The Cold War: a Timeline

The Cold War: A Timeline

Warmer Relations / YEAR / Colder Relations
-May 8: Germany surrenders; USSR occupies Eastern Europe and East Germany / 1945 / -August 6 & 9: US drops 2 atomic bombs on Japan; Japan surrenders
-September 2: Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam as independent
-September 8: Korea is occupied by the US in the South of the 38th parallel and the USSR in the North
1946 / -Winston Churchill declares an “iron curtain” has been drawn across Europe
1947 / -The Truman Doctrine is adopted which gives US aid in the form of $400 million to Greece and Turkey to defend against communism
-April 3: The Marshall Plan enacted; billions of dollars in aid is given to 16 European nations to rebuild following WWII / 1948 / -May 10: General election in South Korea leads to democratic government
-June 24: Berlin Blockade & Airlift; USSR blockades all access to West Berlin, US airlifts supplies. The Soviet blockade ends after nearly a year.
-August 3: Alger Hiss, an American government official, is accused of being a Communist spy
-September 9 – Kim Il-sung becomes Prime Minister of a Communist North Korea
1949 / -April 4: NATO is formed as a collective security agency (led by the United States)
-October 1: Communist People’s Republic of China is established
1950 / -February 9: Joseph McCarthy gives speech claiming that the State Department is full of Communist spies. The HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) investigates.
-June 25: UN defends South Korea after invasion from the North
1952 / -First hydrogen bomb developed and tested by the United States
1953 / -July 27: Korean War ends in an armistice, border returns to 38th parallel
-August 12: First “ready-to-use” hydrogen bomb tested in the Soviet Union
Warmer Relations / YEAR / Colder Relations
1954 / -May 7: French defeat at Dien Bien Phu
-September 8: Formation of SEATO (Southeast Asian Treaty Organization) as a collective security organization
1955 / -May 9: Democratic West Germany joins NATO
-May 14: Warsaw Pact is formed; Communist collective security agreement to oppose NATO
1956 / -October 23-November 10: Soviet forces crush Hungarian attempt to end communist rule
1957 / -January 5: Eisenhower Doctrine; US commits to stop communist spread in the Middle East
-October 4: USSR launches Sputnik, first man-made satellite into orbit around Earth
1958 / -Fear of USSR missile superiority leads to large increases in military spending
-October 1: Fearing a “technology gap,” NASA is formed
-July 24: Vice President Richard Nixon tours the Soviet Union; holds debate with Khrushchev
-September 15-27: Khrushchev visits United States, meets with Eisenhower at Camp David
-December 1: Antarctica Treaty; nations agree to reserve Antarctica for scientific research, no military uses allowed / 1959 / -January 1: Fidel Castro leads a Communist coup in Cuba. US business interests are nationalized
1960 / -May 1: U-2 Incident; US spy plan shot down over USSR; Pilot Gary Powers exchanged for Soviet spy
1961 / -April 12: Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin is first man to orbit the Earth
-April 17-19: Bay of Pigs Invasion; CIA-trained Cuban exiles fail in invasion of Cuba
-May 25: Kennedy pledges to put a man on the moon before the decade ends
-August 13: Construction begins on the Berlin Wall, dividing the city of Berlin
-Kennedy pledges more support to South Vietnam; American military advisors sent to help
Warmer Relations / YEAR / Colder Relations
1962 / -February 20: John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth
-October 16-28: Cuban Missile Crisis; US blockades Cuba over USSR’s stationing of nuclear missiles in Cuba. JFK demonstrates American “brinkmanship” – willingness to go to the very edge of war
-December: USSR removes missiles from Cuba, US removes missiles from Turkey
-August 5: Limited Test Ban Treaty; agreement to outlaw nuclear test under water and in space / 1963 / -November 22: John F. Kennedy is assassinated
1964 / -August 7: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution; Congress gives the President power to take “all necessary measures to retaliate for North Vietnam sinking US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin
1965 / -March: First combat troops sent to Vietnam
-March 2-November 1: Operation Rolling Thunder; gradual and sustained aerial bombardment
1966 / -400,000 combat troops fighting in Vietnam War
-January 27: Outer Space Treaty; US and USSR limit military use of space / 1967
-January 5: Prague Spring begins when Alexander Dubcek becomes general secretary of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia; ushers in new era of reform
-July 1: Nuclear Arms Nonproliferation Treaty; agreement limiting distribution of nuclear materials / 1968 / -January 30: First wave of the Tet Offensive in which North Vietnamese troops capture many South Vietnamese cities and embassies; eventual US victory
-November 13: Brezhnev Doctrine justifies Soviet involvement in uprisings in any Soviet-bloc nation against Communism
-November 17: US and USSR begin discussion on the limitation of nuclear arms / 1969 / -July 20: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become first men to walk on the moon
-July 25: Nixon Doctrine; US commits to allies defense, but will not defend third world countries
-August 12: Moscow Treaty; USSR and West Germany agree to existing borders and to normalize relations between the two nations. / 1970 / -Vietnamization; US begins to lower troop levels and train South Vietnam to assume the war alone
-May 4: Shooting at Kent State kills 4 unarmed student protesters
Warmer Relations / YEAR / Colder Relations
-April 12: Ping Pong Diplomacy; US and China engage in “diplomacy” as US Table Tennis Team becomes the first officially sanctioned group of Americans allowed in China since Communist takeover in 1949
-May 3: East opens to détente; becoming more open to discuss with the West / 1971 / -February: Pentagon Papers; New York Times publishes classified documents from the Pentagon on Vietnam
-May 22: Moscow Summit; President Nixon travels to USSR for a summit with Soviet Premier Brezhnev; both agree to a policy of detente
-May 29: Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) signed, freezing the number of ballistic missile launchers at existing levels
-December 21: Basic Treaty signed; West and East Germany sign treaty giving East Germany de facto recognition of its statehood and borders / 1972 / -February 21: Nixon arrives in China; beginning of “normalized” relations between US and China; trade agreements follow
-January 27: Paris Peace Accords; establishes a ceasefire in Vietnam and ends US involvement in the Vietnam War / 1973
-November 23: SALT I signed between President Ford and Soviet Premier Brezhnev laying groundwork for further nuclear arms limitations / 1974 / -April 30: Fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese control
-July 15: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project; US and USSR link up in space / 1975
-June 18: SALT II; US and USSR agreement on limitations on long-range missiles / 1979 / -July 17: Nicaraguan Revolution; Sandinistas overthrow DeBayle in Nicaragua, leading to the establishment of a socialist regime
-December 24: Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
1980 / -January 20: President Jimmy Carter issues ultimatum to Soviet Union; withdraw troops from Afghanistan or US will boycott Summer Olympics and will place an embargo on grain; ends detente
-July 19-August 3: US, along with 64 other nations boycott 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow
Warmer Relations / YEAR / Colder Relations
- / 1983 / -March 8: President Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union an “evil empire”
-March 23: US begins development of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or “Stars Wars” missile defense system
-October 25: Invasion of Grenada; US forces invade Caribbean island of Grenada in attempt to overthrow Marxist government
- / 1984 / -July 28: 1984 Summer Olympics Boycott; Soviet Union leads a boycott of the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles
-November 19-20: Reagan and Gorbachev agree to a 50% reduction of nuclear arms / 1985 / -August 20-March 4, 1987: Iran-Contra Affair; US illegally provides aid to Contra rebels fighting the Communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua with money from arms sales to Iran
-Implementation of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) by Gorbachev leading to cultural change and calls for further easing of party control / 1986 / -
-December 8-10: START I; Reagan and Gorbachev sign a treaty further limiting nuclear weapons numbers and development / 1987 / -June 12: Reagan challenges Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in reference to the Berlin Wall
-February 15: Soviet Union withdraws troops from Afghanistan
-November 9: Fall of the Berlin Wall; Soviet control of Eastern Europe is ended as satellites begin to break from Soviet Bloc / 1989 / -
-October 3: German Reunification; the two German states signed a treaty agreeing on political, economic, and social union / 1990 / -
-December 26: Collapse of the Soviet Union; formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, resulting in the former of new nations / 1991 / -

Illustrated Cold War Timeline Project

Directions: The Cold War was a 50 year era of constantly evolving tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. You are to create an illustrated timeline of the FIVETEEN most important events, in your opinion, of the Cold War (1945-1991). You may work by yourself or with ONE partner.

Follow the following steps to complete your timeline.

Place the 15 events in chronological order on your timeline.
Each timeline must include a title. The title must be centered on the paper and colored.
Use a ruler and place your timeline line in the center of the paper(s).
Place each year on the timeline 2 inches apart.
Place all events and dates on the timeline.
Write each phrase by its corresponding year(s) on the timeline.

(EX: 1917-1918 “U.S. enters World War I”)

Pick 8 of the events on the timeline and draw 8 pictures that represent each one of those events. The pictures must clearly represent the events chosen. NO STICK FIGURES!!! BE CREATIVE!!! COLOR ALL PICTURES NEATLY!!!

Rubric:

Objective / Total Points Possible / Total Points Earned
All FIFTEEN events are factually accurate and placed in the correct chronological order / 30
There are EIGHT events depicted with illustrations that are appropriate and make sense with the event / 25
All illustrations are creative and colorful / 10
Final product does not have any obvious pencil marks (go over with pen or marker) / 15
All events are placed 2 inches apart on the timeline / 10
No spelling, grammatical, or mechanical mistakes / 10