Cold War timeline

Cold War timeline.

1947

Truman doctrine and Plan Marshall(1947-1948)

Firsts conflicst in Germany (1949)

Korean War (1950-1953)

Death of Stalin(1953)

1955

1959

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) treaties (1972)

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

Construction of the Berlin wall (1961)

Vietnam War (1959-1975)

1975

United States boycott of the Moscow Olympics (1980)

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) (1983)

Election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States (1981)

1985

1991

Dissolution of the USSR (1991)

Reunification of Germany (1990)

Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)

Cold War timeline: Legend

First phase: A Time of Great Tension (1947-1955)

Second phase: Peaceful Coexistence (1955-1975 )

Forth phase: The Second Cold War (1975-1985)

The Final Years (1985-1991)

Vietnam War

• Vietnam got divided after WWII
• In the north they were communists and in the south they supported a pro-Western dictatorship.
• Conflics grew and USA sent a half million soldiers to fight North Vietnam and the communist guerrilla.
• USA is humiliated.
• In 1975, Vietnam got reunified under a communist government.

The Korean War

It was fought between South Korea and communist North Korea. It was the first major conflict of the Cold War as the Soviet Union supported North Korea and the United States supported South Korea. The war ended with little resolution. The countries are still divided today and North Korea is still ruled by a communist regime.

Construction of the Berlin Wall

• Germany was divided after the Second World War.
• Between 1951 and 1958, more than 2 million left GDR (Communist Germany), lots of them through Berlin.
• In 1961, the Berlin Wall was erecter.
• After that, West Berlin got completely isolated.
• It become the symbol of the Cold War.

Vietnam War

• Vietnam got divided after WWII
• In the north they were communists and in the south they supported a pro-Western dictatorship.
• Conflics grew and USA sent a half million soldiers to fight North Vietnam and the communist guerrilla.
• USA is humiliated.
• In 1975, Vietnam got reunified under a communist government.

Firsts conflics in Germany

The first crisis of the Cold War took place in Germany. In June 1948, the USSR blocked land communications with West Berlin, to which the Allies responded by establishing an airlift. Between May and October 1949, the division of Germany was consolidated with the birth of the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany) and the GDR (German Democratic Republic).

Truman doctrine and Plan Marshall

Truman doctrine: With it, President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.The Plan Marshall: The United States organised it, a rescue and reconstruction plan based on the concession of grants and low-interest loans. They sought to obtain new markets and avoid social unrest which could favour the advance of communist ideas in Europe. Especially favoured were Great Britain, France, Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany. The United States intervened in the economy, controlled key sectors and launched a social policy based on the protection of the most disadvantaged. The European economy experienced a rapid recovery.

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) treaties

• After being on the brink of starting a war in Cuba, both superpowers looked for a détente.
• They made a Nuclear Non Profileration Treaty in 1968.
• And SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement) in 1972.
• However local wars continued in which the USA and the USSR intervened, like the Middle East Conflict and the VIetnam War.

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Castro's revolution in Cuba, 1959.

• Failed attempt of invading Cuba (Pig's Bay, Playa Girón, 1961).
• Castro asked the USSR to deploy nuclear missiles in the island.
• US spy planes discovered them in 1963.
• The reaction of Kennedy was blockade the island.
• US proclaimed that its navy will prevent any Soviet ship from getting to Cuba.
• This was the moment the world was closest to a nuclear war.
• Finally, the Soviets withdraw the missiles from Cuba and the USA from Turkey.