 1961 = Eisenhower
1961 – November 22 - 1963 = JFK
November 22, 1963 – 1969 = Lyndon B. Johnson
1969 – August 1975 = Nixon
August 9, 1974 –1977 = Gerald Ford
1977 – 1981 = Jimmy Carter
1981 – 1989 = Ronald Reagan
1989 – 1993 =George Bush


1945 = Yalta Conference makes post-war settlements
= World War II ends
= Potsdam Conference held
= United Nations opens
= Nuclear weapons invented
1946 = Soviets establish Soviet-style governments in occupied states of Eastern Europe
= Churchill delivers “Iron Curtain’ speech
= Nuremberg Trials held
1947 = Greek civil war (-‘49)
= Truman calls for aid to Greece and Turkey (Truman Doctrine)
= U.S. proposes Marshall Plan
= U.S., Britain, and France join German occupation zones
= India, Pakistan independent
1948 = Communist coup in Czechoslovakia
= Soviets begin Berlin blockade and airlift
= Yugoslavia leaves Soviet bloc
1949 = Berlin Blockade ended
= German Federal Republic and German Democratic Republic (West and East Germany established
= NATO created
= USSR explodes atomic bomb
= Communists win civil war in China, government of Chiang moved to Taiwan
= Council of Europe formed
1950 = North Korea invades South Korea: UN (U.S.-led) aids South Korea
= Soviets aid North Korea
= China enters war as North Korean ally
= Height of McCarthyism in the U.S. (-‘54)
1953 = Armistice ends Korean War
= Death of Stalin
= Uprising in East Berlin crushed by Soviet troops
1954 = Communist-led Vet Minh defeat French in Indochina
= Geneva Accords on Indochina SEATO created
= Republic of Egypt established
1955 = West Germany joins NATO
= Warsaw Pact created. Baghdad Pact (CENTO) created
1956 = Uprising in Poland
= Suez War in Middle East: Hungarian revolt crushed by Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion
= Khrushchev becomes Premier in USSR, denounces Stalin before 20th Party Congress
1957 = Sputnik launched by USSR
= U.S. sends first aid to South Vietnam (-‘75)
1958 = Eisenhower Doctrine - U.S. will act to prevent growth of pro-Soviet power in. the Middle East
= Explorer launched by U.S.
= European Atomic Energy Community (EU RATOM) formed
1959 = Castro comes to power in Cuba
1960 = U-2 incident
= Beginning of Sino-Soviet split
1961 = USSR orbits first human
= Bay of Pigs invasion fails to oust Castro
= Berlin Wall erected
= U.S. increases aid to South Vietnam
1962 = Cuban Missile Crisis
1963 = Washington-Moscow Hot Line established
= Test Ban Treaty signed
= Kennedy travels to Berlin; USSR and China break relations
1964 = Khrushchev ousted
= Leonid Brezhnev becomes Soviet leader
= Gulf of Tonkin Incident begins escalation of Vietnam War
1965 = U.S. begins ground troop commitment in. Vietnam
= Anti Vietnam War protests begin
1966 = Outer space made neutral by UN treaty
= EEC, ECSC, and EURATOM joined in European Community (EC)
1967 = North Korea seizes U.S. ship, “Pueblo”
= Tet Offensive in Vietnam, beginning of U.S. withdrawal
= Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion crushes reforms in Czechoslovakia: “Brezhnev Doctrine”: USSR will use force to stop the fall of a socialist government
1969 = Brandt opens relations between West and East Germany
= U.S. lands on moon
= SALT conferences begin
1972 = Détente: Nixon visits China and re-opens relations, visits USSR
1973 = Cease-fire agreement in Vietnam
= Britain admitted to EEC
1975 = Vietnam War ends
= Ford: Helsinki Accords recognize spheres of influence but permit some anti-Communist representation
= Laos and Cambodia taken over by communist governments
1976 = Death of Mao
1977 = Carter administration refuses to back anti-Communist dictators violating human rights
= Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty signed
1979 = Carter Doctrine: U.S. will act to protect U.S. interests and allies in Persian Gulf
= SALT I signed but not ratified
= USSR invades Afghanistan
= U.S. cancels grain and technology sales to Soviet Union
= Camp David Accords signed by Egypt, Israel, and U.S.
= Revolutions in Nicaragua and El Salvador, Marxist Sandanistas win power in Nicaragua
= Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia
= U.S. hostages seized in Iran (-‘81)
1980 = Solidarity labor union founded in Poland by Lech Walesa
= U.S. boycotts Moscow Olympics
1981 = Martial law imposed in Poland
= U.S. orders sanctions against Polish hard-line communist government in retaliation for anti-Solidarity actions
= U.S. lifts embargo on oil sales to USSR after Walesa released from jail
1982 = Death of Brezhnev in USSR, succeeded by Yuri Andropov
= Marshal law ended in Poland, Solidarity union dissolved
1983 = U.S. troops sent to Lebanon, 241 die in terrorist bomb attack
= U.S. forces invade Grenada overthrowing Marxist regime
1984 = USSR boycotts Los Angeles Olympics
= Death of Andropov in USSR, succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko
= U.S. troops leave Lebanon
= Reagan visits China
1985 = Death of Chernenko in USSR, Gorbachev becomes-Soviet Premier
= Gorbachev begins glasnost and perestroika reforms
= Poland, Hungary follow Gorbachev's lead, Romania, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Bulgaria hold hard line
= Reagan-Gorbachev summit meeting
1986 = U.S.-U.S.S.R. reach tentative accord on medium-range missiles
1987 = Reagan and Gorbachev sign arms reduction agreement
1988 = Soviet Communist Party conference declares sharing of power in USSR legalizing other political parties; Gorbachev abrogates Brezhnev Doctrine: USSR will no longer use force to stop fall of socialist nation
1989 = Soviet troops begin withdrawal from Hungary
= Solidarity recognized as legal in Poland and wins elections
= Hungary and Czechoslovakia open borders
= East Germany removes travel restrictions
= Berlin wall comes down
= Revolutions topple Communist regimes in Eastern Europe
1990 = Germany reunifies
= Lech Walesa elected President of Poland
= USSR support defense of Kuwait by UN
1991 = Warsaw Pact disbanded
= Yugoslavian federation disintegrates with fighting in Croatia and Slovenia
= Boris Yeltsin elected President of Russian Soviet Social Republic
= Coup by Communist Party hard-liners fails
= Soviet Union dissolves as nationalist republics declare independence and Communist Party disintegrates
= Gorbachev resigns as head of Communist Party
= Yeltsin becomes President of Russia
1994 = Poland and Hungary apply for membership in European Union
= Last Russian and Western Allied troops leave Berlin