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The Yalta Conference occurs, deciding the post-war status of Germany. The Allies of World War II (the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and France) divide Germany into four occupation zones. The Allied nations agree that free elections are going to be held in all countries occupied by Nazi Germany.The new United Nations are to replace the failed League of Nations.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt suffers a stroke while in Warm Springs ,GA
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US President Harry S. Truman informs Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin that the United States has nuclear weapons.
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The Potsdam Conference ends with the Potsdam Agreement that organizes the division and reconstruction of Europe after World War II. New boundaries of Poland are agreed. Before the agreement to divide Germany into four zones (Yalta Conference), the four nations also decide to split Germany's capital, Berlin, into four zones as well. The Allied powers also agree to start legal trials at Nuremberg of Nazi war criminals.
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US President Truman gives permission for the world's first military use of an atomic weapon against the Japanese city of Hiroshima in an attempt to bring the only remaining theatre of war from the Second World War in the Pacific to a swift closure.
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US President Truman gives permission for the world's second and last military use of an atomic weapon against the Japanese city of Nagasaki in order to try to secure a swift Japanese unconditional surrender in the end of the Second World War.
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Winston Churchill warns of the descent of an Iron Curtain across Europe.
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The American and British zones of control in Germany are united to form the Bizone also known as Bizonia.
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President Harry Truman announces the Truman Doctrine starting with the giving of aid to Greece and Turkey in order to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere
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Truman signs the Marshall Plan into effect. By the end of the programs, the United States has given $12.4 billion in economic assistance to European countries.
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Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin orders the blockade of all land routes from West Germany to Berlin, in an attempt to starve out the French, British, and American forces from the city. In response, the three Western powers launch the Berlin Airlift to supply the citizens of Berlin by air.
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launch of the Berlin Airlift to supply the citizens of Berlin by air.
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is founded by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States, in order to resist Communist expansion.
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The Soviet blockade of Berlin ends with the re-opening of access routes to Berlin. The airlift continues until September, in case the Soviets re-establish the blockade.
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The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb. The test, known to Americans as Joe 1, succeeds, as the Soviet Union becomes the world's second nuclear power.
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North Korea invades South Korea, beginning the Korean War.
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United Nations forces land at Incheon. Defeating the North Korean forces, they press inland and re-capture Seoul.
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China invades Korea with 300,000 soldiers, catching the United Nations by surprise. However, they withdraw after initial engagements.
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United Nations forces approach the Yalu River. In response, China invades Korea again, but with a 500,000 strong army. This offensive forces the United Nations back towards South Korea.
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US President Harry S. Truman fires Douglas MacArthur from command of US forces in Korea.
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President Harry S. Truman signs the Mutual Security Act, announcing to the world, and its communist powers in particular, that the U.S. was prepared to provide military aid to "free peoples."
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The United States lays the keel for the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus.
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The United Kingdom successfully tests its atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane. The test makes the UK the world's third nuclear power.
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The United States tests their first thermonuclear bomb, Ivy Mike.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President of the United States.
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Joseph Stalin dies, setting off a power struggle to succeed him
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The United States launches the world's first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus. The nuclear submarine would become the ultimate nuclear deterrent.
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Foundation of the South East Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) by Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Like NATO, it is founded to resist Communist expansion, this time in the Philippines and Indochina.
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West Germany joins NATO and begins rearmament.
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The Warsaw Pact is founded in Eastern Europe and includes East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. It acts as the Communist military counterpart to NATO.
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of the United Kingdom, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Edgar Faure of France, known as the 'Big Four', attend the Geneva Summit. Also in attendance was Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union.
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Sputnik 2 was launched, with the 1st living being on board, Laika.
