| 1945 |
United Nations founded; eastern Europe occupied by Red Army |
| 1947 |
Cold war starts; Truman Doctrine; Marshall Plan inaugurated |
| 1948 |
Stalinization of eastern Europe |
| 1949 |
NATO formed; first Soviet atomic bomb exploded |
| 1953 |
Stalin dies |
| 1956 |
Khrushchev's secret speech on Stalin's crimes; Polish October; Hungarian uprising is crushed |
| 1957 |
European Economic Community established; sputnik launched--the space age begins |
| 1961 |
Berlin Wall built, dividing the city of Berlin |
| 1962 |
Cuban missile crisis |
| 1963-1973 |
Vietnam War |
| 1964 |
Khrushchev ousted; a new team of leaders, lead by Brezhnev, succeeds him |
| 1968 |
Student uprising in France; Czechoslovakia's "socialism with a human face" |
| 1969 |
American landing on the moon |
| 1979 |
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan |
| 1982 |
Brezhnev dies |
| 1985 |
Gorbachev becomes U.S.S.R. leader |
| 1988 |
Communist dictatorship in Poland ends, civilian government takes office |
| 1989 |
Overthrow of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe |
