This is a timeline of the main events of the Cold War, a state of and military tension after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

between powers in the

Western Bloc The Western Bloc, also known as the Free Bloc, the Capitalist Bloc, the American Bloc, and the NATO Bloc, was a coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. It was spearheaded by ...

(the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, its

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, its allies in the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

and later the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

1940s

1945

* February 4–11:

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

- The Yalta Conference in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, with President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

and Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, and their top aides. Main attention is deciding the post-war status of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The

Allies of World War II The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy ...

(the US, the USSR,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and also

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) divide Germany into four occupation zones. The Allied nations agree that free elections are to be held in Poland and all countries occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. In addition, the new

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

are to replace the failed

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. * March 6: The Soviet Union installs a puppet government in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. * March 7: Josip Broz Tito is installed as the head of state of the provisional government of

Democratic Federal Yugoslavia Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, also known as Democratic Federative Yugoslavia (DF Yugoslavia or DFY), was a provisional state established during World War II on 29 November 1943 through the Second Session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the Nation ...

. * March–April: US and Britain outraged as Stalin excludes them from a role in Poland and turns

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

over to a Communist puppet government he controls. * March–April: Stalin is outraged at inaccurate reports about Operation Sunrise (World War II) that American OSS in Switzerland is negotiating a surrender of German forces; he demands a Russian general be present at all negotiations. Roosevelt vehemently denies the allegation but closes down the operation in Switzerland. A Russian general is present at the negotiations in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

that lead to surrender. * April 12: Roosevelt dies; Vice President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

takes over with little knowledge of current diplomatic efforts, no knowledge of the atomic bomb, and a bias against Russia. * May 2: The Italian Civil War ends. * July 24:

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...

- At the Potsdam Conference, Truman informs Stalin that the United States has nuclear weapons. * August 6: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Truman follows the advice of Secretary of War

Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...

and gives permission for the world's first military use of an atomic weapon, against the Japanese city of Hiroshima. * August 8: The USSR honors its agreement to declare war on Japan within three months of the victory in Europe, and invades Manchuria. * August 9: With no Japanese response to his ultimatums, Truman gives permission for the world's second and last military use of an atomic weapon, against the Japanese city of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

. * August 12: Japanese forces in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

surrender to Soviet and American armies. * August 17: Proclamation of Indonesian Independence - Indonesia declares its independence from the Dutch. This marked the beginning of the Indonesian National Revolution. * August 19–September 1: The

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

seizes control of

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

after the surrender of the Japanese military. Its leader

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...

proclaims the independent

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

. * September 2: Surrender of Japan - The Japanese surrender unconditionally to the U.S. General Douglas MacArthur presides over the occupation of Japan, and freezes out Russian and other allied representatives. * September 5:

Igor Gouzenko Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (russian: Игорь Сергеевич Гузенко ; January 26, 1919 – June 25, 1982) was a cipher clerk for the Soviet embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, and a lieutenant of the GRU (Main Intelligence Direct ...

, a Russian working in the Soviet embassy in Canada, defects and provides proof to the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

of a Soviet spy ring operating in Canada and the U.S. The revelations help change perceptions of the Soviet Union from an ally to a foe. * November:

Iran crisis of 1946 The Iran crisis of 1946, also known as the Azerbaijan Crisis () in the Iranian sources, was one of the first crises of the Cold War, sparked by the refusal of Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union to relinquish occupied Iranian territory, despite repeat ...

- Stalin refuses to relinquish Soviet-occupied territory in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, beginning the Iran Crisis. Two short-lived pro-Soviet states, the

Azerbaijan People's Government The Azerbaijan People's Government ( az, آذربایجان میللی حکومتی - Azərbaycan Milli Hökuməti; fa, حکومت خودمختار آذربایجان) was a short-lived unrecognized secessionist state in northern Iran from Nov ...

and the

Republic of Mahabad The Republic of Mahabad or the Republic of Kurdistan ( ku, کۆماری کوردستان / Komara Kurdistanê; fa, جمهوری مهاباد) was a short-lived Kurdish self-governing unrecognized state in present-day Iran, from 22 January to ...

, are formed.

1946

* January:

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

resumed between Communist and

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

forces. * January 7: The

Republic of Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ci ...

is reconstituted, with its 1937 borders, but divided into four zones of control: American, British, French, and Soviet. * January 11: Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, with himself as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. * February 9:

makes his Election Speech, in which he states that capitalism and imperialism make future wars inevitable. * February 22:

George F. Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly hist ...

writes his

Long Telegram The "X Article" is an article, formally titled "The Sources of Soviet Conduct", written by George F. Kennan and published under the pseudonym "X" in the July 1947 issue of ''Foreign Affairs'' magazine. The article widely introduced the term " ...

, describing his interpretation of the objectives and intentions of the Soviet leadership. * March: The

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...

reignites between the

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and the

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label= Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople, wh ...

. * March 2: British soldiers withdraw from their zone of occupation in southern

. Soviet soldiers remain in their northern sector. * March 5:

warns of the descent of an Iron Curtain across Europe. Named by Winston Churchill, the aim of the Iron Curtain was to create a divide between the developing countries in Europe and the ones still under political influence and dictatorship (Soviet Union). * May 26: The

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...

and its Slovak branch receive 38 percent of the vote in the 1946 parliamentary election, becoming the largest party in the Constituent National Assembly. * June 2: Following a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

, the

Italian Republic Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

is born. * July 4: The

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

gains independence from the United States, and begins fighting communist Huk rebels (

Hukbalahap Rebellion The Hukbalahap Rebellion was a rebellion staged by former Hukbalahap or ''Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon'' (People's Army against the Japanese) soldiers against the Philippine government. It started during the Japanese occupation of the Philippin ...

). The

Telangana Rebellion The Telangana Rebellion popularly known as Telangana Sayuda Poratam (Telugu : తెలంగాణ సాయుధ పోరాటం) of 1946–51 was a communist-led insurrection of peasants against the princely state of Hyderabad in the r ...

occurred in India. * September 6: In a speech known as the Restatement of Policy on Germany in Stuttgart,

James F. Byrnes James Francis Byrnes ( ; May 2, 1882 – April 9, 1972) was an American judge and politician from South Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in U.S. Congress and on the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as in the executive branch, ...

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

repudiates the

Morgenthau Plan The Morgenthau Plan was a proposal to eliminate Germany following World War II and eliminating its arms industry and removing or destroying other key industries basic to military strength. This included the removal or destruction of all industr ...

. He states the US intention to keep troops in Europe indefinitely and expresses US approval of the territorial annexation of 29% of pre-war Germany, but does not condone further claims. * September 8: In a referendum,

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

votes for the establishment of a People's Republic, deposing King Simeon II. Western countries dismiss the vote as fundamentally flawed. * September 24: Truman is presented with the Clifford-Elsey Report, a document which lists Soviet violations of agreements with the United States. * September 27: Nikolai Vasilevich Novikov writes a response to Kennan's Long Telegram, known as the 'Novikov Telegram', in which he states that the United States were "striving for world supremacy". * December 15: The Soviet Union withdraws from Iran. Both the Azerbaijan People's Government and the Republic of Mahabad are dissolved. * December 19: French landings in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

begin the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

. They are resisted by the

communists who want national independence.

1947

* January 1: The American and British zones of control in Germany are united to form the Bizone also known as Bizonia. * February 10: Establishment of the neutral state

Free Territory of Trieste The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath ...

. * February 25:

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

was ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

'' abolished. * February 27: The February 28 incident occurred in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. * March 7: Paraguayan Civil War begins. * March 12: President Harry Truman announces the

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It wa ...

starting with the giving of aid to Greece and Turkey in order to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere. * April 16: Bernard Baruch, in a speech given during the unveiling of his portrait in the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seati ...

, coins the term "Cold War" to describe relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. * May 22: US extends $400 million of military aid to Greece and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, signalling its intent to contain communism in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

. * June 5: Secretary of State

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the US Army under Pre ...

outlines plans for a comprehensive program of economic assistance for the war-ravaged countries of Western Europe. It would become known throughout the world as the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

. * July 11: The US announces new occupation policies in Germany. The occupation directive JCS 1067, whose economic section had prohibited "steps looking toward the economic rehabilitation of Germany rdesigned to maintain or strengthen the German economy", is replaced by the new US occupation directive JCS 1779 which instead notes that "An orderly, prosperous Europe requires the economic contributions of a stable and productive Germany." * August 14:

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

gains independence from the United Kingdom. * August 15:

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

gains independence from the United Kingdom. * September: The Soviet Union forms the Communist Information Bureau (COMINFORM) with which it dictates the actions of leaders and communist parties across its spheres of influence. * October 20:

Stanisław Mikołajczyk Stanisław Mikołajczyk (18 July 1901 – 13 December 1966; ) was a Polish politician. He was a Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile during World War II, and later Deputy Prime Minister in post-war Poland until 1947. Biography Back ...

, leader of the non-communist

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although i ...

, flees the country ahead of impending arrest. Organized, legal political opposition to Polish communism is effectively at an end. * November 14: The

passes a resolution calling for the withdrawal of foreign soldiers from Korea, free elections in each of the two administrations, and the creation of a UN commission dedicated to the unification of the peninsula. * November 29: The United Nations Partitions Palestine. * November 30: 1947–1949 War and Civil War in Palestine. * December 30: In

, King

Michael I of Romania Michael I ( ro, Mihai I ; 25 October 1921 – 5 December 2017) was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947. Shortly after Michael's ...

is forced to abdicate by

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian communist politician and electrician. He was the first Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party ...

, the monarchy is abolished and the Popular Republic of

is instituted instead. The

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

would rule the country until December 1989.

1948

* January 5:

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(today

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

) becomes independent from the UK through the

Burma Independence Act 1947 The Burma Independence Act 1947 (1947, 11 Geo. VI, Ch. 3) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that conferred independence on Burma, today called Myanmar. The Act received the royal assent on 10 December 1947. The Union of Burm ...

. * January 30:

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

was assassinated. * February 25: The Communist Party takes control in the

Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) ** Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

. * March 10: Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister

Jan Masaryk Jan Garrigue Masaryk (14 September 1886 – 10 March 1948) was a Czech diplomat and politician who served as the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948. American journalist John Gunther described Masaryk as "a brave, honest, turbul ...

is reported having committed suicide. * March 12: The Costa Rican Civil War begins. * April 3: Truman signs the

into effect. By the end of the programs, the United States has given $12.4 billion in economic assistance to Western European countries. * April 9:

La Violencia ''La Violencia'' (, The Violence) was a ten-year civil war in Colombia from 1948 to 1958, between the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, fought mainly in the countryside. ''La Violencia'' is considered to have begu ...

begins in Colombia between the

Colombian Conservative Party The Colombian Conservative Party ( es, Partido Conservador Colombiano) is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was formally established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro. The Conservative party along ...

and the

Colombian Liberal Party The Colombian Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Colombiano; PLC) is a centre to centre-left political party in Colombia. It was founded as a classical liberal party but later developed a more social-democratic tradition, joining the Sociali ...

. * May 10: A parliamentary vote in southern Korea sees the confirmation of Syngman Rhee as President of the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

, after a left-wing boycott. * May 14: The State of Israel is formed, with

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the nam ...

as its first

. * May 15: 1948 Arab–Israeli War. * June 12:

Mátyás Rákosi Mátyás Rákosi (; born Mátyás Rosenfeld; 9 March 1892
– 5 February 1971) was a Hungarian communis ...

becomes General Secretary of the

Hungarian Working People's Party The Hungarian Working People's Party (, abbr. MDP) was the ruling communist party of Hungary from 1948 to 1956. It was formed by a merger of the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) and the Social Democratic Party of Hungary (MSZDP).Neubauer, John, ...

and becomes the ''de facto'' leader of Communist Hungary. * June 18: A communist insurgency in Malaya begins against British and Commonwealth forces. * June 21: In Germany, the British zone and the French zone launch a common currency, the

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

. * June 24: Stalin orders the

Berlin Blockade The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, ro ...

, closing all land routes from West Germany to Berlin, in an attempt to starve out the French, British, and American forces from the city. In response, the three Western powers launch the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...

to supply the citizens of Berlin by air. * June 28: The Soviet Union expels Yugoslavia from the

Communist Information Bureau The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (), commonly known as Cominform (), was a co-ordination body of Marxist-Leninist communist parties in Europe during the early Cold War that was formed in part as a replacement of the ...

(COMINFORM) for the latter's position on the Greek civil war. * June 28: Stalin attempts to starve

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

with a blockade. The

begins. * August 15: The United States declares the

to be the legitimate government of the Korean Peninsula, with Syngman Rhee installed as the leader. * September 9: The Soviet Union declares the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to be the legitimate government of all of the Korean Peninsula, with

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

installed as the leader. * September 11: Muhammad Ali Jinnah dies. * September 13:

annexes Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

under the code name, Operation Polo. * September 18: In Indonesia, the Madiun Affair, an uprising carried out by the People's Democratic Front (FDR), begins led by

Musso Munawar Musso (1897, in Kediri, East Java – Madiun, on 31 October 1948) was a leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia and one of the key figures in the 1948 Madiun affair. Biography Early life Musso was born Munawar Musso in 1897, Pagu, ...

, of the Communist Party of Indonesia. The uprising ends after three months when the Indonesian army captures and kills most of the rebels. * November 20: The American consul and his staff in Mukden, China, are made virtual hostages by communist forces in China. The crisis does not end until a year later, by which time U.S. relations with the new communist government in China had been seriously damaged.

1949

* January 5–8: The Council for Economic Mutual Assistance

COMECON The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (, ; English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, CEMA, or CAME) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc#List of s ...

formed. * April 4: The

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

(NATO) is founded by

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, the

, and the

, in order to resist Communist expansion. * May 11: The Soviet blockade of Berlin ends with the re-opening of access routes to Berlin. The airlift continues until September, in case the Soviets re-establish the blockade. Brune argues, "Moscow realized the blockade had nor been successful – it had drawn the Western powers closer together rather than dividing them. Finally, Western countermeasures had inflicted considerable damage on the economic life of East Germany and the other Soviet satellites." * May 23: In Germany, the Bizone merges with the French zone of control to form the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

, with

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

as its capital. * August 29: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb. The test, known to Americans as Joe 1, succeeds, as the Soviet Union becomes the world's second

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

. * September 13: The USSR vetoes the United Nations membership of Ceylon,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, and

. * September 15:

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

becomes the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. * October 1:

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

declares the foundation of the

– adding a quarter of the world's population to the communist camp. * October 7: The Soviets declare their zone of Germany to be the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

, with its capital at East Berlin. * October 16: Nikos Zachariadis, leader of the Communist Party of Greece, declares an end to the armed uprising. The declaration brings to a close the Greek Civil War, and the first successful containment of communism. * December 27: Sovereignty is handed over to

United States of Indonesia The United States of Indonesia ( nl, Verenigde Staten van Indonesië, id, Republik Indonesia Serikat, abbreviated as RIS), was a short-lived federal state to which the Netherlands formally transferred sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies (exce ...

from the Netherlands following the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference with Sukarno as the first president of the newly formed federation.

1950s

1950

* January 5: The UK recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. * January 19: China officially diplomatically recognizes Vietnam as independent from France. * January 21: The last

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

soldiers surrender on continental China. * January 31: President Truman announces the beginning of the development of a hydrogen bomb. * February 3:

establishes diplomatic relations with the Indonesia through an exchange of telegrams between Indonesian Vice-president,

Mohammad Hatta Mohammad Hatta (; 12 August 1902 – 14 March 1980) was an Indonesian statesman and nationalist who served as the country's first vice president. Known as "The Proclamator", he and a number of Indonesians, including the first president of Indone ...

and Soviet Foreign Minister

Andrey Vyshinsky Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky (russian: Андре́й Януа́рьевич Выши́нский; pl, Andrzej Wyszyński) ( – 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat. He is known as a state prosecutor of Joseph ...

. * February 9: Senator Joseph McCarthy first claims without evidence that Communists have infiltrated the U.S. State Department, leading to a controversial series of anti-Communist investigations in the United States. * February 12: The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a pact of mutual defense. * March 11: Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek moves his capital to

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

, establishing a stand-off with the People's Republic of China. * April 7: United States State Department

Director of Policy Planning The Director of Policy Planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the department's internal think tank, the Policy Planning Staff. In the department, the Director of Policy Planning has a rank equivalent to Assistant ...

Paul Nitze Paul Henry Nitze (January 16, 1907 – October 19, 2004) was an American politician who served as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, and Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department. He is best kn ...

issues

NSC 68 United States Objectives and Programs for National Security, better known as NSC68, was a 66-page top secret National Security Council (NSC) policy paper drafted by the Department of State and Department of Defense and presented to President Har ...

, a classified report, arguing for the adoption of containment as the cornerstone of United States foreign policy. It would dictate US policy for the next twenty years. * May 11: Robert Schuman describes his ambition of a united Europe. Known as the

Schuman Declaration The Schuman Declaration, or Schuman Plan, was a proposal to place French and West German production of coal and steel under a single authority that later became the European Coal and Steel Community, made by the French foreign minister, Rober ...

, it marks the beginning of the creation of the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

. * June 25:

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

invades South Korea, beginning the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. The

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

votes to intervene to defend the South. The Soviet Union cannot veto, as it is boycotting the Security Council over the admission of People's Republic of China. * July 4: United Nations forces engage North Korean forces for the first time, in

Osan Osan () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, approximately south of Seoul. The population of the city is around 200,000. The local economy is supported by a mix of agricultural and industrial enterprises. It is famous for one of the lar ...

. They fail to halt the North Korean advance, and fall southwards, towards what would become the

Pusan Perimeter The Battle of the Pusan Perimeter ( ko, 부산 교두보 전투) was a large-scale battle between United Nations Command (UN) and North Korean forces lasting from August 4 to September 18, 1950. It was one of the first major engagements of the ...

. * September 30: United Nations forces land at

Inchon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

. Defeating the North Korean forces, they press inland and re-capture Seoul. * October 2: United Nations forces cross the 38th parallel, into North Korea. * October 5: Forces from the People's Republic of China mobilize along the

Yalu River The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...

. * October 22:

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

, the capital of North Korea, falls to United Nations forces. * October 22: China intervenes in Korea with 300,000 soldiers, catching the United Nations by surprise. However, they withdraw after initial engagements. * November 15: United Nations forces approach the Yalu River. In response, China intervenes in Korea again, but with a 500,000 strong army. This offensive forces the United Nations back towards

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

1951

* January 4: Chinese soldiers capture Seoul. * March 14: United Nations forces recapture Seoul during Operation Ripper. By the end of March, they have reached the 38th Parallel, and formed a defensive line across the Korean peninsula. * March 29:

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...

are convicted of espionage for their role in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during and after World War II; they were executed on June 19, 1953. * April 11: US President

fires Douglas MacArthur from command of US forces in Korea due to him demanding nuclear weapons to be used on the enemy. * April 18: The European Coal and Steel Community is formed by the

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

. * April 23: American journalist

William N. Oatis William Nathan Oatis (January 4, 1914 – September 16, 1997) was an American journalist who gained international attention when he was charged with espionage by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1951. He was subsequently jailed until 1953 ...

is arrested in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

for alleged espionage. * September 1: Australia, New Zealand, and the United States sign the

ANZUS The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS or ANZUS Treaty) is a 1951 non-binding collective security agreement between Australia and New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the United States, to co-operate on militar ...

Treaty. This compels the three countries to cooperate on matters of defense and security in the Pacific. * October 10: President

signs the

Mutual Security Act The Mutual Security Act of 1951 launched a major American foreign aid program, 1951–61, of grants to numerous countries. It largely replaced the Marshall Plan. The main goal was to help poor countries develop and to containment, contain the spre ...

, announcing to the world, and its communist powers in particular, that the U.S. was prepared to provide military aid to "free peoples." * November 14: President Harry Truman asks Congress for U.S. military and economic aid for the communist nation of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. * December 12: The International Authority for the Ruhr lifts part of the remaining restrictions on German industrial production and on production capacity.

1952

* February 18: Greece and Turkey join NATO. * April 28: the

Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...

, signed by Japan on September 8, 1951, comes into effect, and Japan signs the

Treaty of Taipei The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (), formally the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan () and commonly known as the Treaty of Taipei (), was a peace treaty between Japan and the Republic of China (ROC) signed in Taipei, Taiwan o ...

, formally ending its period of occupation and isolation, and becoming a sovereign state. * June: Strategic Air Command begins Reflex Alert deployments of

Convair B-36 The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest win ...

and

B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft. ...

long-range nuclear bombers to overseas bases like purpose-built

Nouasseur Air Base Nouasseur Air Base near Casablanca in Morocco, was a United States Air Force base from 1951 to 1963. It was designed for B-36 and B-47 bombers but never came into use, and also housed repair units for a period. Today, Nouasseur AB is known as M ...

in French Morocco, placing them within unrefueled striking range of Moscow. * June 14: The United States lays the keel for the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus. * June 30: The Marshall Plan ends, with European industrial output now well above that of 1948. * July 23: Gamal Abdel Nasser heads a coup against

King Farouk Farouk I (; ar, فاروق الأول ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1 ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. * October 2: The United Kingdom successfully tests its first atomic bomb in

Operation Hurricane Operation Hurricane was the first test of a British atomic device. A plutonium implosion device was detonated on 3 October 1952 in Main Bay, Trimouille Island, in the Montebello Islands in Western Australia. With the success of Operation H ...

. The test makes the UK the world's third

. * November 1: The United States tests their first thermonuclear fusion bomb,

Ivy Mike Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first full-scale test of a thermonuclear device, in which part of the explosive yield comes from nuclear fusion. Ivy Mike was detonated on November 1, 1952, by the United States on the island of Elugelab ...

. * November 4: Dwight Eisenhower defeats Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election

1953

* January 20:

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

becomes President, with John Foster Dulles as Secretary of State. * February 3: The

Batepá Massacre Batepá is a village on São Tomé Island in São Tomé and Príncipe. Its population is 775 (2012 census).São Tomé and Príncipe. * February 28:

Balkan Pact The Balkan Pact, or Balkan Entente, was a treaty signed by Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia on 9 February 1934

is signed by Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. The pact's main objective is to deter Soviet expansionism. * March 5: Stalin dies, setting off a power struggle to succeed him. NATO debates possibility of a fresh start. * May 31–June 2: The 1953 Plzeň uprising was violently surpressed by the Czechoslovak government. * June 17:

Uprising of 1953 in East Germany The East German uprising of 1953 (german: Volksaufstand vom 17. Juni 1953 ) was an uprising that occurred in East Germany from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with a strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June against w ...

crushed by Soviet troops. * July 26: The

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...

begins as the 26th of July Movement lead by Fidel Castro attempts to overthrow the government of

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...

. * July 27: An

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

agreement ends fighting in the

After Eisenhower threatens the use of nuclear weapons. * August 19: The

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) and the British

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

assists a royalist coup that restores Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power as the Shah of Iran and ousts Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq (

Operation Ajax Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

). The coup was organized because of Iranian nationalization of the oil industry and fears of Iran joining the Soviet camp. * September 7:

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

becomes leader of the

Soviet Communist Party "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

. His main rival,

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolsheviks ...

, is executed in December. * September 23: The

Pact of Madrid The Pact of Madrid, signed on 23 September 1953 by Francoist Spain and the United States, was a significant effort to break the international isolation of Spain after World War II, together with the Concordat of 1953. This development came at a ...

is signed by

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and the

. * December 4–8: Eisenhower meets with Churchill and

Joseph Laniel Joseph Laniel (; 12 October 18898 April 1975) was a French conservative politician of the Fourth Republic, who served as Prime Minister for a year from 1953 to 1954. During the middle of his tenure as Prime Minister Laniel was an unsuccessful ...

of France in Bermuda.

1954

* January 21: The U.S. launches the world's first nuclear submarine, the ''USS Nautilus''. The nuclear submarine would become the ultimate nuclear deterrent. * March 8: U.S. and Japan Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement is signed by the United States and Japan. * March 13: The

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

is created as the successor agency of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

. * April–June: The Army-McCarthy hearings are broadcast on American television, leading to a loss of support for McCarthyism. * May 7: The Viet Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu. France withdraws from Indochina, leaving four independent states:

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

, Laos, and what became

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

and South Vietnam. The Geneva Accords calls for free elections to unite Vietnam, but none of the major Western powers wish this to occur in the likely case that the Viet Minh (nationalist Communists) would win. * May 17: The

Hukbalahap The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (), better known by the acronym Hukbalahap, was a communist guerrilla movement formed by the farmers of Central Luzon. They were originally formed to fight the Japanese, but extended their fight into a rebelli ...

revolt in the Philippines is defeated. * June 2: Senator Joseph McCarthy claims that communists have infiltrated the CIA and the atomic weapons industry. * June 18: The elected leftist Guatemalan government is overthrown in a CIA-backed coup. An unstable rightist regime installs itself. Opposition leads to a guerrilla war with Marxist rebels in which major human rights abuses are committed on all sides. Nevertheless, the regime survives until the end of the Cold War. * July 8: Col. Carlos Castillo Armas is elected president of the junta that overthrew the administration of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. * July 22: India

the Portuguese territories of

Dadra and Nagar Haveli Dadra and Nagar Haveli is a district of the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in western India. It is composed of two separate geographical entities: Nagar Haveli, wedged in between Maharashtra and Gujarat states t ...

. * August 11: The Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the Chinese Communist shelling of Taiwanese islands. The US backs Taiwan, and the crisis resolves itself as both sides decline to take action. * September 8: Foundation of the

South East Asian Treaty Organization The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...

(SEATO) by Australia, France, New Zealand,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, the

, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Like NATO, it is founded to resist Communist expansion, this time in the Philippines and

. * October 10: The

Jebel Akhdar War The Jebel Akhdar War ( ar, حرب الجبل الأخضر , Ḥarb al-Jebel el-ʾAkhḍar, lit=the Green Mountain War)

begins in

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

. * November 1: The fight for independence in French Algeria begins. * December 2:

Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty (SAMDT), formally Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of China, was a defense pact signed between the United States and the Republic of China (Taiwan) effective from ...

, is signed between the United States and the Republic of China. * December 15: Suriname becomes a Dutch constituent state.

1955

* February 24: The

Baghdad Pact The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Tur ...

is founded by

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, and the United Kingdom. It is committed to resisting Communist expansion in the Middle East. * March: Soviet aid to Syria begins. The Syrians will remain allies of the Soviets until the end of the Cold War. * April 18: The Asia-Africa Conference (also known as the Bandung Conference) is first held in Bandung, Indonesia. * April: The

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...

is pioneered by

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

of India, Sukarno of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, Tito of

, Gamal Abdel Nasser of

and Kwame Nkrumah of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. This movement is designed to be a bulwark against the 'dangerous polarization' of the world at that time and to restore the balance of power with smaller nations. * May 5: Allies end the military occupation of West Germany. * May 6: The United States begins formal diplomatic relations with West Germany, followed soon after by the United Kingdom and France. * May 9: West Germany joins NATO and begins rearmament. * May 14: The

is founded in Eastern Europe and includes

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, Poland, Hungary,

, and the

. It acts as the Communist military counterpart to NATO. * May 15: Austria is neutralized and allied occupation ends. * July 18: President

of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of the United Kingdom, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the

, and Prime Minister

Edgar Faure Edgar Jean Faure (; 18 August 1908 – 30 March 1988) was a French politician, lawyer, essayist, historian and memoirist who served as Prime Minister of France in 1952 and again between 1955 and 1956.Geneva Summit. Also in attendance was

of the Soviet Union. * August 15: The

First Sudanese Civil War The First Sudanese Civil War (also known as the Anyanya Rebellion or Anyanya I, after the name of the rebels, a term in the Madi language which means 'snake venom') was a conflict from 1955 to 1972 between the northern part of Sudan and the sou ...

begins between the north and the south. * November 1: Official beginning of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

1956

* February 25 : Nikita Khrushchev delivers the speech "

On the Personality Cult and its Consequences "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" (russian: «О культе личности и его последствиях», «''O kul'te lichnosti i yego posledstviyakh''»), popularly known as the "Secret Speech" (russian: секре ...

" at the closed session of the Twentieth Party Congress of the CPSU. The speech marks the beginning of the De-Stalinization. * March 20:

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

becomes independent from France. * June 28: in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

, Poland, anti-communist protests lead to violence. * July: The United States and the United Kingdom cancel offers of aid on the construction of the

Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan L ...

in Egypt due to its arms purchases from the Eastern Bloc. Nasser retaliates by nationalizing the Suez Canal. * October 23:

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

: Hungarians revolt against the Soviet dominated government. They are crushed by the Soviet military, which reinstates a Communist government. * October 29: Suez Crisis: France,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and the United Kingdom attack Egypt with the goal of removing Nasser from power. International diplomatic pressures force the attackers to withdraw. Canadian

Lester B. Pearson Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...

encourages the United Nations to send a Peacekeeping force, the first of its kind, to the disputed territory. Lester B. Pearson wins a Nobel Peace Prize for his actions, and soon after becomes Canadian Prime Minister. * November 6: Dwight Eisenhower wins re-election, defeating Adlai Stevenson for the second time in the 1956 presidential election * December:

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

insurgency begins in South Vietnam, sponsored by

1957

* January 5: The

Eisenhower Doctrine The Eisenhower Doctrine was a policy enunciated by Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 5, 1957, within a "Special Message to the Congress on the Situation in the Middle East". Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a Middle Eastern country could request Ame ...

commits the United States to defending

, and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

from Communist influence. * January 22: Israeli forces withdraw from the Sinai, which they had occupied the previous year. * February 15:

Andrei Gromyko Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (russian: Андрей Андреевич Громыко; be, Андрэй Андрэевіч Грамыка; – 2 July 1989) was a Soviet communist politician and diplomat during the Cold War. He served as ...

begins his long tenure as Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union. * March 6: Ghana becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status. * May 2: Senator Joseph McCarthy succumbs to illness exacerbated by alcoholism and dies. * May 15: The United Kingdom detonates its first hydrogen bomb. * August 31:

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

gains independence from the United Kingdom. * October 1: The Strategic Air Command initiates 24/7 nuclear alert (continuous until termination in 1991) in anticipation of a Soviet ICBM surprise attack capability. * October 4: Sputnik satellite launched. The same day the

Avro Arrow The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) p ...

is revealed. * November 3:

Sputnik 2 Sputnik 2 (, russian: Спутник-2, ''Satellite 2''), or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 (PS-2, russian: Простейший Спутник 2, italic=yes, ''Simplest Satellite 2'') was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on 3 November 195 ...

was launched, with the first living being on board,

Laika Laika (russian: link=no, Лайка; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 space ...

. * November 7: The final report from a special committee called by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to review the nation's defense readiness indicates that the United States is falling far behind the Soviets in missile capabilities, and urges a vigorous campaign to build fallout shelters to protect American citizens. * November 15: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev claims that the Soviet Union has missile superiority over the United States and challenges America to a missile "shooting match" to prove his assertion. * December 16–19: NATO holds its first summit in Paris, France. It is the first time NATO leaders have met together since the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in April 1949.

1958

* January:

initiates the Great Leap Forward. * January 31: The U.S. Army launches Explorer 1, the first American artificial satellite. * February 1: The

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

is formed. * May 18: On a bombing mission in support of the anti-Sukarno

Permesta Rebellion Permesta was a rebel movement in Indonesia, its name based on the Universal Struggle Charter (or ''Piagam Perjuangan Semesta'') that was declared on 2 March 1957 by civil and military leaders in East Indonesia. Initially the center of the movem ...

, a B-26 bomber supplied by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

is shot down in Ambon, Indonesia. The pilot, US citizen Allen Lawrence Pope is captured and imprisoned. * June: A

C-118 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with th ...

transport, hauling freight from Turkey to Iran, is shot down. The nine crew members are released by the Russians little more than a week later. * July 14: A coup in Iraq, the

14 July Revolution The 14 July Revolution, also known as the 1958 Iraqi coup d'état, took place on 14 July 1958 in Iraq, and resulted in the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq that had been established by King Faisal I in 1921 under the auspices of the B ...

, removes the pro-British monarch. Iraq begins to receive support from the Soviets. Iraq will maintain close ties with the Soviets throughout the Cold War. * July 15: A political crisis occurred in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. * August: Thor IRBM deployed to the UK, within striking distance of Moscow. * August 23:

Second Taiwan Strait Crisis The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict that took place between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). In this conflict, the PRC shelled the islands of Kinm ...

begins when China begins to bomb

Quemoy Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It lies roughly east of the city of Xiamen in Fujian, from which it is separate ...

. * September 1: Iceland expands its fishing zone. United Kingdom opposed the action and eventually deploy some of its navy to the zone, thus triggering the

cod wars The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of ...

. * October 4: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA is formed. * October 8: Guinea becomes independent from France. * November: Start of the 1958–1959 Berlin crisis,

asks the West to leave Berlin.

1959

* January 1: Fidel Castro wins the

and becomes the dictator of Cuba. In the next several years Cuban-inspired guerrilla movements spring up across Latin America. * March 10–23: The Tibetan uprising occurs. * March 24: New Republic government of Iraq leaves

Central Treaty Organization The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turk ...

. * May 23: The Laotian Civil War begins. * July 24: During the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow US Vice President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

and Soviet First Secretary Khrushchev openly debate the capacities of each Superpower. This conversation is known as the

Kitchen Debate The Kitchen Debate (russian: Кухонные дебаты, translit=Kukhonnye debaty) was a series of impromptu exchanges through interpreters between U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, then 46, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikita ...

. * July 31: The

Basque conflict The Basque conflict, also known as the Spain–ETA conflict, was an armed and political conflict from 1959 to 2011 between Spain and the Basque National Liberation Movement, a group of social and political Basque organizations which sought ind ...

officially begins, with the aim of creating an independent state for the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

people. * August 7:

Explorer 6 Explorer 6, or S-2, was a NASA satellite, launched on 7 August 1959, at 14:24:20 GMT. It was a small, spheroidal satellite designed to study trapped radiation of various energies, galactic cosmic rays, geomagnetism, radio propagation in th ...

is launched into orbit to photograph the Earth. * September: Khrushchev visits U.S. for 13 days, and is denied access to

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

. Instead, he visits

SeaWorld SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (one park will be ...

(then known as

Marineland of the Pacific Marineland of the Pacific was a public oceanarium and tourist attraction located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula coast in Los Angeles County, California. Architect William Pereira designed the main structure. It was also known as Hanna-Barbera's ...

). * October 22:

Luna 3 Luna 3, or E-2A No.1 ( rus, Луна 3}) was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 as part of the Luna programme. It was the first mission to photograph the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of th ...

is launched to take photographs of the far side of the Moon. * November: The

Rwandan Revolution The Rwandan Revolution, also known as the Hutu Revolution, Social Revolution, or Wind of Destruction ( rw, muyaga), was a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in R ...

begins. * December: Formation of the NLF (often called

) by North Vietnam. It is a Communist insurgent movement that vows to overthrow the anti-communist South Vietnamese regime. It is supplied extensively by North Vietnam and the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

eventually.

1960s

1960

* February 16: France successfully tests its first atomic bomb,

Gerboise Bleue ''Gerboise Bleue'' (; ) was the codename of the first French nuclear test. It was conducted by the Nuclear Experiments Operational Group (GOEN), a unit of the Joint Special Weapons Command on 13 February 1960, at the Saharan Military Experimen ...

, in the middle of the Algerian Sahara Desert. * April:

Jupiter IRBM The PGM-19 Jupiter was the first nuclear armed, medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was a liquid-propellant rocket using RP-1 fuel and LOX oxidizer, with a single Rocketdyne LR79-NA (model S-3D) r ...

deployment to Italy begins, placing nuclear missiles within striking range of Moscow (as with the Thor IRBMs deployed in the UK). * May 1: American pilot

Francis Gary Powers Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 in ...

is shot down in his U-2 spy plane while flying at high altitude over the Soviet Union, resulting in the U-2 Incident, an embarrassment for

President Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

. * June:

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the China, People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by Doctrine, doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications ...

: The Chinese leadership, angered at being treated as the "junior partner" to the Soviet Union, declares its version of Communism superior and begin to compete with the Soviets for influence, thus adding a third dimension to the Cold War. * July 5: The

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...

begins. * July 31: Communist insurgents in Malaya are defeated. * August 3:

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesPathet Lao (communist) revolt in Laos begins. * August 11: Chad becomes independent from France. * August 17:

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

becomes independent from France. * September 23: Nikita Khrushchev travels to New York City to address the U.N. General Assembly, beginning a month long visit to the United States. * September 30: Sukarno gives a speech in front of the fifteenth

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Cur ...

titled "To Build The World Anew" in which he criticizes the

for not being neutral and questions location of the

United Nations Headquarters zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

in New York,

. * November 13: The

Guatemalan Civil War The Guatemalan Civil War was a civil war in Guatemala fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups. The government forces have been condemned for committing genocide against the Maya population of ...

begins. * November 28: Mauritania becomes independent from France.

1961

* January 3: President Eisenhower severs diplomatic relations with Cuba. * January 20:

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

becomes President of the United States. * February 4: Angolan nationalists, including communists, begin an insurgency against Portuguese rule. * February 12:

Venera 1 ''Venera 1'' (russian: Венера-1 meaning ''Venus 1''), also known as Venera-1VA No.2 and occasionally in the West as ''Sputnik 8'' was the first spacecraft to fly past Venus, as part of the Soviet Union's Venera programme. Launched in Febr ...

is successfully launched by the Soviet Union with the intention of conducting a flyby mission to Venus. * April 12:

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. T ...

becomes the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth when the

successfully launches

Vostok 1 Vostok 1 (russian: link=no, Восток, ''East'' or ''Orient'' 1) was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Apr ...

. * April 17–19:

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fin ...

: A CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by

counter-revolutionaries A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...

ends in failure. * April 21:

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status. * May 5:

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he beca ...

becomes the first American to go into space when ''

Freedom 7 Mercury-Redstone 3, or ''Freedom 7'', was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astr ...

'' is launched successfully. * May 19: Venera 1 successfully reaches Venus being the first spacecraft to do so, but is unable to transmit any data. * May 25: John F. Kennedy announces the US intention to put a man on the Moon – kickstarting

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

, America's first human spaceflight program. * June 4: Kennedy meets with Khrushchev in Vienna. * June:

deployment to

begins, joining the Jupiters deployed to Italy as well as the Thor IRBMs deployed to the UK as nuclear missiles placed within striking distance of Moscow. * July 11: North Korea and China sign a defensive treaty, the Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty. * July 19: The

Nicaraguan Revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution ( es, Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista, link=no) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation F ...

begins. * August 13: The Berlin Wall is built by the Soviets following the breakdown in talks to decide the future of Germany. * August 17:

Alliance for Progress The Alliance for Progress ( es, Alianza para el Progreso, links=no), initiated by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on March 13, 1961, ostensibly aimed to establish economic cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America. Governor Luis Muñoz Marí ...

aid to Latin America from the United States begins. * September 1: The Soviet Union resumed testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. The

Eritrean War of Independence The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991. Eritrea was an Italian colony from the 1880s until the ...

begins. * September 28: Syria withdraws from the

. * October 17: 22nd Soviet Party Congress held in USSR. * October 27: Beginning of

Checkpoint Charlie Checkpoint Charlie (or "Checkpoint C") was the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War (1947–1991), as named by the Western Allies. East German leader Walter Ulbricht agitated and maneu ...

standoff between US and Soviet tanks. * October 31: The Soviet Union detonates the

Tsar Bomba The Tsar Bomba () ( code name: ''Ivan'' or ''Vanya''), also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a thermonuclear aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. Overall, the Soviet physicist Andrei ...

, the most powerful

thermonuclear weapon A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a low ...

ever tested, with an explosive yield of some 50 megatons. * December 2: Fidel Castro openly describes himself as a Marxist–Leninist. * December 18: Republic of India invades the former Portuguese territory of Goa.

1962

* January 15:

Indonesian Armed Forces , founded = as the ('People's Security Forces') , current_form = , disbanded = , branches = , headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta , website = , commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo , ...

starts to infiltrate into the Dutch overseas territory of western New Guinea as a part of

Operation Trikora Operation Trikora was an Indonesian military operation which aimed to seize and annex the Dutch overseas territory of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961 and 1962. After negotiations, the Netherlands signed the New York Agreement with Indonesia on ...

, the second and last confrontation between

and the

over imperialism. * February 10: American pilot

is exchanged for senior KGB spy Colonel

Rudolf Abel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (russian: Рудольф Иванович Абель), real name William August Fisher (11 July 1903 – 15 November 1971), was a Soviet intelligence officer. He adopted his alias when arrested on charges of conspiracy by ...

. * February 20: John Glenn is launched into space aboard '' Friendship-7'' becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. Despite having many delays in the launch itself, the flight is successful. * July 1: Rwanda and Burundi become independent from Belgium. * July 20: Neutralization of Laos is established by international agreement, but North Vietnam refuses to withdraw its personnel. * August 2:

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

is granted

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

by the UK. * August 27:

Mariner 2 Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the B ...

is launched to make a flyby of Venus. * August 31:

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

is granted independence by the UK. * September 8: Himalayan War: Chinese forces attack India, making claims on numerous border areas. * September 26: The

North Yemen Civil War The North Yemen Civil War ( ar, ثورة 26 سبتمبر, Thawra 26 Sabtambar, 26 September Revolution) was fought in North Yemen from 1962 to 1970 between partisans of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom and supporters of the Yemen Arab Republic. The ...

begins between partisans of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom and supporters of the

Yemen Arab Republic The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية اليمنية '), also known simply as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a country from 1962 to 1990 in the northwestern part of what is now Yemen.The United States extend ...

. * October 9:

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status. * October 16: Cuban Missile Crisis: The Soviets have secretly been installing military bases, including

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s, on Cuba, some 90 miles from the US mainland. Kennedy orders a "quarantine" (a

naval blockade A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...

) of the island that intensifies the crisis and brings the US and the

to the brink of nuclear war. In the end, both sides reach a compromise. The Soviets back down and agree to withdraw their

nuclear missile Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. Several methods have been developed to carry out this task. ''Strategic'' nuclear weapons are used primari ...

s from Cuba, in exchange for a secret agreement by Kennedy pledging to withdraw similar American missiles from Turkey and Italy, and guaranteeing that the US will not move against the Castro regime. * November 1: The Soviet Union successfully launches Mars 1 with the intention of making a flyby of Mars. * November 21: End of the Himalayan War. China occupies a small strip of Indian land known as the

Aksai Chin Aksai Chin is a region administered by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is claimed by India to be a part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. It is a part of t ...

. * December 14:

reaches Venus becoming the first US spacecraft to reach Venus and another planet.

1963

* January 20:

declare to reject the formation of the

Federation of Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malaysia ...

through the statement of the then Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Subandrio. Sukarno himself as the first President of Indonesia, regarded the formation of the Federation of Malaysia as a Neo Colonialism project and as a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sove ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. This marks the beginning of Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation. * January 23:

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...

, the leader of the

Cambridge Five The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted ...

, defects to the Soviet Union from

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. The fight for independence in

Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea ( pt, Guiné), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Gu ...

begins. * February 10: The overthrow of

Abd al-Karim Qasim Abd al-Karim Qasim Muhammad Bakr al-Fadhli al-Zubaidi ( ar, عبد الكريم قاسم ' ) (21 November 1914 – 9 February 1963) was an Iraqi Army brigadier and nationalist who came to power when the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown d ...

. * June 9: The

Dhofar Liberation Front Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) ( ar, جبهة تحرير ظفار) was a communist front that was established to create a separatist state in Dhofar, the southern province of Oman, which shared a border with South Yemen. The DLF was established b ...

wages a war in Oman known as the

Dhofar Rebellion The Dhofar Rebellion, also known as the Dhofar War or the Omani Civil War, was waged from 1963 to 1976 in the province of Dhofar against the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman. The war began with the formation of the Dhofar Liberation Front, a group ...

. * June 13: Mars 1 likely reaches Mars conducting flyby. Yet, radio contact was lost with the probe on March 21. * June 20: The United States agrees to set up a hotline with the USSR, thus making direct communication possible. * June 21: France announces that it is withdrawing its navy from the North Atlantic fleet of NATO. * June 26: U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers his "

Ich bin ein Berliner "" (; "I am a Berliner") is a speech by United States President John F. Kennedy given on June 26, 1963, in West Berlin. It is one of the best-known speeches of the Cold War and among the most famous anti-communist speeches. Twenty-two mont ...

" speech in Berlin. * July 31: The

Manila Accord The Manila Accord was signed on 31 July 1963 by the Federation of Malaya, the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of the Philippines, after a meeting from 7 to 11 June 1963 in Manila. Initiated by President of the Philippines Diosdado Macapa ...

was signed by Republic of Indonesia, Federation of Malaya (Now

) and the

. This agreement contains an agreement on self-determination by the people of

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...

and

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

through free elections. A conference called

Maphilindo Maphilindo (for Malaya, the Philippines, and Indonesia), is a proposed, nonpolitical confederation of the three Southeast Asian countries in the Malay Archipelago. Background The original plan for a united state based on the concept of ...

was formed, which consisted of three countries that signed the Manila Accord. * August 5: The

Partial Test Ban Treaty The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) is the abbreviated name of the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, which prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted ...

is signed by the US, UK and USSR, prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons anywhere except underground. * September 16: The

was formed with its first prime minister as

Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ( ms, ‏تونكو عبد الرحمن ڤوترا الحاج ابن سلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 8 Febru ...

. This was considered to have violated the

because before the

and

self-determination election results were reported, Malaysia was formed. * September 25: A border war was fought between Morocco and Algeria. * October 14: The

Aden Emergency The Aden Emergency, also known as the Radfan Uprising (), was an armed rebellion by NLF and FLOSY during the Cold War against the Federation of South Arabia, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, which now forms part of Yemen. Partly inspire ...

begins against British rule. * November 2: South Vietnamese Prime Minister

Ngo Dinh Diem Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic o ...

is assassinated in coup. CIA involvement is suspected. * November 22:

is shot and killed in Dallas. There has been some speculation over whether communist countries or even CIA were involved in the assassination, but those theories remain controversial. Kennedy's vice-president

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

becomes President of the United States. * December 12:

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

becomes independent from the UK.

1964

* January 12: The Arab-dominated government of

Zanzibar Sultanate The Sultanate of Zanzibar ( sw, Usultani wa Zanzibar, ar, سلطنة زنجبار , translit=Sulṭanat Zanjībār), also known as the Zanzibar Sultanate, was a state controlled by the Sultan of Zanzibar, in place between 1856 and 1964. The Su ...

is overthrown by John Okello, establishing the new

people's republic People's republic is an official title, usually used by some currently or formerly communist or left-wing states. It is mainly associated with soviet republics, socialist states following people's democracy, sovereign states with a democratic- ...

. The new regime orders a massacre against minorities, resulting in hundred to thousand

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

ns in the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

killed. * January 27: France recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with France on February 10. * March 31–April 1: A

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

-led

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

overthrows president

João Goulart João Belchior Marques Goulart (1 March 1919 – 6 December 1976), commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 24th president of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on 1 April 1964. He was considered the ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Goulart's proposals, such as

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

and bigger control of the state in the economy, were seen as communist. * April 20: US President Lyndon Johnson in New York, and Soviet First Secretary

in Moscow, announce simultaneously plans to cut back production of materials for making

s. * May 27:

dies. The

Colombian conflict The Colombian conflict ( es, link=no, Conflicto armado interno de Colombia) began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and far-left gue ...

begins. * July 4: The

Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three for ...

begins when African nationalist / Marxist insurgents rebel against colonial rule in Rhodesia (modern -day

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

becomes independent from the UK. * August 4: US President Lyndon B. Johnson claims that

ese naval vessels had fired on two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although there was a first attack, it was later shown that American vessels had entered North Vietnamese territory first, and that the claim of second attack had been unfounded. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident leads to the open involvement of the United States in the

, after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. * September 21:

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

becomes independent from the UK. * October 14:

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and ...

succeeds Khrushchev to become General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union * October 16: China tests its

first atomic bomb Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States Army at 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project. The test was conducted in the Jornada del Muerto desert a ...

. The test makes China the world's fifth

. * October 24:

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

becomes independent from the UK.

1965

* January 24:

dies. * February 18:

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

becomes independent from the UK. * March 18: Alexei Leonov conducts the first

extravehicular activity Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA inc ...

or spacewalk in history from his spacecraft,

Voskhod 2 Voskhod 2 (russian: Восход-2, , ''Sunrise-2'') was a Soviet crewed space mission in March 1965. The Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable ai ...

in space. * April 24:

Dominican Civil War The Dominican Civil War (), also known as the April Revolution (), took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democraticall ...

: Forces loyal to former President Juan Bosch overthrow current leader

Donald Reid Cabral Joseph Donald Reid Cabral (June 9, 1923 – July 22, 2006) was a Dominican politician and lawyer. Reid became president during the "triumvirate" from December 28, 1963 to April 25, 1965. Biography Donald Reid Cabral was born in Santiago de ...

. * June 3: Ed White conducts the first American spacewalk from his spacecraft,

Gemini IV Gemini 4 (officially Gemini IV) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the second crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini, occurring in June 1965. It was the tenth crewed American spaceflight (in ...

. * August 5: Beginning of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. * August 9:

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

gains independence after being expelled from Malaysia. * October 1: Six Indonesian generals are killed by the

30 September Movement The Thirtieth of September Movement ( id, Gerakan 30 September, abbreviated as G30S, also known by the acronym Gestapu for ''Gerakan September Tiga Puluh'', Thirtieth of September Movement) was a self-proclaimed organization of Indonesian Na ...

during an abortive coup d'état later blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia.

Mass killings Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state. A mass killing is commonly defined as the killing of group members withou ...

of suspected communists begin shortly after. * November 1: The Chadian Civil War was waged between rebels and the Chadian government. * November 11: The white-dominated government of Rhodesia declares its independence which was regarded as an illegal proclamation by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Rhodesia was never formally recognised by any country but receives support from neighboring

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...

and the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

regime in their war against African guerrillas that determined to oust the white government. * November 22: DN Aidit, Chairman of Communist Party of Indonesia, is executed by the Indonesian Army in

Boyolali Boyolali ( jv, ꦧꦺꦴꦪꦭꦭꦶ, Boyalali, Don't forget) is a regency ( id, kabupaten) in the eastern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. It covers an area of 1,015.10 km2, and had a population of 930,531 at the 2010 census and 1 ...

after becoming a fugitive as a consequence of the

which are blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia.

1966

* January 31:

Luna 9 Luna 9 (Луна-9), internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a survivable landing on a celestial body ...

is launched. * February 3: Luna 9 successfully lands on the Moon becoming the first spacecraft to softly land on another extraterrestrial body. * March 10: France withdraws from NATO command structure. * March 11: President Sukarno of Indonesia signs a

document A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', which denotes a "teaching" o ...

handing over authority to Major General Suharto, who subsequently establishes the pro-western and anti-communist New Order regime, which remains in power until 1998. * May 8: Communist China detonates a third nuclear device. * May 26: Guyana becomes independent from the UK. * May 30:

Surveyor 1 Surveyor 1 was the first lunar soft-lander in the uncrewed Surveyor program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, United States). This lunar soft-lander gathered data about the lunar surface that would be needed for the cr ...

is launched. * June 2: Surveyor 1 becomes the first American spacecraft to softly land on another extraterrestrial body. * August 11: The Jakarta Accord is signed by the Indonesian Foreign Minister

Adam Malik Adam Malik Batubara (22 July 1917 – 5 September 1984), or more commonly referred to simply as Adam Malik, was an Indonesian politician, diplomat, and journalist, who served as the 3rd Vice President of Indonesia from 1978 until 1983, under ...

and Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Razak ending the hostility between Indonesia and Malaysia. * August 26:

South African Border War The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Ango ...

begins. * September 30:

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

becomes independent from the UK. * October 5: Beginning of low-level armed clashes in Korean DMZ between North Korea and South Korea backed by the United States. * November 30:

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

becomes independent from the UK.

1967

* March 11: The

Cambodian Civil War The Cambodian Civil War ( km, សង្គ្រាមស៊ីវិលកម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ) was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vi ...

begins with the

Samlaut Uprising The Samlaut Uprising, otherwise called the Samlaut Rebellion or Battambang Revolts, consists of two significant phases of revolts that first broke out near Samlaut in Battambang Province and subsequently spread into surrounding Provinces in Ca ...

. * March 12: General

Soeharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto l ...

officially overthrows Sukarno and appointed as

president of Indonesia The President of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Presiden Republik Indonesia) is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president leads the executive branch of the Indonesian government and i ...

switches sides from being friendly with Eastern Bloc countries such as the

, the

, and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

during the Sukarno administration to becoming friends with

western countries The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

such as the

during the Soeharto administration or New Order era. Foreign capital and investors began to enter Indonesia. * April 25: 33

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n and Caribbean countries sign the

Treaty of Tlatelolco The Treaty of Tlatelolco is the conventional name given to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is embodied in the OPANAL (french: Agence pour l'interdiction des armes nucléaires en Amérique l ...

in Mexico City, which seek the prohibition of nuclear weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean. * May 18:

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the p ...

becomes chairman of the

. * May 23:

blocks the Straits of Tiran, then expels UN peacekeepers and moves its army into the Sinai Peninsula in preparation for possible attack on

. * May 25: Naxalbari uprising, Uprising in Naxalbari, India marking the expansion of Maoism as a violent, anti-US and anti-Soviet, revolutionary movement across a number of developing countries. * May 30: The Nigerian state of Biafra secedes from the rest of Nigeria, declaring itself as the Republic of Biafra. * June 5: In response to Egypt's aggression, Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula, beginning the Six-Day War. * June 17: China detonates its first hydrogen bomb. * June 23: U.S. President

meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for a three-day summit. * July 1: Beginning of the War of Attrition. * July 6: The Nigerian Civil War begins in response to Biafra's declaration of independence. * August 8: ASEAN Declaration, Bangkok Declaration is established to quell the communist threat in

. This creates ASEAN. * October 8: Che Guevara is captured in Bolivia by U.S. trained Bolivian rangers. * October 9: Che Guevara is executed after being captured the day before. * November 29: Robert McNamara announces that he will resign as U.S. Secretary of Defense to become President of the World Bank.

1968

* January 30: Tet Offensive in South Vietnam begins. * March 12: Mauritius becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status. * March 18: The Moro Conflict begins in Southern Philippines. * March 30: Johnson suspends bombings over North Vietnam and announces he is not running for reelection. * June 8: Tet Offensive ends; while an American military victory, it raises questions over America's military chances in Vietnam. * June 17: The Second Malayan Emergency begins. * July 1: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is opened for signature. * July 17: Abdul Rahman Arif, the President of Iraq at that time was overthrown by a 17 July Revolution, coup staged by Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, Iraq Ba'athist Party. The revolution eventually lead to the installation of the Ba'athist Iraq, Ba'athist government in Iraq. * August 20: Prague Spring Reforms in Communist Czechoslovakia result in Warsaw Pact, led by Soviet Red Army, crushing Czechoslovakian revolt. * September 6: Swaziland becomes independent from the UK. * October 3: Peruvian General Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrows President Fernando Belaunde Terry in a 1968 Peruvian coup d'état, military coup. * October 12: Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain. * December 23: The captain and crew of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), USS ''Pueblo'' are released by

1969

* January 20:

becomes President of the United States. * March 2: Sino-Soviet border conflict, 1969, Border clashes between the Soviet Union and China. * March 17: The U.S. begins Operation Menu, bombing Communist sanctuaries in

. * July 16: Apollo 11 is launched. * July 20: The U.S. accomplishes the first manned Moon landing, Apollo 11. Manned by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins (astronaut), Michael Collins. * July 24: Apollo 11 returns to Earth. * July 25: "Vietnamization" begins with U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam and the burden of combat being placed on the South Vietnamese. * September 1: Muammar al-Gaddafi overthrows the Libyan monarchy and expels British and American personnel. Libya aligns itself with the

. * September 2: North Vietnamese leader

dies. It was a significant and decisive event for both the

and the Sino-Soviet border conflict. * October 21: Siad Barre overthrows the government of Somalia in a 1969 Somali coup d'état, bloodless coup. He declares himself President of Somalia and reorganizes the country into a One-party state, one-party communist state; the Somali Democratic Republic. * November 17: The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks begin in Helsinki. * November 27–December 6: The al-Wadiah War was fought between South Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

1970s

1970

* January 15: The Nigerian Civil War ends with Biafra being re-integrated into Nigeria. * March 5: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, ratified by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, among others, enters into force. * March 18: Lon Nol takes power in

and establishes the Khmer Republic. Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam, Vietnamese Communists attack the new regime, which wants to end North Vietnamese presence in Cambodia. * August 7: The War of Attrition ends with a ceasefire. * August 12: The Soviet Union and West Germany sign the Treaty of Moscow (1970), Treaty of Moscow. * August 17: Venera 7 is launched * September 6: Black September begins in Jordan. * October 24: Salvador Allende becomes president of Chile after being confirmed by the Chilean congress. * November 18: United States' aid to Cambodia to support the Lon Nol regime begins. * December 15: Venera 7 lands on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to softly land on another planet.

1971

* January 25: Idi Amin launches a 1971 Ugandan coup d'état, successful coup d'état against Milton Obote in

and declares himself President of Uganda. Under Amin, Uganda would switch allegiances to the Eastern Bloc and develop strong ties to the

and

. * February 8: Army of the Republic of Vietnam, South Vietnamese forces enter Laos to briefly cut the Ho Chi Minh trail. * February 11: Seabed Arms Control Treaty is signed banning the placement of nuclear weapons outside of a country's 12-mile (22.2 km) coastal zone. * March 10: Dominion of Ceylon declared under emergency conditions after communist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, People's Liberation Front April uprising of 1971, attacks the American embassy. * March 26: Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence. Bangladesh Liberation War and 1971 Bangladesh genocide, Genocide begins. * April 19: Salyut 1 is launched becoming the first space station. * May 15: Anwar Sadat's Corrective Revolution (Egypt), Corrective Revolution purges Nasserist members of the government and security forces, and eventually expels Soviet military from

. * May 28: Mars 3 is launched. * May 30: Mariner 9 is launched. * July 19–22: A 1971 Sudanese coup d'état, communist-backed coup attempted unsuccessfully against Jaafar Nimeiry in Democratic Republic of the Sudan, Sudan. * September: 105 Soviet officials expelled from Great Britain by Prime Minister Edward Heath in Operation FOOT * September 3: Four-Power Agreement on Berlin is signed by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, and the United States. * September 11:

dies. * October 11: Salyut 1 burns up in the atmosphere. * October 25: The United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 2758, recognizing the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China, causing

to lose its membership. * October 26: Mathieu Kérékou takes control of the Republic of Dahomey, renaming it Benin and declaring it a People's Republic of Benin, Marxist–Leninist state. * November 14: Mariner 9 arrives at Mars orbit becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. * December 2: Mars 3 arrives in Mars orbit and deploys its lander. The lander is successful in becoming the first spacecraft to softly land on Mars but transmits for 20 seconds before losing contact. * December 3 :

enters the Bangladesh Liberation War after

launches preemptive air strikes on Indian airfields. * December 16: Lt. Gen A. A. K. Niazi, CO of the Pakistan Army forces located in East Pakistan surrenders unconditionally by signing the Instrument of Surrender (1971), Instrument of Surrender which is accepted by Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, joint commander of the Mitro Bahini, Bangladesh-India Allied Forces. Bangladesh is officially recognized by the eastern bloc.

1972

* February 21: Richard Nixon, Nixon 1972 Nixon visit to China, visits China, the first visit by a U.S. president since the establishment of the People's Republic of China. * March 30: NLF goes to the offensive in South Vietnam, only to be repulsed by the South Vietnamese regime with Operation Linebacker, major American air support. * April: Mass killings known as the Ikiza occurred in Burundi committed by the Tutsi-dominated army against the Hutus. * April 10: Biological Weapons Convention is signed banning the production, development and stockpiling of biological weapons. * May 26: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) agreement signals the beginning of détente between the U.S. and USSR. * September 1: Bobby Fischer defeats Russian Boris Spassky in a chess match in Reykjavík, Iceland, becoming the first official American chess champion (see World Chess Championship 1972, Match of the Century). * September 2–28: The Summit Series, an ice hockey tournament between Canada and

. * September 21: Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law in response to the growing communist threat in the

. * September 26: The Yemenite War of 1972, short border war occurred between the

and South Yemen. * December 18: Richard Nixon announces the beginning of a massive bombing campaign in North Vietnam.

1973

* January 27: The Paris Peace Accords end American involvement in the

. Congress cuts off funds for the continued bombing of

. * February: Balochi separatists launched a 1970s operation in Balochistan, five-year long guerilla war against the Pakistani government in order to create a separate Balochistan nation. * February 21: Vientiane Treaty is signed as a cease-fire agreement for the Laotian Civil War. The treaty calls for the removal of all foreign soldiers from Laos . The treaty calls for a coalition government to be created but never materialized. * June 21: West Germany and East Germany are each admitted to the United Nations. * July 10: The Bahamas becomes independent from the UK. * September 11: 1973 Chilean coup d'état, Chilean coup d'état — The democratically elected Marxist president of Chile, Salvador Allende, is deposed and Death of Salvador Allende, dies of a gunshot wound during a coup d'état, military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. * October 6: Yom Kippur War —

is attacked by

and Syria, the war ends with a ceasefire. * October 14: An 1973 Thai popular uprising, uprising occurred in Thailand. * October 22: Egypt defects to the American camp by accepting a U.S. cease-fire proposal during the October 1973 war. * November 11: The Soviet Union announces that, because of its opposition to the recent overthrow of the government of Chilean President Salvador Allende, it will not play a World Cup Soccer match against Chile if that match is hosted in Santiago.

1974

* February 7: Grenada becomes independent from the UK. * April 25: Portuguese Armed Forces Carnation revolution, revolt against the authoritarian regime of Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo. Fascism in Portugal officially ended, Francoist Spain, Spain became the last and only fascist country that still stood at the time. * June: SEATO formally ends after France leaves the organization. * June 26: NATO holds 1974 Brussels summit, a summit in Brussels, the first one since 1957 to be held. * June 28: The Moscow Summit (1974), Moscow Summit begins. * July 20: Turkey Turkish invasion of Cyprus, invaded Cyprus after the 1974 Cypriot coup d'état, coup d'état conducted by the Greek junta. * August 9: Gerald Ford becomes President of the United States upon the resignation of Richard Nixon, Nixon. * September 4: The United States and East Germany begin diplomatic relations. * September 12: The pro-Western monarch of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, is ousted by a Marxist military junta known as the Derg. * November 24: The SALT II Agreement is drafted at the Vladivostok Summit Meeting on Arms Control.

1975

* January 3: The Trade Act of 1974, including the Jackson–Vanik amendment, is signed into law in the United States. * April 13: Tensions between the Maronite Christians and Muslims ignited the Lebanese Civil War. * April 18: The communist Khmer Rouge, under the leadership of Pol Pot, take power in

. Beginning of the Cambodian genocide. * April 30: North Vietnam wins the Vietnam War. The South Vietnam regime falls with the Fall of Saigon, surrender of Saigon and the two countries are united under a Communist government. * May 12: Mayagüez incident: The Khmer Rouge seize an American naval ship, prompting American intervention to recapture the ship and its crew. In the end, the crew is released from captivity. * June 8: Venera 9, a Soviet uncrewed space mission to Venus, is launched. * June 25: Portugal withdraws from Angola and Mozambique, where Marxist governments are installed, the former with backing from Cuban troops. Angolan Civil War, Civil Mozambican Civil War, war engulfs both nations and involves Angolans, Mozambicans, South Africans, and Cubans, with the superpowers supporting their respective ideologies. * July: The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project takes place. It is the first joint flight of the US and Soviet space programs. The mission is seen as a symbol of détente and an end to the "space race". * July 5: Cape Verde becomes independent from Portugal. * July 6: Comoros becomes independent from France. * July 12: São Tomé and Príncipe becomes independent from Portugal. * August 1: Helsinki Accords, Helsinki Final Act of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe signed by the United States, Canada, the Soviet Union and Europe. * October 9: Andrei Sakharov is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. * October 30: Western Sahara War begins between Morocco, Mauritania and Polisario Front. * November: Beginning of Operation Condor in South America. * November 20: Francisco Franco dies. * November 25: Suriname officially gains independence from Netherlands. * November 28: After a History of East Timor#Decolonisation, coup, and independence, small-scale civil war, Timor Leste under Fretilin declares its independence. * November 29: Pathet Lao takes power in Laos. * December 7: In Operation Seroja, Indonesia Indonesian Military invades East Timor. The day before, US President Gerald Ford had given the green light for the invasion in a meeting with Indonesian President Suharto in Jakarta. An estimated 100,000–180,000 people will be killed or starve to death in the 25-year occupation.

1976

* January 8: Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai dies of cancer. * February: Soviet and Cuban forces install a communist government in Angola. * March 24: The National Reorganization Process takes power in Argentina following a 1976 Argentine coup d'état, successful military coup and launches military action against Argentine-based guerrillas. Jorge Rafael Videla is installed as president. * May 4: The Corsican conflict begins, with the aim of an independent Corsican state against the French government by Corsican nationalism, Corsican nationalists. * June 29: Seychelles becomes independent from the UK under Commonwealth status. * July 2: Vietnam was reunited * July 20: U.S. Military personnel withdraw from Thailand. * September 1: Inception of Safari Club. * September 9: Death of

. * December 4: Insurgency in Aceh begins. Jean-Bédel Bokassa proclaimed himself as Emperor of the Central African Empire.

1977

* January 1: Charter 77 is signed by Czechoslovakian intellectuals, including Václav Havel. * January 20: Jimmy Carter becomes President of the United States. * March 8: A Shaba I, rebellion occurred in the Shaba Province, Zaire. * June 6: U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance assures skeptics that the Carter administration will hold the Soviet Union accountable for its recent crackdowns on human rights activists. * June 27: Djibouti becomes independent from France. * June 30: The Carter administration cancels the planned Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber. * July 21–24:

and History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, Libya fought a Egyptian-Libyan War, war at the Egyptian-Libyan border. * July 23: The Ogaden War begins when Somalia attacks Ethiopia.

1978

* January 29: The Chadian–Libyan conflict begins over the Aouzou Strip. * March 15: The Ogaden War ends with a cease-fire. * April 27: President of

Sardar Mohammed Daoud's government is overthrown when he is murdered in a coup led by pro-communist rebels. * May 11: The Shaba II, second rebellion in the Shaba Province, Zaire occurred. * October 1: Tuvalu becomes independent from the UK as a member of the Commonwealth. * November 3: Dominica becomes independent from the UK. * December 18: Deng Xiaoping announces the reform and opening up of China. * December 25: A Communist regime is installed in

. Vietnam Cambodian-Vietnamese War, invades Cambodia.

1979

* January 1: The United States and China normalize diplomatic relations. * January 7: Vietnam deposes the Khmer Rouge and installs a pro-Vietnam, pro-Soviet government known as the People's Republic of Kampuchea. * January 16: The Iranian Revolution ousts the pro-Western Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and installs a theocracy under Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. CENTO dissolves as a result. * February 17: Sino-Vietnamese War, China launches a punitive attack on Vietnam to punish it for invading Cambodia * February 22: Saint Lucia becomes independent from the UK. * February 24: A Yemenite War of 1979, war broke out between

and South Yemen. * May 4: Margaret Thatcher is elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, becoming the first female to lead a major Western democracy. * May 9: Salvadoran Civil War, Civil war breaks out in El Salvador between Marxist-led insurgents and the U.S.-backed government. * June 2: Pope John Paul II begins his first pastoral visit to his native Poland. * June 18: U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, SALT II agreement, outlining limitations and guidelines for nuclear weapons. * July 3: President Carter signs the first directive for financial aid to opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul,

. * July 16: Saddam Hussein becomes President of Iraq after Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr steps down. * July 17: Marxist-led Sandinista revolutionary, revolutionaries overthrow the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. The Contras, Contra insurgency begins shortly thereafter. * August 3: Francisco Macias Nguema was deposed by a 1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état, coup led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. * September: Nur Mohammed Taraki, The Marxist president of Afghanistan, is deposed and murdered. The post of president is taken up by Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin. * November 4: Islamist Iranian students take over the American embassy in support of the Iranian Revolution. The Iran hostage crisis lasts until January 20, 1981. * November 20–December 4 : Juhayman al-Otaybi and his followers Grand Mosque seizure, seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. * December 12: NATO Double-Track Decision – NATO offers mutual limitation of ballistic missiles combined with the threat that in case of disagreement NATO would deploy more middle-range nuclear weapons in Western Europe. * December 21: The

ends with the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement.

is granted independence from the

. * December 24: The Soviet Union invades Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Afghanistan to oust Hafizullah Amin, beginning the Soviet–Afghan War and resulting in the end of Détente.

1980s

1980

* January 3–4: President Jimmy Carter withdraws the SALT II Treaty from Senate confirmation and bans technology sales to the Soviet Union. * January 27: The Carter Doctrine commits the United States to defending the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Gulf States from external invasion. * February 13: Britian's MI6 commences United Kingdom in the Soviet–Afghan War, its indirect and direct covert operations in Afghanistan, to support the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet intervention. * February 25: A 1980 Surinamese coup d'état, military coup occurred in Suriname eventually lead to the establishment of a military regime in the country. * March 21: The United States and its allies 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics (July 15 – August 3) in Moscow. * April 17: Robert Mugabe becomes Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. * April 30: Embassy of Iran, London, Iranian Embassy in London is taken over by Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan, DRFLA militants starting a 6-day-long Iranian Embassy Siege, hostage situation. * May 4: Josip Broz Tito, communist leader of

since 1945, Death and state funeral of Josip Broz Tito, dies at the age of 88 in Ljubljana. * May 17: Peru begins experiences a internal conflict in Peru, civil conflict between the government and the Marxist-Leninist guerilla groups, most notably the Shining Path. * May 18–27: An Gwangju Uprising, anti-government uprising occurred in Gwangju, South Korea. * 3 July: The CIA begins Operation Cyclone - a program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. * August 31: In Poland the Gdańsk Agreement is signed after a wave of strikes which began at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdańsk. The agreement allows greater civil rights, such as the establishment of a trade union, known as Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity, independent of communist party control. * September 22: Ba'athist Iraq, Saddam's Iraq started to Iraqi invasion of Iran, invade Iran, which ignites the Iran–Iraq War.

1981

* January 17: Martial law was lifted by Ferdinand Marcos in preparation for the visit of Pope John Paul II. * January 20: Ronald Reagan inaugurated 40th President of the United States. Reagan is elected on a platform opposed to the concessions of détente. * January 20: Iran hostage crisis ends after 444 days. * April 1: The United States suspends economic aid to Nicaragua. * April 6: The Somaliland War of Independence was waged by the Somali National Movement in northern Somalia. * August 19: Gulf of Sidra incident (1981), Gulf of Sidra Incident: Libyan planes attack U.S. jets in the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya has illegally annexed. Two Libyan jets are shot down; no American losses are suffered. * September 21: Belize becomes independent from the UK. 1,500 British soldiers remain to deter Guatemala from attacking the country over territorial disputes. * October 6: Assassination of Anwar Sadat. * October 27: A Soviet submarine, the Soviet submarine S-363, U137, runs aground not far from the Swedish naval base at Karlskrona. * November 23: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) begins to support anti-Sandinista Contras. * December 13: Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, having been appointed First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, introduces martial law in Poland, martial law, which drastically restricts normal life, in an attempt to crush the Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity trade union and the political opposition against communist rule.

1982

* February 24: President Ronald Reagan announces the "Caribbean Basin Initiative" to prevent the overthrow of governments in the region by the forces of communism. * March 22: President Ronald Reagan signs P.L. 97-157 denouncing the government of the Soviet Union that it should cease its abuses of the basic human rights of its citizens.{{cite web , url= http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=42304 , title= Ronald Reagan: "Statement on Signing a Bill Concerning Human Rights in the Soviet Union", March 22, 1982 , author1=Peters, Gerhard , author2=Woolley, John T , publisher = University of California – Santa Barbara , work= The American Presidency Project , access-date= 19 December 2013 * April 2: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, starting the Falklands War. * May 30: Spain joins NATO. * June 6: Israel invades Lebanon to end raids and clashes with Syrian troops based there. * June 14: Falkland Islands liberated by British task force. End of the Falklands War. * November 10: Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev * November 14:

becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, General Secretary of the Soviet Union.

1983

* January: Soviet spy Dieter Gerhardt is arrested in New York. * March 8: In speech to the National Association of Evangelicals, Reagan labels the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire speech, evil empire". * March 23: Ronald Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or "Star Wars"). * June 5: The Second Sudanese Civil War begins. * July 7: Ten-year-old Samantha Smith accepts the invitation of Soviet premiere

and visits the Soviet Union with her parents. Smith had written to Andropov to ask if he would "vote to have a war or not?" Smith's letter, published in the Soviet newspaper ''Pravda'', prompted Andropov to reply and invite the girl to the U.S.S.R. The widely publicized event leads to other Soviet–American cultural exchanges. * July 22: Martial law in Poland is lifted. * July 23: The Sri Lankan Civil War begins between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. * July 30: Sri Lankan government bans all its major communist parties claiming they were involved in Black July#Saturday, 30 July, ethnic riots,

intervenes to unban the parties. * August 4: Thomas Sankara overthrows Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo and becomes president. He also renamed the country of Republic of Upper Volta, Upper Volta to Burkina Faso a year later. * August 21: Former senator Benigno Aquino Jr., Benigno "Ninoy" S. Aquino was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport). * September 1: Civilian Korean Air Lines Flight 007, with 269 passengers, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald, is shot down by Soviet interceptor aircraft. * September 26: The 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident occurs. The U.S.S.R. nuclear early warning system reports launch of multiple U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles. Stanislav Petrov, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, correctly identifies them as false alarms. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear attack based on erroneous data on the United States and its NATO allies, which likely would have resulted in nuclear war and the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. * October 25: U.S. forces Invasion of Grenada (1983), invade the Caribbean island of Grenada in an attempt to overthrow the Communist government, expel Cuban troops, and abort the construction of a Soviet-funded airstrip. * November 2: Exercise Able Archer 83 – Soviet anti-aircraft misinterpret a test of NATO's nuclear warfare procedures as a fake cover for an actual NATO attack; in response, Soviet nuclear forces are put on high alert. * December 10: The National Reorganization Process military junta of Argentina is dissolved by democratically elected president Raúl Alfonsín.

1984

* January: US President Ronald Reagan outlines foreign policy which reinforces his previous statements. * January 1: Brunei gains independence from the UK. * February 13: Konstantin Chernenko is named General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. * May 24: The U.S. Congress ratifies the Boland Amendment banning U.S. aid to the contras. * June 1–10: Operation Blue Star begins. * July 28: Various allies of the Soviet Union 1984 Summer Olympics boycott, boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics (July 28 – August 12) in Los Angeles. * August 11: During a microphone sound check for his weekly radio address, President Ronald Reagan jokes about bombing the Soviet Union. "My fellow Americans," Reagan says. "I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." The quip is not aired but is leaked to the press. The Soviet Union temporarily puts its defense forces on high alert. * October 31: Assassination of Indira Gandhi, Indira Gandhi assassinated. * December 16: Margaret Thatcher and the UK government, in a plan to open new channels of dialog with Soviet leadership candidates, meet with Mikhail Gorbachev at Chequers.

1985

* February 6: The Reagan Doctrine commits the United States to supporting anti-Communist insurgencies in the Third World. * March 10: General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Konstantin Chernenko dies. * March 11: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union. * March 15: Brazilian military government, Military rule ends in

. * March 24, 1985 – Major Arthur D. Nicholson, a US Army Military Intelligence officer is shot to death by a Soviet sentry in

. He is listed as the last US casualty in the Cold War. * April 11: Enver Hoxha dies. Ramiz Alia takes over as First Secretary of the Party of Labor of Albania, becoming the ''de facto'' leader of Albania. * April 22: The Trial of the Juntas convenes to prosecute the members of the National Reorganization Process (the military junta that governed Argentina from 1976 to 1983) for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during its existence. * May 20: John Anthony Walker is arrested by the FBI. * August 6: Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union begins what it has announced is a 5-month unilateral moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons. The Reagan administration dismisses the dramatic move as nothing more than propaganda and refuses to follow suit. Gorbachev declares several extensions, but the United States fails to reciprocate, and the moratorium comes to an end on February 5, 1987. * November 21: Reagan and Gorbachev meet for the first time at a Geneva Summit (1985), summit in Geneva, Switzerland, where they agree to two (later three) more summits.

1986

* January 13: The South Yemen Civil War begins. * February 13: France launches Operation Epervier (Sparrowhawk) in an effort to repulse the Libyan invasion of Chad. * February 25: The People Power Revolution takes place in the Philippines, overthrowing President Ferdinand Marcos. The Philippines' first female president, Corazon Aquino, was installed as president. * April 15: U.S. planes bomb Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon. * April 26: Chernobyl disaster: A Soviet nuclear power plant in the Ukraine explodes, resulting in the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. * July 22: The Surinamese Interior War occurs. * October 11–12: Reykjavik Summit: A breakthrough in nuclear arms control. * November 3: Iran–Contra affair: The Reagan administration publicly announces that it has been selling arms to Iran in exchange for hostages and illegally transferring the profits to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

1987

* January 16: Natives within the Party who oppose his policies of economic redevelopment (Perestroika). It is Gorbachev's hope that through initiatives of openness, debate and participation, that the Soviet people will support Perestroika. * February 25: Phosphorite War breaks out in Estonia. * April 15: An 1987–1989 JVP insurrection, insurrection occurred in Sri Lanka by the Marxist-Leninist group, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, JVP. * June 12: During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan famously challenges Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in a speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" (The Berlin Wall). * September 10: The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola begins and further intensifies the

. * September 30: Mohammad Najibullah becomes President of Afghanistan and implements a policy of National Reconciliation as a means of putting an end to the Soviet–Afghan War as well as beginning an end to Soviet influence in the country. * December 8: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Some later claim this was the unofficial beginning of the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev agrees to START I treaty. * December 9: The First Intifada was waged by Palestinians against the Israeli government.

1988

* February 20: The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan. * February 22: Incident: U.S.S. Yorktown (CG-48), USS ''Yorktown'' and USS Caron (DD-970), USS ''Caron'' 1988 Black Sea bumping incident, are rammed off the Crimean Peninsula after entering Soviet territorial waters. * May 11:

(Harold Adrian Russell Philby), the high-ranking UK intelligence officer who defected to the Soviet Union, dies in Moscow. * May 15: The Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Soviets begin withdrawing from Afghanistan. * May 29–June 1: Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Moscow. INF Treaty ratified. When asked if he still believes that the Soviet Union is still an evil empire, Reagan replies he was talking about "another time, another era." * October 5: Chile's Augusto Pinochet loses a 1988 Chilean national plebiscite, national plebiscite on his rule. * November 3: A 1988 Maldives coup d'état attempt, coup attempt occurred in the Maldives. * November 6: Soviet scientist and well-known human rights activist Andrei Sakharov begins a two-week visit to the United States. * November 15: The State of Palestine was formally established through the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. * December 7: Gorbachev announces in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly that the Soviet Union will no longer militarily interfere with Eastern Europe. * December 22: South Africa withdraws from South West Africa (Namibia).

1989

* January 4: Gulf of Sidra incident (1989), Gulf of Sidra incident between America and Libya, similar to the Gulf of Sidra incident (1981), 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident. * January 7: Emperor Hirohito dies, marking the end of the Showa era in Japan. * January 11: Communist Hungary introduces political reforms. * January 19: Solidarity is legalized by the Polish government. * January 20: George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as 41st President of the United States. * February 2: Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan. * February 3: Alfredo Stroessner was deposed in a 1989 Paraguayan coup d'état, coup led by Andres Rodriguez (politician), Andrés Rodríguez. * February 15: The Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), Afghan Civil War begins after Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan. * February 19–21: Jakarta Informal Meeting II was held in Jakarta. This meeting succeeded in finding two important issues, namely the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia and the prevention of the return of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. Later, efforts to resolve the conflict will continue in International Conference in Paris on July 30–31, 1989. * March 26: The Soviet Union holds the first round of 1989 Soviet Union legislative election, legislative elections to the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union, Congress of People's Deputies. * June 3: Ayatollah Khomeini dies. * June 4: Tiananmen Square Massacre: Beijing protests are crushed by the communist Chinese government, resulting in an unknown number of deaths. * June 4: Elections in Poland show complete lack of backing for the Communist Party; Solidarity trade union wins all available seats in the Parliament and 99% in the Senate. * August 19: The opening of the border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic set in motion a chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer a GDR and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. * August: Parliament in Poland elects Tadeusz Mazowiecki as leader of the first non-communist government in the Eastern Bloc. * October 7: Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, the ruling party of Hungary; is dissolved. * October 18: The End of Communism in Hungary (1989), Hungarian constitution is amended to allow a multi-party system, multi-party political system and elections. The nearly 20-year term of communist leader Erich Honecker Peaceful Revolution, comes to an end in

. * November 7: 1989 Moldovan civil unrest, Civil unrest occurred in Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavia. * November 9: Revolutions of Eastern Europe: Soviet reforms have allowed Eastern Europe to change the Communist governments there. The Berlin Wall is breached when Politburo spokesman, Günter Schabowski, not fully informed of the technicalities or procedures of the newly agreed lifting of travel restrictions, mistakenly announces at a news conference in East Berlin that the borders have been opened. * November 17–28: The Velvet Revolution brought the end of the authoritarian one-party rule in Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Czechoslovakia. * December 2: End of the Second Malayan Emergency with the Peace Agreement of Hat Yai 1989. * December 3: At the end of the Malta Summit, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush declare that a long-lasting era of peace has begun. Many observers regard this summit as the official beginning of the end of the Cold War. * December 10: The Mongolian Revolution of 1990, Mongolian Revolution begins when Mongolians held peaceful demonstrations to end the one-party rule in the country. * December 14: Chilean transition to democracy, Democracy is restored in Chile. * December 16–25: Romanian Revolution: Rioters overthrow the Communism, Communist government of Nicolae Ceauşescu, executing him and his wife, Elena Ceauşescu, Elena.

was the only Eastern Bloc country to violently overthrow its Communist government or to execute its leaders. * December 20: United States United States invasion of Panama, invades Panama. * December 24: The First Liberian Civil War begins. * December 25: Romanian Communist Party, the ruling party of Romania; is dissolved. * December 29: Václav Havel becomes President of the now free

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

1990s

1990

* January 30: The Polish United Workers' Party is dissolved, allowing democracy to be restored in Poland. * January 31: US United States invasion of Panama, Operation Just Cause ends, and Operation Promote Liberty begins in Panama. * March 11: Lithuania Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, declares independence from the

. * April 3: Bulgarian Communist Party, the ruling party of People's Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgaria; is dissolved. * May 22: Both Yemen Arab Republic, North Yemen and South Yemen Yemeni unification, unified. * May 29: Boris Yeltsin elected as president of Russia. * May 30: The Washington Summit (1990), Washington Summit begins. * August 2:

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, invades Kuwait, beginning Gulf War. * August 20: Estonia declares independence from the Soviet Union. * August 23: Armenia Declaration of State Sovereignty of Armenia, declares independence from the Soviet Union. * September 9: George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Helsinki,

and issue a joint declaration condemning the invasion of Kuwait. * October 1: The Rwandan Civil War begins, between the Rwandan Patriotic Front, RPF and the Rwandan government. * October 3: German reunification, Germany is reunified. * October 4: The Mozambican Civil War ends with the defeat of the anti-communist RENAMO, allowing the ruling Marxist party, FRELIMO, to remain in power. * October 15: Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. * November 2: The Transnistria War begins in Moldova. * November 21: The Paris Charter is ratified by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

1991

* January 5: The 1991-1992 South Ossetia War, First South Ossetia War begins. * January 26: Siad Barre was ousted from office, ending the Somali Democratic Republic and sparked the Somali Civil War. * February 9: Lithuania holds an 1991 Lithuanian independence referendum, independence referendum with a majority voting to restoring independence * February 28: Gulf War ends. * March 1: 1991 uprisings in Iraq, Post Gulf War uprisings in Iraq occurred. * March 3: 1991 Estonian independence referendum, Estonia and 1991 Latvian independence and democracy referendum, Latvia hold an independence referendum with a majority voting to restore independence. * March 23: The Sierra Leone Civil War begins. * March 31: Georgia holds an 1991 Georgian independence referendum, independence referendum with a majority voting for independence from the Soviet Union. The Croatian War of Independence begins, marking the breakup of Yugoslavia. * April 9: Georgia (country), Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union. * May 21: Rajiv Gandhi was Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, assassinated. * June 12: Party of Labour of Albania, the ruling party of Albania, is dissolved. * June 27: Slovenia fought a Ten-Day War, ten day war against Yugoslavia, marking the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia. * July 1:

is dissolved. * July 31: The START I Treaty is ratified. * August 19: Soviet coup attempt of 1991. A coup occurs in response to a new union treaty to be signed on August 20. * August 22: The coup is ended. * August 24: Ukraine Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, declares independence from the Soviet Union. * August 25: Belarus declares independence from the Soviet Union. * August 27: Moldova Moldovan Declaration of Independence, declares independence from the Soviet Union. * August 31: Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan declare independence from the Soviet Union. * September: 1991 Zaire unrest occurred. * September 9: Tajikistan declares independence from the Soviet Union * September 21: Armenia holds an 1991 Armenian independence referendum, independence referendum with a majority voting for independence from the Soviet Union despite declaring independence in August 1990. * October 26: Turkmenistan holds an 1991 Turkmen independence referendum, independence referendum with a majority voting for independence from the Soviet Union. * October 27: Turkmenistan declares independence from the Soviet Union. * October 31: The Djiboutian Civil War begins. * November 12: The Indonesian Army Santa Cruz massacre, massacred at least 250 East Timorese pro-independence protesters during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. * December 16: Kazakhstan declares independence from the Soviet Union. * December 22: The Georgian Civil War begins. * December 25: US President George H. W. Bush, after receiving a phone call from Boris Yeltsin, delivers a Christmas Day speech acknowledging the end of the Cold War. * December 25: Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the USSR. The hammer and sickle is lowered for the last time over the Moscow Kremlin, Kremlin. * December 26: The Soviet of the Republics, Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dissolves the Soviet Union. The United States became the world's only superpower.

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