Cold War Timeline
1945
August 9
A bomb is dropped in Nagasaki, destroying the city and killing 70,000 people. This marks the end of world war two (Painter, 1999).
August 15
The Japanese surrender and this make the Russians involvement in the war unnecessary. The Russians further assert that the use of the bomb was to intimidate them. Hence this marks the commencement of the cold war (Painter, 1999).
Women start losing their industrial jobs due to the increase in the number of service men who return from the war (Bianchi & Daphne, 1989).
1946
February 22
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George Kennan sends a confidential cable also referred to as the “long telegram” to the state department affirming that the Soviet union were on a campaign to obliterate the effects and influence of the United states of America (Allan Todd, 2011)
1947
March 12
Truman doctrine initiated by Truman indicated the willingness of US government to offer military assistance to Turkey and Greece in order fight the soviet communism (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
June 5
Marshall plan is initiated by George C. Marshall to help the countries that were affected by the war to recover and boost their economies (Axelrod, 2009).
1948
February 25
Czechoslovakia is conquered by the communist, majorly dominated by the soviet union (Painter, 1999).
March 2
There is a built up tension and this heighten the cold war. President Truman launches a loyalty program aimed at arresting the cold war spies (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
March 17
A strategy is laid to protect Europe from the influence of communism (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
June 24
The Berlin blockade is initiated and it lasts for 11 months and it resulted to a heightened tension between the Soviet and the US (Todd, 2011).
June 27
The Berlin airlift begins. The main essence endorsed to the constant supply of food to Berlin (Todd, 2011).
1949
April 24
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is endorsed (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
May 11
The Berlin blockade ends. This followed after the blockade was foiled by the Berlin airlift (Todd, 2011).
May 23
The federal republic of Germany (West Germany) is established (Todd, 2011).
August 29
The soviet union tested their first atomic bomb called the “Joe 1” (Axelrod, 2009).
October 1
The people’s republic of china is promulgated officially by Mao Zedong. This amounts to an increase in the number of communist fold in the world (Fitzgerald, 2006).
October 7
East German is taken by the soviet union (Todd, 2011).
October 16
The Greek civil war is ended, and this marks a defeat for the communist (Painter, 1999).
1950
June 25
North Korea invades South Korea, triggering the Korean war (Todd, 2011).
June 27
The united nations came to a consensus of offering aid to South Korea (Todd, 2011).
September 15
The US pioneered the attack against North Korea. They defeat the Koreans and advance northward (Ted Gottfried &Melanie Reim, 2003).
October 25
China invades Korea with 300000 soldiers, after which they again withdraw (Gottfried & Reim, 2003).
November 26
China invades Korea again, forcing the UN troops into south Korea (Fitzgerald, 2006).
1951
March 14
The UN forces regain south Korea along which the Korean war reaches a bloody stalemate (Fitzgerald, 2006).
April 11
President Truman relieves General Mac Arthur his duty as the commander of the UN, in Korea
1952
June 21
The US navy launches Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine (Axelrod, 2009).
November 1
The world’s first hydrogen bomb is tested by the US (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
1953
Eisenhower becomes the 34th president of the United States of America.
July 27
The Korean war ends (Gottfried & Reim, 2003).
1954
School segregation is declared unconstitutional by the United State supreme court (Levy, 1998).
1955
March
The soviet union extends military and other aid to Syria (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
May 14
The Warsaw pact is created by USSR and seven satellites (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
June
President Eisenhower and Khrushchev meet in Geneva Switzerland (Gottfried & Reim, 2003).
1957
President Eisenhower engages the US in the defending of Afghanistan Iran and Pakistan against communist foray (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
October 1
The Strategic Air Command (SAC) formulate a policy of constant nuclear alert (Gottfried & Reim, 2003).
October 4
A satellite known as Sputnik I is launched by the soviets (Gottfried & Reim, 2003).
November 3
Sputnik II is launched, increasing the tension and fight for supremacy between the Soviet and the United States (Gottfried & Reim, 2003).
1960
February 1
Sit in campaigns is started by the black students from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical college (Mark Newman, 2004).
The birth control pills are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (Bianchi & Daphne, 1989).
1961
J. F. Kennedy is inaugurated to become the 35th president.
April 15
There is invasion of Bay of pigs by the trained CIAs. The Castro’s regime becomes resistant to capitalist imperialism (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
May 25
President Kennedy affirms the idea of taking the first man to the moon by 1969.
August 13
Berlin border is closed (Todd, 2011).
August 17
The construction of the Berlin walls commences (Todd, 2011).
October 30
Tsar Bomba, believed to be the most powerful thermonuclear weapon is tested by the soviet unions in the arctic sea (Axelrod, 2009).
1962
October 16-28
The Cuban missile crisis unfolds. This follows after the soviet Union and the Cuba government had an agreement to keep the missiles in Cuba (Todd, 2011).
1963
April 12
There is a public statement released by several clergymen from Alabama, asserting on the grave issues of massive racial discrimination (Newman, 2004).
July
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is ratified (Ruud van Dijk, 2008).
September
Sixteenth Street Baptist church, a common convention point for the black activist was bombed (Levy, 1998).
November 22
President Kennedy is assassinated (Levy, 1998).
1964
July 2
An important section of the civil right legislation is signed in to law. This enables the Africa American to gain more access to public facilities and institutions (Levy, 1998).
August 2
A US warship is attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin (Debbie Levy, 2004).
1965
February 21
Malcolm X an African American activist is assassinated (Levy, 1998).
April
US marines are deployed to Dominican Republic to fight communism (Levy, 2004).
July
200000 troops are deployed in Vietnam (Levy, 2004).
1966
North Vietnam is bombed by B-52s (Levy, 2004).
1968
The first national women’s liberation is held in Chicago (Levy, 1998).
April 4
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Tennessee (Levy, 1998).
1970
April
President Nixon extends steps up bombing in North Vietnam expanding war into Cambodia (Axelrod, 2009)
The equal rights amendment is taken back to congress for more discussions.
1972
February
President Nixon visits china
May 26
The first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) is ratified (Todd, 2011).
1973
The war between North Vietnam and United States of America comes to a halt (Tobey C. Herzog, 1992).
1974
August
President Nixon resigns following an involvement in the Watergate conspiracy (Todd, 2011).
1975
April 17
South Vietnam is defeated by North Vietnam, giving the communist force an upper hand. The US embassy evacuates after the “Fall of Saigon” (Herzog, 1992).
The first women bank is opened in New York (Bianchi & Daphne, 1989).
1978
More women than men are enrolled in the colleges (Bianchi & Daphne, 1989).
1979
The US and the China government launch a diplomatic relations (Painter, 1999).
June 18
The second Strategic Arm Limitations Talk (SALT II) is ratified, President Carter and Brezhnev (Todd, 2011).
1981
Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th president of the America.
1983
A strategic Defensive Initiative is proposed by President Reagan (Axelrod, 2009).
1985
November 21
Reagan and Gorbachev hold their first summit in Geneva (Todd, 2011).
1986
October
All the intermediate nuclear missiles in Europe are removed, following a resolution made by President Reagan and Gorbachev (Axelrod, 2009).
1989
George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st president of the United States of America.
November 9
The Berlin wall falls, marking a clear indication that the cold war was coming to an end (Frederic Bozo, 2009).
December 3
The era of peace between Soviet Union and United States of America begins. This initiated by President Bush and Gorbachev in the home stretch of the Malta conference (Bozo, 2009).
1990
October 3
The German republic is formally reunified under a democratic government (Bozo, 2009).
The number of Africa American women is increased in Elective office (Newman, 2004).
1991
July
Warsaw pact is disband (Bozo, 2009).
December 25
President Bush officially announces the end of the cold war.
The president Gorbachev resigns (Bozo, 2009).
December 26
The Union of Soviet Socialists republic (USSR) is dissolved (Bozo, 2009).
References
Axelrod, A. (2009). The Real History of the Cold War: A New Look at the Past. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing, Inc.
Bianchi, S M. & Spain, D. (1989). American women in transition. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Bozo, F. (2009). Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Unification. Berghan Books.
Gottfried, T. & Reim, M. (2003). The Cold War. Milford: Millbrook press, Inc.
Herzog, C. T. (1992). Vietnam War Stories: Innocence Lost. New York, NY: Routledge.
Levy, B. P. (1998). The civil rights movement. Westport, CT: Greenwood press.
Levy, D. (2004). The Vietnam War. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publishing Group.
Newman, M. (2004). The civil rights movement. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd.
Painter, S. D. (1999). The Cold War: an international history. New York, NY: Routledge.
Ruud van Dijk (Ed). (2008). Encyclopedia of the Cold War, Volume 1. New York, NY: MTM Publishing, Inc.
Todd, A. (2011). History for the IB Diploma: The Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
