Timeline of the Cold War

The Cold War was a long period of tension between two big groups of countries after World War II. On one side was the United States and its friends, working together in a group called NATO. On the other side was the Soviet Union and its allies, who had their own group called the Warsaw Pact. This rivalry shaped the world for many years.

Countries like South Vietnam, South Korea, China, Cuba, Laos, North Vietnam, and North Korea were caught in the middle, choosing sides or trying to stay independent. The two sides competed in many ways, from building up armies to exploring space, without fighting each other directly in a big war.

Even though they never fought each other, the Cold War had big effects around the world. It led to many smaller conflicts and changed how countries worked together. Understanding these events helps us see why the world looks the way it does today.

1940s

1945

February 4–11: Leaders from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union met to discuss the future of Germany after World War II. They agreed to divide Germany into four zones controlled by each country. They also agreed to hold free elections in Poland and other countries that had been occupied by Germany. The meeting also led to the creation of the United Nations to help keep peace in the world.
April 12: The President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, passed away. Harry S. Truman became the new President.
May 8: Germany surrendered, marking the end of World War II in Europe.
July 24: At a meeting, Truman told the Soviet leader that the United States had nuclear weapons.
August 6: The United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan.
August 8: The Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded the area of Manchuria.
August 9: The United States dropped another nuclear bomb on the city of Nagasaki in Japan.
September 2: Japan surrendered to the United States, officially ending World War II. General Douglas MacArthur took charge of occupying Japan.
September 5: A Soviet spy named Igor Gouzenko escaped and gave proof of Soviet spy activities in Canada and the U.S. This changed how people saw the Soviet Union.

1946

January: The Chinese Civil War started again between Communist and Nationalist forces.
March 5: Winston Churchill spoke about the "Iron Curtain," describing the division between democratic and communist parts of Europe.
May 25: Transjordan gained independence from the United Kingdom and became the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan.
June 2: Italy decided to end its monarchy and become a republic.
July 4: The Philippines gained independence from the United States.
September 8: Bulgaria became a People's Republic, ending its monarchy.
October 1: The Nuremberg trials ended.
October 16: After the trials, 11 Nazi leaders were sentenced to death.
December 15: The Soviet Union left Iran. Two small states that had been created with Soviet support were dissolved.
December 19: France started fighting in Indochina against communist forces who wanted independence.

1947

January 1: The American and British zones in Germany were combined into one area called the Bizone.
March 12: President Truman announced the Truman Doctrine, promising help to Greece and Turkey to prevent them from becoming communist.
April 16: A man named Bernard Baruch used the term "Cold War" to describe the tense relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
June 5: Secretary of State George Marshall proposed the Marshall Plan to help rebuild war-torn countries in Western Europe.
August 14: Pakistan gained independence from the United Kingdom.
August 15: India gained independence from the United Kingdom.
September: The Soviet Union created the Cominform to control communist parties in countries under its influence.
October 20: A leader of the non-communist party in Poland fled the country before he could be arrested.
November 29: The United Nations decided to divide Palestine.
December 30: The king of Romania was forced to leave, and the country became a Socialist Republic under communist control.

1948

January 5: Burma (now Myanmar) gained independence from the United Kingdom.
January 30: Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.
February 25: The Communist Party took control of Czechoslovakia.
March 17: Several European countries signed a treaty to work together for defense, which was a step toward creating NATO.
April 3: Truman signed the Marshall Plan into law, providing economic aid to Western Europe.
May 14: David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of Israel.
June 24: The Soviet Union blocked all land routes to West Berlin in an attempt to force out Western powers. The Western countries responded by airlifting supplies to the city.
August 15: The United States recognized the Republic of Korea (South Korea) as the legitimate government of the Korean Peninsula.
September 9: The Soviet Union declared the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) to be the legitimate government of all of Korea.

1949

April 4: NATO was founded by several countries, including the United States, to protect against communist expansion.
May 11: The Soviet Union ended its blockade of Berlin. The airlift continued for a while to be ready if the blockade started again.
May 23: The American, British, and French zones in Germany joined to form the Federal Republic of Germany, with Bonn as its capital.
August 29: The Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, becoming the second country in the world to have nuclear weapons.
October 1: Mao Zedong declared the foundation of the People's Republic of China, making it a communist country.
October 7: The Soviet Union declared its zone in Germany to be the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), with East Berlin as its capital.
December 27: The Netherlands handed over control of Indonesia to the United States of Indonesia, with Sukarno as its first president.

1950s

The 1950s were a time of big changes and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, known as the Cold War. This period saw many important events shape the world.

In 1950, the Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, led by the United States, stepped in to help South Korea. This war showed the growing split between communist and non-communist countries. Also in 1950, President Truman announced plans to build a powerful new type of bomb, showing how the race for technology was heating up.

The years that followed saw more nations gaining independence and joining alliances. In 1955, West Germany joined NATO, a group of countries working together for defense against the Soviet Union. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, sparking the space race. These events helped define the decades to come and showed how the world was changing during the Cold War.

1960s

1960

January 10: British prime minister Harold Macmillan delivers his first 'Wind of Change' speech in Accra. His speech hints at a move towards decolonisation of British possessions in Africa.
January 19: The United States and Japan sign the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, a defence treaty allowing the US to maintain military bases in Japan.
February 16: France successfully tests its first atomic bomb, Gerboise Bleue, in the middle of the Algerian Sahara Desert.
April: Jupiter IRBM deployment to Italy begins, placing nuclear missiles within striking range of Moscow (as with the Thor IRBMs deployed in the UK).
April 25: The April Revolution ousts South Korean President Syngman Rhee from office and installs Yun Posun as president.
May 1: American pilot Francis Gary Powers is shot down in his U-2 spy plane while flying at high altitude over the Soviet Union, resulting in the U-2 Incident, an embarrassment for President Eisenhower.
June: Sino-Soviet split: the Chinese leadership, angered at being treated as the "junior partner" to the Soviet Union, declares its version of Communism superior and begin to compete with the Soviets for influence, thus adding a third dimension to the Cold War.
August 6: Cuban leader Fidel Castro orders the nationalisation of all American-owned property.
August 9: The Pathet Lao (communist) revolt in Laos begins.
October 12: While addressing the United Nations, Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev becomes agitated at criticisms of Soviet policies in eastern European. Khrushchev removes his shoe and thumps it on the lectern.
October 19: The US places a partial embargo on Cuba, banning the export of all items except food and medicine.
November 28: Mauritania becomes independent from France.
December 20: Formation of the National Liberation Front (often called Viet Cong) by North Vietnam. It is a communist insurgent movement that vows to overthrow the anti-communist South Vietnamese regime. It is supplied extensively by North Vietnam, China, and the USSR eventually.

1961

January 3: President Eisenhower severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
January 20: John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States.
January 31: Ham is launched into space as a part of Project Mercury, a mission to successfully place a human into orbit and return them safely.
February 12: Venera 1 is successfully launched by the Soviet Union with the intention of conducting a flyby mission to Venus.
April 12: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth when the Soviet Union successfully launches Vostok 1.
April 17–19: Bay of Pigs Invasion: A CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by counter-revolutionaries ends in failure.
April 21: Sierra Leone becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status.
May 5: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to go into space when Freedom 7 is launched successfully.
May 25: John F. Kennedy announces the US intention to put a man on the Moon – kickstarting Project Mercury, America's first human spaceflight program.
June 4: Kennedy meets with Khrushchev in Vienna.
June: Jupiter IRBM deployment to Turkey begins, joining the Jupiters deployed to Italy as well as the Thor IRBMs deployed to the UK as nuclear missiles placed within striking distance of Moscow.
August 13: The Berlin Wall is built by the Soviets following the breakdown in talks to decide the future of Germany.
August 17: Alliance for Progress aid to Latin America from the United States begins.
September 1: The Soviet Union resumed testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. The Eritrean War of Independence begins.
September 4: John F. Kennedy signs the Foreign Assistance Act.
October 27: Checkpoint Charlie standoff between US and Soviet tanks begins.
October 31: The Soviet Union detonates the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever tested, with an explosive yield of some 50 megatons.
November 18: John F. Kennedy authorizes the deployment of 18,000 military advisors to support the struggle against communist insurgents in South Vietnam.
December 18: Republic of India invades the former Portuguese territory of Goa.

1962

January 15: Indonesian Armed Forces starts to infiltrate into the Dutch overseas territory of western New Guinea as a part of Operation Trikora, the second and last confrontation between Indonesia and the Netherlands over imperialism.
February 10: American pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for senior KGB spy Colonel Rudolf Abel.
February 20: John Glenn is launched into space aboard Friendship-7 becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. Despite having many delays in the launch itself, the flight is successful.
July 1: Rwanda-Burundi becomes independent from Belgium.
August 2: Jamaica is granted independence by the UK.
August 27: Mariner 2 is launched to make a flyby of Venus.
August 31: Trinidad and Tobago was granted independence by the UK.
September 8: Himalayan War: Chinese forces attack India, making claims on numerous border areas.
September 26: the North Yemen Civil War begins between partisans of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom and supporters of the Yemen Arab Republic.
October 9: Uganda becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status.
October 16: Cuban Missile Crisis: the Soviets have secretly been installing military bases, including nuclear weapons, on Cuba, some 90 miles from the US mainland. Kennedy orders a "quarantine" (a naval blockade) of the island that intensifies the crisis and brings the US and the USSR to the brink of nuclear war. In the end, both sides reach a compromise. The Soviets back down and agree to withdraw their nuclear missiles from Cuba, in exchange for a secret agreement by Kennedy pledging to withdraw similar American missiles from Turkey and Italy, and guaranteeing that the US will not move against the Castro regime.
October 20: the Sino-Indian War begins between India and the People's Republic of China about the disputed Aksai Chin region.
November 1: The Soviet Union successfully launches Mars 1 with the intention of making a flyby of Mars.
November 20: End of the Sino-Indian War. The People's Republic of China ends up withdrawing from most of the land it occupies but does end up occupying 14,700 square miles (38,000 km²) of the Aksai Chin region and the area would remain a source of contention between the India and the People's Republic of China.
December 14: Mariner 2 reaches Venus, becoming the first US spacecraft to reach Venus and another planet.

1963

January 20: Indonesia declares that it rejects the formation of Malaysia, through the statement of their then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Subandrio. Sukarno himself, as the first President of Indonesia, regarded Malaysia as a neo-colonial project and as a British puppet state in Southeast Asia. This marks the beginning of Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation.
June 9: The Dhofar Liberation Front wages a war in Oman known as the Dhofar Rebellion.
June 16: Vostok 6 was launched, with Valentina Tereshkova becoming the first woman in space.
June 20: The United States agrees to set up a hotline with the USSR, thus making direct communication possible.
June 26: U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in Berlin.
August 5: The Partial Test Ban Treaty is signed by the US, UK and USSR, prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons anywhere except underground.
September 16: Malaysia was formed, with Tunku Abdul Rahman as its first prime minister.
November 2: South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in a coup supported by the CIA.
November 22: John F. Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas. Kennedy's vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President of the United States.
December 12: Kenya becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status.

1964

January 27: France recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with France on February 10.
March 31–April 1: A military-led coup d'état overthrows president João Goulart in Brazil.
May 27: Jawaharlal Nehru dies. The Colombian conflict begins.
July 4: The Rhodesian Bush War begins when African nationalist / Marxist insurgents rebel against colonial rule in Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe). Nyasaland (renamed Malawi upon independence) becomes independent from the UK.
August 4: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson claims that North Vietnamese naval vessels had fired on two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although there was a first attack, it was later shown that American vessels had entered North Vietnamese territory first, and that the claim of second attack had been unfounded. The Gulf of Tonkin incident leads to the open involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War, after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
September 21: Malta becomes independent from the UK.
September 24: The Mozambican War of Independence begins in Portuguese Mozambique.
October 12: The first spaceflight to carry multiple crewman into orbit was conducted by Voskhod 1.
October 14: Leonid Brezhnev succeeds Khrushchev to become General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with Alexei Kosygin as his Premier.
October 16: China tests its first atomic bomb. The test makes China the world's fifth nuclear power.
October 24: Northern Rhodesia renamed Zambia becomes independent from the UK.
November 28: Mariner 4 was launched.

1965

February 18: The Gambia becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status.
March 18: Alexei Leonov conducts the first extravehicular activity or spacewalk in history from his spacecraft, Voskhod 2 in space.
April 24: Dominican Civil War: Forces loyal to former President Juan Bosch overthrow current leader Donald Reid Cabral.
August 5: Beginning of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965.
August 9: Singapore gains independence after being expelled from Malaysia.
October 1: Six Indonesian generals are killed by the 30 September Movement during an abortive coup d'état later blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia. Mass killings of suspected communists begin shortly after.
November 1: The Chadian Civil War was waged between rebels and the Chadian government.
November 11: The white-dominated government of Rhodesia declares its independence which was regarded as an illegal proclamation by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
December 4: The Gemini 7 completes 206 orbits around the Earth, equating to roughly one trip to the Moon.

1966

January 31: Luna 9 is launched.
February 3: Luna 9 successfully lands on the Moon becoming the first spacecraft to softly land on another extraterrestrial body.
March 1: Venera 3 becomes the first man-made object to impact another planet.
March 10: France withdraws from NATO command structure.
March 11: President Sukarno of Indonesia signs a document, handing over authority to Major General Suharto. This led to Suharto later establishing the pro-western and anti-communist New Order regime. This regime would remain in power until 1998.
May 8: Communist China detonates a third nuclear device.
May 26: Guiana becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status.
May 30: Surveyor 1 is launched.
June 2: Surveyor 1 becomes the first American spacecraft to softly land on another extraterrestrial body.
August 11: The Jakarta Accord is signed by the Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik and Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Razak ending the hostility between Indonesia and Malaysia.
September 30: Bechuanaland renamed Botswana becomes independent from the UK.
October 5: Beginning of low-level armed clashes in Korean DMZ between North Korea and South Korea backed by the United States.
November 30: Barbados becomes independent from the UK.

1967

March 11: The Cambodian Civil War begins with the Samlaut Uprising.
March 12: General Suharto officially overthrows Sukarno and appointed as president of Indonesia. Indonesia switches sides from being friendly with Eastern Bloc countries such as the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and Cuba during the Sukarno administration to becoming friends with western countries such as the United States during the Suharto administration or New Order era. Foreign capital and investors began to enter Indonesia.
April 21: The Hellenic Armed Forces successfully stage a coup d'état against the Greek government, leading to the Greek Junta to rule Greece until 1974.
May 18: Yuri Andropov becomes chairman of the KGB.
May 23: The United Arab Republic blocks the Straits of Tiran, then expels UN peacekeepers and moves its army into the Sinai Peninsula in preparation for possible attack on Israel.
May 25: Uprising in Naxalbari, India marking the expansion of Maoism as a violent, anti-US and anti-Soviet, revolutionary movement across a number of developing countries.
May 30: The Nigerian state of Biafra secedes from the rest of Nigeria, declaring itself as the Republic of Biafra.
June 5: In response to Egypt's aggression, Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula, beginning the Six-Day War.
June 17: China detonates its first hydrogen bomb.
July 1: Beginning of the War of Attrition.
July 6: The Nigerian Civil War begins in response to Biafra's declaration of independence.
August 8: Bangkok Declaration is established to quell the communist threat in Southeast Asia. This creates ASEAN.
October 8: Che Guevara is captured in Bolivia by U.S. trained Bolivian rangers.
October 9: Che Guevara is executed after being captured the day before.
November 29: Robert McNamara announces that he will resign as U.S. Secretary of Defense to become President of the World Bank.

1968

January 30: Tet Offensive in South Vietnam begins.
March 1: The years of Lead start in Italy with the Battle of Valle Giulia clash between far-right and far-left militants.
March 12: Mauritius becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status.
March 18: The Moro conflict begins in Southern Philippines.
March 30: Johnson suspends bombings over North Vietnam and announces he is not running for reelection.
June 8: Tet Offensive ends; while an American military victory, it raises questions over America's military chances in Vietnam.
July 1: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is opened for signature.
July 17: Abdul Rahman Arif, the President of Iraq at that time was overthrown by a coup staged by Iraq Ba'athist Party. The revolution eventually lead to the installation of the Ba'athist government in Iraq.
August 20: Prague Spring Reforms in Communist Czechoslovakia result in Warsaw Pact, led by Soviet Red Army, crushing Czechoslovak revolt.
September 6: Swaziland becomes independent from the UK.
October 3: Peruvian General Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrows President Fernando Belaunde Terry in a military coup.
October 12: Spanish Guinea (modern day Equatorial Guinea) becomes independent from Spain.
December 21–27: The launch of Apollo 8, the first crewed spaceflight to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body and to orbit the Moon. The crew would complete ten orbits, then return to Earth without landing on the Moon.

1969

January 20: Richard Nixon becomes President of the United States.
March 2: Border clashes between the Soviet Union and China.
March 17: the U.S. begins bombing Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
July 16: Apollo 11 is launched.
July 20: the U.S. accomplishes the first crewed Moon landing, Apollo 11. Crewed by Neil Armstrong, "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
July 24: Apollo 11 returns to Earth.
July 25: "Vietnamization" begins with U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam and the burden of combat being placed on the South Vietnamese.
September 1: Muammar Gaddafi overthrows the Libyan monarchy and expels British and American personnel. Libya aligns itself with the Soviet Union.
September 2: North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh dies.
October 21: Siad Barre overthrows the government of Somalia in a bloodless coup. He declares himself President of Somalia and reorganizes the country into a one-party communist state; the Somali Democratic Republic.
November 17: The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks begin in Helsinki.
November 27–December 6: the al-Wadiah War was fought between South Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
December 12: A bomb planted by far-right extremists sets off in a bank in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and injuring 88. This event (remembered as the Piazza Fontana bombing) is one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks Italy would receive during the years of lead.

1970s

The 1970s were a time of big changes and tensions between countries. Some important events include the end of the Nigerian Civil War, the start of the Bangladesh Liberation War, and the first visit by a U.S. president to China. There were also many space missions, like the first spacecraft to land on another planet and the first space station. Leaders changed in many countries, and new nations gained independence. This period showed the continuing struggles and shifts in power during the Cold War.

1980s

The 1980s were a time of big changes in the world as the Cold War continued. The United States and the Soviet Union kept having political and military disagreements.

In 1980, important leaders like President Jimmy Carter and Robert Mugabe made big decisions. There were also big events like the boycott of the Moscow Olympics and the start of a war between Iraq and Iran.

In 1981, Ronald Reagan became President of the United States and made strong speeches against the Soviet Union. There were also important moments like the assassination of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and big changes in Poland with the Solidarity trade union.

The 1980s kept bringing major world events, with leaders making important decisions and many countries seeing big changes in their governments and policies.

1990s

Many important changes happened in the 1990s as the Cold War came to an end. In 1990, several countries began to declare independence from the Soviet Union, starting with Lithuania on March 11. Germany reunited on October 3, and by the end of the year, many more nations, including Estonia, Armenia, and Kazakhstan, had also declared independence.

In 1991, the breakup of the Soviet Union continued with Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan all declaring independence. On December 25, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union, and the next day the Soviet Union officially dissolved. This marked the end of the Cold War, leaving the United States as the world's only superpower.