From the Iron Curtain to the Cuban Missile Crisis — the dangerous first phase of superpower rivalry that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
The United Nations is established in San Francisco with 51 founding member states, committed to preventing another world war.
Winston Churchill declares that an 'iron curtain' has descended across Europe, marking the beginning of Cold War rhetoric.
President Truman pledges American support for nations resisting communism, establishing the policy of containment.
The US launches a massive economic aid program to rebuild Western Europe, spending $13 billion to prevent economic collapse and communist expansion.
British India is divided into independent India and Pakistan, triggering the largest mass migration in history and communal violence killing up to 2 million.
The State of Israel is proclaimed, immediately followed by invasion from five Arab armies in the first Arab-Israeli War.
The Soviet Union blocks Western access to Berlin, prompting the Berlin Airlift — 278,000 flights delivering supplies over 11 months.
The USSR detonates its first nuclear weapon, ending America's atomic monopoly and beginning the nuclear arms race.
Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China after communist forces defeat the Nationalists, reshaping Asian geopolitics.
North Korean forces invade the South, triggering a three-year war that kills 2.5 million and cements Cold War divisions in Asia.
Leaders from 29 newly independent Asian and African nations meet in Indonesia, laying groundwork for the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite, shocking the West and igniting the Space Race.
Fidel Castro's guerrilla forces overthrow the Batista dictatorship, establishing the Western Hemisphere's first communist state.
East Germany builds a wall through Berlin overnight, physically dividing the city and becoming the Cold War's most potent symbol.
Thirteen days of nuclear brinkmanship between the US and USSR over Soviet missiles in Cuba — the closest the world has come to nuclear war.