Timeline of 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">Cold War (1948–1953)</span> Phase of the Cold War

The Cold War (1948–1953) is the period within the Cold War from the incapacitation of the Allied Control Council in 1948 to the conclusion of the Korean War in 1953.

<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.

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">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.

This is a list of events in 1965 in politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold War</span> Geopolitical tension between US and USSR

The Cold War was a period of global geopolitical tension and struggle for ideological dominance and economic influence between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, that started in 1947, two years after the end of World War II, and lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. Aside from the nuclear arms race starting in 1949 and conventional military deployment, the struggle for supremacy was expressed indirectly via psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, sports diplomacy, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.

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

The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily 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 leader 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 no other country 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 during 1953-1962

The Cold War (1953–1962) refers to the period in the Cold War between the end of the Korean War in 1953 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. It was marked by tensions and efforts at détente between the US and Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Taiwan Strait Crisis</span> 1954–1955 military conflict between the PRC and ROC

The First Taiwan Strait Crisis was a brief armed conflict between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) focused on several ROC-held islands a few miles from the Chinese mainland in the Taiwan Strait.

This article is concerned with the events that preceded World War II in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of events preceding World War II</span>

This timeline of events preceding World War II covers the events that affected or led to World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allies of World War II</span> Grouping of the victorious countries of the war

The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during World War II (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers. Its principal members by the end of 1941 were the "Big Four" – the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China.

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

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.

This timeline of nuclear weapons development is a chronological catalog of the evolution of nuclear weapons rooting from the development of the science surrounding nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. In addition to the scientific advancements, this timeline also includes several political events relating to the development of nuclear weapons. The availability of intelligence on recent advancements in nuclear weapons of several major countries is limited because of the classification of technical knowledge of nuclear weapons development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post–Cold War era</span> Period after the end of the Cold War

The post–Cold War era is a period of history that follows the end of the Cold War, which represents history after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. This period saw many former Soviet republics become sovereign nations, as well as the introduction of market economies in eastern Europe. This period also marked the United States becoming the world's sole superpower.

This is a timeline of the 20th century.

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. Liew, Leong H.; Wang, Shaoguang (2012). Nationalism, Democracy and National Integration in China. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781134397495 via Google Books. The simple transfer of sovereignty from the defeated Japanese authorities to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government that ruled Mainland China was accomplished in a single day, 25 October 1945. The transfer of sovereignty was, however, much more complex than an official ceremonial task
  11. Schubert, Gunter (2016). Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Taiwan. Taylor & Francis. pp. 70 & 71. ISBN   9781317669708 via Google Books.
  12. "Stalin's Speeches to Voters – 1946". Marx2mao. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  13. "The Long Telegram". John Dclare. 22 February 1946. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  14. Vecchio, Michael (15 February 2021). "The Cold War, Churchill's Iron Curtain, and the Power of Imagery". History Guild.
  15. Lentz, Harris M. (2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. p. 118. ISBN   978-1-134-26490-2.
  16. "Novikov telegram". CUNY. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  17. Schubert, Gunter (2016). Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Taiwan. Taylor & Francis. p. 71. ISBN   9781317669708 via Google Books. The brewing tensions finally erupted in the 2.28 Incident, which lasted from February 27 until mid-March 1947.
  18. Glass, Andrew (April 16, 2010). "Bernard Baruch coins term 'Cold War,' April 16, 1947". Politico .
  19. Brune, Chronology of the Cold War, 1917–1992 (2006) p 144.
  20. David Holloway, Stalin and the bomb: the Soviet Union and atomic energy, 1939–1956 (Yale UP, 1994).
  21. Hans-Peter Schwarz, Konrad Adenauer: From the German Empire to the Federal Republic, 1876–1952 (Vol. 1. Berghahn Books, 1995).
  22. Walder, Andrew G. (2015). China Under Mao: A Revolution Derailed. Harvard University Press. p. 2. ISBN   9780674286702 via Google Books.
  23. Bernhard Dahm, Sukarno and the struggle for Indonesian independence. (Cornell UP, 1969).
  24. "Truman announces development of H-bomb". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  25. "Senator McCarthy says communists are in State Department". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  26. Carazo Garcia, Manuel (2020). Operation Reflex. The B47 in action. Spain: Punto Rojo Libros. ISBN   9788418574009 . Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  27. M. Steven Fish, "After Stalin's Death: The Anglo-American Debate Over a New Cold War." Diplomatic History 10.4 (1986): 333-355.
  28. 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).
  29. Edward C. Keefer, "President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the End of the Korean War." Diplomatic History 10.3 (1986): 267-289.
  30. "Army-McCarthy Hearings". HISTORY. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  31. "Germany – Countries – Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  32. 1 2 Eder, Christoph; Halla, Martin (2020). The Long-lasting Shadow of the Allied Occupation of Austria on its Spatial Equilibrium (PDF). p. 6. Retrieved October 27, 2024. On May 15, 1955 the Austrian State Treaty was signed among the Allied occupying forces and re-established a free, sovereign, and democratic Austria by July 27, 1955. As a result of this treaty, the Allies left Austrian territory on October 25, 1955.
  33. "Aswan High Dam completed". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  34. Powers, Francis (1960). Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident. Potomac Books, Inc. p. 48. ISBN   978-1-57488-422-7.
  35. Thomas C. Wright, Latin America in the era of the Cuban Revolution (Greenwood, 2001).
  36. 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
  37. "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  38. Accords ending hostilities in Indo-China (Geneva, 20 July 1954) CVCE. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  39. 1 2 "Sino-Indian War". Encyclopedia Brittanica. 1962. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  40. 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
  41. "For 60 years, a hotline aims to keep cool between US and Moscow". The Economist Times. August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  42. "Solar System Exploration Research Institute (SSERVI) - SSERVI". sservi.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  43. "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  44. 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.
  45. "Chega!"-Report of Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR)
  46. 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.
  47. "Polish government signs accord with Gdansk shipyard workers". History.com. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  48. "Timeline: Cold War Timeline of Significant Events". The Cold War Museum.
  49. "Solidarity". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  50. "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.
  51. 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.
  52. King, Seth S. (May 31, 1982). "SPAIN ENTERS NATO AS FIRST COUNTRY TO JOIN SINCE 1955". New York Times . UPI. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  53. 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.
  54. "Reagan 'jokes' about bombing Soviet Union, Aug. 11, 1984". Politico. August 11, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  55. Tucker, Spencer (2016). The Roots and Consequences of 20th-century Warfare: Conflicts that Shaped the Modern World. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   9798216140726 via Google Books.
  56. "Boris Yeltsin". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  57. Kuzio, Taras (2015). "Ukrainian Dissent, Opposition, and Religion in the USSR". Ukraine: Democratization, Corruption, and the New Russian Imperialism. Praeger. ISBN   9798216158691 . Retrieved October 18, 2023 via Google Books. Following the failed August 1991 putsch, Russia did not declare independence from the USSR, and Russia Day (the name of the holiday since 2002) is celebrated each year to commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR on June 12, 1990.
  58. Coyle, James J. (2017). "Moldova". Russia's Border Wars and Frozen Conflicts. Springer International Publishing. p. 164. ISBN   9783319522043 via Google Books. On June 12, 1990, the President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), Boris Yeltsin, signed a declaration of the RSFSR's Congress of People's Deputies that held the constitution and laws of the RSFSR took priority over the legislation of the USSR.
  59. Piddock, Charles (2006). Bergman, Jay (ed.). Kazakhstan. World Almanac Library. p. 22. ISBN   9780836867084 via Google Books.
  60. "The reunification of Germany". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  61. Kassymova, Didar; Kundakbaeva, Zh. B.; Kundakbayeva, Zhanat; Markus, Ustina (2012). Historical Dictionary of Kazakhstan. pp. XXXI. ISBN   9780810879836 via Google Books. 25 October: Declaration on state sovereignty by Kazakhstan
  62. "Kazakhstan declares sovereignty". United Press International. News World Communications. October 25, 1990. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  63. Kassymova, Didar; Kundakbaeva, Zh. B.; Kundakbayeva, Zhanat; Markus, Ustina (2012). Historical Dictionary of Kazakhstan. Scarecrow Press. pp. XXI. ISBN   9780810879836. 10 December: Law on renaming the Kazakh SSR to the Republic of Kazakhstan.
  64. 1 2 3 Lipovská, Hana (2020). "Secession in political economy of conflict". The Political Economy of Independence in Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 20. ISBN   9781000061499 . Retrieved April 11, 2024 via Google Books.
  65. "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.
  66. Jones, Stephen (2013). Georgia: A Political History Since Independence. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   978-0-85773-586-7 . Retrieved April 11, 2024 via Google Books. 1991 (March 31st) 89.7 percent of eligible electors - including non-Georgians (most Abkhazians and South Ossetians boycotted the vote) vote in a national referendum for independence.
  67. Jones, Stephen F. (2014). The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918-2012: The First Georgian Republic and Its Successors. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781317815921 . Retrieved April 11, 2024 via Google Books. As a result of the 1991 referendum, which endorsed independence by 98.9 percent of vote...
  68. Jones, Stephen (2013). Georgia: A Political History Since Independence. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   9780857735867 . Retrieved April 11, 2024 via Google Books. 1991 (April 9th) Independence of Georgia is declared.
  69. 1 2 3 Åslund, Anders (2009). How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy. Columbia University Press. pp. 31 & 32. ISBN   9780881325065 via Google Books.
  70. "Ukrainian Independence Referendum". Seventeen Moments in Soviet History: An on-line archive of primary sources. 28 September 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  71. "Belarus -Soviet Socialist Republic, Emergence, History". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved October 18, 2023. Amid the crisis of central authority in the U.S.S.R. in the early 1990s, the Belorussian S.S.R. declared sovereignty (July 27, 1990) and independence (August 25, 1991).
  72. "45. Moldova (1991-present)". University of Central Arkansas: Government Public Service and International Studies. Retrieved October 27, 2024. Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union on August 27, 1991.
  73. "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.
  74. "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.
  75. Drapac, Vesna (2010). "Chronology". Constructing Yugoslavia: A Transnational History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 268. ISBN   9781137094094 . Retrieved April 11, 2024 via Google Books. 1991 (7 September) Referendum in Macedonia leads to vote of 74 percent in favour of independence.
  76. Nourzhanov, Kirill; Bleuer, Christian (2013). "The Rise of Opposition, the Contraction of the State and the Road to Independence". Tajikistan: A Political and Social History. ANU E Press. p. 228. ISBN   9781925021165 via Google Books. On 9 September 1991, the Government of Tajikistan declared independence. The communist era in the history of Tajikistan came to an end.
  77. "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.
  78. 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.
  79. Lapidus, Gail W. (Summer 1998). "Contested Sovereignty: The Tragedy of Chechnya". International Security. 23 (1): 15–16. doi:10.2307/2539261. JSTOR   2539261 . Retrieved April 18, 2024 via JSTOR. The first stage in the unfolding conflict involved the emergence and radicalization of the Chechen national movement in the late 1980s, the election of Dudayev to the presidency, and the adoption of the law on state sovereignty of November 1, 1991.
  80. "61. Kazakhstan (1991-present)". University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved July 7, 2024. Kazakhstan declared its independence from the Soviet Union on December 16, 1991.
  81. "The End of the Soviet Union". Seventeen Moments in Soviet History: An on-line archive of primary sources. 29 June 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  82. "The Collapse of the Soviet Union". United States 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.
  83. "Address on Gorbachev Resignatio". c-span.org. December 25, 1991. Retrieved September 11, 2023.

Further reading