Early Cold War Timeline

  • Period: to

    Cold War

  • Chinese Civil War (between Jiang Jieshi and Mao Zedong)

    Chinese Civil War (between Jiang Jieshi and Mao Zedong)
    Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920’s.
  • Berlin Blockade

    Berlin Blockade
    Was one of the first major international crisis of the Cold War. The Berlin Blockade was an attempt in 1948 by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of France, Great Britain and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin.
  • Berlin Airlift

    Berlin Airlift
    The US and UK responded by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany. The crisis ended on May 12, 1949, when Soviet forces lifted the blockade on land access to western Berlin.
  • Formation of NATO

    Formation of NATO
    The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military. It was created to defend the western world from a Soviet attack. An attack on one NATO member would have been considered an attack on all NATO members.
  • National Security Council Report NSC-68

    National Security Council Report NSC-68
    National Security Council on April 14, 1950, during the presidency of Harry S. Truman. It was one of the most significant statements of American policy in the Cold War. NSC-68 largely shaped U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War for the next 20 years, and involved a decision to increase the pressure of Containment against global Communist expansion a high priority.
  • Korean War

    Korean War
    Was a war between North and South Korea. In which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North
  • President Truman fires General MacArthur

    President Truman fires General MacArthur
    On 11 April 1951, U.S. President Harry S. Truman relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of his commands. Replacing him with Gen. Matthew Ridgeway.
  • Formation of the Warsaw Pact

    Formation of the Warsaw Pact
    The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. It was a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states.
  • Launching of Sputnik

    Launching of Sputnik
    Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis
    The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. President Kennedy did not dare to invade Cuba, because that action could have started a world war.