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15 Most Important Cold War Dates

The Soviet Union and the United States fought as allies against the Axis powers during World War II. But there was tension in the two countries’ relationship. Americans had long-standing reservations about Soviet communism and worries about Joseph Stalin’s brutal control of his own nation.

For their part, the Soviets were angry at the Americans for delaying their entry into World War II, which led to the deaths of tens of millions of Russians, and for their long-standing refusal to recognise the USSR as a genuine member of the world community. These complaints grew into a pervasive sense of mistrust and hostility between people after the war.

Many Americans’ worries about a Russian attempt to take over the world were stoked by the Soviet Union’s post-World War II expansionism in Eastern Europe. The USSR, meantime, grew to despise what they saw as American officials’ bellicose language, armament buildup, and interventionist approach to international relations. No one party was to fault for the Cold War in such a hostile environment; in fact, some historians think it was unavoidable which is what led to these 15 most important Cold War dates you should read about.

1. Mar 5, 1946: Europe’s “Iron Curtain”

Iron Curtain by Big Steve from

With time, the divide between Europe and the conflict between East and West came to be discussed as part of the Cold War. The “Iron Curtain” that Winston Churchill described as enclosing countries under Soviet rule.

This allusion to an iron curtain that divided Europe into communist- and democratic-dominated nations on one side and comparatively free nations on the other persisted, with the latter tending to lean toward the United States.

2. Jun 5, 1947: The Marshall Plan

Marshall Donkey by Usconsulate from

This plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was created to provide funding for Europe’s economic recovery between 1948 and 1951. Restoring Europeans’ faith in the economic prospects of both their individual nations and of the continent as a whole was one of its goals, which it accomplished successfully. The Secretary of State at the time, George C. Marshall, introduced the Program on June 5, 1947, in a speech at Harvard University, and his name is commemorated in this programme.

3. Jun 24, 1948: Early Post-War Years: The Berlin Blockade

Bundesarchiv Bild by German Federal Archives from

The US and UK wanted to introduce a new currency into West Berlin, which plunged the Soviet Union into an economic crisis. The Soviets decided to close all railroads, highways and passes for transit on land and water between West Berlin and West Germany as a result of this incident. With the city basically being abandoned, this sparked the “Berlin Blockade.” Air was not affected, despite the fact that land and water-based modes of transportation and communication were. That was the start of the “Berlin Airlift.”

4. Apr 4, 1949: NATO establishment

NATO by Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum from

The United States, Canada, and a number of Western European countries established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949 to guarantee collective protection against the Soviet Union.

The United States joined NATO as its first military alliance during peacetime outside of the Western Hemisphere. Europe’s countries battled to secure their security and restore their economy following the Second World War’s devastation. Both situations required assurances against a resurgent Germany or invasions from the Soviet Union. The first required a major influx of aid to enable the war-torn landscapes to re-establish industries and provide food.

The United States believed that stopping the spread of communism across the continent required a Europe that was economically robust, rearmed, and integrated.

5. May 12, 1949: End of the Berlin Blockade

C-54landing by Henry Ries from

The success of the Berlin Airlift demonstrated that Stalin’s hopes that the Berlin Blockade would force the Allies to give up on their efforts to establish a West German state were unfounded. The Berlin Crisis had exacerbated the rift between East and West in Germany and throughout Europe by May 1949, when the Soviet Union withdrew the blockade, officially beginning the Cold War.

Because Stalin was unable to terminate the blockade by shooting down the aircraft carrying food, supplies, and other items (the Berlin Airlift), the United States emerged victorious.

6. Jun 25, 1950: Korean War

Lopez scaling by

Given that it indicated that the Cold War’s attention was shifting to Asia, the Korean War was crucial to the Cold War. In other words, South Korea was portrayed as an anti-communist state whereas North Korea was portrayed as a communist one.

Because of these divisions, North Korean troops crossed the border and attacked South Korea. Harry Truman allowed the American troops to intervene in an effort to halt the rise of communism and defend the South Koreans who were under attack.

7. May 14, 1955: The Warsaw Pact

Warsaw Pact by Flickr from

The founding and signing of the Warsaw Pact occurred on this day. This agreement, which established a system of mutual defence, gave the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria control over the armed forces of the other member states.

8. Oct 4, 1957: The Space Race: Sputnik 2

By launching two rocket-powered satellites into orbit that may one day be able to carry missiles, the Soviet Union astounded the West. This launch demonstrated the potential for weapons to be launched into space.

The first biological form of life was launched into orbit during the second Sputnik launch, which gave rise to the notion of sending humans into space as well. There was genuine worry that the Soviet Union’s technological advancement would swing the balance of the cold war in their favour.

9. May 1, 1960: U-2 Spy Incident

Cold War spy by Jan Saudek from

A high-altitude jet aircraft called the U-2 was designed for surveillance, intelligence gathering, and observation. An American U-2 spy plane was shot down by the USSR in Soviet airspace, and the pilot was taken, prisoner.

President Eisenhower was compelled to tell the Soviets that the CIA had been conducting sabotage flights over the USSR for a number of years, and as a result, the pilot received a ten-year prison sentence. The first-ever “spy swap” between the United States and the Soviet Union enabled them to free him after they had apprehended a Soviet agent.

10. Apr 15, 1961: Bay of Pigs Invasion

Attack near Playa Giron by Rumlin from

In an effort to remove Castro, President Kennedy planned to convert the Cubans who opposed him into commandos, educate them in military strategy and weaponry, and then send them in as an invasion force.

This was done in the hopes that other Cubans would follow and that eventually Castro would be forced from power. This invasion ended up being a total failure and a disaster. Kennedy later came clean and acknowledged that the U.S. was responsible for this invasion and debacle.

11. Oct 1, 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis

Soviet by Central Intelligence Agency from

In other words, President Kennedy gave the Soviets permission to begin building nuclear weapon launch pads in October without informing him of their true intentions; they were to complete the work covertly and install the missiles before the United States could intervene.

Even yet, Kennedy quickly put an end to this attempt once a U.S. military aircraft noticed it. As the two superpowers got closest to a nuclear confrontation, this became well-known.

12. Dec 25, 1979: Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

Mortar attack by erwinlux from

Thousands of Soviet soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan. They immediately seized full military and political power over Kabul and the rest of the nation. The only time the Soviet Union attacked a nation outside the Eastern Bloc was during this Cold War incident.

This incident also signalled the start of a sustained effort to prolong the Afghan Civil War by advocating the maintenance of a cordial environment and stable administration along their borders.

13. Nov 9, 1989: The Fall of the Berlin Wall

Berlinermauer by Noir from

There was an announcement of a change in its relations with the West as the Cold War started to ebb across eastern Europe.

People could freely cross the boundary. Berlin residents flocked to the wall from both East and West shouting, “Open the gate!” Along with bulldozers and cranes, people started tearing down the wall using picks, hammers, and other tools. As soon as the wall came down, Berlin was unified for the first time since 1945. 

14. January 1990: Lithuania became independent  

Asserting the people’s inherent rights and expressing their desire, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania proclaimed the restoration of Lithuania’s independence on March 11, 1990. Despite being powerless to stop Lithuania’s actions, the Soviet Union persisted in intimidating the country and displaying its might in an effort to forcibly crush its ambitions for freedom. When the Soviet Union attacked Lithuania militarily in January 1991, the attitude of the Lithuanian people was put to the test.

In order to save their country, thousands of unarmed civilians stood up to Soviet assault soldiers carrying tanks and machine guns and stood to watch at the bonfires in Independence Square. The greatest success of those times was the people’s ability to stand together in the face of peril, and the Parliament’s resolve to resist and not capitulate was as significant. The murders of unarmed individuals and the deaths of January 1991 served as a wake-up call for the West. As a result, Lithuania once again appeared on the political map of Europe, and the Baltic States’ efforts to regain their independence were seen as being necessary historically.

15. August 1991: End of the Soviet Union and the Cold War ended

Gorbachev by Vladimir Vyatkin from

The Soviet Union’s dissolution was a process of an internal breakdown inside the USSR that ended the existence of the nation and its federal government as a sovereign state and gave it’s component republics full sovereign rights on December 26, 1991. It put an end to Mikhail Gorbachev’s (later President) attempts to change the Soviet political and economic systems in an effort to halt a period of the political impasse and economic decline.

The leaders of three of the founding members of the Soviet Union declared its dissolution in late 1991, amid a terrible political crisis, the exit of many republics from the Union, and the weakening of centralised power. Soon after, eight additional republics joined their statement. In December 1991, Gorbachev submitted his resignation, and the remaining Soviet parliament decided to dissolve itself.