Cold War Summary: Main Events

Cold War, summary of the causes and main events that characterized this conflict that divided the world in the second half of the twentieth century.

COLD WAR SUMMARY: MAIN EVENTS. In this article we will talk about the Cold War, an original name for a historical event, what do you think? In fact, a real direct clash did not take place, but rather, it was a period of great tension, anxiety and worries for all the world powers, which, having already emerged devastated economically and in terms of human lives from the Second World War, had great fear for the possible outbreak of a new nuclear world war. Are you curious to know more? Read our summary of the Cold War and assimilate the main events.

COLD WAR: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN EVENTS. Here are the main events of the Cold War which saw from the beginning the opposition of two Blocs: the capitalist West and the communist Eastern countries, represented by the USA on one side and the USSR on the other. These two deployments did not fight each other openly, but supported the enemies of the other side and tried to steal each other’s military and technological secrets in a “competition” that lasted approximately from 1957 to 1975, of demonstrating the superiority of their own political-economic system, trying to prevail over each other.

Timeline of major events.

• 1945 The victorious powers of the Second World War, with the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference, the United States of America, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, through the meeting of the highest leaders discussed and reached agreements on the management of the immediate post-war period, laying the foundations for the new political-territorial balance.
• 1946   Paris Peace Conference
• 1947 The Paris Treaties, peace treaties signed in the French capital on February 10 by the victorious Allied states and the defeated allies of Germany.
• 1947 American President Harry Truman, in order to curb Soviet expansionism, offers aid to threatened states, such as Greece and Turkey, meanwhile Secretary of State George Marshall draws up an economic plan (the Marshall Plan), to aid Western Europe to finance post-war reconstruction.
• 1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), better known as the Atlantic Pact, is signed in Washington, a purely defensive alliance between the powers of the North Atlantic. In the same year, the first Soviet atomic tests begin.
• 1950 Following the invasion of South Korea by the North Korean army, organized and armed by the USSR, the Korean War begins, which will keep everyone in suspense for three years, 1950-1953, due to the fear of a new world conflict and the use of atomic weapons.
• 1952 Stalin, with a document, delivered to the representatives of the Western Allied Powers (UK, France, and USA), known as Stalin-noten, proposes to Germany the possibility of a reunification, in exchange for which Germany would have to maintain neutral positions and not side with the Western powers. The agreement was rejected.
• 1953  Stalin dies and the new secretary of the Communist Party was Nikita Khrushchev
• 1955 West Germany joins NATO. The USSR, under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, and the Eastern countries conclude a mutual defense pact, the Warsaw Pact.
• 1956 Popular uprising in Hungary suppressed by the Red Army; Suez Crisis, the Suez Canal is occupied by the French, British and Israeli armies while the USSR declares its military support for Egypt. The conflict is averted. The United States manages to persuade the invaders to withdraw their armed forces and for the first time the USA and the Soviet Union agree to guarantee peace.
• 1961 Construction of the Wall begins around the borders of West Berlin, marking the division between the two Germanies and the existence of two Europes.
• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The relationship between the USA and the USSR is more bitter than ever and fears of a nuclear world conflict rise again. The USA has control of the island’s economy and when the new Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, approaches the USSR first through trade agreements and then openly as a political partner, American fears grow. After having noted that the Soviets were installing missile bases on the island, F. Kennedy orders Moscow to withdraw the missiles, orders a naval blockade and alerts the American nuclear forces. Moscow agrees to dismantle the missile bases in exchange for the American commitment not to invade the island.
• 1963 USA, Great Britain and USSR agree to a suspension of land and underwater nuclear tests.
• 1964 Vietnam War. The conflict, fought mainly in South Vietnam, lasted about ten years and saw the opposition of pro-communist forces (North Vietnam supported by the USSR and China), in opposition to the pro-American government of South Vietnam and the government forces of Vietnam. The war ended on April 30, 1975 with the fall of Saigon and the first defeat of the United States.
• 1968 End of the “Prague Spring”, Soviet tanks invade the Czechoslovakian city that was demanding new political and economic reforms.
• 1969 A series of meetings between the USSR and the USA begins, with numerous agreements on arms control being signed.
• 1979 War in Afghanistan (1979-1989) or Russo-Afghan War. The conflict began with the military intervention of the Soviet Union, eager to depose the President of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Hafizullah Amin. The Soviet invasion provoked a strong international reaction: at the forefront was the United States.
• 1980 Following the invasion of Afghanistan, the USA announces an embargo and boycotts the Olympic Games in Moscow.
• 1983 Operation Urgent Fury. The US invades and militarily occupies Grenada in order to overthrow the pro-Soviet-Cuban military junta that had formed following a coup d’état, and out of fear that the island could become a new Soviet or Cuban military base.
• 1984 , the USSR boycotts the Los Angeles Olympics.
• 1987 The INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty), signed between the two Heads of State of the USA and the USSR, between Reagan and Gorbachev, following the Reykjavik Summit (1986), resolves the problem of Euromissiles, that is, the installation of intermediate-range nuclear missiles on European territory.
• 1989 The fall of the Berlin Wall puts an end to the division of the city: the foundations are laid for the reunification of the two Germanies, which will take place the following year. The communist regimes of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania decline, becoming democratic states.
• 1991 Belavezha Agreement. The agreement was signed in Belarus by the leaders of three of the 15 former Soviet republics, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and it sanctioned the secession of the USSR and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).