COLD WAR TIMELINE
Early Cold War
1945-49
Eastern Europe
- Soviets secured their hold on this area (Albania,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, E.
Germany, Finland, Yugoslavia)
- The promised elections were never held.
Feb. 1946
capitalism.
Stalin predicted the ultimate triumph of communism over
March 5, 1946 Churchill’s iron curtain speech
-
Early 1946
these two speeches set the tone for the competition
between the US and Soviets for power and influence.
Political, economic and military tensions – just short of
war
George Kennan’s telegram to the State Dept. “containment”
March 1947
Truman Doctrine
- major policy that guided US in Cold War
- aid for Greece and Turkey $400 million
- US would support nations resisting conquest by
outside forces
1947-48
Marshall Plan
- strengthen European democracies and their economies
- response to concerns that Communist parties were
growing stronger across Europe and the Soviets might
intervene to support Communist movements.
- Soviets were invited to participate, refused and
wouldn’t allow satellite nations to do so either
- 17 Western European nations joined the plan – quickly
restored their economies – good trading partners for
US
1946
Truman’s Federal Employee Loyalty Program
- investigation to keep communists out of federal
government
- FBI checked files for suspicious activities
- Suspects went in front of a Loyalty Review Board
- Not innocent until proven guilty! Once accused it was
hard to clear your name.
- House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
began a postwar probe of Communist infiltration of
government agencies and Hollywood.
Sept. – Oct. 1947
-
- Hollywood Ten
declined to answer the committee’s questions
cited for contempt of Congress
served jail terms from 6 months to a year
March 1948
Western Allies announced plans to unite their zones in
Germany to form one unit. (US, BR, FR) United their parts of Berlin too.
1948
Soviet response – formed a Communist state - German Democratic
Republic (East Germany)
** visible symbols of the Cold War struggle
June 1948
West Berlin
- new German currency introduced in West Germany and
-
May 1949
September 1949
Stalin considered new currency and the new nation it
represented to be a threat. Decided to block Allied
access to West Berlin.
Threatened to create severe shortages
Truman decided to airlift supplies into West Berlin
15 months
13,000 tons of supplies
- Soviets gave up the blockade
-
- airlift ended
Berlin remained a focal point of East-West conflict
April 1949
1949
- NATO
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Armed attack on one is an attack on all
- Collective security
- US and Canada, Western Europe
two events heightened American concerns about the Cold War –
-
-
Soviets successfully tested an atomic bomb
o Began to prepare for an attack – what to do if
it happened
o Air raid drills
o Posters on how to survive a nuclear attack
Communist forces took control of China
o
Struggle between Nationalists and
Communists had been going on since the 1920s
o Communist Mao Zedong
o Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi)
o Fight between them got started up again after
WW II
o US assisted Jiang
o Early 1949, capital of Peking fell to Communists
o Jiang withdrew to island of Taiwan
o Continued as Republic of China – claimed to be
the legitimate government
o US supported this
o UN seat went to Jiang and Republic of China
1950
- Truman gave approval to develop a hydrogen or thermonuclear
bomb, more powerful than the atomic bomb.
1951
- Alger Hiss
- went to prison for four years
- convicted of lying to a federal grand jury that was
investigating him for espionage
- he was a high ranking State Dept. official
- accused of being a Communist in the 1930s
-
he denied the charge
accused of being a Soviet spy
1950 (several months later)
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
- members of Communist party
- accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets
- convicted of espionage and executed in 1953.
** declassified info since the end of the Cold War has shown that both Hiss
and Julius Rosenberg were guilty. Ethel Rosenberg probably did not know of
her husband’s activities.
June 1950
- KOREA
- Communists in the North attacked the South
1952
- first successful test of thermonuclear bomb – put US back on top
1953
- McCarran-Walter Act
- law reaffirmed the quota system for each country
that had been established in 1924.
- Discriminated against potential immigrants from Asia
and from Southern and Central Europe.
- Vetoed by Truman – said it was un-American
- Congress passed it over his veto
1955
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- WARSAW PACT
Soviet response to NATO
Military alliance with its satellite nations in Eastern
Europe