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Cold War Timeline Cheat Sheet by

Detailed Cold War timeline

1940s

1945
February 4-11
Yalta conference between US, UK & USSR
 
March 6
USSR installs puppet government in Romania
 
March 7
Josep Broz Tito installed as head of Yugoslavia
 
March-­April
Stalin turns Poland to a communist puppet government
 
April 12
Roosevelt dies and Harry S Truman becomes President
 
May 2
Italian civil war ends
 
July 24
Potsdam conference
 
August 6
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima
 
August 8
USSR honours agreement to declare war on Japan
 
August 9
Atomic bombing of Nagasaki
 
August 12
Japanese forces in Korea surrender
 
August 17
Procla­mation of Indonesian Indepe­ndence
 
August 19- September 1
Viet Minh seizes control of Hanoi
 
September 2
Surrender of Japan
 
September 5
Reveal­ations of a Soviet spy ring operating in Canada & US
 
October 25
Taiwan transf­erred to China from Japan
 
November
Iran crisis of 1946 begins
1946
January
Chinese civil war resumed
 
January 7
Republic of Austria recons­tituted
 
January 11
Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania
 
February 9
Stalin makes his Election speech, in which he states that capitalism and imperi­alism make future wars inevitable
 
February 22
George F Kennan writes his Long Telegram
 
March
Greek civil war reignites
 
March 5
Churchill warns of the descent of an Iron Curtain across Europe
 
May 26
Communist Party of Czecho­slo­vakia alongside the Communist Party of Slovakia receive 38 percent of the vote in the 1946 parlia­mentary election
 
June 2
Following a referendum the Italian Republic is born
 
July 4
The Philip­pines gains indepe­ndence from US
 
September 8
In a referendum Bulgaria votes for establ­ishment of a People's Republic
 
September 24
Truman presented with the Cliffo­rd-­Elsey Report which lists Soviet violations of agreements with the US
 
September 27
Nikolai Vasilevich Novikov writes a response to Kennan's Long Telegram known as the Novikov Telegram
 
December 15
USSR withdraws from Iran
 
December 19
French landings in Indochina begon the First Indochina war
1947
January 1
American & British zones of Control in Germany are united to form the Bizone
 
February 10
Establ­ishment of the neutral state Free Territory of Trieste
 
February 25
Prussia was de jure abolished
 
February 28
The February 28 incident in Taiwan lasting until mid March
 
March 7
Paraguayan civil war begins
 
March 12
Truman Doctrine announced
 
April 16
Bernard Baruch coins the term Cold War to describes the relations between US & USSR
 
May 22
US extends $400 million of military aid to Greece & Turkey
 
June 5
Marshall Plan is outlined
 
August 14
Partition of India: Pakistan gains indepe­ndence from UK
 
August 15
Partition of India: India gains indepe­ndence from UK
 
September
USSR forms the Cominform
 
October 20
Legal political opposition to Polish communism is effect­ively at an end
 
November 14
UN passes a resolution calling for withdrawal of foreign soldiers from Korea
 
November 29
UN partitions Palestine
 
November 30
1947-49 & civil war in Palestine
 
December 30
King Michael I of Romania forced to abdicate and monarchy is abolished leading to the Romanian People's Republic
1948
January 5
Burma becomes indepe­ndent from UK
 
January 30
Mahatma Gandhi was assass­inated
 
February 25
The Communist party takes control in Czecho­slovak coup d'état of 1948
 
March 12
Costa Rican civil war begins
 
April 3
Truman signs the Marshall Plan into effect
 
April 9
La Violencia begins in Colombia
 
May 14
The state of Israel is formed
 
May 15
1948 Arab-I­sraeli war
 
June 18
Communist insurgency in Malaya
 
June 21
British & French zones in Germany launch a common currency the Deutsche Mark
 
June 24
Stalin orders the Berlin Blockade
 
June 28
USSR expels Yugoslavia from the Cominform over the Greek civil war
 
June 28
Berlin airlift begins
 
August 15
US declares the Republic of Korea to be the legitimate government of the Korean peninsula
 
September 9
USSR declares the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to be the legitimate government of the Korean peninsula
 
September 18
The Madiun affair in Indonesia begins
1949
January 5-8
Comecon is formed
 
April 4
Nato is founded by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxemb­ourg, the Nether­lands, Norway, Portugal, UK & USin order to resist Communist expansion
 
May 11
Soviet blockade of Berlin ends
 
May 23
Bizone merges with French zone of control in Germany to form the Federal Republic of Germany
 
August 29
USSR tests its first atomic bomb
 
September 13
USSR vetoes the UN membership of Ceylon, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Jordan & Portugal
 
September 15
Konrad Adenauer becomes the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
 
October 1
Mao Zedong declares the foundation of the People's Republic of China
 
October 7
USSR declares their zone of Germany to be the German Democratic Republic
 
October 16
Nikos Zachar­iadis, leader of the Communist Party of Greece declares an end to the armed uprising. Declar­ation brings to a close the Greek civil war
 
December 27
Sovere­ignty is handed over to United States of Indonesia from the Nether­lands

1950s (part 1)

1950
January 5
UK recognises the People's Republic of China
 
January 19
China officially diplom­ati­cally recognises Vietnam as indepe­ndent
 
January 31
Truman announces the beginning of the develo­pment of a hydrogen bomb
 
February 3
USSR establ­ishes diplomatic relations with Indonesia
 
February 9
Senator McCarthy claims without evidence that communists have infilt­rated the US state department
 
February 12
USSR & People's Republic of China sign pact of mutual defense
 
April 7
NSC 68 is issued, arguing for the adoption of contai­nment as the corner­stone of US foreign policy
 
May 11
Robert Schuman issues Schuman Declar­ation which marks the beginning of the creation of the European Community
 
June 25
North Korea invades South Korea beginning the Korean War. UN votes to intervene to defend the south
 
July 4
UN forces engage with North Korean forces for first time
 
September 30
UN forces land at Inchon
 
October 2
UN forces cross the 38th parallel into North Korea
 
October 6
Forces from People's Republic of China enter Tibet, with goal of annexing the region into China
 
October 22
Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea falls to UN forces
 
October 22
China intervenes in Korea with 300,000 soldiers but withdraw after initial engage­ments
 
November 15
UN forces approach the Yalu River, in response China intervenes again with 500,000 strong army
1951
January 4
Chinese soldiers capture Seoul
 
March 14
UN forces recapture Seoul, by end of March they have reached the 38th parallel
 
March 29
Julius & Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for role in passing atomic secrets to the USSR during & after WWII, they were executed on June 19, 1953
 
April 11
Truman fires MacArthur from command of US forces in Korea
 
April 23
US journalist William N Oatis arrested in Czecho­slo­vakia for alleged espionage
 
May 23
The seventeen point agreement is signed between Tibet & People's Republic of China
 
September 1
Australia, New Zealand & UK sign the ANZUS treaty
 
October 10
Truman signs the mutual security act
 
November 14
Truman asks Congress for US military & economic aid for Yugoslavia
 
December 12
The intern­ational authority for the Ruhr lifts part of the remaining restri­ctions on German industrial production
1952
February 6
George VI dies & Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen
 
February 18
Greece & Turkey join NATO
 
April 28
Treaty of San Francisco signed by Japan comes into effect
 
June 14
US lays the keel for the world's first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus
 
June 30
The Marshall Plan ends
 
July 23
Gamal Abdel Nasser heads a coup against King Farouk of Egypt
 
October 2
The UK succes­sfully tests its first atomic bomb
 
November 1
US tests their first thermo­nuclear fusion bomb
 
November 4
Dwight D Eisenhower wins the 1952 presid­ential election
1953
January 20
Eisenhower becomes president
 
February 3
The Batepá massacre occurred in São Tomé & Príncipe
 
February 28
Balkan Pact is signed by Yugosl­avia, Greece & Turkey
 
March 5
Stalin dies, setting off a power struggle to succeed him
 
May 31 - June 2
The 1953 Plzeň uprising was violently suppressed by the Czecho­slovak govern­ement
 
June 2
Elizabeth II crowned Queen of UK
 
June 17
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany is crushed by Soviet troops
 
July 26
Cuban Revolution begins as the 26th of July Movement led by Fidel Castro
 
July 27
An armistice agreement ends fighting in Korean war after Eisenhower threatened use of nuclear weapons
 
August 19
The CIA & MI6 assists a royalist coup that restores Pahlavi to power as the Shah of Iran
 
September 7
Nikita Khrushchev becomes leader of the USSR
 
September 23
The pact of Madrid if signed by Spain & US
 
December 4-8
Eisenhower meets with Churchill & Laniel of France in Bermuda
1954
January 21
US launches world's first nuclear submarine
 
March 8
US & Japan mutual defense assistance agreement is signed
 
March 13
The KGB is created as successor agency of NKVD
 
April-June
The Army-M­cCarthy hearings are broadcast on US TV leading to loss of support for McCart­hyism
 
May 7
The Viet Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu , France withdraws from Indochina
 
May 17
The Hukbalahap revolt in the Philip­pines is defeated
 
June 2
McCarthy claims that communists have infilt­rated the CIA & atomic weapons industry
 
June 18
The elected leftist Guatemalan government is overthrown in a CIA backed coup
 
July 22
India annexes the Portuguese territ­ories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli
 
August 11
The Taiwan Strait Crisis begins
 
September 8
Foundation of the South East Asian Treaty Organi­sation
 
October 5
The free territory of Trieste is dissolved
 
October 10
The Jebel Akhdar war begins in Oman
 
November 1
The fight for indepe­ndence in French Algeria begins
 
December 2
Sino-A­merican mutual defense treaty is signed
 
December 15
Suriname becomes a Dutch consti­tuent state

1950s (part 2)

1955
February 24
The Baghdad Pact is founded by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey & UK
 
March
Soviet aid to Syria begins
 
April 18
The Asia-A­frica conference is first held in Bandung, Indonesia
 
April
The non aligned movement is pioneered
 
May 5
Allies end the military occupation of West Germany
 
May 6
US begins formal diplomatic relations with West Germany
 
May 9
West Germany joins NATO & begins rearmament
 
May 14
The Warsaw pact is founded in Eastern Europe. It includes East Germany, Czecho­slo­vakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria & USSR
 
May 15
Austria is neutra­lised & allied occupation ends
 
July 18
Geneva summit occurs
 
August 15
The first Sudanese civil war begins
 
November 1
Official beginning of Vietnam war
1956
February 25
Beginning of de-Sta­lin­isation
 
March 20
Tunisia becomes indepe­ndent
 
June 28
Anti communist protests in Poznań in Poland
 
October 23
Hungarian revolution of 1956
 
October 29
Suez Crisis
 
November 6
Eisenhower wins re-ele­ction in 1956 presid­ential election
 
December
Viet Cong insurgency begins in South Vietnam supported by north
1957
January 5
The Eisenhower doctrine commits the US to defending Iran, Pakistan & Afghan­istan
 
March 6
Ghana becomes indepe­ndent
 
May 2
McCarthy dies
 
May 15
UK detonates its first hydrogen bomb
 
August 31
Malaya gains indepe­ndence
 
October 1
Strategic air command initiates 24/7 nuclear alert
 
October 4
Sputnik 1 satellite launched, beginning of space race
 
November 3
Sputnik 2 was launched with Laika the dog on board
 
November 7
Eisenhower special committee urges a vigorous campaign to build fallout shelters to protect US citizens
 
November 15
Khrushchev claims that the USSR has missile superi­ority over US
 
December 16-19
NATO holds first summit in Paris
1958
January
Mao initiates the Great Leap Forward
 
January 29
NASA was founded
 
January 31
US army launches Explorer 1, the first US artificial satellite
 
February 1
United Arab Republic formed
 
July 14
The 14 July revolution in Iraq
 
July 15
Political crisis in Lebanon
 
August 23
Second Taiwan strait crisis begins
 
September 1
Iceland expands its fishing zone which UK opposes leading to the cod wars
 
October 8
Guinea becomes indepe­ndent
 
October 11
Pioneer 1 was launched
 
November
Start of the 1958-59 Berlin crisis
 
November 8
Pioneer 2 was launched
 
December 6
Pioneer 3 was launched
1959
January 1
Castro wins the Cuban revolution & becomes dictator
 
January 2
Luna 1 was launched
 
March 3
Pioneer 4 was launched
 
March 10-23
Tibetan uprising occurs
 
March 24
Iraq leaves central treaty organi­sation
 
May 23
Laotian civil war begins
 
July 24
The kitchen debate between VP Richard Nixon & Khrushchev
 
July 31
Basque conflict officially begins
 
August 7
Explorer 6 was launched
 
September
Khrushchev visited US
 
September 13
Luna 2 was launched & becomes first man made object to reach surface of moon
 
October 4-22
Luna 3 was launched & took photos of the far side of the moon but issues with signal strength
 
November
Rwandan revolution begins
 
December
formation of NLF (Viet Cong) by North Vietnam
 

1960s (part 1)

1960
February 16
France succes­sfully tests its first atomic bomb
 
May 1
American pilot shot down in U-2 spy plane leading to the U-2 incident
 
June
Sino-S­oviet split
 
July 5
Congo crisis begins
 
July 31
Communist insurgents in Malaya are defeated
 
August 3
Niger beomes indepe­ndent
 
August 9
The Pathet Lao revolt in Laos begins
 
August 11
Chad becomes indepe­ndent
 
August 17
Gabon becomes indepe­ndent
 
September 30
Sukarno gives speech and criticises the UN for not being neutral & questions location in New York
 
November 13
The Guatemalan civil war begins
 
November 28
Mauritania becomes indepe­ndent
1961
January 3
Eisenhower severs diplomatic relations with Cuba
 
January 13
Patrice Lumumba the elected president of the Republic of the Congo is assass­inated
 
January 20
John F Kennedy becomes president of the US
 
January 31
Ham the chimpanzee is launched into space as part of project mercury
 
February 4
Beginning of the Portuguese colonial war
 
February 12
Venera 1 is succes­sfully launched by USSR
 
April 12
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space when USSR launches Vostok 1
 
April 17-19
Bay of pigs invasion
 
April 21
Sierra Leone becomes indepe­ndent
 
May 5
Alan Shepard becomes first American to go into space on Freedom 7
 
May 19
Venera 1 succes­sfully reaches Venus
 
May 25
Start of project mercury, America's first human spacef­light program
 
June 4
Kennedy meets with Khrushchev in Vienna
 
June
Jupiter IRBM deployment to Turkey
 
July 11
North Korea & China sign the Sino-North Korean mutual aid & cooper­ation friendship treaty
 
July 19
The Nicaraguan revolution begins
 
August 13
Berlin Wall is built by USSR
 
August 17
Alliance for progress aid to Latin American from US begins
 
September 1
Eritrean war of indepe­ndence begins
 
September 28
Syria withdraws from the United Arab Republic
 
October 17
22nd Soviet party congress held in USSR
 
October 27
Beginning of checkpoint charlie standoff between US & Soviet tanks
 
October 31
USSR detonated the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful thermo­nuclear weapon ever tested
 
December 2
Castro openly describes himself as a Marxis­t-L­eninist
 
December 18
Republic of India invades the former Portuguese territory of Goa
1962
January 15
Confro­ntation between Indonesia & the Nether­lands over imperi­alism
 
February 20
John Glenn launched into space aboard Friendship 7
 
July 1
Rwanda & Burundi become indepe­ndent
 
July 20
Neutra­lis­ation of Laos
 
August 2
Jamaica granted indepe­ndence
 
August 27
Mariner 2 is launched to make a flyby of Venus
 
August 31
Trinidad & Tobago is granted indepe­ndence
 
September 8
Himalayan war
 
September 26
North Yemen civil war begins
 
October 9
Uganda becomes indepe­ndent
 
October 16
Cuban Missle Crisis
 
October 20
The Sino-I­ndian war begins
 
November 1
The USSR succes­sfully launches Mars 1
 
November 20
End of Sino-I­ndian war
 
December 7
The Brunei People's Party launched a rebellion against the British protec­torate
 
December 14
Mariner 2 reaches Venus, becoming the first US spacecraft to reach Venus
1963
January 20
Indonesia declares it rejects the formation of Malaysia
 
January 23
Kim Philby, leader of the Cambridge Five, defects to USSR from Beirut. The fight for indepe­ndence in Portuguese Guinea begins
 
February 10
Overthrow of Abd al-Karim Qasim
 
June 9
Dhofar rebellion
 
June 13
Mars 1 likely reaches Mars conducting flyby
 
June 16
Vostok 6 was launched, with Valentina Tereshkova becoming the first woman in space
 
June 20
The US agrees to set up a hotline with the USSR
 
June 21
France announces that is withdr­awing its navy from the North Atlantic fleets of NATO
 
June 26
Kennedy gives his "Ich bin ein Berlin­er" speech
 
July 31
The Manila accord was signed
 
August 5
The partial test ban treaty is signed by the US, UK & USSR
 
September 16
Malaysia was formed
 
September 25
A border war was fought between Morocco & Algeria
 
October 14
The Aden emergency begins against British rule
 
November 2
South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem is assass­inated in a coup
 
November 22
Kennedy assass­inated in Dallas, Lyndon B Johnson becomes President
 
December 12
Kenya becomes indepe­ndent
1964
January 12
Government of Zanzibar Sultanate is overthrown
 
January 27
France recognises the People's Republic of China
 
February 10
The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with France
 
March 31-April 1
Military coup d'état overthrows president in Brazil
 
April 20
Johnson & Khrushchev both announce plans to cut back production of materials for making nuclear weapons
 
May 27
Colombian conflict begins
 
July 4
Rhodesian Bush war begins
 
July 4
Malawi becomes indepe­ndent
 
August 4
The Gulf of Tonkin incident
 
September 21
Malta becomes indepe­ndent
 
September 24
Mozambican war of indepe­ndence
 
October 12
First spacef­light to carry multiple crewman into orbit on Voskhod 1
 
October 14
Leonid Brezhnev succeeds Khrushchev as leader of USSR
 
October 16
China tests its first atomic bomb
 
October 24
Zambia becomes indepe­ndent
 
November 28
Mariner 4 was launched

1960s (part 2)

1965
January 24
Churchill dies
 
February 18
The Gambia becomes indepe­ndent
 
March 18
Alexei Leonov conducts the first extrav­ehi­cular activity or spacewalk in history from his spacec­raft, Voskhod 2 in space
 
March 23
Ranger 9 transm­itted live footage of the surface of the Moon before crashing into its surface
 
April 24
Dominican civil war
 
June 3
Ed White conducts the first American spacewalk from his spacec­raft, Gemini IV
 
July 14-15
Mariner 4 succes­sfully takes pictures of the surface of Mars
 
August 5
Beginning of the Indo-P­aki­stani war of 1965
 
August 9
Singapore gains indepe­ndence after being expelled from Malaysia
 
October 1
30 September movement in Indonesia
 
November 1
Chadian Civil War was waged between rebels and the Chadian government
 
November 11
Rhodesia declares indepe­ndence
 
November
Venera 3 was launched
 
December 4
The Gemini 7 completes 206 orbits around the Earth, equating to roughly one trip to the Moon
1966
January 31
Luna 9 is launched
 
February 3
Luna 9 succes­sfully lands on the Moon becoming the first spacecraft to softly land on another extrat­err­estrial body
 
March 1
Venera 3 becomes the first man-made object to impact another planet
 
March 10
France withdraws from NATO command structure
 
May 8
China detonates a third nuclear device
 
May 26
Guyana becomes indepe­ndent
 
May 30
Surveyor 1 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
 
August 26
South African Border War begins
 
September 30
Botswana becomes indepe­ndent
 
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 becomes indepe­ndent
1967
March 11
Cambodian civil war begins
 
April 25
33 Latin American and Caribbean countries sign the Treaty of Tlatelolco
 
May 18
Yuri Andropov becomes chairman of the KGB
 
May 23
Egypt blocks the Straits of Tiran, then expels UN peacek­eepers and moves its army into the Sinai Peninsula in prepar­ation for possible attack on Israel
 
May 25
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
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
US President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for a three-day summi
 
July 1
Beginning of the war of attrition
 
July 6
The Nigerian civil war begins
 
August 8
Bangkok Declar­ation is establ­ished to quell the communist threat in Southeast Asia. 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
1968
January 30
Tet Offensive in South Vietnam begins
 
March 1
The years of Lead start in Italy with the Battle of Valle Giulia clash between far-right and far-left militants
 
March 12
Mauritius becomes indepe­ndent
 
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
Second Malayan Emergency begins
 
July 1
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 coup
 
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
 
October 3
Peruvian General Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrows President Fernando Belaunde Terry in a military coup
 
October 12
Equatorial Guinea becomes indepe­ndent
 
December 21-27
The launch of Apollo 8, the first crewed spacef­light to enter the gravit­ational influence of another celestial body and to orbit the Moon. The crew would complete ten orbits, then return to Earth without landing on the Moon
1969
January 20
Richard Nixon becomes President of the United States
 
March 2
Border clashes between the Soviet Union and China
 
March 17
US begins bombing Communist sanctu­aries in Cambodia
 
July 16
Apollo 11 is launched
 
July 20
US accomp­lishes the first crewed Moon landing, Apollo 11
 
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 Gaddafi overthrows the Libyan monarchy and expels British and American personnel. Libya aligns itself with the Soviet Union
 
September 2
North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh dies. It was a signif­icant and decisive event for both the Vietnam War and the Sino-S­oviet border conflict
 
October 21
Siad Barre overthrows the government of Somalia in a bloodless coup. He declares himself President of Somalia and reorga­nizes the country into a one-party communist state; the Somali Democratic Republic
 
November 17
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks begin in Helsinki
 
November 27-Dec­ember 6
The al-Wadiah War was fought between South Yemen and Saudi Arabia
 
December 12
The Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan Italy during the years of lead

1970s (part 1)

1970s
January 15
Nigerian civil war ends
 
March 5
Treaty on the non prolif­eration of nuclear weapons enters into force
 
March 18
Lon Nol takes power in Cambodia and establ­ishes the Khmer Republic
 
August 7
War of Attrition ends with a ceasefire
 
August 12
USSR & West Germany sign 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 successful coup d'état against Milton Obote in Uganda
 
February 8
South Vietnamese forces enter Laos to briefly cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail
 
February 11
Seabed Arms Control Treaty is signed
 
March 10
Dominion of Ceylon declared under emergency conditions after communist People's Liberation Front attacks the American embassy
 
March 25
Bangla­deshi genocide from the West Pakistani Troops until 16 December
 
March 26
Bangla­deshi Declar­ation of Indepe­ndence And Bangladesh Liberation War Begin
 
April 19
Salyut 1 is launched becoming the first space station
 
May 15
Anwar Sadat's Corrective Revolution purges Nasserist members of the government and security forces, and eventually expels Soviet military from Egypt
 
May 28
Mars 3 is launched
 
May 30
Mariner 9 is launched
 
July 19-22
A commun­ist­-backed coup attempted unsucc­ess­fully against Jaafar Nimeiry in 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 UK, USSR, France, and US
 
September 11
Khrushchev dies
 
October 11
Salyut 1 burns up in the atmosphere
 
October 25
United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 2758, recogn­izing the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China, causing Taiwan to lose its membership
 
October 26
Mathieu Kérékou takes control of the Republic of Dahomey, renaming it Benin and declaring it a 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
India enters the Bangladesh Liberation War after Pakistan launches preemptive air strikes on Indian airfields
1972
February 21
Nixon visits China, the first visit by a U.S. president since the establ­ishment of the People's Republic of China
 
March 30
Viet Cong oes to the offensive in South Vietnam, only to be repulsed by the South Vietnamese regime with 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
 
September 2-28
Summit Series, an ice hockey tournament between Canada and Soviet Union.
 
September 21
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law, officially in response to the growing communist threat in the Philip­pines
 
September 26
Short border war occurred between the Yemen Arab Republic and South Yemen
 
December 18
Richard Nixon announces the beginning of a massive bombing campaign in North Vietnam
1973
January 27
Paris Peace Accords end American involv­ement in the Vietnam War
 
February
Balochi separa­tists launched a 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.
 
June 21
West Germany and East Germany are each admitted to the United Nations
 
July 10
The Bahamas becomes indepe­ndent
 
September 11
Chilean coup d'état
 
October 6
Yom Kippur War — Israel is attacked by Egypt and Syria, the war ends with a ceasefire
 
October 14
Uprising 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
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 the Chilean team if the match is held in Santiago
1974
February 7
Grenada becomes indepe­ndent
 
April 25
Portuguese Armed Forces revolt against the author­itarian regime of Estado Novo
 
June
SEATO formally ends after France leaves the organi­zation
 
June 26
NATO holds a summit in Brussels, the first one since 1957 to be held
 
June 28
Moscow summit begins
 
July 20
Turkey invaded Cyprus after the coup d'état conducted by the Greek junta
 
August 9
Gerald Ford becomes President of the United States upon the resign­ation of Nixon
 
September 4
United States and East Germany begin diplomatic relations
 
September 12
Pro-We­stern monarch of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, is ousted by a Marxist military junta known as the Derg
 
November 24
SALT II Agreement is drafted at the Vladiv­ostok Summit Meeting on Arms Control

1970s (part 2)

1975
January 3
The trade act of 1974 is signed into law in US
 
April 13
Lebanese civil war begins
 
April 18
Beginning of the Cambodian genocide
 
April 30
North Vietnam wins the Vietnam War. The South Vietnam regime falls with the surrender of Saigon and the two countries are united under a Communist government
 
May 12
The Mayagüez incident
 
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. Civil war engulfs both nations
 
July 5
Cape Verde becomes indepe­ndent
 
July 6
Comoros becomes indepe­ndent
 
July 12
São Tomé & Príncipe becomes indepe­ndent
 
July 15
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"
 
August 1
Helsinki Final Act of the 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 11
Angolan Civil War begins immedi­ately after Angola achieved indepe­ndence from Portugal
 
November 20
Francisco Franco dies
 
November 25
Suriname officially gains indepe­ndence
 
November 28
After a small-­scale civil war, Timor-­Leste underthe Fretilin declares its indepe­ndence
 
November 29
Pathet Lao takes power in Laos
 
December 7
Operation Seroja, the Indonesian National Armed Forces invades East Timor
1976
January 8
Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai dies of cancer
 
February
Soviet and Cuban forces install a communist government in Angola
 
March 24
National Reorga­niz­ation Process takes power in Argentina following a successful military coup
 
May 4
Corsican conflict begins, with the aim of an indepe­ndent Corsican state against the French government by Corsican nation­alists
 
June 29
Seychelles becomes indepe­ndent
 
July 2
Vietnam was reunited
 
July 20
Military personnel withdraw from Thailand
 
September 1
Inception of Safari Club
 
September 9
Death of Mao Zedong
 
December 4
Insurgency in Aceh begins
1977
January 1
Charter 77 is signed by Czecho­slo­vakian intell­ectuals
 
January 20
Jimmy Carter becomes President of the United States
 
March 8
A rebellion occurred in the Shaba Province, Zaire
 
May 30
Mozambican Civil War begins
 
June 6
US 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
 
June 30
The Carter admini­str­ation cancels the planned Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber
 
July 21-24
Egypt and Libya fought a war at the Egypti­an-­Libyan border
 
July 23
Ogaden War begins when Somalia attacks Ethiopia
1978
January 29
Chadia­n–L­ibyan conflict begins over the Aouzou Strip
 
March 15
Ogaden War ends with a cease-fire
 
March 16
Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped in Rome by a far-left extremist terrorist group called the Red Brigades. His body would be found on the 9th of May after 55 days of captivity
 
April 27
President of Afghan­istan Sardar Mohammed Daoud's government is overthrown when he is murdered in a coup led by pro-co­mmunist rebels.
 
May 11
The second rebellion in the Shaba Province, Zaire occurred
 
October 1
Tuvalu becomes indepe­ndent
 
November 3
Dominica becomes indepe­ndent
 
December 18
Deng Xiaoping announces the reform and opening up of China.
 
December 25
Communist regime is installed in Afghan­istan. Vietnam invades Cambodia
1979
January 1
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
Iranian Revolution ousts the pro-We­stern Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and installs a theocracy under Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Central Treaty Organi­zation 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
 
February 24
A war broke out between Yemen Arab Republic 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
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
President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement
 
July 3
President Carter signs the first directive for financial aid to opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul, Afghan­istan
 
July 16
Saddam Hussein becomes President of Iraq after Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr steps down
 
July 17
Marxis­t-led Sandinista revolu­tio­naries overthrow the U.S.-b­acked Somoza dictat­orship in Nicaragua. The Contra insurgency begins shortly thereafter
 
August 3
Francisco Macias Nguema was deposed by a 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 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
Rhodesian Bush War ends with the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement. Zimbabwe is granted indepe­ndence
 
December 24
Soviet Union invades Afghan­istan to oust Hafizullah Amin, beginning the Soviet­–Afghan War and resulting in the end of Détente
 

1980s (part 1)

1980s
January 3-4
Carter withdraws the SALT II treaty from Senate confir­mation
 
January 27
The Carter doctrine commits the US to defending the Gulf States
 
February 13
Britain's MI6 commences its indirect and direct covert operations in Afghan­istan, to support the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet interv­ention
 
February 25
A military coup occurred in Suriname eventually lead to the establ­ishment of a military regime in the country
 
March 21
United States and its allies boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics (July 15 – August 3) in Moscow
 
April 17
Robert Mugabe becomes Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
 
April 30
Iranian Embassy in London is taken over by DRFLA militants starting a 6-day-long hostage situation
 
May 4
Josip Broz Tito, communist leader of Yugoslavia since 1945, dies at the age of 87 in Ljubljana
 
May 17
Peru begins experi­ences a civil conflict between the government and the Marxis­t–L­eninist guerilla groups, most notably the Shining Path
 
May 18-27
An anti-g­ove­rnment uprising occurred in Gwangju, South Korea
 
July 3
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, indepe­ndent of communist control
 
September 22
Saddam's Iraq started to invade Iran, which ignites the Iran–Iraq War
 
October 23
Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin resigns due to ill-he­alth; he dies on December 18
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. Also that day the Iran hostage crisis ends
 
April 1
United States suspends economic aid to Nicaragua
 
April 6
Somaliland War of Indepe­ndence was waged by the Somali National Movement in northern Somalia
 
August 19
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
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt is shot and killed in Cairo during the annual victory parade
 
October 27
A Soviet submarine, the U137, runs aground not far from the Swedish naval base at Karlsk­rona.
 
November 23
US 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, which drasti­cally restricts normal life, in an attempt to crush the 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.
 
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
Yuri Andropov becomes 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"
 
March 23
Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or "Star Wars")
 
June 5
Second Sudanese Civil War begins
 
July 7
Ten-ye­ar-old American child Samantha Smith accepts the invitation of Soviet leader Yuri Andropov 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 USSR. The widely publicized event leads to other Soviet­–Am­erican cultural exchanges
 
July 22
Martial law in Poland is lifted
 
July 23
Sri Lankan Civil War begins between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government
 
July 30
Sri Lankan government bans all its major communist parties claiming they were involved in ethnic riots, Soviet Union intervenes to unban the parties
 
August 4
Thomas Sankara overthrows Jean-B­aptiste Ouédraogo and becomes president. He also renamed the country of Upper Volta to Burkina Faso a year later
 
August 21
Former senator Benigno "­Nin­oy" S. Aquino was assass­inated at Manila Intern­ational Airport
 
September 1
Cvilian 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
 
October 25
US forces 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
National Reorga­niz­ation Process military junta of Argentina is dissolved by democr­ati­cally elected president Raúl Alfonsín
1984
January
Reagan outlines foreign policy which reinforces his previous statements
 
January 1
Brunei gains indepe­ndence
 
February 13
Konstantin Chernenko is named General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
 
May 24
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 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
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.

1980s (part 2)

1985
February 6
Reagan Doctrine commits the United States of America 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
Military rule ends in Brazil
 
March 24
Major Arthur D. Nicholson, a US Army Military Intell­igence officer is shot to death by a Soviet sentry in East Germany. 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
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 bombings 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 summit in Geneva, Switze­rland, where they agree to two (later three) more summits
1986
January 13
South Yemen civil war begins
 
February 13
France launches Operation Epervier in an effort to repulse the Libyan invasion of Chad
 
February 25
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
US 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
Surinamese Interior War occurs.
 
October 11-12
Reykjavik Summit: a breakt­hrough in nuclear arms control
 
October 19
The pro-Ma­rxist interim President of Mozamb­ique, Samora Machel, is killed when the aircraft he is travelling in crashes in South Africa
 
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 insurr­ection occurred in Sri Lanka by the Marxis­t–L­eninist group, JVP.
 
June 12
During a visit to West Berlin, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in a speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" (The Berlin Wall)
 
June 15
Famous Italian Singer and Songwriter Adriano Celentano lands in Moscow to present his movie Joan Lui in Soviet theaters, another step that opens the Soviet world to the Western one
 
September 10
Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola begins and further intens­ifies the South African Border War
 
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
A short war was fought between Thailand and Laos
 
December 8
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
First Intifada was waged by Palest­inians against the Israeli government
1988
February 20
First Nagorn­o-K­arabakh War was fought between Armenia and Azerba­ijan.
 
February 22
USS Yorktown and USS Caron are rammed off the Crimean Peninsula after entering Soviet territ­orial waters
 
May 11
Kim Philby (Harold Adrian Russell Philby), the high-r­anking UK intell­igence officer who defected to the Soviet Union, dies in Moscow
 
May 15
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 national plebiscite on his rule
 
November 3
A 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
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 between America and Libya, similar to the 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
The trade union 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 coup led by Andrés Rodríguez
 
February 14
Contra war effect­ively ends with the Tesoro Beach Accords happening in El Salvador with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua partic­ipating
 
February 15
Afghan Civil War begins after Soviet troops withdr­awing from Afghan­istan
 
February 19-21
Jakarta Informal Meeting II was held in Jakarta
 
March 26
Soviet Union holds the first round of legisl­ative elections to the 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
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 23
Baltic Way: indepe­ndence protesters in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania set up a human chain across the three Baltic states, from Tallinn to Vilnius via Riga
 
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
Hungarian consti­tution is amended to allow a multi-­party political system and elections. In East Germany, the nearly 20-year term of communist leader Erich Honecker comes to an end.
 
November 7
Civil unrest occurred in Moldova
 
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