Timeline of events in the Cold War

Last updated

This is a timeline of the main events of the Cold War , a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union, its allies in the Warsaw Pact and later the People's Republic of China).

Contents

1940s

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950s

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960s

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970s

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980s

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990s

1990

1991

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990</span> Calendar year

1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1990th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 990th year of the 2nd millennium, the 90th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1990s decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992</span> Calendar year

1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1992nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 992nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 92nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1990s decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991</span> Calendar year

1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1991st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 991st year of the 2nd millennium, the 91st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1990s decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989</span> Calendar year

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1989th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 989th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1980s decade.

The diplomatic history of the United States oscillated among three positions: isolation from diplomatic entanglements of other nations ; alliances with European and other military partners; and unilateralism, or operating on its own sovereign policy decisions. The US always was large in terms of area, but its population was small, only 4 million in 1790. Population growth was rapid, reaching 7.2 million in 1810, 32 million in 1860, 76 million in 1900, 132 million in 1940, and 316 million in 2013. Economic growth in terms of overall GDP was even faster. However, the nation's military strength was quite limited in peacetime before 1940.

The domino theory is a geopolitical theory which posits that increases or decreases in democracy in one country tend to spread to neighboring countries in a domino effect. It was prominent in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s in the context of the Cold War, suggesting that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow. It was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War as justification for American intervention around the world. Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower described the theory during a news conference on 7 April 1954, when referring to communism in Indochina as follows:

Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.

This is a list of events in 1965 in politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War</span> 1947–1991 geopolitical tension

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term cold war is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported opposing sides in major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based on the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their roles as the Allies of World War II that led to victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945. Aside from the nuclear arms race and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means, such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, sports diplomacy, and technological competitions like the Space Race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sino-Soviet split</span> Conflict between communist blocs

The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China and the USSR caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Leninism, as influenced by their respective geopolitics during the Cold War of 1947–1991. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sino-Soviet debates about the interpretation of orthodox Marxism became specific disputes about the Soviet Union's policies of national de-Stalinization and international peaceful coexistence with the Western Bloc, which Chinese founding father Mao Zedong decried as revisionism. Against that ideological background, China took a belligerent stance towards the Western world, and publicly rejected the Soviet Union's policy of peaceful coexistence between the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc. In addition, Beijing resented the Soviet Union's growing ties with India due to factors such as the Sino-Indian border dispute, and Moscow feared that Mao was too nonchalant about the horrors of nuclear warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear arms race</span> Part of the Post-WWII era and the Cold War

The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War. During this same period, in addition to the American and Soviet nuclear stockpiles, other countries developed nuclear weapons, though none engaged in warhead production on nearly the same scale as the two superpowers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War (1953–1962)</span> Phase of the Cold War

The Cold War (1953–1962) discusses the period within the Cold War from the end of the Korean War in 1953 to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Following the death of Joseph Stalin earlier in 1953, new leaders attempted to "de-Stalinize" the Soviet Union causing unrest in the Eastern Bloc and members of the Warsaw Pact. In spite of this there was a calming of international tensions, the evidence of which can be seen in the signing of the Austrian State Treaty reuniting Austria, and the Geneva Accords ending fighting in Indochina. However, this period of good happenings was only partial with an expensive arms race continuing during the period and a less alarming, but very expensive space race occurring between the two superpowers as well. The addition of African countries to the stage of cold war, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo joining the Soviets, caused even more unrest in the West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt</span> Attempted coup détat against Mikhail Gorbachevs government

The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Soviet Union's Communist Party to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and General Secretary of the Communist Party at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's reform program, were angry at the loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the USSR's New Union Treaty which was on the verge of being signed. The treaty was to decentralize much of the central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its fifteen republics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War (1979–1985)</span> Phase of the Cold War between 1979–1985

The Cold War from 1979 to 1985 was a late phase of the Cold War marked by a sharp increase in hostility between the Soviet Union and the West. It arose from a strong denunciation of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. With the election of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979, and American President Ronald Reagan in 1980, a corresponding change in Western foreign policy approach toward the Soviet Union was marked by the rejection of détente in favor of the Reagan Doctrine policy of rollback, with the stated goal of dissolving Soviet influence in Soviet Bloc countries. During this time, the threat of nuclear war had reached new heights not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War (1985–1991)</span> Phase of the Cold War

The time period of around 1985–1991 marked the final period of the Cold War. It was characterized by systemic reform within the Soviet Union, the easing of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet-led bloc and the United States-led bloc, the collapse of the Soviet Union's influence in Eastern Europe, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War (1962–1979)</span> Phase of the Cold War

The Cold War (1962–1979) refers to the phase within the Cold War that spanned the period between the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis in late October 1962, through the détente period beginning in 1969, to the end of détente in the late 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1947–1950 in French Indochina</span> Historical period in southeast Asia

1947–1950 in French Indochina focuses on events influencing the eventual decision for military intervention by the United States in the First Indochina War. In 1947, France still ruled Indochina as a colonial power, conceding little real political power to Vietnamese nationalists. French Indochina was divided into five protectorates: Cambodia, Laos, Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina. The latter three made up Vietnam.

This is a timeline of the 20th century.

The United States foreign policy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, from 1953 to 1961, focused on the Cold War with the Soviet Union and its satellites. The United States built up a stockpile of nuclear weapons and nuclear delivery systems to deter military threats and save money while cutting back on expensive Army combat units. A major uprising broke out in Hungary in 1956; the Eisenhower administration did not become directly involved, but condemned the military invasion by the Soviet Union. Eisenhower sought to reach a nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviet Union, but following the 1960 U-2 incident the Kremlin canceled a scheduled summit in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War in Asia</span>

The Cold War in Asia was a major dimension of the worldwide Cold War that shaped diplomacy and warfare from the mid-1940s to 1991. The main countries involved were the United States, the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, South Korea, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Taiwan. In the late 1950s, divisions between China and the Soviet Union deepened, culminating in the Sino-Soviet split, and the two then vied for control of communist movements across the world, especially in Asia.

References

  1. Geoffrey Roberts, "Stalin at the Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam conferences." Journal of Cold War Studies 9.4 (2007): 6-40. online
  2. "HistoryWorld – Cold War Timeline". www.historyworld.net. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  3. 1 2 "HistoryWorld – Cold War Timeline". www.historyworld.net. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  4. Kimball, Warren F. (2015). Churchill and Roosevelt, Volume 3: The Complete Correspondence. Princeton UP. pp. 567, 571, 585. ISBN   978-1-4008-8000-3.
  5. Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, Volume 7: Road to Victory, 1941–1945 (1986) ch 64.
  6. Offner, Arnold A. (2002). Another Such Victory: President Truman and the Cold War, 1945–1953 . Stanford UP. p.  174. ISBN   978-0-8047-4254-2.
  7. "Milestonesfick so commas: 1937–1945 / The Potsdam Conference, 1945". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  8. Herman, Arthur (2017). Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior. Random House. p. 639. ISBN   978-0-8129-8510-8.
  9. Amy W. Knight, How the Cold War began: The Gouzenko affair and the hunt for Soviet spies (2005).
  10. "Stalin's Speeches to Voters – 1946". Marx2mao. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  11. "The Long Telegram". John Dclare. 22 February 1946. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  12. Vecchio, Michael (15 February 2021). "The Cold War, Churchill's Iron Curtain, and the Power of Imagery". History Guild.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. Lentz, Harris M. (2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. p. 118. ISBN   978-1-134-26490-2.
  14. "Novikov telegram". CUNY. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  15. Glass, Andrew (April 16, 2010). "Bernard Baruch coins term 'Cold War,' April 16, 1947". Politico .
  16. Brune, Chronology of the Cold War, 1917–1992 (2006) p 144.
  17. David Holloway, Stalin and the bomb: the Soviet Union and atomic energy, 1939–1956 (Yale UP, 1994).
  18. Hans-Peter Schwarz, Konrad Adenauer: From the German Empire to the Federal Republic, 1876–1952 (Vol. 1. Berghahn Books, 1995).
  19. Bernhard Dahm, Sukarno and the struggle for Indonesian independence. (Cornell UP, 1969).
  20. "Truman announces development of H-bomb". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  21. "Senator McCarthy says communists are in State Department". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  22. M. Steven Fish, "After Stalin's Death: The Anglo-American Debate Over a New Cold War." Diplomatic History 10.4 (1986): 333-355.
  23. Christian F. Ostermann, and Malcolm Byrne, eds. Uprising in East Germany 1953: the Cold War, the German question, and the first major upheaval behind the Iron Curtain (Central European UP, 2001).
  24. Edward C. Keefer, "President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the End of the Korean War." Diplomatic History 10.3 (1986): 267-289.
  25. "Army-McCarthy Hearings". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  26. "Germany – Countries – Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  27. "Aswan High Dam completed". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  28. Powers, Francis (1960). Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident. Potomac Books, Inc. p. 48. ISBN   978-1-57488-422-7.
  29. Thomas C. Wright, Latin America in the era of the Cuban Revolution (Greenwood, 2001).
  30. Carlson, Peter (2009), K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khurshchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist, PublicAffairs, ISBN   978-1-58648-497-2
  31. "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  32. Accords ending hostilities in Indo-China (Geneva, 20 July 1954) CVCE. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  33. 1 2 "Sino-Indian War". Encyclopedia Brittanica. 1962. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  34. Boyle, Andrew (1979). The Fourth Man: The Definitive Account of Kim Philby, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean and Who Recruited Them to Spy for Russia. New York: The Dial Press/James Wade. p. 438
  35. "For 60 years, a hotline aims to keep cool between US and Moscow". The Economist Times. August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  36. "Solar System Exploration Research Institute (SSERVI) - SSERVI". sservi.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  37. "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  38. Burr, William; Evans, Michael, eds. (6 December 2001). "East Timor Revisited: Ford, Kissinger and the Indonesian Invasion, 1975–76". National Security Archive . Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  39. "Chega!"-Report of Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR)
  40. Gates, Robert M. (2007). From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War. Simon and Schuster. p. 146. ISBN   978-1-4165-4336-7.
  41. "Polish government signs accord with Gdansk shipyard workers". History.com. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  42. "Timeline: Cold War Timeline of Significant Events". The Cold War Museum.
  43. "Solidarity". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  44. "United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Geneva, 1982. U.S. delegation – P.L. 97-157" (PDF). GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  45. Peters, Gerhard; Woolley, John T. "Ronald Reagan: "Statement on Signing a Bill Concerning Human Rights in the Soviet Union", March 22, 1982". The American Presidency Project. University of California – Santa Barbara. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  46. King, Seth S. (May 31, 1982). "SPAIN ENTERS NATO AS FIRST COUNTRY TO JOIN SINCE 1955". New York Times . UPI. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  47. Paczkowski, Andrzej (2015). "Prologue". Revolution and Counterrevolution in Poland, 1980-1989: Solidarity, Martial Law, and the End of Communism in Europe. University of Rochester Press. pp. X. ISBN   9781580465366 via Google Books.
  48. "Reagan 'jokes' about bombing Soviet Union, Aug. 11, 1984". Politico. August 11, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  49. Tucker, Spencer (2016). The Roots and Consequences of 20th-century Warfare: Conflicts that Shaped the Modern World. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   9798216140726 via Google Books.
  50. "Boris Yeltsin". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  51. "The reunification of Germany". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  52. "REPORT ON THE ESTONIAN REFERENDUM AND LATVIAN PUBLIC OPINION POLL ON INDEPENDENCE - MARCH 3, 1991". PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUMS IN THE BALTIC STATES, THE SOVIET UNION AND SUCCESSOR STATES: A Compendium of Reports 1991 - 1992 (PDF). Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. 1992 via cse.gov.
  53. "Ukrainian Independence Referendum". Seventeen Moments in Soviet History: An on-line archive of primary sources. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  54. "THE REFERENDUM ON INDEPENDENCE AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN UZBEKISTAN: DECEMBER 29, 1991". PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUMS IN THE BALTIC STATES, THE SOVIET UNION AND SUCCESSOR STATES: A Compendium of Reports 1991 - 1992 (PDF). Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. 1992. p. 134 via csce.gov.
  55. "Timeline: Ousted Kyrgyz president leaves for Kazakhstan" (Digital). Reuters. Retrieved September 11, 2023. August 31, 1991 - The Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
  56. "REPORT ON THE ARMENIAN REFERENDUM ON INDEPENDENCE: SEPTEMBER 21, 1991". PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUMS IN THE BALTIC STATES, THE SOVIET UNION AND SUCCESSOR STATES: A Compendium of Reports 1991 - 1992 (PDF). Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. 1992. p. 67. Retrieved September 11, 2023 via csce.gov.
  57. 1 2 "TURKMENISTAN'S REFERENDUM ON INDEPENDENCE". Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. October 26, 1991. Retrieved September 10, 2023. On October 26, 1991, Turkmenistan held a referendum on independence. Over 97 percent of eligible voters turned out to answer "Yes" or "No" to two questions, the first dealing with the republic's independence, the second seeking approval of President Saparmurad Niyazov's political and economic program. Over 94 percent of participants voted for independence; almost as high a percentage of voters voiced backing for Niyazov. On October 27, an extraordinary session of Turkmenistan's Supreme Soviet declared independence.
  58. "Kazakhstan". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  59. "The End of the Soviet Union". Seventeen Moments in Soviet History: An on-line archive of primary sources. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  60. "The Collapse of the Soviet Union". United State Department of State: Office of the Historian. Retrieved September 11, 2023. On December 25, 1991, the Soviet hammer and sickle flag lowered for the last time over the Kremlin, thereafter replaced by the Russian tricolor.
  61. "Address on Gorbachev Resignatio". c-span.org. December 25, 1991. Retrieved September 11, 2023.

Further reading