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Postdam
The Allies agree in Potsdam to the fundamental conditions of the occupation of Germany. American nuclear bombs destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
The Truman Doctrine
The US offers assistance to countries threatened by communism -- especially Greece and Turkey. US Secretary of State George C. Marshall announces a massive aid program for the reconstruction of World War II-torn Europe that will become known as the Marshall Plan. -
The Communists take power in Czechoslovakia.
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The Soviet blockade of West Berlin
Cut off from the outside world, provisions are delivered to the isolated city by the Americans in the Berlin Air Bridge action. This is the first major Berlin crisis during the Cold War. -
NATO
The NATO Treaty is signed in Washington. -
Stalin lifts the blockade.
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Soviet's atomic bomb
The Soviets detonate their first atomic bomb. -
Communisti China
After winning the country's civil war, the Communist Party under Mao Zedong establish the People's Republic of China. -
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The Korean war
After North Korea attacks South Korea, UN troops led by the United States invade the country. China and the Soviet Union back North Korea. The cease-fire leaves the two countries with the pre-war status quo. -
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The Suez crisis takes place
After Egypt attempts to nationalize the Suez Canal, Israel, France and Great Britain occupy the canal zone and bomb Egyptian air fields. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev threatens London and Paris with nuclear war. -
Berlin Wall
The construction of the Berlin Wall begins on August 13. -
The Cuba crisis
After the Soviets position nuclear war heads in Cuba, the United States threatens war. The world is on the verge of nuclear war for days. -
Underwater tests of nuclear weapons
The US, Great Britain and the Soviet Union agree to suspend surface and underwater tests of nuclear weapons. -
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Vietnam war
The first US combat forces land in South Vietnam. More than 2 million people will perish during the Vietnam War -- mostly civilians. The US withdraws its troops in 1973. Two years later the communist north conquers the southern part of the country. -
strategic nuclear weapons
Negotiations between the United Nations and the Soviet Union begin on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons. The talks end with several treaties in 1979, but the arms race continues unabated. -
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
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Reorient Soviet foreign policy.
Kremlin chief Mikhail Gorbachev begins to reorient Soviet foreign policy. -
Intermediating-range missiles
Gorbachev and Reagan agree to eliminate all land-based . -
Fall of Berlin war
The Berlin Wall falls on November 9. -
The Warsaw Pact is dissolved
The Warsaw Pact is dissolved. Gorbachev resigns and the Soviet Union disappears from the map.
