1945: Yalta Conference
After World War II, the Allied powers agree to divide Germany into military occupation zones. The country is divided and East Germany is controlled by the Soviet Union and made a communist nation.

1945: Potsdam Conference
Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill draw up plans for the administration of Germany and Poland after the conclusion of World War II.

August 6th, 1945
The United States uses the first atomic weapon against Hiroshima in Japan.

1946: Winston Churchill delivers the "Iron Curtain" speech
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe . . . all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere."

1947: Marshall Plan is announced
United States gives economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism.

1948: Berlin Blockade Begins
Soviet Union blocks the Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under allied control.

1948-1949: Berlin Airlift
British and American aircraft airlift food and supplies to Berlin, while Soviet forces continued to blockade the city.

1949: NATO Ratified
North Atlantic Treaty Organization: An international organization composed of the United States, Canada, Britain, and a number of European countries is established by the North Atlantic Treaty for the purposes of collective security.

1947: Truman Doctrine
President Truman's presents a policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism, particularly Greece and Turkey.

1949: Soviets explode first atomic bomb

1949: China turns Red
Mao Zedong leads a successful Communist Revolution in China; he forms the People's Republic of China.

1949: Korean War Begins
A conflict breaks out between between North Korea, aided by China, and South Korea, aided by United Nations forces consisting primarily of U.S. troops.