1945 : A-Bomb dropped on Hiroshima + Nagasaki. USA ahead in the arms race.

1947 : Marshall Aid to the west of Europe. Stalin of USSR refused it for the east.

1948 : start of the Berlin Blockade - ended in 1949

1949 : NATO established; USSR exploded her first A-bomb; China becomes communist

1950 : Korean War started.

1952 : USA exploded her first hyrogen bomb.

1953 : Korean War ended. USSR exploded her first hydrogen bomb. Stalin died.

1955 : Warsaw Pact created. Peaceful coexistence called for.

1956 : Hungary revolts against USSR. Suez-Crisis.

1957 : Sputnik launched.

1959 : Cuba becomes a communist state.

1961 : Military aid sent to Vietnam by USA for the first time. Berlin Wall built.

1962 : Cuban Missile Crisis.

1963 : Huge increase of American aid to Vietnam.

1965 : USA openly involved in Vietnam.

1967 : Six-Day War in Middle East.

1968 : USSR invades Czechoslovakia.

1973 : Yom Kippur War.

1979 : USSR invaded Afghanistan.

1986 : Meeting in Iceland between USSR (Gorbachev) and USA (Reagan).

1987 : INF Treaty signed.