1960 • January 10: British prime minister
Harold Macmillan delivers his first 'Wind of Change' speech in Accra. His speech hints at a move towards decolonisation of
British possessions in Africa. • January 19: The United States and Japan sign the
Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, a defence treaty allowing the US to maintain military bases in Japan. • February 11: Skirmishes on the Chinese-Indian border cause the deaths of 12 Indian soldiers. • February 16: France successfully tests its first atomic bomb,
Gerboise Bleue, in the middle of the Algerian Sahara Desert. • April:
Jupiter IRBM deployment to Italy begins, placing nuclear missiles within striking range of Moscow (as with the
Thor IRBMs deployed in the UK). • April 25: The
April Revolution ousts South Korean President
Syngman Rhee from office and installs
Yun Posun as president. • May 1: American pilot
Francis Gary Powers is shot down in his
U-2 spy plane while flying at high altitude over the Soviet Union, resulting in the
U-2 Incident, an embarrassment for
President Eisenhower. • June:
Sino-Soviet split: the
Chinese leadership, angered at being treated as the "junior partner" to the Soviet Union, declares its version of Communism superior and begin to
compete with the Soviets for influence, thus adding a third dimension to the Cold War. • June 15: Following the April Revolution the
Second Republic of Korea is created. • July 1: A Soviet fighter jet shoots down an RB-47 reconnaissance plane over the Barents Sea, resulting in the
1960 RB-47 shootdown incident. • July 5: The
Congo Crisis begins. • July 31:
Communist insurgents in Malaya are defeated. • August 3:
Niger becomes independent from France. • August 6: Cuban leader Fidel Castro orders the nationalisation of all American-owned property. • August 9: The
Pathet Lao (communist) revolt in Laos begins. • August 11:
Chad becomes independent from France. • August 17:
Gabon becomes independent from France. • September 30:
Sukarno gives a speech in front of the fifteenth
United Nations General Assembly titled "To Build The World Anew" in which he criticizes the
United Nations for not being neutral and questions location of the
United Nations Headquarters in
New York, United States. • October 12: While addressing the United Nations, Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev becomes agitated at criticisms of Soviet policies in eastern European. Khrushchev removes his shoe and thumps it on the lectern. • October 19: The US places a partial embargo on Cuba, banning the export of all items except food and medicine. • November 13: the
Guatemalan Civil War begins. • November 28:
Mauritania becomes independent from France. • December 20: Formation of the
National Liberation Front (often called Viet Cong) by North Vietnam. It is a communist insurgent movement that vows to overthrow the anti-communist South Vietnamese regime. It is supplied extensively by North Vietnam, China, and the
USSR eventually.
1961 • January 3: President Eisenhower severs
diplomatic relations with Cuba. • January 13:
Patrice Lumumba, elected President of the
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) is assassinated with the support of the CIA in the context of the
Congo Crisis • January 20:
John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States. • January 31:
Ham is launched into space as a part of
Project Mercury, a mission to successfully place a human into orbit and return them safely. • February 4:
Angolan nationalists, including communists, begin an insurgency against Portuguese rule. This marked the beginning of the
Portuguese Colonial War. • February 12:
Venera 1 is successfully launched by the Soviet Union with the intention of conducting a flyby mission to Venus. • April 12:
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth when the
Soviet Union successfully launches
Vostok 1. • April 17–19:
Bay of Pigs Invasion: A CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by
counter-revolutionaries ends in failure. • April 21:
Sierra Leone becomes independent from the UK under
Commonwealth status. • May 5:
Alan Shepard becomes the first American to go into space when
Freedom 7 is launched successfully. • May 19: Venera 1 successfully reaches Venus being the first spacecraft to do so, but is unable to transmit any data. • May 25: John F. Kennedy announces the US intention to put a man on the Moon – kickstarting
Project Mercury, America's first
human spaceflight program. • June 4: Kennedy
meets with Khrushchev in Vienna. • June:
Jupiter IRBM deployment to
Turkey begins, joining the Jupiters deployed to Italy as well as the
Thor IRBMs deployed to the UK as nuclear missiles placed within striking distance of Moscow. • July 11: North Korea and China sign a defensive treaty, the
Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty. • July 19: The
Nicaraguan Revolution begins. • August 13: The
Berlin Wall is built by the Soviets following the breakdown in talks to decide the future of Germany. • August 17:
Alliance for Progress aid to Latin America from the United States begins. • September 1: The Soviet Union resumed testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. The
Eritrean War of Independence begins. • September 4: John F. Kennedy signs the
Foreign Assistance Act. • September 18: UN Secretary General
Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash on his way to negotiate a ceasefire in
Katanga amidst the
Congo Crisis • September 28:
Syria withdraws from the
United Arab Republic. • October 17: 22nd Soviet Party Congress held in USSR. • October 27:
Checkpoint Charlie standoff between US and Soviet tanks begins. • October 31: The Soviet Union detonates the
Tsar Bomba, the most powerful
thermonuclear weapon ever tested, with an
explosive yield of some 50
megatons. • November 18: John F. Kennedy authorizes the deployment of 18,000 military advisors to support the struggle against communist insurgents in South Vietnam. • December 2: Fidel Castro openly describes himself as a
Marxist–Leninist. • December 18:
Republic of India invades the former Portuguese territory of Goa.
1962 • January 15:
Indonesian Armed Forces starts to infiltrate into the
Dutch overseas territory of western New Guinea as a part of
Operation Trikora, the second and last confrontation between
Indonesia and the
Netherlands over
imperialism. • February 10: American pilot
Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for senior KGB spy Colonel
Rudolf Abel. • February 20:
John Glenn is launched into space aboard
Friendship-7 becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. Despite having many delays in the launch itself, the flight is successful. • July 1:
Rwanda-Burundi becomes independent from Belgium. • July 20:
Neutralization of Laos is established by international agreement, but North Vietnam refuses to withdraw its personnel. • August 2:
Jamaica is granted
independence by the UK. • August 27:
Mariner 2 is launched to make a flyby of Venus. • August 31:
Trinidad and Tobago was granted independence by the UK. • September 8:
Himalayan War: Chinese forces attack India, making claims on numerous border areas. • September 26: the
North Yemen Civil War begins between partisans of the
Mutawakkilite Kingdom and supporters of the
Yemen Arab Republic. • October 9:
Uganda becomes independent from the UK under
Commonwealth status. • October 16:
Cuban Missile Crisis: the Soviets have secretly been installing military bases, including
nuclear weapons, on Cuba, some 90 miles from the US mainland. Kennedy orders a "quarantine" (a
naval blockade) of the island that intensifies the crisis and brings the US and the
USSR to the brink of
nuclear war. In the end, both sides reach a compromise. The Soviets back down and agree to withdraw their
nuclear missiles from Cuba, in exchange for a secret agreement by Kennedy pledging to withdraw similar American missiles from Turkey and Italy, and guaranteeing that the US will not move against the
Castro regime. • October 20: the
Sino-Indian War begins between India and the People's Republic of China about the disputed
Aksai Chin region. • November 1: The Soviet Union successfully launches Mars 1 with the intention of making a flyby of Mars. • November 20: End of the
Sino-Indian War. The People's Republic of China ends up withdrawing from most of the land it occupies but does end up occupying of the
Aksai Chin region and the area would remain a source of contention between the India and the People's Republic of China. The
fight for independence in
Portuguese Guinea begins. • February 10: the
overthrow of
Abd al-Karim Qasim. • June 9: The
Dhofar Liberation Front wages a war in Oman known as the
Dhofar Rebellion. • June 13: Mars 1 likely reaches Mars conducting flyby. Yet, radio contact was lost with the probe on March 21. • June 16:
Vostok 6 was launched, with
Valentina Tereshkova becoming the first woman in space. • June 20: The United States agrees to set up a
hotline with the USSR, thus making direct communication possible. • June 21: France announces that it is withdrawing its navy from the North Atlantic fleet of NATO. • June 26: U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers his "
Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in Berlin. • July 31: The
Manila Accord was signed by the
Republic of Indonesia, the
Federation of Malaya (soon to become
Malaysia), and the
Philippines. This agreement contains an agreement on self-determination by the people of
Sabah and
Sarawak through free elections. A conference called
Maphilindo was formed, which consisted of three countries that signed the Manila Accord. • August 5: The
Partial Test Ban Treaty is signed by the US, UK and USSR, prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons anywhere except underground. • September 16:
Malaysia was
formed, with
Tunku Abdul Rahman as its first
prime minister. This was considered to have violated the
Manila Accord because Malaysia was formed before the
Sabah and
Sarawak self-determination election results were reported. • September 25: A
border war was fought between Morocco and Algeria. • October 14: The
Aden Emergency begins against
British rule. • November 2: South Vietnamese President
Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in a
coup supported by the CIA. • November 22:
John F. Kennedy is
shot and killed in Dallas. There has been some speculation over whether communist countries, or even the CIA, were involved in the assassination, but those theories remain controversial. Kennedy's vice-president
Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President of the United States. • December 12:
Kenya becomes independent from the UK under
Commonwealth status.
1964 • January 12: the Arab-dominated government of the
Zanzibar Sultanate is
overthrown by
John Okello, establishing the new
people's republic. The new regime orders a massacre against minorities, resulting in the deaths of hundred to thousand
Arabs and
South Asians in
Zanzibar. • January 27: France recognizes the
People's Republic of China. The
Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with France on February 10. • March 31–April 1: A
military-led
coup d'état overthrows president
João Goulart in
Brazil. Goulart's proposals, such as
land reform and bigger control of the state in the economy, were seen as communist. • April 20: U.S. President Lyndon Johnson in New York, and Soviet First Secretary
Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, announce simultaneously plans to cut back production of materials for making
nuclear weapons. • May 27:
Jawaharlal Nehru dies. The
Colombian conflict begins. • July 4: The
Rhodesian Bush War begins when African nationalist / Marxist insurgents rebel against colonial rule in
Rhodesia (modern-day
Zimbabwe).
Nyasaland (renamed
Malawi upon independence) becomes independent from the UK. • August 4: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson claims that North Vietnamese naval vessels had fired on two American
destroyers in the
Gulf of Tonkin. Although there was a first attack, it was later shown that American vessels had entered North Vietnamese territory first, and that the claim of second attack had been unfounded. The
Gulf of Tonkin incident leads to the open involvement of the United States in the
Vietnam War, after the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. • September 21:
Malta becomes independent from the UK. • September 24: The
Mozambican War of Independence begins in
Portuguese Mozambique. • October 12: The first spaceflight to carry multiple crewman into orbit was conducted by
Voskhod 1. • October 14:
Leonid Brezhnev succeeds Khrushchev to become
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with
Alexei Kosygin as his
Premier. • October 16: China tests its
first atomic bomb. The test makes China the world's fifth
nuclear power. • October 24:
Northern Rhodesia renamed
Zambia becomes independent from the UK. • November 28:
Mariner 4 was launched.
1965 • January 24:
Winston Churchill dies. • February 18:
The Gambia becomes independent from the UK under
Commonwealth status. • March 18:
Alexei Leonov conducts the first
extravehicular activity or spacewalk in history from his spacecraft,
Voskhod 2 in space. • March 23:
Ranger 9 transmitted live footage of the surface of the Moon before crashing into its surface. • April 24:
Dominican Civil War: Forces loyal to former President
Juan Bosch overthrow current leader
Donald Reid Cabral. • June 3:
Ed White conducts the first American spacewalk from his spacecraft,
Gemini IV. • July 14–15: Mariner 4 successfully takes pictures of the surface of Mars. • August 5: Beginning of the
Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. • August 9:
Singapore gains independence after being expelled from Malaysia. • October 1: Six Indonesian generals are killed by the
30 September Movement during an abortive coup d'état later blamed on the
Communist Party of Indonesia.
Mass killings of suspected communists begin shortly after. • November 1: The
Chadian Civil War was waged between rebels and the Chadian government. • November 11: The
white-dominated government of
Rhodesia declares its independence which was regarded as an illegal proclamation by British Prime Minister
Harold Wilson. Rhodesia was
never formally recognised by any country but receives support from neighboring
Portuguese Mozambique and the
South African
apartheid regime in their
war against African guerrillas that determined to oust the white government. • November 1965:
Venera 3 was launched. • November 22:
DN Aidit, Chairman of
Communist Party of Indonesia, is executed by the
Indonesian Army in
Boyolali after becoming a fugitive as a consequence of the
30 September Movement which are blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia. • December 4: The
Gemini 7 completes 206 orbits around the Earth, equating to roughly one trip to the Moon.
1966 • January 31:
Luna 9 is launched. • February 3: Luna 9 successfully lands on the Moon becoming the first spacecraft to softly land on another extraterrestrial body. • March 1: Venera 3 becomes the first man-made object to impact another planet. • March 10: France withdraws from NATO command structure. • March 11: President Sukarno of Indonesia signs a
document, handing over authority to Major General
Suharto. This led to Suharto later establishing the pro-western and anti-communist
New Order regime. This regime would remain in power until 1998. • May 8: Communist China detonates a third nuclear device. • May 26:
Guiana becomes independent from the UK under
Commonwealth status. • May 30:
Surveyor 1 is launched. • June 2: Surveyor 1 becomes the first American spacecraft to softly land on
another extraterrestrial body. • August 11: The Jakarta Accord is signed by the
Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik and
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Razak ending the
hostility between Indonesia and Malaysia. • August 26:
South African Border War begins. • September 30:
Bechuanaland renamed
Botswana becomes independent from the UK. • October 5: Beginning of
low-level armed clashes in
Korean DMZ between North Korea and South Korea backed by the United States. • November 30:
Barbados becomes independent from the UK.
1967 • March 11: The
Cambodian Civil War begins with the
Samlaut Uprising. • March 12: General
Suharto officially overthrows
Sukarno and appointed as
president of Indonesia.
Indonesia switches sides from being friendly with
Eastern Bloc countries such as the
Soviet Union, the
People's Republic of China,
North Korea, and
Cuba during the Sukarno administration to becoming friends with
western countries such as the
United States during the Suharto administration or
New Order era. Foreign capital and investors began to enter Indonesia. • April 25: 33
Latin American and
Caribbean countries sign the
Treaty of Tlatelolco in Mexico City, which seek the prohibition of nuclear weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean. • May 18:
Yuri Andropov becomes chairman of the
KGB. • May 23: The
United Arab Republic blocks the
Straits of Tiran, then expels UN peacekeepers and moves its army into the
Sinai Peninsula in preparation for possible attack on
Israel. • May 25:
Uprising in
Naxalbari, India marking the expansion of
Maoism as a violent, anti-US and anti-Soviet, revolutionary movement across a number of developing countries. • May 30: The
Nigerian state of
Biafra secedes from the rest of Nigeria, declaring itself as the Republic of Biafra. • June 5: In response to Egypt's aggression, Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula, beginning the
Six-Day War. • June 17: China detonates its first hydrogen bomb. • June 23: U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier
Alexei Kosygin in
Glassboro, New Jersey for a three-day summit. • July 1: Beginning of the
War of Attrition. • July 6: The
Nigerian Civil War begins in response to Biafra's declaration of independence. • August 8:
Bangkok Declaration is established to quell the communist threat in
Southeast Asia. This creates
ASEAN. • October 8:
Che Guevara is captured in
Bolivia by U.S. trained Bolivian rangers. • October 9:
Che Guevara is executed after being captured the day before. • November 29:
Robert McNamara announces that he will resign as U.S. Secretary of Defense to become President of the
World Bank.
1968 • January 30:
Tet Offensive in South Vietnam begins. • March 1: The
years of Lead start in Italy with the
Battle of Valle Giulia clash between far-right and far-left militants. • March 12:
Mauritius becomes independent from the UK under
Commonwealth status. • March 18: The
Moro conflict begins in Southern Philippines. • March 30: Johnson suspends bombings over North Vietnam and announces he is not running for reelection. • June 8: Tet Offensive ends; while an American military victory, it raises questions over America's military chances in Vietnam. • June 17: The
Second Malayan Emergency begins. • July 1: The
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is opened for signature. • July 17:
Abdul Rahman Arif, the
President of Iraq at that time was overthrown by a
coup staged by
Iraq Ba'athist Party. The revolution eventually lead to the installation of the
Ba'athist government in Iraq. • August 20:
Prague Spring Reforms in Communist Czechoslovakia result in Warsaw Pact, led by Soviet Red Army, crushing Czechoslovak revolt. • September 6:
Swaziland becomes independent from the UK. • October 3: Peruvian General
Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrows President
Fernando Belaunde Terry in a
military coup. • October 12:
Spanish Guinea (modern day
Equatorial Guinea) becomes independent from Spain. • December 23: The captain and crew of the
USS Pueblo are released by
North Korea. • December 21–27: The launch of
Apollo 8, the first crewed spaceflight to enter the gravitational influence of another celestial body and to orbit the Moon. The crew would complete ten orbits, then return to Earth without landing on the Moon.
1969 • January 20:
Richard Nixon becomes President of the United States. • March 2:
Border clashes between the Soviet Union and China. • March 17: the U.S. begins
bombing Communist sanctuaries in
Cambodia. • July 16:
Apollo 11 is launched. • July 20: the U.S. accomplishes the first crewed Moon landing,
Apollo 11. Crewed by
Neil Armstrong,
"Buzz" Aldrin, and
Michael Collins. • July 24:
Apollo 11 returns to Earth. • July 25: "
Vietnamization" begins with U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam and the burden of combat being placed on the South Vietnamese. • September 1:
Muammar Gaddafi overthrows the
Libyan monarchy and expels British and American personnel.
Libya aligns itself with the
Soviet Union. • September 2:
North Vietnamese leader
Ho Chi Minh dies. • October 21:
Siad Barre overthrows the government of
Somalia in a
bloodless coup. He declares himself
President of Somalia and reorganizes the country into a
one-party communist state; the
Somali Democratic Republic. • November 17: The
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks begin in
Helsinki. • November 27–December 6: the
al-Wadiah War was fought between
South Yemen and
Saudi Arabia. • December 12: A bomb planted by far-right extremists sets off in a bank in
Milan,
Italy, killing 17 people and injuring 88. This event (remembered as the
Piazza Fontana bombing) is one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks Italy would receive during the
years of lead. == 1970s ==