Date Event Significance

1945

4 to 11 Feb Yalta Conference is held between the three superpowers

- Germany is split into four occupation zones
- Agreement to hold free elections in all countries occupied by
Nazi Germany; Stalin does not see the Declaration of a
Liberated Europe as a legally-binding document

12 Apr Franklin Roosevelt dies; Truman takes over as President of the Truman was considerably more suspicious of the Soviet Union
United States than Roosevelt; more hostile towards Stalin

7 May Germany surrenders to the Allies, putting an end to World War II in

Europe.

7 July to 2 Aug Potsdam Conference

• 24 July: Truman informs Stalin that the US possesses atomic
weapons.

6 Aug US drops the atomic bomb on Japan. This is followed by a second

atomic bomb on 9 August.

10 August Japan surrenders to the Allies, putting an end to World War II. There was no need for Soviet help in joining an invasion of
Japan. They had surrendered before any Soviet intervention
had become necessary.

November Start of the Iran-Azerbaijan Crisis

- Soviet-backed forces engage in fighting with Iranian forces,
resulting in a total of 2000 casualties

4 November The Soviet Union rigs elections in Hungary, where the Hungarian
Communist Party forms a majority in the Cabinet despite winning
only 17% of the vote against the Smallholder’s Party’s 57%.

1
18 November The Soviet Union rigs elections in Bulgaria, where the Bulgarian
Communist Party-led alliance wins 88% of the votes.

1946

9 February Bolshoi Theatre Speech: Stalin declares that communism and

capitalism are fundamentally incompatible.
• Places blame for World War II on capitalism
• Shows no sign of liberalisation within the Soviet Union; alarms the
West

22 February Long Telegram: George Keenan recommends that the United

States abandon accommodating Soviet interests and concentrate on
checking the spread of Soviet power and influence, and that Soviets
would only yield to superior force.

Feb Czechoslovakian Coup: Non-communist President Edvard Benes is

forced to appoint a communist-dominated government

2 March British soldiers withdraw from Iran; Soviet troops stay

6 Mar Winston Churchill delivers the ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, illustrating

what he perceived as the threat posed by the Soviet Union and
communism to Europe

5 Apr Soviet forces evacuate Iran

September Bulgaria turns communist

6 September James’ Brynes delivers the Restatement of Policy on Germany,

repudiating the Morgentheau Plan and states plans to keep troops in
Europe indefinitely.

2
24 September Truman is presented with the Clifford-Elsey Report, listing Soviet
violations of agreements with the US.

27 September Nikolai Vasilevich Novikov writes Novikov Telegram in

response to Kennan’s Long Telegram

20 October Berlin holds elections

November Romanian communists win election

1947

1 January Bizonia is formed between the US and British zones in West

Germany.

February The Soviets rig Polish elections, returning a wholly-communist

government

12 March Announcement of Truman Doctrine

22 May US gives $400 mil of military aid to Greece and Turkey

5 June Secretary of State George Marshall outlines Marshall Plan

September Establishment of Cominform Cominform’s role was to dictate the actions of leaders
and communist parties across the Soviet sphere of
influence

3
Dec 30 King Michael I of Romania is forced to abdicate; the Popular
Republic of Romania is formed.
- Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej is made General Secretary.
- The Communist Regime was later formalised on 13 April
1948, with the constitution being a near exact-copy of the
1936 Soviet Constitution

1948

25 February Czechoslovakia falls to communism after a coup de tat The event marked the clearest signal of brazen Soviet
- Klement Gottwald, the chief of the Communist Party of domination over Eastern Europe. It sparked a defensive
Czechoslovakia, is made Prime Minister Western European reaction:
- The KSC had previously won 38% of the vote in the 1946 election - the adoption of the Marshall Plan
and Gottwald was made Prime Minister. However, its rough tactics - the creation of West Germany
and authoritarianism gradually alienated people and it was - measures to stop communists from taking over in Italy and
expected to do badly in the May 1948 elections. France
- The Soviet-backed coup drove out non-communist leaders in
government and opened room for the pro-communists.

3 April Truman signs the Marshall Plan into effect

- Provided US$13 billion in economic assistance to European
countries in exchange for them having open markets and buying
American goods

18 April Italian Elections: The communists are stopped from winning by the
Christian Democrats, with significant CIA support.
- The CIA conducted covert actions to prevent a communist victory,
with $1 million to centrist parties and forging letters to discredit
Communist leaders.
- The Communist Party of Italy was funded by the Soviet Union.
21 June Trizonia is formed between the UK, French and US zones Trizonia would massively hurt East Germany and Soviet
- Launched a common currency called the Deutsche Mark, interests in Eastern Europe.
excluding the Soviet Zone

4
24 June The Berlin Blockade begins, a direct response to the formation of In response, US and British planes conducted the Berlin Airlift,
Trizonia. operating more than 200 000 flights into Berlin and delivering
vital supplies of food and coal to 2.2 million West Berliners.

1949

5-8 January COMECON, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, is formed This was the Eastern Bloc’s response to the formation of the
among the Eastern Bloc. Organisation for European Economic Co-ooperation.
- COMECON would coordinate economic policies and facilitate
multilateral economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

April Hungarian elections are won by the communists, without any

opposing candidates.

April Establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

- Affirmed the principle of collective security to “keep Russians out,
Germans down and Americans in”
- Permitted US to evade sole responsibility for the defence of
Europe

12 May The Berlin Blockade ends This accelerated the creation of the West German state and the
division of Germany.

Both sides showed restraint because US possessed the atomic

bomb.

23 May The Federal Republic of Germany is formed. Stalin viewed this as an extension of containment by the United
States and its allies, and responded by creating a separate
East German state.

September The Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb. This eliminated the US advantage in atomic weapons, sparking
the start of an arms race between the two superpowers.

5
1 October The Chinese Communist Party wins the Chinese Civil War, and
proclaims the formation of the Peoples’ Republic of China

7 October The German Democratic Republic is formed Served as the Soviet response to the formation of West
Germany

16 October End of the Greek Civil War: The Hellenic Army, supported by the
British and US, defeat the communist-backed Democratic Army of
Greece.

1950

January Truman authorises the development of the hydrogen bomb - This marked the start of the nuclear arms race, after the
Soviet Union eradicated the US’s nuclear advantage and
established nuclear parity.

14 April Paul Nitze publishes NSC-68 - NSC-68 provided the “blueprint for the militarisation of the
- Advocated a large expansion in the military budget of the US, the Cold War”
development oft he hydrogen bomb, and icnreased military aid to
allies of the US
- Containment of global communist expansion became a top policy
priority

6
25 June The Korean War begins, with Soviet-backed North Korea invading - First proxy war of the Cold War; all-out conflict between two
South Korea sovereign states based on ideological differences
Soviet Perspective
- Kim il-Sung had asked Stalin for permission to launch an invasion
of South Korea. Stalin agreed, thinking that the US would not
respond.
- Kim previously asked Stalin for permission to invade in 1949, but
Stalin felt the time was not right because the CCP was still fighting
in China and American forces were stationed in Korea (they would
only withdraw in June 1949); Stalin did want to be embroiled in a
war with the US.
- The strategic situation had changed: Detonated their first nuclear
bomb in September 1949; American soldiers withdrew from Korea
in June 1949; Americans did not intervene in China; Soviets had
cracked the codes used by the US to communicate with the US
embassy in Moscow, and reading these dispatches convinced
Stalin that Korea was not important to the US to warrant a nuclear
confrontation.
- Soviet foreign policy in Asia became more aggressive: promising
economic and military aid to China through the Sino-Soviet
Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance Treaty. → Soviets
continued to arm North Korea

US Perspective
- US was unprepared for the invasion — it did not consider Korea
important and was not included in the strategic Asian Defence
Perimeter. Strategiest were more concerned with the security of
Europe against the Soviet Union than East Asia.
- On 27 June: Truman ordered US air and sea forces to help the
South Korean regime.

7
30 September UN forces land at Incheon
- UNSC had condemned the North Korean invasion; Soviet Union
had boycotted since January 1950

Reasons for US Involvement

- Japan was considered the counterweight in dealing with USSR
and China. South Korea’s proximity to Japan increased the
importance of South Korea.
- Truman feared if the aggression went unchecked, a chain reaction
would be initiated that would marginalise the United Nations and
encourage Communist aggression elsewhere, eg: Yugoslavia after
the Tito-Stalin Split

2 October UN forces cross the 38th Parallel into North Korea

- Exceeded the original mandate to restore the security of South
Korea

15 November UN forces approach the Yalu River, prompting Chinese

intervention in North Korea by sending 500 000 volunteers.
- China was concerned about the threat posed to its own interests,
and recognised that US forces along its border posed a clear
security threat.

1951

11 April Truman fires Douglas MacArthur from command of US forces in

the Korean War.
- Douglas MacArthur had been sacked for insubordination over the
command of US forces.
- Douglas MacArthur had persistently been more bold compared to
Truman.

8
10 October Signing of the Mutual Security Act by Truman
- Provided for US military aid to “free peoples”
- Replaced the Marshall Plan
- Its main goal was to help poor countries and to contain the spread
of communism.

1952

2 October Great Britain successfully tests the atomic bomb in Operation Britain becomes the third county to possess the nuclear bomb.
Hurricane

1 November US tests the first thermometer bomb, Ivy Mike.

1953

20 January Dwight Eisenhower is inaugurated as President.

5 March Joseph Stalin dies. Stalin’s successors would seek a détente, and the ensuing
- His death sparks off a power struggle within the party, with years saw useful East-West agreements (eg: the Korean
prominent leaders such as Malenkov and Molotov attempting to armistice, Geneva Conference on Indochina, Austrian
take over. independence) and culminating in the largely atmospheric
1955 Geneva Summit conference.

9
16 June East German Uprising: Workers in East Berlin took to the streets in
open revolt, going on strike and protesting across large parts of the
country.

- Originally wanted the reinstatement of previous work quotas, but

soon turned into political demands and wanted the resignation of
the East German government
- Soviet troops intervened with 20 000 soldiers and 8000 East
German soldiers to suppress the uprising

Background:
- There had been a trend of increasing Sovietisation in Eastern
Europe from July 1952, eg: increased spending on militarisation
(20% of the budget); favouring heavy industry over consumer
goods.
- High number of political prisoners, including many Evangelical
Church leaders
- Government decided to raise work quotas by 10%

27 July Armstice agreement ends the Korean War Acceleration of American Policy as well as the globalisation of
the Cold War
- Reinforcement of NATO, West German sovereignty and
increases economic aid to anti-communist regimes in
Southeast Asia
- US defence spending increase form $13.1 billion in 1950 to
$50.4 billion

19 August CIA removes Mohammed Mosaddegh as Prime Minister of Iran

- Coup organised due to the Iranian nationalisation of the oil
industry which threatened British oil interests in the Middle East
and fears of Iran joining the Soviet camp
- Shah Pahlavi was allowed to rule more firmly as Monarch, and
relied on US support to hold onto power until February 1979

10
7 September After a power struggle, Nikita Khrushchev becomes General
Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1954

21 January US launches the world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilius Heightened the nuclear arms race, because it allowed the US
to strike targets by operating underwater and undetected

1 March US executes Castle Bravo, a series of high-yield thermonuclear tests

in the Marshall Islands.
- It is the most powerful nuclear device detonated by the US
- Releases unexpected radioactive contamination across the Pacific

18 June The CIA backs a coup in Guatemala, removing the elected leftist
government and installing a right-wing regime
- Deposed the democratically-elected Jacobo Arbenz and ended the
Guatemalan Revolution
- Installed the military dictatorship of Carlos Castillo Armas

11 August First Taiwan Straits Crisis begins

- The PRC series the Yijiangshan Islands, forcing he ROC to
abandon the Tachen Islands
- The US and ROC join forces to evacuate ROC military personnel
and civilians from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan

23 October The Federal Republic of Germany is admitted to NATO

1955

24 February Baghdad Pact is founded to resist Communist expansion in the

Middle East. It comprises Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Britain

11
April The Non-Aligned Movement is formed at the Bandung Conference
- Designed to restore balance of power with smaller nations
considering themselves not aligned to either major bloc
- Pioneered by Nehru, Sukarno, Tito and Nasser

14 May Warsaw Pact is founded in Eastern Europe

- Includes East Germany. Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary,
Romnia, Albania, Bulgaria and the Soviet Union
- The Warsaw Pact included a combined armed forces; dominated
by the Soviet Union
- A consequence of the rearmament of West Germany within
NATO. They feared that Germany would become a military power
and a direct threat.

Background
- Prior to the Warsaw Pact, many of the Eastern European countries
sought to create security pacts with East Germany an Poland,
protesting against the re-militarisation of West Germany

1956

25 February Khrushchev delivers the speech “On the Personality Cult and its
Consequences” denouncing Stalin’s legacy
- The speech remained a secret, only delivered in a closed-door
session of Communist Party delegates
- Denounced Stalin’s role in the Soviet Union: exaggeration of role
in the Great Patriotic War, mass repressions
- Discredited Stalin’s ascent to power: posited that he came about
to power illegitimately by manipulating Lenin’s Testament
- Resulted in the Sino-Soviet split, with Mao Zedong and
Hoxha denouncing Khrushchev as a revisionist
- Resulted in the Khrushchev Thaw: a period of liberalisation
where repression was relaxed; prisoners released from
Gulags

17 April Cominform is abolished

- Aligned with the declaration that there are different roads to
socialism
- Placates Eastern European countries’ frustrations

12
28-30 June Poznan Uprising: Massive protests against the communist - Resulted in the installation of a less Soviet-controlled
government in Poland end with violent repression by the Polish government in October 1956 led by Gomulka, who had been
government. imprisoned under Stalin
- A spontaneous strike over lost bonus pays morphed into large- - Inspired similar protests in Hungary, hoping for similar results
scale demonstrations against high food prices, low wages and
poor worker protections.
- The Polish government began to crack down on the
demonstrators, and arrested hundreds of political opponents.
- Soviets maintained a strong military presence in Poland, e.g.:
Warsaw

23 October-10 November Hungarian Revolution: A nationwide revolt against the Hungarian - Gomulka’s return to government inspired the Hungarians to
Government and the Soviet Union ends with armed Soviet revolt
intervention.
- The Hungarian Revolution was the first major threat to Soviet
- There had previously been hatred of Rakosi’s regime, under which control
at least 2000 people had been executed and others put in prisons
and concentration camps; reduced living standards
- Signalled the extents of the Khrushchev Thaw: it was only
willing to permit liberalisation within a communist framework,
- The revolt began as a student demonstration, and gained traction but would not stand for any Eastern Bloc state leaving the
within Hungary. Imre Nagy, a newly-installed moderate Prime Soviet sphere of influence
Minister, demanded the end of one party rule, the withdrawal of
Soviet troops and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact.
- Soviets agreed to evacuate Soviet troops but refused to permit
Hungary to leave the Warsaw Pact
- On 4 November, 1000 Soviet tanks entered Budapest, destroying
the Hungarian Army and Hungarian Radio.
- Janos Kadar was installed as Hungarian Prime Minister
29 October Suez Crisis: Israel, Britain and France invade Egypt to regain control
of the Suez Canal and to remove Nasser from power.
- Nasser had nationalised the Suez Canal, threatening the
economic security of Britain
- Nearly drew the superpowers into the conflict: Soviets threatened
to intervene on the Egyptian side and launch rocket attacks on
Britain, France and Israel → This would draw US into a conflict
under NATO Collective Security arrangements

13
1957

5 January Eisenhower Doctrine launched

- Commits the US to defending Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan — all
under the threat of communist influence

4 October Sputnik satellite launched

3 November Sputink-2 launched, with the first living thing, a dog, on board.

1958

31 March The Soviet Union declares a halt to all nuclear tests and asks other
countries to do the same

1959

1 January Cuban Revolution Guerilla movements spring up across South America, inspired
- Fidel Castro becomes leader by the revolution

1960

1 May U-2 Incident: Gary Powers is shot down in his spy plane while This event was a huge embarrassment to the US, and
conducting a reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union worsened its relation with the Soviet Union

June Sino-Soviet Split

- The Soviet Union had been alarmed by China for some time:
opposed the Great Leap Forward; stopped supporting its nuclear
wepaons programme

31 July Malayan Emergency ends, with communist insurgents defeated

1960

14
20 January John F Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States

12 April Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space to orbit Earth

17-19 April Bay of Pigs invasion
- The CIA trains and supports 1000 Cuban exiles to invade Cuba
and overthrow Fidel Castro. They are defeated.
- Strengthened Castro’s hold over Cuba, allowing them to justify
actions with the aggression of the Americans
- Resulted in greater Soviet involvement in Cuba: Castro
pressured Khrushchev to place missiles in Cuba to defend
them against the US
- Directly aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union and communism

June The US deploys Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missiles to

Turkey and Thor IRBMs to Britain

13 August The Soviet Union builds the Berlin Wall between East and West - US saw the construction o fthe Berlin Wall as a defensive
Berlin measure which did not threaten the interests of Western
- Designed to cut off an escape route to the West powers
- Soviets did not want to go to war over Berlin, and this
achieved his primary objective of closing off an escape
avenue to the West: Khrushchev would withdraw the
ultimatum for the withdrawal of Western troops in October

31 October The Soviet Union detonates Tsar Bomba, the most powerful
thermonuclear weapon ever tested

2 December Fidel Castro openly describes himself as Marxist-Leninist - Signified growing association with the Soviet Union; growing
- Previously, he had considered himself a revolutionary socialist at influence on Cuba
most

1962

15
16-29 October Cuban Missile Crisis
- US spylanes detected IRBMs being constructed by the Soviets on
Cuba
- Resolved in a secret deal that the US would remove Jupiter
missiles from Turkey but the American public did not know about
this at all

1963

21 June France withdraws navy from the NATO North Atlantic fleet - A consequence of perceived American aggression during the
Cuban Missile Crisis

5 August Partial Test Ban Treaty is signed between the US, Great Britain and
Soviet Union, prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons except
those conducted underground
- Arose because of public anxiety over the magnitude of nuclear
tests, particular tests of new thermonuclear weapons and the
resulting nuclear fallout
- Both Kennedy and Khrushchev welcomed the treaty
- A consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis: prior to the
Cuban Missile Crisis, there had been many unsuccessful
attempts to regulate nuclear weapons testing. Kennedy, for
instance, believed it was an important demonstration of US
strength
- Cuban Missile Crisis alerted people to the danger of nuclear
weapons

22 November John F Kennedy is assassinated. Lyndon B Johnson is made US

President.

1964

4 August Gulf of Tonkin incident: The USS Maddox was pursued by North - Resulted in the Guilt of Tonkin Resolution, which authorised
Vietnamese boats, and fired on it. the use of conventional military forces in Southeast Asia to
- The USS Maddox was conducting a signals intelligence patrol, assist members oft he Southeast Asia Collective Defence
and was later found to have intruded North Vietnamese waters Treaty

14 October Leonid Brezhnev succeeded Khrushchev to become General

Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet union.
- Khrushchev was outed by Brezhnev, and voluntarily resigned.

16
16 October China tests its first atomic bomb

1965

28 April US forces invade the Dominican Republic to prevent communist

takeover, similar to that of Cuba.
- 22 000 US troops land in the Dominican republic and install a
conservative, non-military government

15 August to 23 Sept Indo-Pakistani War: Pakistan and India go to war after Pakistan
infiltrates Indian territories.
- A UN-mandated ceasefire ended the conflict.

1966

10 March France withdraws from NATO command structure

1967

5 June Six Day War: Israel launches a pre-emptive strike against Egypt and
six other Arab states in response to growing aggression. The war
ends with the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula.

1968

17
5 January The Prague Spring begins, with reforms introduced in communist
Czechoslovakia.
- Alexander Dubcek introduces “Socialism with a Human Face” and
intended to rule by consent rather than by force and promoted free
discussion of reform through relaxation of censorship and the
publication of anti-communist views
- In addition, Czechsolovakia’s economic policies were reoriented to
introduce mixing planned anar market economies, and the
economy was moved away from Stalinist-era heavy industry.
- The rationale was that class conflict had been overcome, and that
an era of liberalism had to ensue.

30 January Tet Offensive in South Vietnam: North Vietnam and Vietcong launch
large-scale assaults across South Vietnam.

8 June End of the Tet Offensive: The US rolls back the North Vietnamese
advance
- However, morale is dampened and there is increasing
disillusionment with the war

September The Brezhnev Doctrine is announced, committing to limited It was intended as a means to end liberalisation efforts and
independence of the satellite communist parties and that no country uprisings that had the potential to compromise Soviet
would be permitted to compromise the cohesiveness of the Eastern hegemony in the Eastern Bloc
Bloc.

1969

20 January Richard Nixon becomes US President Elected on the basis of ending US involvement in the Vietnam
War

20 July The US lands the first humans on the moon

18
25 July The process of Vietnamisation begins, with the burden of combat
placed on the South Vietnamese rather than the US

1970

5 March Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty enters into force

- All signatories not already recognised as nuclear powers were not
permitted to develop nuclear weapons.
- Recognised nuclear powers were required to share the benefits of
peaceful nuclear technology and to pursue nuclear disarmament.

18 Nov US provides aid to Cambodia to support the non-communist Lon

Nol government

1971

11 September Death of Nikita Khrushchev

October The UN General Assembly recognises the Peoples’ Republic of

China as the sole legitimate government of China

1972

21 February Nixon visits China A sign of rapprochement between the US and China

19
26 May Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) is signed
- Freezes existing numbers of strategic ballistic missiles
- Provide the addition of new submarine-launched ballistic missile
launchers only after the same number of intercontinental ballistic
ballistic missiles and old SLMB launchers had been dismantled
- Limited the number of land-based ICMBs that were in range from
the northeastern border of the US to the northwestern border of
the continental USSR
- Limited the number of SLBM-capable submarines by NATO and
the US to 50; maximum of 800 SLBM launchers between them

1973

January Signing of peace agreement for Vietnam

- Ceasefire throughout Vietnam
- Withdrawal of US forces
- Release of prisoners of war
- Reunification of North and South Vietnam through peaceful means
- South Vietnams government to remain until new elections are
held; North Vietnamese forces in the South were not tbe advance
further

1974

June SEATO ends after France withdraws from the organisation

9 August Gerald Ford assumes the Presidency after Richard Nixon resigns
due to the Watergate scandal

1975

18 April The communist Khmer Rogue seize power in Cambodia

20
30 April Vietnam is unified under North Vietnam. The Vietnam War comes to
an end

1 August The Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe is

signed by the US, Canada, USSR and Europe
- Little actual impact: it was non-binding and did not have treaty
status
- Advocated sovereign equality, refraining from the threat or use of
force; inviolability of frontiers; non-intervention in internal affairs

1976

8 January Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai dies

11 March The Soviet Union begins to deploy SS-20 missiles in Eastern Europe

9 September Death of Mao Zedong

1977

20 January Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as President of the United States Jimmy Carter campaigned on a more pro-human rights
platform, and opposed the Soviet Union on that basis

1978

27 April Afghan President Sardar Mohammed Daoud is murdered in a coup

led by pro-communist rebels

25 December A communist regime is installed in Afghanistan, led by Nur

Muhammed Taraki

1979

21
16 January The Iranian Revolution ousts Western-backed Shah Palahvi and
establishes an Islamic theocracy under Ayatollah Khomeini

May Margaret Thatcher is elected as Prime Minister of the United

Kingdom

18 June Carter and Brezhnev sign the SALT-II Agreement

- It discourages the Soviet Union from acquiring third-generation
ICMBS
- Banned new missile porgrammes, so both sides were to limit their
new strategic missile developments
- However, the US preserved their most essential programmes,
such as the Trident missiles
- In 1979, the US Senate refused to ratify SALT-II in light of growing
Soviet aggression

3 July Carter signs the first directive for financial aid to opponents of the
pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan, including the Mujahideen

4 November Iranian students take over the American Embassy in support of the
Iranian Revolution, taking US citizens hostage

22
12 December NATO’s Double Track Decision: offer the Warsaw Pact a mutual
limitation of medium-range ballistic missiles and intermediate-range
ballistic missiles combined with the threat that in case of
disagreement NATO would deploy more middle-range nuclear
weapons in Western Europe, following the so-called "Euromissile
Crisis”.
- This decision intended the deployment of 572 equally mobile
American middle-range missiles (Pershing II and Gryphon BGM-
109G Ground Based Ballistic Missiles) to rebuild the state of
Mutual Assured Destruction.
- The disarmament negotiations which started on November 30,
1981, remained without conclusion.
- The German Bundestag agreed to the deployment in 1983,
whereupon the Soviet Union aborted the negotiations.

24 December The USSR invades Afghanistan to oust non-communist Hafizullah The US was shocked by the Soviet invasion and increased its
Amin support for the Mujahideen, and declared itself ready to fight for
US interests in the Gulf

1980

21 March US and its allies boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics in protest of the
invasion of Afghanistan

23
August Polish Crisis: Attempts to raise price levels spark a worker rebellion
across the country.
- At the Gdansk shipyard, strike leader Lech Walesa leads a
movement which spreads along the Baltic coast, bringing the
economy to a halt. Walesa demands economic improvements and
the establishment of independent trade unions.
- As a consequence, Solidarity is formed in September 1980.

Warsaw Pact Response

- Many Warsaw Pact members urged immediate military
intervention to restore order in Poland
- Polish Prime Minister Stanislaw Kania insisted on solving the
problem himself.

1981

20 January Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as President of the United States

20 January Iran hostage crisis ends with the release of remaining US captives

17 June First US arms deal with China

19 August Gulf of Sidra Incident: Libyan planes attack US aircraft in the Gulf
Sidra; two Libyan planes are shot down

23 September US and Soviet Union agree to open talks on Intermediate Nuclear

Forces

1982

24 February Reagan introduces the Caribbean Basin Initiative to prevent

overthrow of governments in the region by communism

24
9 May Ronald Reagan proposes Strategic Arms Reduction Talks to reduce
nuclear arsenals

29 June Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) open in Geneva

between the two superpowers

10 November Leonid Brezhnev dies and is succeeded by Yuri Andropov

1983

8 March In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals, Reagan

calls the Soviet Union an ‘evil empire’

23 March Reagan proposes the Strategic Defence Initiative, a space-based

nuclear shield to eliminate US vulnerability to the nuclear threat

1 September South Korean Airlines flight KAL 007 is shot down by Soviets after
allegedly intruding Soviet airspace

25 October The US invades Grenada to overthrow the Marxist military

government

23 November Soviets walk out of INF talks due to US deployment of Cruise

missiles

8 Decmeber START talks are suspended

1984

13 February Konstantin Chernenko succeeds Andropov as General Secretary

25
26 April Reagan visits China

28 July Soviet Union and its allies boycott the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics

1985

11 March Mikihail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union, introducing

a platform of:
- Perestroika: economic restructuring, permitting greater
independence from the state and liberalisation of the economy.
- Glasnost: openness and liberalisation, with reduced controls on
censorship and permitting people to speak out

26 April Warsaw Pact is renewed for another 20 years

1 May US enforces a trade embargo against Nicaragua, demanding that

Nicaragua put a stop to expanding its armed insurrection in
neighbouring countries, cease ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union and
cease its arms buildup

21 November First meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev

- Both leaders agree that a nuclear war cannot be won, and must
not be fought

1986

15 January Gorbachev accepts zero option for the destruction of INF systems

26 April Chernorbyl Disaster Heightens Gorbachev’s awareness of the dangers of nuclear

war, and that even without war, nuclear energy could destroy
mankind

26
11-12 October Rejyvakiv Summit
- Unsuccessufl and breaks down over SDI
- Gorbachev calls it a breakthrough between the two countries

1987

12 June Reagan visits Berlin, and delivers the Brandenburg Gate speech
calling upon Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall

29 November The Polish government holds a referendum on economic support but

fails to get 50% support

7-10 December Signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in - First time any missiles had been destroyed in the
Washington DC disarmament process
- Eliminated all land-based intermediate-range nuclear weapons
across the next three years
- Included all Russian missiles in East Germany and
Czechoslovakia, as well as American Cruise and Pershing
missiles in Western Europe

1988

14 April Geneva peace agreement on settlement in Afghanistan

15 May Soviet Union begins withdrawing from Afghanistan

29 May to 1 June Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Moscow to ratify the IRNF Treaty
- Reagan concedes that the Soviet Union was no longer an evil
empire

20 July Iran ends the Iran-Iraq War

27
7 December Gorbachev announces that the Soviet Union will no longer
intervene militarily in Eastern Europe
- Showed acceptance of human rights through his proposal to
shrink the Red Army by 500 000 soldiers
- Included an important declaration that Marxist-Leninism was not
absolute truth

1989

11 January Non-communist parties are legalised in Hungary, allowing for a

multiparty political system and elections
- Hundreds of thousands of East Germans move to Hungary
- Hungary becomes a passage to the West

20 January George H W Bush is inaugurated as President of the United States

15 February The last Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan

25 April Soviet Union pulls out of Hungary

12 May Bush declares a New World Order in a speech delivered to Texas - The speech marks the end of a US policy of containing the
A&M University Soviet Union
- Bush declares that the US must have a goal “beyond simply
containing Soviet expansionism”, and declares his intention to
“welcome the Soviet Union back into the world order”

15-18 May Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping meet in Beijing - First Sino-Soviet Summit in 30 years, marking the end of the
Sino-Soviet split

4 June Tiananmen Square Massacre

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4-18 June Polish Elections: Solidarity wins the first free elections in Poland
- The communists are defeated in a landslide
- It becomes the first Eastern Bloc government to be non-
communist

23 August Demonstrations in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in favour of - This alarms Gorbachev because these are Soviet Socialist
independence from the Soviet Union Republics and form the core of the Soviet Union
- It is not just the Eastern Bloc that is collapsing; it is the
Soviet Union as well

18 October Erich Honecker, the President of East Germany, is forced to resign

- Replaced by Egon Krenz, another communist member

9-10 November Fall of the Berlin Wall

- The Krenz government permits refugees to use all East-West
border crossings

27 November The Velvet Revolution topples the communist government in

Czechoslovakia.
- Previously, a movement called Charter 77 had led the cause for
increased democratisation
- From 17 November, there was a huge demonstration against
police brutality, and evolved to become a national strike

3 December Malta Summit: Gorbachev and Bush declare an era of long-lasting - Considered to be the beginning of the end of the Cold War
peace

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16-25 December In Romania, protestors overthrow Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist
government and execute him.
- A protest in Timisoara had been brutally repressed, and caused
outrage throughout the country.
- Ceacescu was heckled during a speech, and the army began
suppressing mass protests
- Eventually, the army refused to continue killing and the
Ceasescu’s were killed by a military tribunal

1990

11 March Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union

29 May Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia

3 October Reunification of Germany as the Federal Republic of Germany

1991

July Formal dissolution of the Warsaw Pact

25 December Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Communist Party

26 December Council of Republics of the Supreme Soviet recognise the dissolution

of the Soviet Union, and dissolves itself

31 December All Soviet institutions cease operations

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