Chronology: Key Events in The Cold War in Europe 1945-1990s

1945: Yalta and Potsdam Conferences (1).

1946: Kennan’s Long Telegram from Moscow.

1947: Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan (2).

1948: Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia; Berlin Blockade begins.

1949: Berlin Blockade ends (3). Creation of NATO. Soviets explode A bomb.

1953: Stalin dies. Riots in Poland and East Germany.

1955: Austrian State Treaty. West Germany joins NATO. Warsaw Pact (4).

1956: Hungarian Uprising.

1961: Berlin Wall Crisis (5).

1968: Prague Spring.

1969: Beginning of détente (6).

1972: SALT 1 Treaty (7).

1975: Helsinki Agreements.

1979: SALT II Treaty.

1979: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan starts. ‘New Cold War’.

1980: Solidarity movement in Poland.

1982: Start talks begin (8).

1986: Reykjavik Summit.

1987: INF Treaty.

1989: Revolutions across East Europe (9).

1990s: Collapse of communism in the USSR and Eastern Europe.

(1) At Yalta, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt outlined their plans for Europe after the Second World War. Germany and Austria were to be divided into four administrative zones under Soviet, British, American and French control; the USSR would recover lands from Poland lost in 1921; and a United Nations would replace the League of Nations. Six months later at Potsdam, Stalin, Truman and Atlee met and the USSR took a much tougher line. It demanded 25% of reparations from western sectors as well as its own allocation; it seized a large portion of Poland; it agreed that free elections should be held in states formerly occupied by Germany but no date was fixed. The conference also failed to produce a long-term plan for the government of Germany, which led to future problems during the Cold War.

(2) In the light of Kennan’s Telegram, President Truman decided to adopt a policy of containment towards the USSR by supporting anti-communist forces. The Marshall Plan provided financial and economic aid for any country (including the USSR) after the war but specifically assisted European states such as Greece and Turkey that might succumb to communism.

(3) The Soviet Union began the blockade of land routes across East Germany from West Germany to West Berlin following the creation of the Allied single currency. Stalin ended the blockade when it became clear that the Allies had no intention of abandoning West Berlin and the threat of an atomic war between the USSR and the USA became a real possibility.

(4) This military alliance between the USSR and Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and East Germany followed the West German announcement of rearmament and its decision to join NATO. Europe was now divided into two armed camps.

(5) The request to build a wall separating East and West Berlin came from the East German government anxious to stop the large number of people emigrating to the West. The wall filled the last gap in the Iron Curtain and remained in place until 1989.

(6) Nixon (USA) and Brezhnev (USSR) were the main architects of détente – an improvement in international relations after 1971. It led directly to SALT I in 1972, a peace treaty on Vietnam in 1973 and the Helsinki Accords in 1975 on the protection of human rights in Eastern Europe. However, détente did not end international rivalry between the two superpowers.

(7) SALT I was the first agreement between the USA and the USSR to limit the growth of nuclear weapons. The second SALT treaty was not ratified by the US Senate because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

(8) President Reagan began the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks which were suspended in 1983 when the USA deployed Cruise and Persching II missiles (Intermediate Nuclear Forces) in Europe. In 1991 Gorbachev and Bush finally agreed to limit their nuclear missiles, warheads and arsenals.

(9) Gorbachev’s renunciation of communism in 1989 led to a series of revolutions in Eastern Europe. Without the backing of the Soviet army, the communist governments of Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany found they had little popular support.