Cold War

• 1946


  feb : George Kennans long telegram

  march : Churchills iron curtain speech

  nov : easy establishment of communism in Romania
• 1947


  march : Truman Doctrine

  April : all other political parties in Bulgaria eliminated by USSR

  June : Marshall aid

  $13.5 billion to 13 European states
• 1948

  • June : Berlin blockade begins
  • communist dominated gov in charge of czech
  • pro Moscow leader takes over in Poland
• 1949

  • may : blockade ends unsuccessfully
  • soviets develop A bomb 4 years after US
  • NATO formed - FRG member
  • October : separate east + west German states established
  • arms race begins
• 1950

  • korean war (1950-53)
  • USSR and China back North Korea
• 1952

  • Eisenhower (and Dulles)
  • 'new look' - friendlier relations with USSR
  • nov : USA tests H bomb
• 1953

  • Khrushchev
  • 'de stalinisation' and peaceful coexistence
  • august : USSR tests H bomb
• 1955

  • may : Austrian state treaty
  • Geneva summit - 'open skies' proposal
  • Warsaw Pact with eastern European bloc - GDR member
• 1957

  • October : the sputnik - superior in long range missile fields
  • gather report - said USSR economy growing faster than US
• 1961

  • Kennedy
  • April : bay of pigs
  • august : Berlin wall
  • November : operation Mongoose
• 1962

  • sino soviet alliance basane sino soviet split
  • march : operation quick kick
  • may : NATO deployment of missiles in Turkey - Khrushchev sends missiles to Cuba
  • 14 oct : U2 missiles imaged
  • 22 oct : Kennedy announces quarantine
  • 24 oct : soviet ships begin to turn around
  • 28 oct : Khrushchev agreed to remove missiles
• 1963

  • 'hot line' set up between Whitehouse and Kremlin
  • oct : partial test ban treaty
• 1964

  • Brezhnev
• 1969

  • nixon (+ Kissinger)
  • July : 'artichoke approach' - relaxed travel restrictions on trade controls
  • oct : willy Brandt becomes chancellor of federal republic of Germany
  • 'ostpolotik'
• 1970

  • detente
  • august : Brandt signs Non Aggression pact with Soviet Union
  • December : treaty with Poland recognises post war order Neisser border
• 1971

  • April : ping pong diplomacy
  • may : Erich Honecker (GDR)
  • September : Berlin agreement neutralises some east west tension
• 1972

  • may : SALT I finalised - ABM treaty + Interim agreement
  • may : basis principles agreement between US and USSR
  • December : Basic treaty - recognition of two germanys
• 1973

  • June : agreement on the prevention of nuclear war
  • October : Arab Israeli war
• 1974

  • Ford
  • November : Vladivostok accord - preliminary move towards SALT II
  • angolan civil war aided by USSR, China, USA and Cuba
• 1975

  • august : Helsinki accords finalised
  • USSR enters 5 year agreement
• 1977

  • jan : Carter
  • march : Carter modified Vlad proposals heavily in favour of the US
• 1979

  • December : Afghanistan invaded by soviets
  • end of detente
• 1980

  • jan : Carter doctrine
• 1981

  • Reagan
  • 'second Cold War'
  • USA withdraws from MFN trade status from Poland and blocks access to IMF
  • Reagan thatcher friendship
• 1982

  • June : soviet gas pipeline into Western Europe banned
  • withdrawn later after European protest
• 1983

  • INF ('zero option') and START talks had failed
  • march : Reagan reveals SDI / Star Wars - $26 billion 5 year programme
  • November : deployment of missiles in europe
• 1985

  • Gorbachev - 'new thinking'
  • glasnost (openess) and perestroika (restructuring)
  • November : Geneva summit
• 1986

  • USA bomb Libya using British airforce bases
  • October : Reykjavik summit - disagree over SDI
• 1987

  • jan : law on joint ventures in USSR
  • December : Washington summit - signed INF
• 1988

  • jan : the enterprise law in USSR
  • may : Moscow summit - important access to USSR people for Reagan
  • December : speech to UN - removal of Brezhnev doctrine
• 1989

  • military spending budget increased to $300 billion
  • Bush
  • may : all USSR troops withdrawn from Afghanistan
  • nov : berlin wall comes down
  • December : Malta talks - ended Cold War economic conflict
• 1990

  • October : reunification of the FRG and GDR
• 1991

  • august : coup planned to overthrow Gorbachev - failed
  • September : official collapse of Comecon
  • December : dissolving of the Soviet Union
  • end of the Cold War
• developing world 1975

  • march - Angola - independence from Portugal led to Civil War. US, USSR, China & Cuba all get ‘involved’ supporting various ‘factions’.
• developing world 1976

  • august - Angola - Cuba send 36,000 volunteers to support MPLA ‘faction’
• developing world 1977

  • jan - Angola - US recognises MPLA as government of Angol 
  • July - Ethiopia - Somalia invades Ethiopia
• 1988


  feb - soviet announcement of withdrawal from Afghanistan