Cold War: 1945 - 1990

International Politics and Conflicts

The Cold War

· After World War II two superpowers emerge – the United States and the USSR. The world is divided on the basis of capitalism and communism. Western Europe allies itself with the US – forming NATO. Eastern Europe allies itself with the USSR forming the Warsaw Pact, and the “Iron Curtain” divides them.

· With decolonization in the 1960s, the Superpowers give foreign aid to the Third World to create allies, and they tolerate undemocratic regimes (e.g. Iran, Philippines,) and economic protectionism (e.g. Japan). The “Domino Theory” guides US foreign policy – that the loss of one country in a region to communism (e.g. Latin America, Vietnam) will spread to other countries in the region. Emerging states in Africa and Asia were sensitive to neocolonialism, made possible by the importation of business managers and technicians, dependence upon imported military supplies, and reliance upon set patterns of trade and outside sources of investment. To support developmental projects, governments sought loans and technical assistance from the West and USSR, but simultaneously sought to loosen the dominance by the industrialized nations. Some underdeveloped states devised a strategy that turned the Cold War into what they called "creative confrontation"—playing off the superpowers to their own advantage while maintaining nonalignment, including India’s Nehru, Egypt’s Nasser, even France’s deGaulle.

· NATO was a product of the containment policy developed by George Kennan and implemented by Harry Truman and his Secretary of States, George Marshall and Dean Acheson. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were also aspects of the same policy that attempted to stop the spread of Soviet Communism.

· The US maintains 1400 foreign bases in 31 countries

· “Mutually assured destruction” is the guiding deterrent preventing nuclear war - that a nuclear war will result in total annihilation of both countries

· Military expenditures consume a large proportion of both countries’ budget, which the Soviet Union is eventually unable to sustain, leading to its breakup. The Cold War also spurs a race for space exploration and technical innovation.

· 1945 The US uses the atomic bomb - the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT

· 1946 Winston Churchill's “Iron Curtain” speech warns of Soviet expansion.

· 1946 The School of the Americas is founded in Panama by the US Army. It was evicted by Panama in 1984. The school was moved to Fort Benning, Georgia. Its curriculum included counterinsurgency, military intelligence, interrogation techniques, sniper fire, infantry and commando tactics, psychological warfare and jungle operations. In 2000 the school was renamed as the Defense Institute for Hemispheric Security Cooperation. The school has trained more than 60,000 military and police officers from Latin American and Caribbean countries. Among the School's most illustrious graduate is Manuel Noriega.

· 1947 Soviet Union rejects U.S. plan for UN atomic-energy control. Truman proposes the Truman Doctrine, which was to aid Greece and Turkey in resisting communist expansion.

· 1948 Berlin blockade begins – USSR isolates western sectors of Berlin (June 24), prompting Allied airlift (June 26). Blockade ends May 12, 1949; airlift continues until Sept. 30, 1949.

· 1949 First successful Soviet atomic bomb test occurs.

· 1949 East and West Germany are formed.

· 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forms. The treaty, signed by the Foreign Ministers of Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States, provided for mutual assistance should any one member of the alliance be attacked. Greece and Turkey joined NATO in 1952 and the West Germany in 1955. Spain joined in 1982.

· 1950 Korean War begins when North Korean Communist forces invade South Korea.

· 1952 The US tests a hydrogen bomb - equal to 10.4 million tons of TNT. 1953 Moscow announces explosion of hydrogen bomb

· 1954 Eisenhower launches a world atomic pool without the Soviet Union.

· 1954 The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed

· 1955 Baghdad Pact signed

· 1955 Warsaw Pact, east European mutual defense agreement, signed

· 1956 First aerial H-bomb tested—10 million tons TNT equivalent

· 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine calls for aid to Mideast countries which resist armed aggression from Communist-controlled nations

· 1959 Cuba becomes a communist nation under Fidel Castro

· 1960 An American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, is shot down over Russia. Khrushchev kills the Paris summit conference because of the U-2 incident. Powers is sentenced to prison in the USSR for 10 years— he is freed in February 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy.

· 1960s Communist China and Soviet Union split in a conflict over Communist ideology. In the China, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution are challenges to Soviet-style socialism. As "de-Stalinization" went forward in the Soviet Union Mao Zedong condemned the Soviets for "revisionism." The Chinese also were growing increasingly annoyed at being constantly in the number two role in the communist world. The 1960s saw an open split develop between the two powers, leading to a series of border skirmishes on the PRC-USSR border. The extremely visible disintegration of the communist block played an important role in the easing of Sino-American tensions and in the progress towards east-west Détente.

· 1960s The US and USSR begin to deploy silo and submarine based nuclear ballistic missiles

· 1961 The Berlin Wall goes up. USSR fires 50-megaton hydrogen bomb, biggest explosion in history. First manned space flights by U.S. & U.S.S.R.

· 1962 Cuban missile crisis. USSR's secret placement of nuclear missiles is discovered in U2 photographs by the Kennedy administration which imposes naval blockade. Crisis ends when Soviets agree to withdraw their weapons in exchange for Kennedy's pledge to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey and abandon attempts to overthrow Castro

· 1963 Washington-to-Moscow “hot line” communications link opens, designed to reduce risk of accidental war

· 1965 U.S. President Lyndon Johnson lands 22,000 troops in the Dominican Republic, claiming to prevent the emergence of another Cuban Revolution

· 1966 France leaves NATO, rejecting US leadership (it would rejoin in 1993)

· 1967 China announces explosion of its first hydrogen bomb

· 1968 The Soviet Union crushes the Czechoslovakian "Prague Spring" revolution. Troops from the Warsaw Pact intervene in accordance with the "Brezhnev Doctrine," to protect the gains of socialism. The international image of the Soviet Union suffered considerably, especially among Western student movements and Mao's China

· 1970s The East and West begin to improve relations in a period of Détente. In the 1970s the Cold War gave way to a more complicated pattern of international relations in which the world was no longer clearly split into two clearly opposed blocs as China, Japan, and Western Europe, and the Middle East assert their independence. The rise of the increasing nationalism of the Third World, and the growing disunity within the communist alliance all augured a new multipolar international structure. The two superpowers recognized their common interest in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons with the signing of the SALT I treaty to limit the development of strategic weapons. Arms control enabled both superpowers to slow the increases in their defense budgets. At the same time divided Europe began to pursue closer relations. The Ostpolitik of West German chancellor Willy Brandt lead to the recognition of East Germany. This new spirit was made manifest by the Helsinki Conference that lead to a number of agreements on politics, economics and human rights. However Third World competition continued, especially in the Middle East and Southern and Eastern Africa.

· 1970s The Vietnam War, the Watergate crisis, the Iran hostage crisis, the energy crisis, and "stagflation” weakened America’s confidence and international standing. At the same time, the USSR’s industrial output increased by 75%, and it became the world's largest producer of oil and steel, improved living standards by doubling urban wages, building millions of one-family apartments, and manufacturing large quantities of consumer goods and home appliances.

· 1970s Arabs began extending huge financial assistance to African nations in an effort to reduce African economic dependence on the United States and the Soviet Union. At a 1977 Afro-Arab summit conference in Cairo, oil producers pledged $1.5 bullion in aid to Africa.

· 1971 Cuba joins the Eastern Bloc. Billions of dollars in Soviet aid upgrade Cuba's military and help export its communist revolution to Latin America and Africa.

· 1972 US President Richard Nixon makes an unprecedented visit to China, as relations between the countries improve

· 1973 In Chile Pinochet’s right-wing military coup (backed by the US) topples the socialist Allende

· 1973 The OPEC oil embargo against the US and some European countries following the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War causes a major split in Western alliances. France quickly distances itself from the US and allies with the Arabs.

· 1975 Despite having received substantial aid from China the Vietnamese communists align themselves with the Soviet Union against China. The communist Khmer Rouge which had taken control of Cambodia began massacring ethnic Vietnamese, and then launched raiding parties into Vietnam itself. The Khmer Rouge allied itself with China, but this was not enough to prevent the Vietnamese from invading them and destroying the regime in 1979. The Chinese responded by invading the north of Vietnam on a punitive expedition. After a few months of heavy fighting the Chinese withdrew.

· 1977 Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, signed by 15 countries, including U.S. and USSR

· 1979 Carter and Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement, but Carter’s efforts at détente are undercut by three surprising developments: the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Nicaraguan Revolution, and Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. The Afghan invasion in 1979 marked the first time that the Soviet Union sent troops outside the Warsaw Pact since the inception of the Eastern counterpart of NATO. This prompted a swift reaction from the west, the boycotting of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and the heavy funding for the Afghani resistance.

· Worried by Soviet deployment of nuclear SS-20 missiles, the NATO allies had in agreed to continued SALT talks, threatening to deploy Pershing II missiles in West Germany and the Netherlands if negotiations were unsuccessful. The negotiations, taken up in 1981, failed and Pershing II missiles were deployed in Europe in 1984, despite intense public opposition. They were, however, withdrawn beginning in 1988.

· 1980s Newly elected U.S. President Ronald Reagan, promising to restore his nation's military strength, called for massive increases in military spending amounting to about $1.6 trillion over five years. Enormous deficits result in high interest rates and an overvalued dollar, results in slow economic growth, an unfavorable balance of trade, and depressed the U.S. steel and automotive sectors. The Soviet economy is strained attempting to keep up with US Defense spending, including the Strategic Defense Initiative, which is accelerated under Reagan. The Soviet economy suffered severe structural problems. Falling oil prices hurt its economy. Reform stalled between 1964-1982 and supply shortages of consumer goods were becoming notorious. The 1980s saw weak leadership after Leonid Brezhnev died to be replaced by the short-lived Yuri Andropov and then Konstantin Chernenko who also quickly died

· 1980 The "Solidarity" movement is formed in the Gdansk shipyards of Poland

· 1982 In a speech to the British House of Commons Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union an “evil empire”

· 1983 South Korean 747 jetliner strays into Soviet airspace and is shot down by a Soviet fighter; all 269 aboard are killed, including 61 Americans

· 1984 France gets its first deliveries of Soviet natural gas

· 1984 Soviet Union withdraws from summer Olympic games in U.S., and other bloc nations follow

· 1985 France tests nuclear bombs on Mururoa Atoll despite protests by Australia and New Zealand. The Pacific is declared a nuclear free zone causing the USA to withdraw concessions on military equipment to New Zealand

· 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the USSR. Under Gorbachev, relatively young reform-oriented technocrats, who had begun their careers in the heyday of "de-Stalinization" under reformist leader Khrushchev, consolidated power, providing new momentum for political and economic liberalization, and warmer relations and trade with the West In 1986 Reagan and Gorbachev meet at summit a summit in Reykjavik; agree to step up arms control talks and renew cultural contacts. The result in was a dual approach of cooperation with the west and economic restructuring (perestroika) and democratization (glasnost) domestically, which eventually made it impossible for Gorbachev to reassert central control and influence over Warsaw Pact member states. Grassroots organization in both the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe began to challenge Communist rule.

· 1987 INF Treaty signed: phased elimination of intermediate range nuclear weapons

· 1989 Nov. 11: Berlin Wall comes down. Nov. 30: Czech Parliament ends Communists' dominant role. Dec. 15: Romanian uprising overthrows Communist government; "Iron Curtain" falls

· 1991 Bush and Yeltsin proclaim formal end to cold war

United Nations

· 1945 United Nations established as 51 nations sign its charter

· 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed by Britain, US, and USSR

· 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty allows signatories to import nuclear material only for energy production. Establishes the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) to perform inspections of nuclear sites, but only those which the country designates. It is signed by France and China in 1991.

· 1974 The nonaligned bloc in the United Nations passes a resolution demanding the creation of a new international economic order in which resources, trade, and markets would be distributed fairly

Decolonization: 1947-1960s

· 1947 India and Pakistan gain independence from Britain. 1948 Burma and Ceylon granted independence by Britain

· 1947 The Asian Relations Conference is held in New Delhi, pledges support for all national movements against colonial rule.

· 1951 Libya gains independence from France. 1954-1962 Algerian War of Independence against France. 1956 Morocco gains independence

· 1955 The Bandung Conference of African and Asian nations is convened to discuss anti-imperialism, economic development, and cultural cooperation, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. The conference was attended by twenty-nine countries representing more than half the population of the world.

· 1960 France's colonies in North and West Africa - Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Zaire (Belgian Congo) - gain independence.

· 1962 Burundi, Jamaica, Western Samoa, Uganda, and Trinidad and Tobago become independent

· 1963 Kenya achieves independence

· 1963 The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was created because African leaders believed that disunity played into the hands of the superpowers. While the OAU witnessed some gains in African cooperation, its members were generally primarily interested in pursuing their own nation interests rather than those of continental dimensions.

Environmentalism

· In the 1960s environmentalism becomes a political force. This leads to a decrease in coal use and increase in oil use.

International Conflicts

Korean War, 1950-53

Suez crisis, 1956

• June British troops, which have guarded the canal zone since 1875, are withdrawn
• July 26 Egypt takes control of Suez canal after Britain refuses to help build the Aswan High Dam
• Oct. 29 Israel launches attack on Egypt's Sinai peninsula and drives toward Suez Canal
• Nov. 5 British and French invade Port Said on the Suez Canal after threating intervention if Israel and Egypt continued fighting
• Nov. 6 Cease-fire forced as U.S. pressure stops British, French, and Israeli advance. UN forces take over the canal zone

Vietnam War

Rise of Terrorism

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Economics

The US and USSR become the principal economic forces after World War II, while Europe loses its dominance.

· 1947 The Marshall Plan is initiated to rebuild Europe while preventing the spread of communism

· 1950s The threat of communism recedes in Western Europe. Western Europe enjoys 5-6% GDP growth and 1% unemployment. Defense spending due to the cold war is the primary engine of growth

· 1950s to 1970s Keynesian economics and socialism dominate Western Europe & US.

· 1957 European Economic Community (EEC) is formed by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands

· 1974-1975 Chile hires the University of Chicago economists, the "Chicago Boys", to restructure the economy in “Shock therapy”, a drastic free-market approach. The government slashes welfare programs, liberalizes trade, and deregulates the financial sector and the economy is successfully revitalized. The approach is emulated in other developing countries

· 1980s Free-market economists dominate Reagan administration and the Thatcherites in England.

· 1980s The Democratization of Finance

· Beginning of a global economy

· 1987 On “Black Monday” October 19 the US stock market drops 508 points (23%). By the end of October, Australia had fallen 42%, Canada 23%, Hong Kong 46%, and United Kingdom 26%.

· Neocolonialism is a term used by Marxists to describe the operations of international capitalism since the disappearance of the colonial empires. These critics allege that the capitalist powers, particularly the US, aim to control other countries by indirect means such as economic aid, multinational corporations, and through international financial agencies like the International Monetary Fund.

World Trade

· 1947 The Bretton Woods Conference is held in New Hampshire with the goal to promote free trade between all countries, based on the belief that economic protectionism had led to WWII. 23 countries participate. It :

o Fixes exchange rates (peged all currencies to gold) and institutes strict controls of capital

o Creates the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to make loans to developing countries

o Established the International Trade Organization (ITO). The ITO was rejected by the US Congress but President Truman used executive authority to implement a stopgap measure of ITO – the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT)

· GATT becomes the world trade body until replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995

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Energy

· After World War II, coal relinquished its place as the premier fuel. The railroads lost business to trucks and switched to diesel locomotives themselves, and natural gas replaced coal in many household ranges and furnaces. The coal industry survived, however, mainly because nationwide electrification created new demand for coal.

· Petroleum usage grew slowly to its peak in 1972 and then subsided. Natural gas became an important resource, growing strongly until 1972, when its growth essentially stalled. Electricity, only an incidental source in 1949, expanded in almost every year since thenThe expansion of electricity use reflects the increased electrification of U.S. households

· Home heating underwent a big change; between 1950 and 1990 coal dropped from 33% to 0.2%, kerosene dropped from 22% to 10%, natural gas rose from 25% to over 50%, and electricity rose from 0.6% to 30%.

· 1951 An experimental reactor sponsored by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission generates the first electricity from nuclear power. 1956 The British complete the first operable commercial reactor.

· 1973 The Arab Oil Embargo send the economies of the US and Europe into recession with rampant inflation. OPEC countries gain politically and economically, and they spend large amounts on industrialization, weapons, and personal luxuries. Oil-producing countries nationalize Western oil companies’ assets, continuing the process begun in Mexico and Venezuela in the 1940s.

· The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear accidents in 1979 and 1986 respectively decrease the enthusiasm for nuclear power. Of the total of 259 units ordered to date, none was ordered after 1978.

· Until the 1970s the US was self-sufficient in energy. Since then the US has been a net energy importer

· 1980s Internal conflicts in OPEC (Iraq, Iran) and increased production of non-OPEC countries (North Sea, Russia, Mexico) causes oil prices to fall drastically and OPEC to lose political power.

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Science & Technology

· Defense spending and the space race drive many scientific advances during this period

Space

· 1957 Russians launch Sputnik I, the first Earth-orbiting satellite. 1958 First U.S. Earth satellite, Explorer I

· 1959 Russia launches 3 lunar probes

· 1961 USSR announces putting first man in orbit around Earth, Maj. Yuri Gagarin. 1962 John Glenn is the first American to orbit Earth

· 1962 The first planetary probe to Venus, US Mariner 2, reaches Venus

· 1965 The first space walk outside a space vehicle is made by the USSR astronaut Aleksei Leonov

· 1966 The first lunar landing when USSR’s Luna 9 lands softly on the Moon

· 1969 Apollo 11, the first manned flight to the moon. Neil Armstrong becomes the first man on the moon.

Exploration

· 1953 Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal reach top of Mt. Everest

Electronics

· 1948 Bill Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain working at Bell Labs build the first transistor.

· 1958 Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments completes the first integrated circuit (microchip)

Computers

· 1945 ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator), the first computer, is designed at the University of Pennsylvania at the behest of the U.S. military.

· 1969 Honeywell releases the H316 "Kitchen Computer", the first home computer, at $10,600 in the Neiman-Marcus catalog.

· 1971 Intel markets the first microprocessor.

Communication

· 1956 The first transatlantic telephone cable is laid

· 1962 Telstar communications satellite launched, first live TV, broadcasts between the US and Europe

Biology/Genetics

· 1944 Oswald Avery proves DNA is the genetic material. 1953 James Watson & Francis Crick propose double helical structure of DNA

· 1973 First successful gene splicing (recombinant DNA, genetic engineering) by Paul Berg and Stanley N. Cohen (US).

· 1981 Transgenic animals

· 1983 Genetic modification (GM) of crops

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Countries and Regions

United States

Harry Truman, Democrat (1945-1952)

· 1947 The National Security Act of 1947 is passed. The Defense Act creates the Department of Defense.

· 1950-1953 Korean War

· 1950 Assassination attempt on President Truman by Puerto Rican nationalists

Dwight Eisenhower, Republican (1952-1960)

· Mid-1950s Expanded homeownership, public housing, suburbanization, and highway programs transform the U.S. economy and geography in ways that endure today. Civil rights protest grows across the South.

· 1954 Puerto Rican National Liberation (FALN) used bombings and kidnappings to draw attention to their radical causes. FALN stormed the House of Representatives where five congressmen are shot (all 5 recovered), and set off bombs in New York City, but Puerto Rican extremists today tend to confine their activities to Puerto Rico.

· 1956 Eisenhower creates the Interstate Highway System

John F. Kennedy, Democrat (1960-1963)

· Keynesian policies use deficit spending to spark high employment and accelerate economic growth. The civil rights movement comes to the fore for mainstream America in 1963.

· 1963 Nov. 22: President Kennedy shot and killed by sniper in Dallas, TX. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president same day. Nov. 24: Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of President Kennedy, is shot and killed by Jack Ruby, Dallas nightclub owner. 1964: President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy issues Warren Report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone

Lyndon Johnson, Democrat (1963-1968)

· 1964 Johnson administration launches its War on Poverty, expanding social programs

· 1964 Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution, Vietnam War escalates

· 1964 U.S. Supreme Court rules that congressional districts should be roughly equal in population

· 1965 Medicare, senior citizens' government medical assistance program, begins

· 1967-68 The Vietnam War and unrest in the South and inner cities spark the rise of violent protest movements and a "counterculture."

· 1968 The U.S. has 525,000 men in Vietnam. The Tet offensive (Jan.) and My Lai massacre (Mar.) turn public opinion against the war. Oct.: President Johnson orders halt to U.S. bombardment of North Vietnam. The Paris peace talks take place.

Richard M. Nixon, Republican (1968-1974)

· 1969 Ground troop withdrawals from Vietnam begin but bombing continues

· 1971 26th Amendment to U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18.

· 1973 The OPEC oil embargo delivers a shock to the economy. Nixon imposes a second round of price controls

· 1973 Spiro Agnew resigns as vice president and pleads no contest to charges of evasion of income taxes on $29,500 he received in 1967, while governor of Maryland. He is fined $10,000 and put on three years' probation

· Watergate

• June 1972 Five men are apprehended by police in attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.'s Watergate office complex.
• April 1973 Nixon, on national TV, accepts responsibility, but not blame, for Watergate; accepts resignations of advisers H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, fires John W. Dean III as counsel.
• Oct. 1973 In the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Nixon fires special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus; Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigns
• 1974 July 30: House Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment charging President Nixon with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee. Aug. 8: Richard M. Nixon announces he will resign the next day, the first president to do so
• Sept. 1974 Ford pardons Nixon

Gerald Ford, Republican (1974-1976)

· 1975 Sept.: President Ford escapes two assassination attempts in 17 days

· 1976 Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act

Jimmy Carter, Democrat (1976-1980)

· 1979 Iran hostage crisis

Ronald Reagan, Republican (1980-1988)

· 1981 President Reagan is wounded by gunman John W. Hinckley, Jr., who is found not guilty because of insanity

· 1985 U.S. Balanced Budget Bill enacted. 1986 Supreme Court voids the automatic provisions of budget-balancing law

· 1986 Reagan approves a sweeping revision of the U.S. tax code.

· 1986 Iran-Contra scandal. The US sells arms to Iran in return for Iran’s influence in releasing American hostages held in Lebanon by Hezbollah and other groups supported by Iran. Some of the proceeds from the arms sales are used to support the Contras in Nicaragua. In 1985 500 anti-tank missiles provided by Israel are sent to Iran. Col. Oliver North directed the operation, but tells congressional inquiry higher officials approved it. National Security Adviser John Poindexter testifies he authorized use of Iran arms sale profits to aid the Contras. Secretary of State George Shultz testifies he was deceived repeatedly on Iran-Contra affair. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger tells of official deception and intrigue. Reagan says Iran arms-Contra policy went astray and accepts responsibility. Robert C. McFarlane, former National Security Adviser, pleads guilty. 1989 U.S. jury convicts Oliver North. 1990 U.S. Appeals Court overturns North's conviction

The U.S. in International Affairs

· During the Cold War the U.S. increasingly uses both covert and military action to install and support friendly and anti-communist governments in third-world countries

· 1950-1953 Korean War

· 1953 The CIA assists in undermining the government of Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran.

· 1954 The CIA leads a revolution in Guatemala.

· 1958 Eisenhower orders U.S. Marines into Lebanon to prevent a coup

· 1961 1,500 U.S.-backed Cuban exiles land at the Bay of Pigs in a failed attempt to overthrow Castro and are slaughtered

· 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

· 1964 Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution, Vietnam War escalates

· 1965 U.S. Marines land in the Dominican Republic as fighting persists between rebels and Dominican army

· 1968 North Korea seizes the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo; holds 83 on board as spies

· 1969 Nixon states the “Nixon Doctrine” in foreign policy: to assist friendly local governments (ie Iran, South Korea) with military and economic assistance but look to the nation directly threatened to assume the primary responsibility of providing the manpower for its defense, rather than US troops. This was the start of the "Vietnamization" of the Vietnam War. It also signified a growing contempt for the United Nations, where underdeveloped nations were gaining influence, and increased support to authoritarian regimes such as that of Pinochet in Chile

· 1972 Nixon makes an unprecedented visit to China and meets with Mao Zedong

· 1973 In Chile Pinochet’s right-wing military coup (backed by the US) topples the socialist Allende

· 1976 Ford signs a presidential order stating "No employee of the United States shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination". In 1984, President Reagan cancelled his own executive order, which had reiterated Ford's, with a new order which allowed the assassination of anyone deemed a "terrorist". In 1989 President Bush issued a "memorandum of law" that would allow "accidental" killing if it was a byproduct of legal or military action 1978 U.S. Senate approves the Panama Canal neutrality treaty; votes treaty to turn canal over to Panama by year 2000

· 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Nov.: Iranian militants seize the U.S. embassy in Teheran and hold hostages. April: U.S. breaks diplomatic ties with Iran. Eight U.S. servicemen are killed as a helicopter and cargo plane collide in an abortive rescue attempt. 1981: Jan 20: U.S.-Iran agreement frees 52 remaining hostages

· 1983 260 U.S. Marines are killed when a truck-bomb was driven into their compound in Lebanon. 1984: Mar. Reagan ends U.S. role in Beirut by withdrawing the Marines from the international peacekeeping force

· 1983 U.S. and Caribbean allies invade Grenada after it is overtaken by a communist coup

· 1984 Congress rebukes President Reagan on using federal funds for mining Nicaraguan harbors. 1986 The World Court rules the U.S. broke international law in mining Nicaraguan waters

· 1985 Congress refuses to give the administration funding to support the Nicaraguan Contras. The USA is criticized by the World Court for its undercover action against the democratically elected government of Nicaragua. The Court orders the USA to pay reparations of $ 17,000,000, which the USA refuses to abide by. The US vetoes a United Nations resolution calling on all governments to observe international law.

· 1986 Reagan freezes Libyan assets. U.S. planes attack Libyan “terrorist centers”.

· 1986 Iran-Contra scandal

Anti-communism

· 1948 Alger Hiss, a former U.S. State Department official, is indicted on perjury charges after denying passing secret documents to communist spy ring; convicted in second trial (1950) and sentenced to five-year prison term. He is accused by Whittaker Chambers.

· 1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are sentenced to death for passing atomic secrets to Russians

· Eisenhower installs the virulently anti-communist Dulles brothers as Secretary of State and head of the C.I.A.

· 1954 Army v. McCarthy inquiry initiated after McCarthy is accused of using influence to help an aide avoid military duty. A Senate subcommittee report blames both sides

· 1954 WWII hero James Doolittle submits the Doolittle Report to President Eisenhower stating the Soviet Union was "an implacable enemy whose avowed objective is world domination by whatever means and at whatever cost.... If the United States is to survive, long-standing American concepts of `fair play' must be reconsidered. We must ... learn to subvert, sabotage, and destroy our enemies by more clever, more sophisticated, and more effective methods than those used against us."

Desegregation and Civil Rights

· 1947 Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first black baseball player

· 1948 Truman ends racial segregation in military

· 1954 U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka unanimously bans racial segregation in public schools

· 1955 Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Ala. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads a black boycott of the city bus system; desegregated service begins in December 1956

· 1957 The “Little Rock Nine” integrate Arkansas high school. Eisenhower sends troops to quell mob and protect school integration

· 1962 James Meredith, escorted by federal marshals, is the first black to register at the University of Mississippi

· 1963 Civil rights rally is held in Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King delivers his “I have a dream” speech

· 1964 Three civil rights workers are murdered in Mississippi. Seven men are convicted by a federal jury

· 1965 Martin Luther King and 2,600 blacks are arrested in Selma, AL during demonstrations against voter-registration rules.

· 1965 Malcolm X, black-nationalist leader, is shot to death at Harlem rally in New York City

· 1965 Blacks riot for six days in Watts section of Los Angeles: 34 are dead, over 1,000 injured.

· 1967 Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice

· 1967 Racial riots occur in Detroit, New York City, Rochester, NY, Birmingham, AL, and New Britain, CN.

· 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot and killed in Memphis by a white racist

· 1971 Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation

· 1978 Supreme Court, in Bakke case, bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms constitutionality of programs giving advantage to minorities

Other Developments

· 1963 U.S. Supreme Court rules no locality may require recitation of Lord's Prayer or Bible verses in public schools

· 1966 Supreme Court decides Miranda v. Arizona which states rights of accused criminals

· 1973: Roe v. Wade ruling the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Texas statute criminalizing abortion in most instances violated a woman's constitutional right of privacy.

· 1976 The Supreme Court rules that death penalty is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment

· 1979 A nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pa., releases radiation, leading to protests against nuclear power

· 1981 Reagan nominates Judge Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman on Supreme Court

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Canada

· 1946 The Canadian Citizenship Act ends Canadians' classification as British subjects.

· 1950s Postwar industry enjoys a manufacturing boom. Economic prosperity differs by region. Canada's economy is increasingly tied to that of the U.S. As fears of Americanization grow, the Canada Council is formed to promote Canadian cultural uniqueness.

· 1964 Government introduces government-funded health care for all citizens.

· 1967 Watkins Report warns of growing American ownership of Canadian industry and recommends creating a Foreign Investment Review Agency to block foreign takeovers of Canadian firms.

· 1968-1974 Liberal government expands social welfare programs and increases the size of government. Deficit spending and state intervention in the economy alienate opinion in the Western provinces.

· 1969 Languages Act enshrines French and English bilingualism.

· 1975-1983 Wage and price controls. A National Energy Program is established to control oil prices and to expand Petro-Canada, the government energy company. National debt skyrockets.

· 1980 The separatist Parti Québecois suffers defeat in a provincial referendum on Quebec independence.

· 1984-1988 High inflation and unemployment doom the Liberals in the 1984 election. Conservative Brian Mulroney becomes prime minister. Deregulation dismantles the NEP and the Foreign Investment Review Agency, and state-owned Air Canada and Petro-Canada are privatized.

· 1988 Canada and the United States sign a free-trade agreement. Trade dominates the 1988 elections, which the Conservatives win.

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Central and South America

· 1946 The School of the Americas is founded in Panama by the US Army.

· 1948 Organization of American States (OAS) Charter signed at Bogotá, Colombia

· 1960 Central American Common Market: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua

· 1961 Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA): Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

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Mexico

· 1970s Major oil discoveries are made around the Bay of Campeche

· 1982 Default on international loans sparks global debt crisis and "lost decade" for developing natons. Faced with massive debt and recession, the government liberalizes the economy. The standard of living falls as privatization incurs unemployment.

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Cuba

· 1952-1959 A military coup occurs in Cuba. The elected government is deposed by Fulgencio Batista. With its sugar industry and strong trade ties with the U.S., Cuba is one of Latin America's strongest economies. Labor unions wield power in business and politics.

· 1953 Fidel Castro leads a small band of rebels in an ill-fated attack against the government. Most of the rebels are killed. Castro is jailed and goes into exile in Mexico.

· 1956 Castro and 81 armed exiles invade Cuba and wage guerilla war from the mountains.

· 1959 Batista flees Cuba and Castro assumes power.

· 1960-1961 Castro's moderate rhetoric gives way to more radical policies. Cuba begins the confiscation of $770 million of U.S. property. The United States imposes a trade embargo and breaks diplomatic ties. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans emigrate.

· 1961 1,200 U.S.-backed Cuban exiles land at the Bay of Pigs in a failed attempt to overthrow Castro. In 1962 Cuba releases 1,113 prisoners of the invasion attempt.

· 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

· 1962 A UK freighter bound from Cuba to the USSR with 80,000 bags of sugar stops in Puerto Rico for repairs. Agents from the CIA contaminate the sugar with a harmless chemical that makes the sugar unpalatable. A CIA official later reveals: "There was lots of sugar being sent out from Cuba, and we were putting a lot of contaminates in it." John Kennedy is angry when he hears of the operation because it had occurred on US territory and could hand the USSR a propaganda weapon.

· 1963-1970 The Communist Party's Central Planning Board directs the economy. Expanded social services provide free education and health care for all. Cuba grows more dependent on Soviet subsidies as its economy, handicapped by the U.S. embargo, stagnates. Middle- and upper-class Cubans continue to leave. The majority of clergy are gone by 1970

· 1967 The CIA is implicated in several plots to assassinate Che Guevara, a member of the government in Cuba. A CIA operation with support from Cuban exiles finally tracks him down to Bolivia where he is killed.

· 1971-1979 Cuba joins the Eastern Bloc. Billions of dollars in Soviet aid upgrade Cuba's military and help export its communist revolution to Latin America and Africa.

· 1980 Castro opens the port of Mariél for five months, and 125,000 immigrants, including criminals, flood into the United States.

· 1983 U.S.-Cuban relations deteriorate further when U.S. forces invade Grenada, killing several Cubans and ousting Cuban aid workers. Meanwhile, Castro's relations with the Catholic Church improve.

· 1985-1989 Gorbachev's liberal reform policies put Castro increasingly at odds with his longtime patrons. Castro gradually withdraws Cuban troops from Ethiopia, Angola, and Nicaragua.

· 1986 Cuba defaults on most of its international loans

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Haiti

· 1957-1986 Papa Doc and Baby Doc (Jean-Claude) Duvalier rule as dictators until Baby Doc flees to France in 1986. Francis "Papa Doc" Duvalier, supported by the US, rules the country autocratically, corruptly and brutally until 1971. Under their regime 60,000 people would die. Thousands would be tortured by the Tonton Macoutes death squads. While Haiti would become the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the Duvaliers would enrich themselves by stealing foreign aid money.

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Dominican Republic

· 1961 After as dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo is assassinated with help from the CIA. The US had originally backed him because of his stated anti-communism. Anti-communism had been used to justify mass deportations, torture and summary executions. Workers who had asked for wage increases were labeled communists, and shot, as were farmers who tried to stop their land from from being confiscated. Trujillo eventually controlled over 80% of the country's sugar plantations, using slave labour provided by neighbouring Haiti to keep profits high. 20,000 Haitians had been killed in 1937.

· 1963 Juan Bosch had become the first democratically elected president of the country since 1924. His program included land reform, affordable housing, the avoidance of exploitative foreign investment, civil liberties, and nationalization. The democratically elected government of the Dominican Republic is removed by a military coup. After the coup, USA marines are sent in to look after American business interests and support the new regime.

· 1965 The US sends 23,000 troops to the Dominican Republic to keep the previously elected president Juan Bosch from returning to power. Falling sugar prices had led to a popular uprising against the USA-backed military dictatorship. More than 4,000 Dominicans are killed.

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West Indies

· 1952 Puerto Rico attains commonwealth status with the US

· 1960s-1980s Decolonialization: 1958-1962: British islands excluding the Bahamas and British Virgin Islands are federated as “The West Indies”; 1962 Jamaica, 1962 Trinidad & Tobago, 1966 Barbados, 1973 Bahamas, Grenada 1974, Dominica 1978, 1979 St. Lucia, 1979 St. Vincent & the Grenadines, 1981 Antigua & Barbuda, 1983 St. Kitts & Nevis

· 1972 US renounces claims on Swan Islands and Serrana Bank in favor of Honduras and Columbia

· 1982 US troops invade Grenada. Greneda had been a British colony until 1974, and the UK Queen was officially head-of-state. Power resided in the self-appointed Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, who’s socialist government has ties to Cuba, including recently building an airstrip. Bishop had been killed in a coup by communist hardliners in the Grenadian army led by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. 600 American medical students are hostages at St. George’s medical college. Although Grenada is a member of the British Commonwealth and the UK Queen is the head of state, the UK government refuses to intervene and is not informed of the invasion. With appeals from the Organization of Eastern Carribean States, the US invades Grenada to rescue the medical students and the UK Governor-General. On October 25 the initial assault consisted of 1,200 troops, and they were met by stiff resistance from the Grenadian army and Cuban military units. Heavy fighting continued for several days, but as the invasion force grew to more than 7,000, the defenders either surrendered or fled into the mountains. Scattered fighting continued but for the most part, the island quickly fell under American control. By mid-December, U.S. combat forces went home and a pro-American government under the UK Governor-General took power. During the invasion, 19 Americans, 50 Grenadians and 30 Cubans (“construction workers”) are killed and several hundred wounded. Reporters are banned from Grenada; those who attempt to land on the island are arrested and imprisoned on US ships offshore. America's European allies expressed disapproval of the unilateral invasion of Grenada but the invasion sent a message to Cuba and Nicaragua that they could only go so far in exporting revolution in Central America and the Caribbean without provoking an American military response. This was the first military confrontation between the U.S. and Cuba.

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Guatemala

· Guatemala was the worst of the US-backed regimes during the Cold War. When the civil war there was finally brought to an end in the 1990s, the total death toll may have been as high as 200,000. But not all these deaths can credibly be blamed on the United States. Most of the violence happened long after the 1954 coup, when the regime was far from being under the CIA's control

· 1954 The leftist regime is overthrown with US CIA assistance. The USA organizes a military coup in Guatemala to remove the popular and reforming president, Juan José Arévalo. The country had been democratic since 1944; Arévalo had permitted free expression, legalized unions and diverse political parties. The USA Embassy had described the government as having "an unusual reputation for incorruptibility"; the Guatemalans had described the previous ten years as "Ten Years of Spring". After the coup, and for the next 31 years, repressive governments would rule with USA support. The CIA gives the new government lists of people to be eliminated, identifying political and intellectual leaders as military targets. Arévalo is driven out of Guatemala and dies in exile. Peasant cooperatives are destroyed, unions and political parties crushed, and dissidents hunted down. Many indigenous villages are cleared leading to urban sprawl and poverty. Thousands are killed by government death squads and many more flee the country. One of those fleeing is a young physician, Che Guevara. Within a few years over 100,000 people, mostly the Maya, would be killed.

· 1963 The CIA overthrows the dictatorship of General Miguel Ydigoras who had been planning to step down in 1964 and hold elections. The US fears that the previously elected president Juan José Arévalo (overthrown by the CIA in 1954) would regain power.

· 1978 General Lucas Garcia takes power in a military coup. This is one of the country's most brutal regimes, killing 20,000 civilians mainly by death squads. The USA continues to finance the military and trade with the country.

· 1982 Jose Monnt assumes dictatorial powers in Guatemala. Guatemala has been given financial and military aid by US president Ronald Reagan since 1980.

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Belize

· 1971 Name is changed from British Honduras to Belize

· 1975 Guatemala threatens invasion

· 1981 Independence from Britain

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El Salvador

· 1962 The government of the USA sends 10 Special Forces personnel to El Salvador to help General Jose Alberto Medrano set up its first paramilitary death squad.

· 1969 Four-day “soccer war” with Honduras

· 1972 Jose Duarte wins the election but is immediately removed and exiled by the US backed military. Just 14 families run most of the country's businesses, mainly coffee growing.

· 1977 Civil War

· 1980-1989 Death squads are active in El Salvador. Many victims are decapitated and the heads left in different areas from the body to be seen by passers by. Thousands are kidnapped and tortured, including aid workers and priests. Over 70,000 people will have died. Over 600 civilians are massacred by the military at the Rio Sumpul River. One of the best known victims is the Archbishop of San Salvador who is assassinated while celebrating mass, who had become an outspoken critic of human rights violations. In March 1980 he had written to Jimmy Carter asking the US not to provide military assistance to El Salvador which might be used to perpetrate human rights violations. The heads of El Salvador's armed forces during this period later retire to Florida. In 2002, they would be ordered to pay compensation to their victims by a US court. The US-made film Salvador shows events during this period. In 1989 six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter are killed by the military in El Salvador. A United Nations commission would later reveal that 19 of the 26 military officers involved in the killings were trained at the USA based School of the Americas.

· 1984 José Napoleón Duarte, moderate, is elected president of El Salvador

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Honduras

· 1980 Honduras, ruled by an American backed military regime, is flooded by US troops. 12,000 insurgents are based in the country and trained for destabilising nearby countries (Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua). 100,000 Hondurans demonstrate against the presence and influence of the USA in their country. The CIA supplies torture equipment to Battalion 316, a Honduran army unit which kidnaps, tortures and kills hundreds of people. The New York Times would report in 1988 that: "American diplomats exercise more control over domestic politics in Honduras than in any other country in the hemisphere..."

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Nicaragua

· 1948 The US supports dictator Anastasio Samoza in Nicaragua. President Roosevelt says: "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." The Samoza family amasses a huge fortune and crush dissent ruthlessly. Although Anastasio is assassinated in 1956, the dynasty continues.

· 1971 US lease of Nicaraguan islands and right to build a ship canal across Nicaragua is terminated

· 1979 Nicaraguan president Gen. Anastasio Somoza resigns and flees to Miami. The communist Sandinistas form the new government under Daniel Ortega

· 1980s The US supports the Contras fight against the Sandinista government, which obtains support from Cuba and the USSR

· 1983 Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with the USA after the CIA plots to assassinate the popular president, Daniel Ortega. Ortega had won an internationally observed election with 63% of the vote. In spite of this, President Reagan begins a trade embargo on Nicaragua, secretly mines its ports, destroys agricultural collectives and health clinics, and uses its influence in the World Bank to block previously agreed loans to the country. Although condemned by the World Court, the USA continues this destabilisation until 1990 when a US backed party, the National Opposition Union, is elected by a small margin. One of the Contra rebels would admit in 1988 that he was trained in a US base and was funded by the Agency for International Development from the US embassy Honduras. He admits: "We attack lots of schools, health centres and those sort of things. We have tried to make it so that the Nicaraguan government cannot provide social services for the peasants, cannot develop its project”.

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Panama

· 1964 “Flag riots” in the Canal Zone

· 1979 US returns the Canal Zone to Panama

· 1989 The USA invades Panama to capture Manuel Noriega, the former US-backed president whom they accuse of drug trafficking. Over 4000 Panamanians are killed in the operation, 23 Americans die. The USA, UK and France veto a United Nations resolution condemning the invasion. During the invasion, residential areas are attacked by helicopters and a tank destroys a bus killing 26 people. Houses are burnt and buldozed. Over 15,000 people lose their homes. Access to the Red Cross is denied by the US military. The office of the Panamanian publishing company ERSA (which owns three newspapers) are occupied by US security forces who turn it over to a member of the ruling elite who had favoured US intervention in Panama. The editor of the newspaper La Republica, which had opposed US intervention and had reported casualty figures, is arrested by the USA military, held for six weeks and imprisoned without trial or charge. Noriega is eventually arrested and imprisoned in the US. He had worked for the CIA since the early 1950s, and during the 1980s received $ 200,000 per year from the US for his activities. The USA Congress passes a resolution (389-26) "commending [President George] Bush for his handling of the invasion and expressing sadness over the loss of 23 American lives".

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Columbia

· 1948-1958 “La Violencia” period of political violence and anarchy

· 1950 The US sends free wheat to Colombia under an aid program called Food for Peace. This policy has the effect of destroying Colombia's wheat industry which is a rival to that of the US. The country has to concentrate on coffee which is more volatile in price. Many small holdings go out of business, leading to an increase in heroin cultivation.

· 1988 The Commission of Justice and Peace publishes a report documenting atrocities by government backed militia including 3,000 politically motivated killings, averaging 8 a day. The US sells subsidised military equipment to Colombia, "for antinarcotics purposes."

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Venezuela

· 1982 Venezuela resumes claims to western Guyana

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Guyana

· 1953 The UK (with help from the USA) overthrows the democratically elected government of Cheddi Jagan in British Guyana. Jagan would win 3 elections in 11 years and each time the two powers would prevent him from taking office using techniques like strikes, terrorism, legal challenges and disinformation. The new regime ensured the flow of cheap sugar and bauxite (an ore of aluminium) continued to the UK.

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Argentina

· 1943-1954 President Juan Domingo Perón. Pro-labor rhetoric and a charismatic wife, former actress Eva Duarte ("Evita"), win him mass support. Opposition is blatantly suppressed. Protectionism creates a faltering economy

· 1955-1972 A military rebellion forces Perón to resign. A revolving door of elected presidents and military juntas follows. Diminished economic growth. Freedoms are restricted, and terrorism escalates. Violent labor strikes and student riots pave the way for Perón's return.

· 1973-77 Perón returns to the presidency. When he dies in 1974, his second wife, Isabel, succeeds him. Political turmoil undermines Isabel's administration. A military coup removes her from office

· 1977-1983 A military junta wages war against the left. Human rights abuses escalate as thousands "disappear." The government borrows heavily and shifts the economic emphasis to open competition. Many factories close, and an economic crisis develops.

· 1982 The loss of the Falklands Islands war against the British and charges of corruption further discredit the government.

· 1984-89 The country returns to constitutional rule. Massive foreign debt is renegotiated. Increased poverty and persistent inflation lower the standard of living. Income distribution becomes increasingly unequal, and riots are frequent.

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Bolivia

· 1952 The MNR overthrows the government.

· 1953-1955 The Bolivian National Revolution begins. The government establishes universal suffrage, reduces the armed forces. The three major tin companies are nationalized, to be run by the Mining Corporation of Bolivia (Comibol).

· 1964 The revolution loses momentum as corruption grows. President Estenssoro loses the support of the left when he restructures the tin industry and ends workers' control over Comibol. The president of Bolivia, Victor Paz, is removed by a coup by Vice President General Barrientos who is backed by the CIA. Bolivia had refused to support US policies against Cuba.

· 1966 The election campaign of René Barrientos gains $600,000 from the CIA and $200,000 from the American company Gulf Oil.

· 1967 Che Guevara's radical guerilla movement is set back when troops kill him. General Ovando takes power in a coup

· 1970 The U.S.-owned Gulf Oil Company is nationalized. A military coup is led by US trained officer and Gulf Oil beneficiary, Hugo Banzer with direct support from the USA. During the coup, Banzer's forces have a breakdown in radio communications; US Air Force radio is placed at their disposal. The previous president had nationalised Gulf Oil properties and tin mines owned by US companies. Within two years, 2,000 people are arrested and tortured without trial. The native Aymara and Quechua people are ordered off their land and deprived of tribal identity. Tens of thousands of white South Africans are enticed to immigrate with promises of the land stolen from the indigenous people. Catholic clergy who aid the victims are harassed and killed.

· 1972-1978 Growing exports and foreign borrowing fuel strong economic growth until 1976, when oil production declines and cotton prices fall. Repressive military rule is especially brutal to the left. Elections in 1978 are annulled due to fraud.

· 1979-1984 A series of military governments rules briefly, each overthrown by the next. Political parties are fragmented and the armed forces divided. Arrests and disappearances destroy the opposition. The government takes part in cocaine trafficking. International recession and fiscal mismanagement put the Bolivian economy in a state of crisis. The government prints money, fueling inflation. Per capita income is below 1965 levels and half the labor force is employed in the informal sector.

· 1985-1988 New Economic Policy: Rampant hyperinflation is cured with radical market liberalization and reform, pioneering the "shock therapy" method that liberalizes trade, deregulates the financial sector, privatizes some state enterprises, and implements tax-reform law. These succeed in reducing record inflation and bringing about slow but steady economic growth. Success comes at a high social cost.

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Brazil

· 1946-1950 The government drifts rightward, outlawing the Communist Party and intervening minimally in the economy.

· 1951-1954 The military and elite fear President Vargas's populist leanings. Vargas creates the Brazilian Petroleum Corporation (Petrobrás). This controversial decision and charges of corruption undermine his administration. The military demands Vargas's resignation, he kills himself in 1954.

· 1955-1960 President Kubitschek pursues nationalist policies with military assistance. The capital is moved to the newly built city of Brasília. The economy expands rapidly as public investment strengthens infrastructure. Brazil becomes the world's number two food exporter. But economic growth brings a doubling of foreign debt, inflation, and growing inequality.

· 1961 Nationally elected President Quadros resigns within months when his proposed populist reforms face opposition from landowners, industrialists, and military leaders. His vice president, João Goulart, a populist, is sworn in as president. Two agencies from the US (the CIA and the Agency for International Development) spend millions of dollars in an unsuccessful attempt to oppose the election of Goulart.

· 1962-1964 To appease military ministers opposed to Goulart, Congress turns the presidential system into a parliamentary one. But Goulart mobilizes the masses and restores the presidential system by plebiscite in 1963. Goulart had traded with communist nations, maintained diplomatic relations with Cuba, supported the labour movement, and limited the profits multinational companies could take out of the country. Rising inflation, lack of middle-class support, and a naval mutiny lead to a military-led revolt against Goulart, who flees to Uruguay.

· 1965-1969 A military coup is led by General Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco, who has support from the US, which sends the new regime oil during the coup. Congress elects General Branco president. Pressured by the military and elites, Branco expands the president's powers and bans political groupings. After the coup, labour and trade unions are banned, criticism of the President becomes unlawful. Thousands of suspected communists (including children) are arrested and tortured. His successor, Marshal da Coste e Silva, gives himself dictatorial powers, dissolves Congress, and suspends the constitution. A military junta takes over when he dies in 1969. There would not be a civilian government in Brazil until 1985.

· 1970-1974 Severe political repression and censorship accompany record annual economic growth of nearly 12 percent led by state-owned enterprises. A program of economic expansion includes vast projects such as the Trans-Amazonian highway and the world's largest dam at Itaipú, but does not provide for redistribution of wealth.

· 1975-1979 Program of distensão begins to move Brazil from authoritarian to democratic rule. Successive oil shocks disrupt economic growth, and the Brazilian oil sector is opened to prospecting by foreign firms. Heavy external borrowing finances investment in infrastructure and industry.

· 1980-1984 The ban on political parties is lifted. The military reacts with terrorist acts, reinforcing the public's anti-military sentiment. Faced with soaring inflation and mounting foreign debt, the IMF imposes a painful austerity program, holding down wages.

· 1986-1989 Brazil begins a transition from authoritarian to democratic rule. A new constitution supports democratic government with universal suffrage by direct ballot. Massive domestic and foreign debt burden Brazil.

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Ecuador

· 1960 The USA infiltrates the government of Ecuador and eventually removes the president, Jose Maria Velasco. The USA does not approve of Ecuador's diplomatic relations with Cuba and the government's refusal to clamp down on dissidents. The new leader also refuses to break relations with Cuba until threatened by a CIA backed military leader.

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Uruguay

· The former Chief of Police Intelligence of Uruguay admits that the US trained Uruguayan police officers to torture political prisoners in the 1960s.

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Peru

· 1948 A military coup occurs in Peru. The elected government is overthrown by CIA-trained Manuel Odria. This and subsequent undemocratic governments is recognised and armed by the West, expecially the US. Elections would not be held until 1980.

· 1965 The US sets up military camps in the jungles of Peru and exterminates several dissident groups that are fighting the government for economic equality.

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Chile

· 1947-1952 In an about-face, the government severs relations with the Soviet Union.

· 1959-1964 Under President Alessandri, the economy grows, unemployment shrinks, and foreign debt finances public spending. Capping wages incites labor protests. Peasants, the urban poor, and the middle class support center candidate Frei. Seeking to avoid an Allende victory, the Right backs Frei, who wins the 1964 election.

· 1965-1970 The government takes 51% ownership of U.S.-controlled Chilean mines. Frei improves income distribution, but economic growth remains slow and inflation high.

· 1970 A leftist coalition elects Marxist Salvador Allende despite the CIA using substantial funds to support Frei. The US begins funneling more money to opposition forces to help "destablize" the new government. The US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, commented "I don't see why we have to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people." A cable from CIA headquarters to the CIA station chief in Santiago, revealed: "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup.” At the World Bank, USA officials worked behind the scenes to ensure that Chile would be disqualified for a pending $ 21,000,000 livestock improvement credit as well as future loans.

· 1973 Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military coup backed by the US topples Allende. The army seizes control of strategic sites throughout the country and corners Allende in his presidential offices. He dies in a fire-fight, apparently shooting himself in the head to avoid capture. Pinochet rules by decree. Political parties are outlawed; leftists are targeted as "domestic enemies." During the coup, hundreds are herded into a football stadium where many are executed by the military. At least 5,000 people are killed, tens of thousands are tortured, over 9,000 are exiled and around 250,000 are interred in concentration camps. Nationals of other countries are victims including citizens of the UK, Spain and even the US. These events are shown in the US-made film, Missing.

· CIA document, 10 September 1973: "The coup attempt will begin September 11. All three branches of the armed forces and the Carabineros are involved in this action. A declaration will be read on Radio Agricultura at 7 A.M. on 11 September." Jack Kubisch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Inter American Affairs, 20 September: "Gentlemen, I wish to state as flatly and as categorically as I possibly can that we did not have advance knowledge of the coup that took place on September 11."

· 1975 When Pinochet's attempts at economic restructuring fail, the University of Chicago economists, the "Chicago Boys", advocate a drastic "shock treatment" free-market approach. The government slashes welfare programs, liberalizes trade, and deregulates the financial sector. The government evolves into a one-man dictatorship after Pinochet makes himself commander-in-chief of the military.

· 1979-1981 A new constitution allows Pinochet to remain in power another eight years. Trade and financial liberalization accelerate, but massive debt accumulation, bad domestic loans, and an overvalued peso spell the end of the economic miracle.

· 1982-1983 Economic collapse: an international debt crisis and a global decrease in credit combine with domestic conditions to put the economy in recession. Unemployment soars, as does the number of Chileans living in poverty.

· 1984-1988 A macroeconomic program devised with help from international financial institutions puts Chile's economy back on its feet. Exports fuel economic growth, while privatization and debt conversion programs allow Chile to retire half of its debt. Wages remain low and worker discontent high. Under pressure from Europe and the U.S., Pinochet re-legalizes political activity.

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Europe

Formation of the European Union

· 1950 Robert Schuman proposes Schuman Plan to pool European coal and steel markets. 1951 European Coal and Steel Community unites six countries in free trade of key goods; the first step toward European Union

· 1955 Western European Union (WEU) comes into being

· 1956 Treaty of Rome establishes European Economic Community (EEC, or Common Market), Spearheaded by Jean Monnet.

• 1957 European Economic Community (EEC): Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands

· 1960 European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland. Britain and Denmark left to join the EEC in 1973. Iceland joined in 1970. Finland is an associate member.

· 1963 France and West Germany sign treaty of cooperation ending four centuries of conflict

· 1963 & 1967 British application to join the EEC vetoed by France

· 1973 Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark enter the EEC

· 1979 First elections to the European Parliament

· 1981 Greece joins the EEC.

· 1986 Spain and Portugal join the EEC

· 1987 Single Market Act approved; next step forward to European Economic Union

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Great Britain

· 1945 Churchill is replaced by Clement Atlee of the Labour Party, a former social worker in East London, in the general election. The Labour Party promotes a mixed economy, adopts call for “nationalization” in which private companies are forced to sell their companies to the government in key industries like coal (1947), iron, steel, railroads, utilities, and telecommunications. (Electricity had been nationalized in 1920s, overseas aviation in 1930s). They adopt the “public corporation” model in which the government appoints a board of directors to head the company. Eventually government employed 20% of the workforce and unemployment dropped from 12% in 1930s to 1% in 1950s. The National Health Service is also established.

· 1946 Economic crisis begins, bankrupt from war & loss of oversea investments. Food rationing remains until 1954

· 1950s Expansion and prosperity, but rising interest rates and inflation combine with outbreaks of industrial unrest and a series of "stop-go" three-year cycles to significantly damage the economy

· 1951-1955 Winston Churchill elected Prime Minister again

· 1952 George VI dies; his daughter becomes Elizabeth II

· 1960s The economic focus is to increase productivity and ensure peace with the labor unions so that public expenditure can be met. The reality is poor labor productivity, sterling crises, and trade union unrest. Britain resorts to a planned economy.

· 1961 South Africa becomes an independent republic and withdraws from the Commonwealth

· 1973 Britain's entry into the EEC, but the oil shock hits. The energy crisis results in British industry operating only three days a week. Economy falls into stagflation

· 1974 Coal miners' strike brings blackouts and forces election with a Labor Party victory

· 1976 “Winter of Discontent" marks nadir of Keynesian economic policies in Britain. Prices continue to rise rapidly, and labor union unrest escalates into a series of nationwide strikes that bring the whole country to a virtual standstill

· 1979 Conservative Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister in British history, starts "Thatcher revolution"

· 1979 Margaret Thatcher fights against striking coal miners. At the time 75% of Britain’s coal mines were losing money and the industry was dependent on $3 billion in government subsidies. When she cut the subsidies the miners went on strike which eventually failed. By 2000, only 3000 British worked in the mines.

· Thatcher begins privatization of nationalized industries – eventually 2/3 are privatized

· 1982 Falklands War over Argentina lifts Thatchers popularity and Britain's international standing.

· 1984 First major privatization of a state-owned industry: British Telecom. Thatcher breaks the miners' union, closes money-losing mines, putting thousands out of work

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Ireland

· 1951-62 IRA campaign in North. Fianna Fail’s protectionist economic policies cause slow growth

· 1955 Ireland joins the United Nations.

· 1968 Irish Republican Army (IRA) Catholic rioting begins in Ulster to demand elections and power-sharing

· 1971 First British soldier killed by IRA in Belfast.

· 1972 As the Ulster government is unable to effectively rule, Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland in bid for peace. Ireland joins the European Economic Community

· 1972 January 30: Bloody Sunday in Derry. British paratroopers shoot 13 civilians during civil-rights march.

· 1974 Direct Rule re-imposed

· 1979 Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 79, British World War II hero, and three others killed by blast on fishing boat off Irish coast; two I.R.A. members are accused

· 1981-82 Ten Republicans die on hunger strike. Dying hunger-striker Bobby Sands is elected to British Parliament

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France

· 1945 De Gaulle heads a provisional government at the beginning of the Fourth Republic, then resigns because of internal divisions. He forms a new party, the Rally of the French People (RPF).

· 1945-1947 Nationalization of banking, electricity, gas, coal & others & companies that had consorted with the Vichy government. Halted when board members from communist-controlled unions began abusing power

· 1947 The Monnet Plan: “planization” initiates mixed ecomony. Prioritzing, setting targets, & allocating investment in basic industries (nationalized or not) under independent commission. Proposed by Jean Monnet, a Cognac salesman and international investor (not an officeholder). Begins “Thirty Glorious Years”

· 1947 Money from the Marshal Plan is funneled to the Socialist Party in order to deny victory to the Communist Party. Members of the Communist Party had fought in the French Resistance against the Nazis. One of their policies is for France to pull out of its attempted reconquest of Vietnam. The USA threatens to cut economic aid to France if the government does not dismiss Communist ministers. Communists leave coalition government & initiate strikes under Moscow’s orders.

· 1948-1958 U.S. aid and a national plan bolster economic growth. France remains politically unstable, with a rapid succession of ineffective governments.

· 1954-1962 Algerian War of Independence against France

· 1954 Indochina (Vietnam) war

· 1956 Morocco gains independence

· 1958 Revolt in Paris overthrows the Fourth Republic. Gen. Charles de Gaulle becomes French premier. New constitution adopted, de Gaulle elected president of Fifth Republic.

· 1960 France's colonies in North and West Africa gain independence.

· 1961 When De Gaulle tries to end the Algerian War, but when he begins peace negotiations with the FLN, French military leaders in Algiers turn against him, forming a rebel faction known as the Secret Army Organization (OAS). The OAS seized control of Algiers and threatened to take Paris as well. Most French citizens and military rally to de Gaulle, and after a tense standoff the OAS action fell apart. The OAS, however, became a full-fledged terrorist organization, undertook a wave of bombings and assassinations (including attempts on de Gaulle) that left some 12,000 victims.

· 1962 Algeria gains independence

· 1966 De Gaulle announces France's withdrawal from the integrated military command of NATO (but not from the alliance), rejecting US leadership. De Gaulle also converted France's dollar reserves into gold.

· 1968 Rising inequalities and the government's paternalistic attitude spark a violent, nationwide student and labor uprising. De Gaulle resigns, and Prime Minister Georges Pompidou takes over the presidency while the Socialist Party builds strength.

· 1975-1980 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, leader of the center-right Independent Republicans, is elected president. "Thirty Glorious Years" of postwar economic growth come to an end with successive oil shocks, a growing trade deficit, and unemployment. Unpopular austerity measures fail to redress the economy.

· 1981 A strong left elects Socialist Party leader François Mitterrand president. His predominantly Socialist government implements a sweeping program of reform, decentralizing government, nationalizing large industries, banks and insurance companies, and raising wages and social security benefits. But the resulting increase in public spending further hurts the economy.

· 1983 Economic policy takes a U-turn as Mitterrand abandons protectionist measures. Communists in the government resign.

· 1986 Conservatives win parliamentary elections, and Mitterrand names opposition leader Jacques Chirac as prime minister, ushering in a phase of "cohabitation" governments. Chirac completes the economic policy shift with a denationalization and deregulation program.

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Spain

· 1955 Spain joins the UN

· 1975 Following Francisco Franco’s death, Prince Juan Carlos is named king. He presides of the dissolution of Franco’s institutions

· 1980 Catalonia and Basque Country are granted autonomy following referendums. Basque separatists continue a campaign for independence

· 1982 Spain joins NATO

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Portugal

· 1932-1968 Antonio Salazar is dictator

· 1968-1974 Marcello Caetano is dictator

· 1974 The Carnation Revolution was an almost bloodless, left-leaning, military-led revolution in Lisbon that ended the dictatorship of President Caetano and formed a liberal democracy. The population, holding red carnations, convinced the regime soldiers not to resist and the soldiers readily swapped their bullets for flowers. It was the end of the Estado Novo, the longest authoritarian regime in Western Europe. The country begins a program of land reform, nationalization, and worker rights.

· Portugese colonies Gambia-Bisseau, Angola, and Mozambique gain independence.

· The US finances the opposition media and political parties. Naval and air exercises off the coast of Portugal with 19 NATO warships moored in Lisbon harbour is seen by most Portuguese as intimidation.

· 1975-1976 Riots follow as the Portuguese test their freedom

· 1989 Parliament reforms the socialist economy and denationalizes its industries

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West Germany (FRG)

· 1945 Bizonia, the combined US/British zone, is administrated by US General Lucius Clay. Worthless currency, controls & rationing leads to a barter economy and black market in which Lucky Strike cigarettes from American GIs become the prime currency. The US Morgenthau plan, which called for pastoralization of Germany, is replaced by the Marshall plan

· 1946-1948 Constitutions adopted by the German Länder (states)

· 1946-1948 Hyperinflation again becomes a serious problem and the government imposes wage and price controls. The creates a black market based on American cigarettes and cognac.

· 1948 Clay names Ludwig Erhard the director of economic administration. He is a member of the Ordoliberal or Freiburg school that advocated free-markets with social safety-net, or a “social market economy”, devoted to stable currency and low inflation. Massive overnight currency reform replaces worthless reichsmarks with deutschmarks. Without informing the Clay and the Allies, Erhard lifts price controls & rationing days later, and the black markets disappear

· 1948 The Soviets blockade Berlin in response to the Allies’ currency reform. Allies airlift supplies to West Berlin.

· 1949 Basic Law establishing Federal Republic of Germany passed. Christian Democrats & Konrad Adenauer elected over the Social Democrats by 1 vote in the first election

· 1950s Wirtschaftswunder: German economic miracle. The economy is partially government controlled, but more free-market than Britain or France

· 1951 Federal Republic of Germany becomes member of the Council of Europe and of the European Coal and Steel Community

· 1955 West Germany becomes a sovereign state, joins NATO

· 1957 The Saarland becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany

· 1961 The Berlin Wall goes up. Konrad Adenauer is succeeded by his ally, the Ordoliberal economist Ludwig Erhard.

· 1966 Erhard resigns during the economic downturn.

· 1967-1973 A new government introduces more economic planning, targets, and closer cooperation with labor. The Social Democrats build ties to East Germany and Eastern Europe. The two Germanys recognize each other and join the UN.

· 1974-1981 Helmut Schmidt, moves the coalition to the center, although social programs continue to grow. The oil shocks worsen unemployment and inflation, and critics argue that the German model cannot adapt to the changing world economy.

· 1982-1988 Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl takes office. He tries to reduce the size of government and a slow privatization trend begins. The Green Party grows in influence. Economic ties with East Germany slowly strengthen.

· 1989 Nov. 9 Fall of the Berlin Wall.

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East Germany (GDR)

· 1945-1948 The Soviets confiscate arms plants and firms owned by the state or prominent Nazis, accounting for more than half of production, large tracts of land go to collective farms.

· 1950-1971 Walter Ulbricht is leader of the SED. The Socialist Unity Party (SED) begins 40 years in power.

· 1949-1955 A Soviet-style Politburo and Central Committee ensure that Marxist-Leninist ideology guides politics, education, and the press. The first Five-Year Plan reinforces central planning and state ownership, and labor protests are violently crushed.

· 1953 East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks

· 1954 Soviet Union grants sovereignty to East Germany

· 1956 East Germany joins the Warsaw Pact.

· 1956-1960 Destalinization, or the removal of Stalinist leaders, comes slowly. The Second Five-Year Plan further nationalizes industry and forces collective farming. By 1960, private firms account for less than 10 percent of production.

· 1961 After 2.5 million citizens flee East Germany, the Berlin Wall goes up.

· 1968-1970 Ulbricht engineers a return to conservative politics, fearing that détente with the West will raise expectations for democracy and reunification.

· 1971-1980 Ulbricht falls from power at last, done in by weak economic performance and his opposition to détente. Erich Honecker takes over, and talks lead to mutual recognition by the two Germanys and admission to the UN.

· 1981-1985 New policies aim to make the economy more efficient and improve relations with West Germany. An organized opposition based on peace activism emerges in the 1980s, despite repression and exile.

· 1989 Nov 9: After a confused statement by Communist leaders, huge crowds cross into West Germany. The next day a GDR official concedes the "party is basically kaput."

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Italy

· 1946 Italy abolishes the monarchy.

· 1947 The US forces the government of Italy to dismiss Socialist and Communist ministers by threatening to withdraw economic aid. In later years the CIA would financially support the Christian Democrat Party.

· ENI formed as state-owned oil company led by Enrico Mattei. By 1950s was conglomerate of 36 companies in many industries.

· 1958 Operation Gladio was set up with help from British Intelligence and the CIA, with funding from the latter. Gladio units were trained in Britain in the early 1970s and by US instructors at a military base in the Canary Islands from 1966 to the mid-70s. Gladio was controlled by the Italian secret services from "Office R". It had strong links with P2, a fascist Masonic Lodge composed of most of the top military officers, political leaders, industrialists, bankers and diplomats in Italy. P2 has been described as effectively constituting a right wing parallel government in Italy. In addition, Gladio became a focal point for fascist members of "Marine Star" a veteran's group set up after the Second World War, and was to make use of other fascist groups in the 70s and 80s. Gladio was deeply involved in the so-called "strategy of tension" in the late 60s and 70s. The aim of the strategy, of which the principle tactic was "terrorist outrages" carried out by fascists, was to spread panic and unrest and to directly attack the Left and provoke them into an armed response, which would both justify increased state power under the pretext of a "national emergency" and isolate the Left from popular support. The Italian far right claimed responsibility for many of its actions and its members were actively pursued by the Italian police. Some fled to Britain in the aftermath of the August 1980 bomb at the Bologna railway station and were provided with safe-housing by British fascists in the League of St. George. However, it was the Bologna bomb that led to the unraveling of the link between Italian fascist paramilitaries; P2; the secret services and Gladio. The 1982 testimony of a P2 member in prison in Switzerland, revealed that the outrage was instigated by that organization and involved elements of the secret services. Subsequent investigators revealed that the explosive used probably came from Gladio arsenals. Gladio was "officially disbanded" by the Italian government in 1990 after the story broke. In 1992 it was officially declared to have been a clandestine and illegal "armed band" involved in subversion, by an Italian parliamentary commission on terrorism. The 1990 revelations in Italy had a wider impact. After all, Gladio was simply the Italian branch of a European wide network. The Belgian, French, Dutch, Greek and German governments all officially acknowledged that they took part in the covert NATO network.

· Northern Italy has poured aid money into Southern Italy for almost 60 years

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Greece

· 1947 The US intervenes in the civil war in Greece supporting the neo-fascist side against the Greek resistance to the Nazis.

· 1949 The USA backs a military coup in Greece and helps the new government set up a secret police, the KYP. The military would rule until 1952.

· 1960 Cyprus becomes an independent republic

· 1964-1974 Greek-Turkish conflict in Cyprus. UN troops sent in to keep peace.

· 1967 A military coup led by ex-Nazi George Papadopoulolis overthrows the elected government. The coup had been planned by the Greek monarchy, the Greek military, the American military stationed in Greece and the USA CIA. During the first month of the new regime 8,000 people are imprisoned and tortured. Greece is expelled from the European Commission on Human Rights, but continues to receive aid from the US in return for housing American military bases. The country continues to be part of NATO. Amnesty International would later report that "American policy on the torture question as expressed in official statements and official testimony has been to deny it where possible and minimize it where denial was not possible". Bill Clinton, US president, speaking in Greece: "When the junta took over in 1967 here the United States allowed its interests in prosecuting the Cold War to prevail over its interests - I should say its obligation - to support democracy, which was, after all, the cause for which we fought the Cold War. It is important that we acknowledge that."

· 1973 Greek military junta abolishes monarchy and proclaims republic

· 1974 Greek-Turkish conflict in Cyprus ends. Greek military junta resigns. Turks occupy Nicosia.

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Eastern Europe

Poland

· 1956 Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poznan, Poland, is crushed

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Hungary

· 1946 Republic of Hungary proclaimed. A coalition government begins land reform and nationalizes mines, electric plants, heavy industry, and some banks.

· 1949 The Soviet-backed Communist Party holds an election, its candidates unopposed; adopts a Soviet-style constitution; and forms the Hungarian People's Republic (HWP).

· 1950-1955 Hungary adopts the Soviet economic development model: Agriculture is collectivized, with farm profits used to expand state-owned heavy industry. Wage controls and different pricing systems for producers and consumers fuel discontent as foreign debt and shortages grow. Prime Minister Imre Nagy attempts reforms after Stalin dies in 1953, but conservatives in his own HWP thwart him and reclaim power.

· 1956 May 21: Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poznan, Poland inspires Hungarian students to stage a protest against Communism in Budapest. Rebellion forces Soviet troops to withdraw from Budapest. Oct. 29: Imre Nagy is renamed prime minister, unsuccessfully negotiates for the withdrawal of USSR troops from his country. Nov. 1: Hungary quits the Warsaw Pact, appealing in vain to the UN and the West. Nov. 4: Soviet troops enter and reclaim Budapest. Onetime Nagy supporter János Kádár flees to Moscow and announces the formation of a Soviet-backed government.

· 1957-1965 Severe reprisals follow the 1956 uprising; some 200,000 flee to the West. Nagy is arrested, then executed. Kádár returns to Budapest, declaring a general amnesty and relatively liberal cultural and economic policies in an effort to overcome hostility and ensure political stability through prosperity. Collectivization persists, but peasants are offered incentives to join cooperatives.

· 1974-1987 Having signed a 1978 bilateral trade agreement with the U.S., Hungary has one of Eastern Europe's most liberal economies. But as investment falls, agriculture and industry decline. Consumer subsidies and unprofitable state-owned enterprises cause foreign debt to jump from $1 billion in '73 to $15 billion in '93. In response, the government institutes an income tax and joins the IMF and World Bank.

· 1988 Hungary becomes the first Soviet bloc member to move toward Western-style parliamentary democracy. Communist leader Kádár is ousted; in 1989 legislation is adopted for multiparty parliamentary elections, thus establishing the Republic of Hungary

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Czechoslovakia

· 1945 Soviet troops occupy much of the country

· 1946 Democratic forces, led by Eduard Benes, plan for a national election. The Czech Communist Party wins 38 percent of the vote and stops the advance of anti-Communists.

· 1947 Under instructions from Moscow, the Communist-led government backs out of participation in the Marshall Plan. The economy is relatively undamaged since German occupiers maintained industrial plants, which the new government now takes over. Foreign trade and agriculture remain in private hands.

· 1948 The Communist Party assumes complete control, effectively establishing a one-party system and imposing a Soviet economic model. Most economic sectors are nationalized; central planning is in place by 1952.

· 1968 Soviet troops crush Prague uprising and occupy Czechoslovakia to suppress the liberalism of Secretary Alexander Dubcek.

· 1969-1986 Reformers are removed from office, and central authority is effectively restored. Central planning and price controls are revived. Personal and political freedoms are again curtailed.

· 1989 Nov.: The bloodless "Velvet Revolution" begins when police violently break up a pro-democracy demonstration. The Civic Forum led by dissident playwright Vaclav Havel gains popular support. Dec: Communist Party leaders resign, and Havel is elected president by the Federal Assembly

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Balkans

Yugoslavia

· 1948 Stalin and Tito break

· 1953-1980 Tito is president until he dies in 1980

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Romania

· 1989 Dec: Romanian uprising overthrows Communist government. President Ceausescu and his wife are executed.

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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

· 1947 “Siberian winter”

· 1953 Stalin dies; Nikita Krushchev becomes first secretary of Communist Party. The lowest estimate for the number of people who were killed on political grounds in the last seven years of Stalin's life is five million

· 1955 Warsaw Pact, east European mutual defense agreement, signed

· 1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin. Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poznan, Poland, is crushed; rebellion inspires Hungarian students to stage a protest against Communism in Budapest

· 1958 Khrushchev becomes premier of Soviet Union

· 1960 Communist China and Soviet Union split in conflict over Communist ideology

· 1964 Leonid Brezhnev helps engineer Khrushchev's fall from power, becomes first secretary of Communist Party

· 1969 Major border clashes with China

· 1972 Détente: Nixon visits USSR, signs arms control treaties with Chairman Brezhnev

· 1979-1988 Soviets invade Afghanistan

· 1982 Leonid Brezhnev dies. Yuri Andropov chosen as successor. 1984: Andropov dies; Konstantin Chernenko named Soviet Union leader.

· 1985 Chernenko dies and is replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev attempts to improve the faltering economy with glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). C.I.A. analysts had concluded that for every one-dollar drop in the price of a barrel of oil, Moscow would lose between $500million and $1 billion per year in critical hard currency. The Soviet empire was not extortionary, in the sense of providing a bounty of riches to the imperial center, as India and other colonial holdings had done for Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries; instead, it was a drain on Moscow. Without oil, the heirs of Lenin would have had great difficulty subsidizing their needy allies and their military.

· 1986 Less than two miles from what was then a city of 50,000, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant's number four reactor exploded. Thirty people died in the blast and fire or were exposed to lethal radiation. The destroyed hulk burned for ten days, contaminating tens of thousands of square miles in northern Ukraine, southern Belarus, and Russia's Bryansk region. It was the worst nuclear accident the world has ever seen. The fallout, 400 times more radioactivity than was released at Hiroshima, drove a third of a million people from their homes and triggered an epidemic of thyroid cancer in children. Over the years, the economic losses—health and cleanup costs, compensation, lost productivity—have mounted into the hundreds of billions of dollars. As evidence of government bungling and secrecy emerged in its wake, Chernobyl (or Chornobyl, as it is now known in independent Ukraine) even sped the breakup of the Soviet Union.

· 1989 Berlin Wall is open to West.

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Middle East

· 1930s The Baath movement is formed out of an Arab student union at University in Paris, the becomes the Baath Party in Damascus in the 1940s. It will become a large Pan-Arabist, nationalist, Islamic force. The party splits into two branches; one takes power in Syria, the other in Iraq, but they remain bitter rivals.

· 1945 Arab League formed

· 1948-1949 War against Israel. The Arabs reject the UN partition of Palestine, and the armies of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq attack Israel from all sides with the declared intent of destroying it. In 1949 an armistice agreement is signed. Jordan's annexes Judea and Samaria; this is not recognized by the international community, with the exception of Britain and Pakistan

· 1956 Suez crisis. Egypt blockades the Israeli port of Eilat. In response Israel launches an invasion of Siani on October 29. At the same time, Britain and France, angered over the Egyptian nationalization of the Suez canal, launched their own campaign. In March 1957 Israel withdraws her troops from the Sinai and Gaza strip and UN troops replaced them. Despite Israel's withdrawal, the Egyptians refuse to open the Suez canal to Israeli shipping.

· 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine calls for aid to Mideast countries which resist armed aggression from Communist-controlled nations

· 1958 Egypt and Syria merge into United Arab Republic. Yemen joins to form the United Arab States

· 1965 Arab Common Market formed: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria

Three Day War, 1967