Welcome!

by Nicole Chan/Edzel Peralta - History 12 (1-3)


This is a directory for the series of events that took place during the Cold War! Events are judged on a scale of -3 to 3, with 3 being the highest possible score for tensions to go up by (as in, the world is about to kill each other! oh no!!) and -3 being the lowest (as in, friendship and sunshine and butterflies. okay not really but still).

Edzel Peralta was responsible for writing all the events from the Yalta Conference to the Bay of Pigs, and Nicole Chan was responsible for writing all the events from the Berlin Border being closed to the reuniting of Germany (along with editing some of Edzel's work).

Each event has 4 parts to it, which are as follows:

  • The date the event happened on
  • A description of the event
  • Who or what was to blame for the event (aka, the cause)
  • How much the tension increased by and why (also click here for a visual metaphor for this!)

    How to navigate


    There's a small scrolling area on the side with links to everything! The instructions are already labelled there, just in case. Also, you can return back to this page if you click the "Cold War Tensions and Blame" title.

    Alternatively, if they aren't working, you can load the pages using the following links:

    1940s


    - 1945: Yalta Conference
    - 1945: Potsdam Conference
    - 1945: Atomic Bomb Drop on Hiroshima
    - 1946: “Sinews of Peace” Speech
    - 1946: Stalin Replies to the “Iron Curtain Speech”
    - 1947: Truman Doctrine
    - 1947: Marshall Plan
    - 1948: Berlin Blockade begins
    - 1949: NATO Ratified
    - 1949: Berlin Blockade ends
    - 1949: Mao Zedong takes control

    1950s


    - 1950: Korean War begins
    - 1951: Federal Civil Defence Administration established
    - 1953: Korean War ends
    - 1954: Vietnam Split at the 17th Parallel
    - 1955: Warsaw Pact formed
    - 1956: USSR sent tanks to Poland
    - 1956: Suez Crisis begins
    - 1957: Sputnik launched into orbit
    - 1959: Fidel Castro takes over Cuba
    - 1959: The Kitchen Debate

    1960s


    - 1960: USA spy plane shot down over Soviet territory
    - 1960: JFK elected president of USA
    - 1960: Cuba allies with the Soviet Union
    - 1961: Bay of Pigs Invasion
    - 1961: Berlin Border Closed
    - 1961: Construction of Berlin Wall begins
    - 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
    - 1964: 200 000 US troops dispatched to Vietnam
    - 1966: B-52s bomb North Vietnam
    - 1968: Soviets defeat Czechoslovakian revolt
    - 1969: Apollo 11 lands on the moon

    1970s


    - 1971: Publication of the Pentagon Papers
    - 1973: Egypt and Syria attack Israel
    - 1975: Fall of Saigon
    - 1979: US and China establish diplomatic relations
    - 1979: SALT II signed
    - 1979: Soviet forces invade Afghanistan

    1980s


    - 1983: President Reagan proposes Strategic Defense Initiative
    - 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev - Glasnost and Perostroika
    - 1986: Reykjavik Summit
    - 1987: Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty
    - 1989: Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan
    - 1989: Berlin Wall is demolished

    1990s


    - 1990: Boris Yeltsin elected
    - 1990: Germany reunited