Timeline of the Cold War

Part 1 The 1940s

Yalta Conference

• February 1945 • Cold war begins (prior tensions?) • Free elections in Eastern European countries – Poland, others?

• Create new international peace keeping body based on Atlantic Charter principles • USSR to enter war against Japan after Germany surrenders in exchange for islands (?) The “Big Three”

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Allied Occupation of Germany

• Potsdam Conference July 1945 • German occupation zones • (draw)

The Atomic Bomb

• August 1945 • Save American lives • Justify the cost • Intimidate USSR

Iron Curtain

• March 1946 • Churchill speech Stettin Trieste

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

Truman Doctrine

• March 1947 • Greek civil war • US policy of aiding nations defending themselves against communist forces • Greece and Turkey

Marshall Plan

• June 1947 • Sec. State George Marshall • USA provide aid to all European nations that needed it • Congress approves $12.5 billion after Soviet tanks enter Czechoslovakia

The Berlin Airlift

Berlin Blockade and Airlift

• June 1948 to May 1949 • USSR cuts off West Berlin • Operation Vittles • 1.5 million tons • 200,000 flights • The Candy Bomber!

Col.Gail Halvorsen

NATO

• July 1949 • North Atlantic Treaty Organization • 12 nation mutual defense agreement

The USSR gets the bomb!

• September 1949

Chinese Revolution ends

• September 1949 • Mao Zedong’s Communist forces declare victory • Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalists set up separate Chinese government on Taiwan • Who “lost” China to communism?

• So much for “containment” ????

Timeline of the Cold war

Part 2 The 1950s

Korean War Begins

• June 1950 • North Korea invades South Korea • US leads UN force to drive North Koreans out of South Korea • China enters war when UN/US forces get too close to their border (Yalu River)

The Hydrogen Bomb

• November 1952 • USA detonated first thermonuclear bomb • August 1953 • USSR detonated its own h-bomb • Arms race is on in earnest

The Rosenbergs

• June 1953 • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed for spying • USSR able to detonate first atomic bomb ahead of schedule thanks to information gained from them

Korean War ends

• July 1953 • Eisenhower is new president of USA • Stalin died in March • Armistice signed • 38 th // remains in place • 94,000 UN dead (54, 000 Americans) • 1 million South Koreans • 2 million North Koreans

Vietnam

• July 1954 • Geneva Accords temporarily divide Vietnam at the 17 th // • North Vietnam (communist)/ South Vietnam (democratic) • until elections (1956?) can be held to unify the country

Warsaw Pact

• May 1955 • USSR with

satellite

nations of Eastern Europe • Formed as counterweight to NATO

Sputnik

• October 1957 • Using an ICBM • USSR launched first unmanned satellite • Implications for the USA?

• Space race begins

Cuban Revolution

• January 1959 • Fidel Castro’s Communist forces take over Cuba

Timeline of the Cold War

Part 3 The 1960s

U-2 Shot Down

• May 1960 • Gary Powers captured alive • Soviet Premier Krushchev uses beginning of the Paris conference to denounce both USA and Eisenhower, then leaves abruptly • The 1960s open with tension between superpowers as high as ever

Bay of Pigs Invasion

• April 1961 • CIA trained and equipped Cuban exiles fail to overthrow Castro’s communist regime • President Kennedy takes full responsibility • Significant propaganda victory for Castro

The Berlin Wall

• August 1961 • Millions of East Germans have “escaped” into West Berlin • Krushchev wants it stopped • He knows USA won’t give up on West Berlin • So he orders a wall to be built across the city

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• October 1962 • Afraid that USA still intends to overthrow him, Castro asked USSR for protection • U2 flights take pictures of Soviet nuclear weapons sites on the island • Pres. Kennedy demands USSR withdraw weapons from Cuba • 13-day crisis ends with Soviets backing down

Positive Consequences of Missile Crisis • April 1963 • “Hot line” established between Oval Office and Kremlin • July 1963 • Limited (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty • No nuclear bomb testing in the atmosphere

JFK Assassinated

• November 1963 • Lee Harvey Oswald, a communist sympathizer????

• Was the USSR involved ???

Good luck on the Unit Three test!

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

• August 1964 • USS Maddox fired on by North Vietnamese gun boats in international waters (?) • Congress passes Tonkin Gulf Resolution • LBJ given “broad military powers” in Vietnam (?)

Escalation of the War in Vietnam • February 1965 • Operation Rolling Thunder • Bombing of North Vietnam • March 1965 • First American combat troops to South Vietnam • June 1965 • 50,000 US troops fighting Vietcong • Vietnam War now “Americanized”

1968

• January – Tet Offensive launched by Vietcong in South Vietnam • April – MLK assassinated • June – Robert Kennedy assassinated • August – Soviets crush uprising in Czechoslovakia • 500,000 US troops now in South Vietnam • November – Nixon elected with “secret plan” for ending war in Vietnam

Apollo 11

• July 1969 • First moon landing • USA definitely winning the “space race”