Origins of the Cold War 1945-1949

  • Wall Street Crash

    Triggers Great Depression across the world, caused by over-speculation in stock market with borrowed money.
  • Tripartite Pact

    Axis states [Italy, Germany, Japan] sign Tripartite Pact, a ten-year military alliance
  • Period: to

    Molotov= Soviet Foreign Minister

  • Nagasaki Bombing

    Atomic bomb
  • Percentages Agreement

    Winston Churchill arrived at the 'percentages agreement' with Stalin to establish the predominance Britain and the USSR would each have in Eastern European states
  • Eastern Europe liberated by USSR

    [ most Eastern European states ]
  • Provisional Government of National Unity formed in Poland

  • Yugoslavia: Communism

    Regime is heavily implemented when war ends
  • Period: to

    Yalta Conference

    Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met for the Yalta Conference in the Crimean city of Yalta
  • Soviet forces cross Oder River

  • Roosevelt writes to Stalin

    Roosevelt wrote to Stalin outlining his concerns about Stalin's interpretation of the Yalta declaration on Poland
  • President Roosevelt dies

  • Hitler commits suicide

  • WWII in Europe ends

  • US detonation of nuclear bomb

    Nuclear monopoly gained, tension increases
  • Period: to

    Potsdam Conference

    The Potsdam Conference took place, characterised by Truman's abrasive diplomacy and Stalin's determination not to be intimidated by the USA’s nuclear monopoly
  • Churchill defeated in Grand election

    Attlee replaces him as Prime Minister, takes position in Potsdam Conference
  • Hiroshima Bombing

    Atomic bomb
  • Japan surrender to American forces

    Unconditional surrender
  • German Socialist Unity Party [SED] formed

    The German Social Democrats (SPD) and the Communists (KPD) were forcibly merged by the Soviet Military Administration of Germany (SMAD)
  • Long Telegram

    George Kennan [US ambassador in USSR] sent his lengthy despatch of containment to the US State Department in Washington.
  • Iron Curtain Speech

    Delivered by Winston Churchill, direct attack on Soviet policies
  • Free elections in Czechoslovakia

    [Relatively free]
    Communist Party wins 38% of the vote
  • North Rhine- Westphalia

    Created by Britain's military governor in Germany
  • Novikov Telegram

    The Soviet Ambassador in Washington, Nikolai Novikov, concluded that US foreign policy was based on economic imperialism
  • 75% Communist Win in Bulgarian elections

  • Period: to

    Molotov= Soviet Foreign Minister