| The Cold War |
Date |
| The Polish Government of National Unity is formed. |
28th June, 1945 |
| United States, France, Britain and the Soviet Union occupy zones of Berlin. |
3rd July, 1945 |
| United States and Britain recognize the government in Poland. |
5th July, 1945 |
| Potsdam Conference begins in Germany. |
17th July, 1945 |
| Labour Party wins a landslide victory in the 1945 General Election. |
26th July, 1945 |
| Soviet Union and Poland sign treaty accepting Soviet-Polish frontier. |
16th August, 1945 |
| Smallholders Party wins the general election in Hungary. |
4th November, 1945 |
| The government of Enver Hoxha in Albania is recognised by the Western powers. |
10th November, 1945 |
| Josip Tito and his National Front wins elections in Yugoslavia. |
11th November, 1945 |
| Polish industrial enterprises employing more than 50 workers are nationalized. |
1st January, 1946 |
| First session of the United Nations held in London. |
10th January, 1946 |
| Trygve Lie from Norway is elected the first secretary-general of United Nations. |
1st February, 1946 |
| Christian Socialists win the Belgian elections. |
17th February, 1946 |
| Winston Churchill makes Iron Curtain speech in Fulton, Missouri. |
5th March, 1946 |
| Soviet Union agrees to withdraw Red Army from Iran. |
5th April, 1946 |
| Civil war breaks out in Greece between British-backed monarchists and communists. |
5th May, 1946 |
| Communist Party wins a majority in the general election in Czechoslovakia. |
26th May, 1946 |
| George Bidault of Popular Republican Movement becomes President of France. |
19th June, 1946 |
| Enrico de Nicola is elected President of Italy. |
28th June, 1946 |
| Klement Gottwald becomes prime minister of Czechoslovakia. |
3rd July, 1946 |
| A referendum in Greece restores the monarchy. |
1st September, 1946 |
| Georgi Dimitrov and the Fatherland Front win general election in Bulgaria. |
27th October, 1946 |
| Communists win most seats in the French National Assembly. |
10th November, 1946 |
| United Nations bars Spain from membership. |
11th December, 1946 |
| Leon Blum forms socialist government in France. |
16th December, 1946 |
| Alcide de Gasperi forms a new government in Italy. |
1st February, 1947 |
| Clement Attlee informs United States that he is withdrawing British Army from Greece. |
21st February, 1947 |
| Harry Truman announces Truman Doctrine and the provision of aid to Greece. |
12th March, 1947 |
| Paul Spaak forms a coalition government in Belgium. |
19th March, 1947 |
| General George C. Marshall announces the Marshall Plan. |
5th June, 1947 |
| Government in Hungary announces a three-year plan of nationalization. |
8th August , 1947 |
| Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg ratify a customs union (Benelux). |
29th October, 1947 |
| Robert Schuman of Popular Republican Movement forms government in France. |
23rd November, 1947 |
| Greek government outlaws the Communist Party. |
27th December, 1947 |
| Jan Masaryk, foreign minister in Czechoslovakia, found dead, probably murdered. |
10th March, 1948 |
| The start of the Berlin Airlift. |
1st April, 1948 |
| Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) set up in Paris. |
16th April, 1948 |
| President Eduard Benes of Czechoslovakia resigns. |
19th March, 1948 |
| Klement Gottwald becomes President of Czechoslovakia. |
14th June, 1948 |
| The Soviet Union blockades road and rail traffic between Berlin and the West. |
24th June , 1948 |
| Yugoslavia is expelled from the Cominform. |
28th June, 1948 |
| Wladyslaw Gomulka is forced to resign as leader of the Polish Workers' Party. |
3rd September, 1948 |
| North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) is founded to provide opposition to the Soviet Union. |
4th April, 1949 |
| The Berlin Airlift comes to an end. |
12th May, 1949 |
| Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) comes into being. |
23rd May, 1949 |
| Konrad Adenauer becomes the Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany. |
12th September, 1949 |
| German Democratic Republic (East Germany) comes into being. |
7th October, 1949 |
| Wilhelm Pieck is elected president of the German Democratic Republic. |
7th October, 1949 |
| Monarchists defeat communists in Civil War in Greece. |
16th October, 1949 |
| The Polish United Workers' Party is purged of supporters of Josip Tito. |
11th November, 1949 |
| Konrad Adenauer advocates economic union between West Germany and France. |
21st March, 1950 |
| Robert Schuman announces the Schuman Plan in France. |
9th May, 1950 |
| Winston Churchill calls for the creation of the European Army. |
1st July, 1950 |
| Winston Churchill becomes prime minister for a second time. |
27th October, 1951 |
| French Assembly ratifies the Schuman Plan. |
13th December, 1951 |
| Meeting in Paris to discuss the idea of a European Defence Community. |
26th January, 1952 |
| Winston Churchill announces that Britain has an atom bomb. |
26th February, 1952 |
| European Coal and Steel Community comes into being. |
1st July, 1952 |
| Matyas Rakosi become prime minister of Hungary. |
14th August, 1952 |
| Rudolf Slansky is executed in Czechoslovakia for Titoism. |
2nd December, 1952 |
| Josip Tito elected President of Yugoslavia. |
14th January, 1953 |
| Joseph Stalin dies. |
5th March, 1953 |
| Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden is elected secretary-general of the United Nations. |
31st March, 1953 |
| Soviet troops crush workers rebellion in East Germany. |
15th June, 1953 |
| Matyas Rakosi is replaced by Imre Nagy as prime minister of Hungary. |
4th July, 1953 |
| Konrad Adenauer wins West German general election. |
6th September, 1953 |
| Nikita Khrushchev is appointed first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. |
12th September, 1953 |
| Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski is arrested in Poland. |
26th September, 1953 |
| The dictator Antonio Salazar wins uncontested election in Portugal. |
8th November, 1953 |
| Lavrenti Beria executed in the Soviet Union. |
23rd December, 1953 |
| Pierre Mendes-France becomes prime minister of France. |
18th June, 1954 |
| France agrees to leave North Vietnam. |
20th July, 1954 |
| It is agreed that West Germany should join NATO. |
3rd October, 1954 |
| Pierre Mendes-France resigns as prime minister of France. |
5th February, 1954 |
| Gregory Malenkov is replaced by Nikolai Bulganin as prime minister of the Soviet Union. |
8th February, 1954 |
| Imre Nagy forced to resign as prime minister. |
18th April, 1955 |
| Diplomatic relations restored between West Germany and the Soviet Union. |
13th September, 1955 |
| Guy Mollet forms a new government in France. |
24th January, 1956 |
| Nikita Khrushchev denounces former leader Joseph Stalin. |
25th February, 1956 |
| The Soviet Union abolishes the Cominform. |
17th April, 1956 |
| Vyacheslav Molotov is dismissed as Soviet foreign minister. |
1st June, 1956 |
| President Josip Tito visits the Soviet Union. |
2nd June, 1956 |
| 74 people are killed during political protests in Poland. |
28th June, 1956 |
| Britain and France refer the Suez Canal dispute to the United Nations. |
23rd September, 1956 |
| Guy Mollet meets Anthony Eden to discuss the Suez Canal dispute. |
16th October, 1956 |
| Wladyslaw Gomulka returns to power in Poland. |
21st October, 1956 |
| Guy Mollet, Anthony Eden and David Ben-Gurion meet in secret to discuss the Suez Canal. |
21st October, 1956 |
| Demonstrators in Hungary call for democratic government. |
23rd October, 1956 |
| Imre Nagy is appointed prime minister of Hungary. |
24th October, 1956 |
| Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski is released from prison in Poland. |
28th October, 1956 |
| Janos Kadar becomes leader of Hungarian Workers' Party. |
29th October, 1956 |
| Imre Nagy promises free elections in Hungary. |
30th October, 1956 |
| British and French planes bomb Egyptian airfields. |
31st October, 1956 |
| Imre Nagy renounces the Warsaw Treaty and asks Soviet troops to leave Hungary. |
2nd November, 1956 |
| British and French paratroopers land at Port Said in Egypt. |
5th November, 1956 |
| The Soviet Union threatens to intervene in the war over the Suez Canal. |
6th November, 1956 |
| Under pressure from the United Nations Britain and France accept a cease-fire in Egypt. |
7th November, 1956 |
| The United Nations demand the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary. |
8th November, 1956 |
| Anthony Eden resigns as prime minister of Britain as a result of the Suez Crisis. |
9th January, 1957 |
| Harold Macmillan becomes prime minister of Britain. |
10th January, 1957 |
| Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of the Soviet Union. |
15th February, 1957 |
| Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands sign Treaty of Rome. |
25th March, 1957 |
| The Soviet Union appeals to the United States and Britain to cease nuclear testing. |
10th May, 1957 |
| Britain carries out its first hydrogen bomb test over Christmas Island. |
15th May, 1957 |
| Guy Mollet resigns as prime minister of France. |
21st May, 1957 |
| General Francisco Franco announces that the monarchy will be restored on his death. |
15th July, 1957 |
| Milovan Djilas is imprisoned in Yugoslavia for spreading hostile propaganda. |
4th October, 1957 |
| Felix Gaillard becomes prime minister of France. |
30th October, 1957 |
| Nikita Khrushchev replaces Nikolai Bulganin as prime minister of the Soviet Union. |
27th March, 1958 |
| Charles De Gaulle forms a new government in France. |
1st June, 1958 |
| Charles De Gaulle is given permission to draw up a new constitution. |
2nd June, 1958 |
| Imre Nagy, former prime minister of Hungary, is executed after a secret trial. |
17th June, 1958 |
| Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in China and call for an end of all nuclear testing. |
31st August, 1958 |
| The Soviet Union demands that all foreign troops should be withdrawn from Berlin. |
27th November, 1958 |
| Charles De Gaulle is elected president of France with 78% of the vote. |
21st December, 1958 |
| Harold Macmillan and the Conservative Party win British general election. |
8th October, 1959 |
| American U-2 spy plane shot over the Soviet Union. |
1st May, 1960 |
| Leonid Brezhnev becomes president of the Soviet Union. |
7th May, 1960 |
| Nikita Khrushchev walks out of summit meeting in Paris because of the U-2 incident. |
19th May, 1960 |
| United Nations demand Belgian troops leave the Congo Republic. |
8th August, 1960 |
| East Germany imposes blockade of West Berlin. |
30th August, 1960 |
| Dag Hammarskjold is killed in an airplane crash in the Congo Republic. |
18th September, 1961 |
| Nikita Khrushchev and John Kennedy agree to establish a hot line to use in a Cold War crisis. |
20th June, 1963 |
| John F. Kennedy visits West Berlin. |
26th June, 1963 |
| Soviet Union, United States and Britain sign a nuclear test-ban treaty. |
5th August, 1963 |
| Harold Macmillan is replaced by Alec Douglas-Home. |
18th October, 1963 |
| Harold Wilson and the Labour Party form the new government in Britain. |
15th October, 1964 |
| Alexsei Kosygin becomes prime minister of the Soviet Union. |
15th October, 1964 |
| European Coal and Steel Community becomes European Economic Community. |
8th April, 1965 |
| The Soviet Union admits to supplying arms to North Vietnam. |
29th September, 1965 |
| Charles De Gaulle defeats Francois Mitterrand in French presidential elections. |
19th December, 1965 |
| France ends its boycott of European Economic Community meetings. |
30th January, 1966 |
| Charles De Gaulle calls for United States forces to leave Vietnam. |
21st February, 1966 |
| France withdraws its troops from NATO. |
10th March, 1966 |
| The Labour Party win the British general election. |
31st March, 1966 |
| General Francisco Franco eases press censorship in Spain. |
9th April, 1966 |
| Harold Wilson criticizes the United States for bombing populated areas in North Vietnam. |
29th June, 1966 |
| European Economic Community agrees on its Common Agricultural Policy. |
24th July, 1966 |
| Milovan Djilas is released from prison in Yugoslavia. |
31st December, 1966 |
| Alexsei Kosygin visits London to discuss the Vietnam War with Harold Wilson. |
6th February, 1967 |
| Britain, Denmark and Ireland apply to join the European Economic Community. |
11th May, 1967 |
| Charles De Gaulle vetoes British entry into the European Economic Community. |
16th May, 1967 |
| The Soviet Union celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. |
7th November, 1967 |
| France officially vetoes British entry into the European Economic Community. |
19th December, 1967 |
| Alexander Dubcek became first secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. |
5th January, 1968 |
| Alexsei Kosygin visits Czechoslovakia to meet Alexander Dubcek. |
17th May, 1968 |
| French government bans demonstrations and dissolves 11 student organizations. |
12th June, 1968 |
| Alexander Dubcek refuses to halt reform programme in Czechoslovakia. |
14th July, 1968 |
| Warsaw Pact forces invade Czechoslovakia and arrest Alexander Dubcek. |
20th August, 1968 |
| Ludvik Svoboda flies to Moscow to meet Soviet leaders. |
23rd August, 1968 |
| Josip Tito condemns Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. |
24th August, 1968 |
| France becomes the world's fifth nuclear power when it tested a hydrogen bomb. |
25th August, 1968 |
| Antonio Salazar resigns as prime minister of Portugal. |
26th September, 1968 |
| Sweden become the first non-communist country to recognize North Vietnam. |
10th January, 1969 |
| General Francisco Franco imposes martial law in Spain. |
24th January, 1969 |
| Gustav Husak succeeds Alexander Dubcek as leader of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. |
17th April, 1969 |
| Charles De Gaulle resigns as president of France. |
28th April, 1969 |
| Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor of West Germany. |
21st October, 1969 |
| Bruno Kreisky becomes Chancellor of Austria. |
1st March, 1970 |
| Labour Party defeated in the General Election and Edward Heath becomes new prime minister. |
19th June, 1970 |
| Alexander Dubcek expelled from the Czechoslovak Communist Party. |
26th June, 1970 |
| Erich Honecker replace Walter Ulbricht as head of the Socialist Unity Party in East Germany. |
3rd May, 1971 |
| Willy Brandt is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. |
20th October, 1971 |
| The House of Commons votes to join the European Economic Community. |
28th October, 1971 |
| Karl Waldheim takes office as secretary-general of the United Nations. |
31st December, 1971 |
| Britain, Denmark and Ireland apply to join the European Economic Community. |
22nd January, 1972 |
| United States and the Soviet Union sign agreement at the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. |
3rd October, 1972 |
| Britain, Denmark and Ireland become members of the European Economic Community. |
1st January, 1973 |
| Leonid Brezhnev visits West Germany. |
24th June, 1973 |
| Spanish prime minister, Luis Carrero Blanco, assassinated in Madrid. |
20th December, 1973 |
| The Soviet Union expels the dissident author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. |
13th February, 1974 |
| Edward Heath resigns as prime minister and Harold Wilson forms a minority administration. |
4th March, 1974 |
| Willy Brandt resigns after a close aid admits to spying for East Germany. |
6th May, 1974 |
| Valery Giscard d'Estaing defeats Francois Mitterrand to become president of France. |
19th May, 1974 |
| Jacques Chirac become prime minister of France. |
27th May, 1974 |
| Vasco Goncalves gains power in Portugal. |
14th July, 1974 |
| The United States and East Germany establish diplomatic relations. |
4th September, 1974 |
| Helmut Schmidt of West Germany holds talks with Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow. |
28th October, 1974 |
| Leonid Brezhnev meets Gerald Ford to discuss arms control. |
23rd November, 1974 |
| First free elections in Portugal for 50 years. |
25th April, 1975 |
| Mario Soares becomes prime minister of Portugal. |
26th April, 1975 |
| A referendum approves British membership of European Economic Community. |
5th June, 1975 |
| An attempted coup by paratroops in Portugal is defeated. |
26th November, 1975 |
| James Callaghan replaces Harold Wilson as prime minister of Britain. |
5th April, 1976 |
| Adolfo Suarez becomes prime minister of Spain. |
1st July, 1976 |
| Roy Jenkins becomes president of the European Economic Community Commission. |
6th January, 1977 |
| China and the European Economic Community conclude its first trade agreement. |
3rd February, 1978 |
| Aldo Moro, the former Italian prime minister is kidnapped by the Red Brigade. |
16th March, 1978 |
| Helmut Schmidt of West Germany proposes a European Monetary System (EMS). |
7th April, 1978 |
| Aldo Moro dead body is found in the boot of a Renault car in Rome. |
9th May, 1978 |
| Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party win the British general election. |
2nd May, 1979 |
| Greece applies to join the European Economic Community. |
28th May, 1979 |
| First direct elections for the European Parliament are held. |
7th June, 1979 |
| Vaclav Havel is convicted of subversion in Czechoslovakia. |
23rd October, 1979 |
| Margaret Thatcher demands a rebate for Britain from the European Economic Community. |
29th November, 1979 |
| The dissent physicist Andrey Sakharov is sent into exile. |
22nd January, 1980 |
| Valery Giscard d'Estaing discloses France's capability to produce the neutron bomb. |
26th June, 1980 |
| Lech Walesa signs an agreement with the Polish government for free trade unions. |
31st August, 1980 |
| European Economic Community warns the Soviet Union about invading Poland. |
2nd December, 1980 |
| Greece joins the European Economic Community. |
1st January, 1981 |
| General Wojciech Jaruzelski becomes prime minister of Poland. |
11th February, 1981 |
| Attempted coup by Civil Guards in Spain fails. |
23rd February, 1981 |
| The Soviet Union accuses Solidarnosc of being counter-revolutionary. |
27th March, 1981 |
| Francois Mitterrand defeats Valery Giscard d'Estaing and is elected president of France. |
10th May, 1981 |
| The French government nationalizes 36 banks and 11 industrial groups. |
8th September, 1981 |
| The French National Assembly abolishes the death penalty. |
30th September, 1981 |
| European Community imposes economic sanctions on Argentina. |
11th April, 1982 |
| The British submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. |
2nd May, 1982 |
| Argentine forces surrender at Port Stanley ending the Falklands War. |
14th June, 1982 |
| Helmet Kohl becomes the new prime minister of West Germany. |
17th September, 1982 |
| Olof Palme and the Social Democratic Labour Party win general election in Sweden. |
19th September, 1982 |
| Felipe Gonzalez and the Socialist Workers' Party win the Spanish general election. |
28th October, 1982 |
| Lech Walesa is released from detention. |
12th November, 1982 |
| Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party win the British general election. |
9th June, 1983 |
| The Polish government announces an end to martial law. |
21st July, 1983 |
| Yuri Andropov announces an increase in the number of missiles aimed at the United States. |
23rd November, 1983 |
| Konstantin Chernenko replaces Yuri Andropov as leader of the Soviet Communist Party. |
13th February, 1984 |
| Andrey Sakharov begins a hunger strike. |
2nd May, 1984 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev meets Margaret Thatcher in London. |
15th December, 1984 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev is named first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. |
11th March, 1985 |
| European Economic Community agrees to accept Spain and Portugal as members. |
29th March, 1985 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev announces a moratorium on Soviet missile deployments in Europe. |
7th April, 1985 |
| Enver Hoxha dies in Albania. |
11th April, 1985 |
| Andrei Gromyko is named president of the Soviet Union. |
2nd July, 1985 |
| Laurent Fabius admits that the Greenpeace ship was sunk by French secret service. |
22nd September, 1985 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan agree to open negotiations on arms reductions. |
19th November, 1985 |
| Spain and Portugal join the European Economic Community. |
1st January, 1986 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev proposes a 15 year timetable for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. |
25th January, 1986 |
| Olof Palme, prime minister of Sweden, assassinated in Stockholm. |
28th February, 1986 |
| Jacques Chirac becomes prime minister of France. |
16th March, 1986 |
| Soviet and Israeli leaders hold talks to discuss the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union. |
18th August, 1986 |
| The European Economic Community agrees to end investment in South Africa. |
16th September, 1986 |
| It is admitted that money from arms sales to Iran was illegally passed to Contras. |
25th November, 1986 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev orders the release of Andrey Sakharov. |
23rd December, 1986 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev proposes reforms including secret ballot and the election of party officials. |
27th January, 1987 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev proposes abolishing intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe. |
28th February, 1987 |
| Gustav Husak in Czechoslovakia announces political and economic reforms. |
19th March, 1987 |
| Karl Waldheim, the Austrian president, is accused of involvement in Nazi atrocities. |
27th April, 1987 |
| Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party win the British general election. |
11th June, 1987 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev offers to dismantle all short and medium range nuclear missiles. |
22nd July, 1987 |
| Erich Honecker begins the first official visit to West Germany by a leader of East Germany. |
7th September, 1987 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev makes a speech criticizing the political errors of Joseph Stalin. |
2nd November, 1987 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan agree to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces. |
7th December, 1987 |
| International Commission clears Karl Waldheim of war crimes. |
8th February, 1988 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev announces the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. |
8th February, 1988 |
| Seven leaders of Solidarnosc are arrested during shipyard strike in Poland. |
2nd May, 1988 |
| Jacques Chirac defeats Francois Mitterrand to become president of France. |
8th May, 1988 |
| Several conservatives, including Andrei Gromyko, are purged from the Soviet Politburo. |
30th September, 1988 |
| Vaclav Havel is imprisoned for inciting public disorder in Czechoslovakia. |
21st February, 1989 |
| A large rally in Hungary calls for the introduction of democracy. |
15th March, 1989 |
| Lech Walesa and the Polish government sign an agreement for political and economic reform. |
5th April, 1989 |
| Solidarnosc is legalized in Poland. |
17th April, 1989 |
| The Polish United Workers' Party and Solidarnosc agree to form a coalition government. |
19th August, 1989 |
| New Forum, a anti-communist group, is formed in East Germany. |
11th September, 1989 |
| The first noncommunist government in Eastern Europe since the war is formed in Poland. |
12th September, 1989 |
| Poland offers sanctuary to anti-communists in East Germany. |
11th October, 1989 |
| Erich Honecker resigns as leader of the Communist Party in East Germany. |
18th October, 1989 |
| A new multiparty democracy is announced in Hungary. |
23rd October, 1989 |
| The new government in East Germany announces the opening of its border with West Germany. |
9th November, 1989 |
| The government in East Germany orders the Berlin Wall to be pulled down. |
10th November, 1989 |
| A general strike in Czechoslovakia calls for an end to communist rule. |
27th November, 1989 |
| The Czeechoslovak prime minister announces the end of the communist monopoly of power. |
28th November, 1989 |
| The governments of the United States and the Soviet Union announce the end of the Cold War. |
2nd December, 1989 |
| Yugoslavia's Communist Party votes to abolish its monopoly on power. |
22nd January, 1990 |
| The Soviet Union agrees to withdraw its troops from Czechoslovakia. |
26th February, 1990 |
| Lithuania declares its independence from the Soviet Union. |
11th March, 1990 |
| Alliance for Germany win first free elections in East Germany since 1933. |
18th March, 1990 |
| Latvia declares its independence from the Soviet Union. |
4th May, 1990 |
| East Germany and West Germany sign a reunification treaty. |
31st August, 1990 |
| Mikhail Gorbachev wins the Nobel Peace Prize. |
15th October, 1990 |
| Margaret Thatcher resigns as prime minister of Britain. |
28th October, 1990 |
| Helmet Kohl is elected president of a united Germany. |
2nd December, 1990 |
| Lech Walesa wins presidential elections in Poland. |
9th December, 1990 |