The Cold War 1945-1991
1940’s:
1950’s:
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1945: Feb 4-11 -- Yalta Conference -- Genesis of Cold War
1945: March -- 3AD captures Cologne; crosses Rhine
1945: March/April -- 3AD battles in Central Germany
1945: May 8 -- Germany surrenders to Allies
1945: Jul 16 - Aug 2 -- Potsdam Conference
1945: Aug 6 -- U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
1945: Aug 8 -- USSR enters war against Japan
1945: Aug 14 -- Japan surrenders -- End of World War II
1945 Nov 9 -- 3AD deactivated in Germany
1946: March -- Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech
1947: June -- Marshall Plan is announced
1947: July -- 3AD reactivated as training unit, Ft. Knox, KY
1948: Feb -- Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia
1948: June 24 -- Berlin Blockade by USSR begins
1949: July -- NATO ratified as a military organization
1949: May 12 -- Berlin Blockade ends
1949: Sept -- Communists take control of China
1949: Sept -- USSR explodes its first atomic bomb
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1950: June -- Korean War begins
1951: Jan 12 -- Fed. Civil Defense Administration established
1953: June 19 -- Rosenberg spy executions
1953: July -- Korean War ends
1954: March -- KGB established
1954: -- CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran
1954: July -- Vietnam split at 17th parallel after French defeated
1955: March -- 3AD reverts to combat division, Ft. Knox, KY
1955: May -- Warsaw Pact formed
1956: May -- 3AD redeployed to West Germany
1956: Oct - Nov -- Rebellion put down in Communist Hungary
1957: July 1 -- Start of 3AD reorganization under new Army-wide
system called CARS (Combat Arms Regimental System).
1957: Oct 1 -- Continued reorganization of 3AD with the
implementation of ROCAD (Reorganization of Current
Armored Division).
1957: Oct 4 -- USSR launches Sputnik into Earth orbit
1957: Oct -- 3AD first receives tactical nuclear weapons
1958: Nov -- Khrushchev demands U.S. troops leave Berlin
1959: Jan -- Fidel Castro takes over Cuba
1959: -- 3AD begins conversion from M-1 to M-14 rifle
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1960: May 1 -- U.S. U2 spy plane shot down over Russia
1960: Oct -- Creighton Abrams made 3AD Commander
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1960’s:
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1970: April -- President Richard Nixon extends Vietnam War to
Cambodia
1970: July -- 3AD begins belated conversion to M-16 rifle
1972: July -- SALT I nuclear treaty signed
1973: Jan -- Ceasefire in Vietnam between North Vietnam & U.S.
1973: March -- Last sizable U.S. military units depart South
Vietnam
1973: Oct -- Egypt & Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid
1973: -- End of the U.S. military draft
1974: -- 3AD begins conversion to all-volunteer force
1974: -- First female soldiers join 3AD (then still WAC's)
1974: Aug -- President Nixon resigns
1975: April 30 -- Saigon falls to North; the end of South Vietnam
1975: July 27 -- President Gerald Ford visits 3AD
1979: July -- SALT II nuclear treaty signed
1979: Nov -- Shah of Iran overthrown; Iranian Hostage Crisis
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1980: Nov -- Ronald Reagan elected President
1983: -- Reagan reveals Strategic Defense Initiative, "Star Wars"
1985 -- 3AD begins conversion to M1 Abrams Battle Tank
1985: -- Mikhail Gorbachev ascends to power in USSR
1986: -- Gorbachev ends economic aid to Soviet satellites
1986: Oct -- Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all
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1970’s:
1980’s:
1960: Nov -- John F. Kennedy elected President
1961: -- 3AD begins conversion to M-60 Battle Tank
1961: April -- Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuba
1961: April 12 -- USSR astronaut Gagarin first to orbit Earth
1961: Aug 13 -- Berlin border closed
1961: Aug 17 -- Construction of Berlin Wall begins
1962: -- U.S. involvement in Vietnam increases
1962: June -- US Army Europe troop strength peaks
at 277,342 for the Cold War era (1946-1991).
1962: Oct -- Cuban Missile Crisis (nuclear war narrowly averted)
1963: June 25 -- Kennedy visits 3AD troops in Germany
1963: July -- Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified
1963: Sept -- 3AD is completely revamped in organization
under ROAD concept (Reorganization Objective Army Divisions)
1963: Oct-Nov -- 3AD participates in Operation BIG LIFT,
forerunner of REFORGER exercises; 2AD air-lifted from Ft. Hood,
TX
1964: Aug -- Gulf of Tonkin incident -- Start of Vietnam War
1964: Oct 16 -- China detonates its first atomic bomb
1968: Jan -- North Korea captures USS Pueblo
1968: Aug -- Soviet troops crush Czechoslovakian revolt
1969: Jan -- 3AD in USAREUR's first REFORGER field
exercise
1969: July 20 -- U.S. lands first man on moon
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1990’s:
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intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe
1987: June 19 -- 3AD wins the Canadian Army Trophy
(CAT) with a remarkable performance by 1st platoon, Delta
Company, 4th Battalion, 8th Cavalry (formerly 3-33 Armor). It was
the first such "world series" victory by a U.S. Army unit in 24 years
of this international tank gunnery competition.
1987: Oct -- Reagan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium
and short-range nuclear missiles from Europe by signing treaty
1988: Jan -- 3AD receives its first Bradley Fighting Vehicles
1988: Jan -- 3AD in last full-scale REFORGER exercise
1989: Jan -- Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan
1989: June -- China puts down protests for democracy
1989: June -- Poland becomes independent
1989: Sept -- Hungary becomes independent
1989: Nov -- Berlin Wall falls
1989: Dec -- Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia,
Bulgaria, and Rumania
1990: Jan -- 3AD in scaled-down REFORGER exercise
1990: March -- Lithuania becomes independent
1990: May 29 -- Boris Yeltsin elected to presidency of Russia
1990: Aug 2 -- Iraq invades Kuwait; threatens Saudi Arabia
1990: Oct 3 -- West Germany and East Germany unite
1990: Dec -- 3AD redeployed to Saudi Arabia
1991: Feb -- 3AD in Operation Desert Storm
1991: March - July -- 3AD redeployed back to Germany
1991: April -- Warsaw Pact ends
1991: June 8 -- 3AD battalion-size contingent marches in Desert
Storm Victory Parade in Washington, D.C.
1991: Aug -- USSR Dissolved -- Cold War Ends
1992: Jan 17 -- 3AD deactivated in Germany
1992: Oct 17 -- Formal 3AD deactivation at Ft. Knox, ceremony &
speeches, including WWII veterans and former Division
commanders.
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