Cold War Timeline
1939
1941
June
August
September
December
1942
January
1943
November
1944
July
1945
February
October
July/August
1946
January
March
1947
January
1939
- USSR Territory - Seized half of Poland
- Thousands of Poles started to flee Poland when they were invaded by Germany and the USSR, they fled to Russia and the UK - Over 100,000 Poles fled to France and then moved to Poland
1941
June
- Nazis launched 'Operation Barbarossa' - Invasion of the Soviet Union
August
- Winston Churchill secretly met Roosevelt in an attempt to get the USA into the war, instead they set up the Atlantic Charter - A policy statement that defined Allied goals for the post-war world (presented the unity of the UK and the US)
September
- The Soviet Union and other countries agreed to the principles of the Atlantic Charter (Not a proper alliance)
December
- Japan and Germany declared war on the USA and brought America into the war
1942
January
- Allies issues a joint 'Declaration by United Nations' - Military union between the US, UK and the USSR - This formed the 'Grand Alliance'
1943
November
- Tehran Conference (Roosevelt) - The Grand Alliance (Russia, America, Britain) met to discuss what would happen after the war e.g How to punish Germany, agreement to the set up of the United Nations, what would happen to USSR territory in Poland
1944
- Warsaw Rising - London Poles played a big part, when the Red Army reached Warsaw, the Polish Underground Forces rose against them - Stalin ordered the Red Army and Nazis to stop them and the rebellion, almost 200,000 resistance fighters were killed
- D-Day landings in France - Second Front opened
July
- 'Committee of National Liberation' was set up in Soviet controlled Lublin, Poland - Known as the Lublin Committee and stated that it wanted to work with the USSR
1945
February
- Yalta Conference (Roosevelt) - The Grand Alliance met again to discuss the post-war world, it was decided that Germany would be split into four but still run as one whole country, new borders were formed in Poland so that Stalin could keep his land (Poland would compensate by taking land from Germany), Stalin promised 'free elections' in Eastern Europe after the war
- Treaty of San Francisco - The UN was officially created with five permanent members - The USA, USSR, France, Britain and Nationalist China
October
- Treaty of San Francisco - The United Nations was officially created with five permanent member: The USA, UK, USSR, France and Nationalist China
July/August
- Potsdam Conference (Truman) - The Grand Alliance met a third time to discuss the post-war world, They agreed that the USSR would receive 25% of reparations from the Western zone and the Eastern zone, Truman was unhappy and wanted the Polish government to be 're-organised'
1946
- The Grand Alliance broke down
January
- Stalin refused to withdraw from the war in Iran
- A US diplomat in Moscow (George F. Kennan) sent a telegram to the US State Department describing Soviet foreign policy and explained how hostile the USSR were to the West - Helped the State Department throughout the Cold War helping shape the policy of 'containment'
March
- Iran referred a case to the United Nations to pressurise Russia to leave
1947
January
- Polish Free Elections - 246 candidates were disqualified, 149 arrested, 18 were murdered and 50,000 were deported to Siberia