-
End of Word War II
On this day, many believe the Cold War began. At the end of World War II and the victory of the allies, the allied powers were in a state of celebration, especially the Russians and Americans. However after the defeat of the Nazis and the initial euphoria of the end of the war had worn off, the the rivalry between the two largest nations became clear. The divide between the two nations became official when the US signed the NATO contract and the Soviets signed the Warsaw Pact. -
Period: to
The Cold War Years
A proxy war between the two largest superpowers in the world, that never involved them actually going to open war with each other. -
The Berlin Airlift and Blockade
At the end of the Second World War, the two super powers of the allied forces marched into Berlin, Russia in the East and the USA on the West. This split Berlin into to parts, East and West Berlin. The whole of Germany was also split up with the Soviet taking the East and the Americans taking the West. Berlin fell in the Eastern block of German which meant the American sector of Berlin was completely isolated, unable to gain supplies. This lead to American planes dropping supplies into the area. -
Start of the Korean War
The Korean War was the only time in history that American's actually fought a proper war against Communists. Although it was not actually a war and was described by President Harry S Truman as a 'police action' the casualties from both sides reached 500,000. At the end of the second World War Kore got split up into a Communist Northern half and Capitalist Southern part. The Korean war was sparked when Northern troops moved onto the American occupied Southern region. -
The Korean War ends
The Korean war ended in 1953 when the treaty was signed at Panmunjon making Korea a divided state. The same as before the war, doing little to ease cold war tension. -
The Warsaw Pact is signed
The Warsaw pact was a direct counter to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and was designed as a mutual defence pact in case any of the nations in the pact where invaded. The pact was spearheaded by the Soviet Union but included various Eastern Bloc countries such as Albania, Poland, East Germany, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. The Pact essentially added a whole log to the fire that was the Cold War. -
Period: to
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam war was part of the American Containment policy to help try and prevent the spread of Communism. The Viet Kong, Vietnamese that believed that Communism was best for the country, fought the Americans who wanted to stop Communism before it spread, believing it would spread in Asia from island to island and end up in Australia, a similar thing happened with Nazism. Ultimately the Americans lost the war, or as an American would put it "it was a draw". -
The U2 Recon Plane is shot down by Soviets
The top secret U2 spy plane was shot down while in Soviet air space, while on a training run. The Soviets claimed it was an accident so they avoided a declaration of war. The pilot, Gary Powers, was captured by Soviets and was eventually used as a bargaining chip in the Soviet-American hostage trade off, the Soviets receiving their spy Rudolph Abel. These event where recounted in the 2015 Steven Spielberg film "Bridge of Spies". -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a US military operation that ultimately failed. Taking place under John f Kennedy the invasions main goal was to prevent the Soviet union from placing missiles in Cuba, where they could potentially be used against the United States. Cuba agreed to house Soviet missiles due to their nation being Communist and their Dictator Fidel Castro being an avid supporter of the Communist doctrine. The invasion ultimately failed and was a complete embarrassment for the USA. -
Period: to
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile crisis refers to the stationing of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba in order to threaten the United States. The 13 day crisis was essentially a nuclear stand off between the two powers, the soviets having their Nuclear missiles in Cuba pointed at the Americans and the Americans had their missiles in Turkey and Italy. The Cuban 'President' Fidel Castro, agreed to have the missiles stationed in Cuba when the Russian Premier Nikita Kruschev approached the fellow Communist. -
The USA wins the Space Race
"The Eagle has landed"
Although at the time a great victory in the cold war from a scientific standpoint as the Americans and Russian had been competing to put a man on the moon ever since scientists proved we had the capacity to do so, history has come to realise this day as great step for for humanity itself and one of the most important scientific achievements in the history of mankind. -
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) Confrences are held
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks where conferences held between the Soviet Union and the United States in order to ease tensions between the two super powers. The conferences where held in order to assure that the superpowers remained equal in their nuclear and military power. However they where also in place to stabilise the nations and prevent a potential nuclear holocaust, if war did happened. Its safe to say the talks did the most to ease the two nations hot tempers. -
Period: to
Soviet-Afghan War
Was the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in which at least 2,000,000 civilians where killed and and millions of Afghans left the county, particularly to Pakistan and Iran. The invasion was sparked after the 1979 Coup in which the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan removed the Communist President Mohammed Daoud Khan, who was the self proclaimed President. However as Mikhail Gorbachev entered Soviet office he began to remove the Russian from Afghanistan, leaving it in ruins. -
The 1990 Chemical Weapons Accords are signed
On this date the president of the United States, George H.W Bush and the Chairmen of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, arguably saved the world from complete and utter inhalation and preventing a nuclear winter. The signing of these chemical weapons accords forced both the 'waring' superpowers to begin to severely limit their nuclear arsenals in order to prevent self inhalation in the event of war. The signing of these accords also represented the end of the Cold War for many.
