Cold war Chronology;
1945 : ‘A’-Bomb dropped on Hiroshima + Nagasaki. USA ahead in the arms race.
1945 Berlin
divided into 4 sectors; American, British and French in the West and Soviet in the East.
1946 A 30 day valid Interzonenpass is required to travel between the sectors in Germany
1947 : Marshall Aid to the west of Europe. Stalin of USSR
refused it for Eastern Europe
1948 Currency reform in
Berlin, Berlin is divided
into two different currency zones
June 1948 Berlin Blockade and Berlin
airlift
May 1949 End of the Berlin
blockade
May 1949 Federal Republic
of Germany is founded (West
Germany)
1949 : NATO established; USSR
exploded her first ‘A’-bomb; China becomes communist
October 1949 German Democratic
Republic is founded (East Germany)
February 9 1950 –
The Stasi (Secret Police) formed – Ministry of State Security GDR Ministerium
für Staatssicherheit
1950 : Korean War started.
1952 : USA
exploded her first Hydrogen bomb.
May 1952 Border between
East and West Germany and between East Germany
and West Berlin is closed. Only the border between East and West Berlin
is still opened
1953 : Korean War ended. USSR exploded her first Hydrogen bomb. Stalin died.
November 1953 The Western
Powers waive the Interzonenpass, the Soviet Union follows but East German citizen need a
permission to travel to the West.
1955 : Warsaw
Pact created. ‘Peaceful coexistence’ called for.
1956 : Hungary revolts against USSR. Suez Crisis
December 1957 The Western
Powers waive the Interzonenpass, the Soviet Union follows but East German citizens need a
permission to travel to the West
1959 : Cuba becomes a communist state.
August 13 1961 The Berlin sectorial border between East and West Berlin is closed, barriers
are built.
August 14 1961 Brandenburg
Gate is closed
August 26 1961 All crossing
points are closed for West Berlin citizens
1962 : Cuban Missile Crisis.
August 17 1962 Peter Fechter shot in failed attempt to climb the wall
June 1963 President J.F. Kennedy visits Berlin and says: "Ich bin ein Berliner." ("I am a Berliner.")
1967 : Six-Day War in Middle
East.
1968 : USSR invades
Czechoslovakia
1979 : USSR invaded Afghanistan
June 1987 President Ronald
Reagan visits Berlin and urges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the
Berlin Wall...
September 1989 Hungarian
government opens border for East German refugees
November 1989 Berlin Wall opened
December 1989 Brandenburg gate opened
October 3 1990 Germany reunited
October 4 1990 – End of GDR
and dissolution of the Stasi.