Cold+War+Time+Line

** ** 1940's: *** 1945: Feb 4-11 -- Yalta Conference -- Genesis of Cold War > system called CARS (Combat Arms Regimental System). > implementation of ROCAD (Reorganization of Current > Armored Division). > at 277,342 for the Cold War era (1946-1991). > under ROAD concept (Reorganization Objective Army Divisions) > forerunner of REFORGER exercises; 2AD air-lifted from Ft. Hood, TX
 * A CONCISE TIME-LINE OF THE COLD WAR 1945-1992
 * 1945: March -- 3AD captures Cologne; crosses Rhine
 * 1945: March/April -- 3AD battles in Central Germany
 * 1945: May 8 -- **Germany surrenders to Allies**
 * 1945: Jul 16 - Aug 2 -- Potsdam Conference
 * 1945: Aug 6 -- U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
 * 1945: Aug 8 -- USSR enters war against Japan
 * 1945: Aug 14 -- Japan surrenders -- End of World War II
 * 1945 Nov 9 -- **3AD deactivated in Germany**
 * 1946: March -- Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech
 * 1947: June -- Marshall Plan is announced
 * 1947: July -- **3AD reactivated as training unit, Ft. Knox, KY**
 * 1948: Feb -- Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia
 * 1948: June 24 -- Berlin Blockade by USSR begins
 * 1949: July -- NATO ratified as a military organization
 * 1949: May 12 -- Berlin Blockade ends
 * 1949: Sept -- Communists take control of China
 * 1949: Sept -- USSR explodes its first atomic bomb
 * 1950's: *** 1950: June -- Korean War begins
 * 1951: Jan 12 -- Fed. Civil Defense Administration established
 * 1953: June 19 -- Rosenberg spy executions
 * 1953: July -- Korean War ends
 * 1954: March -- KGB established
 * 1954: -- CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran
 * 1954: July -- Vietnam split at 17th parallel after French defeated
 * 1955: March -- **3AD reverts to combat division, Ft. Knox, KY**
 * 1955: May -- Warsaw Pact formed
 * 1956: May -- **3AD redeployed to West Germany**
 * 1956: Oct - Nov -- Rebellion put down in Communist Hungary
 * 1957: July 1 -- Start of 3AD reorganization under new Army-wide
 * 1957: Oct 1 -- Continued reorganization of 3AD with the
 * 1957: Oct 4 -- USSR launches Sputnik into Earth orbit
 * 1957: Oct -- **3AD first receives tactical nuclear weapons**
 * 1958: Nov -- Khrushchev demands U.S. troops leave Berlin
 * 1959: Jan -- Fidel Castro takes over Cuba
 * 1959: -- **3AD begins conversion from M-1 to M-14 rifle**
 * 1960's: *** 1960: May 1 -- U.S. U2 spy plane shot down over Russia
 * 1960: Oct -- **Creighton Abrams made 3AD Commander**
 * 1960: Nov -- John F. Kennedy elected President
 * 1961: -- **3AD begins conversion to M-60 Battle Tank**
 * 1961: April -- Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuba
 * 1961: April 12 -- USSR astronaut Gagarin first to orbit Earth
 * 1961: Aug 13 -- Berlin border closed
 * 1961: Aug 17 -- Construction of Berlin Wall begins
 * 1962: -- U.S. involvement in Vietnam increases
 * 1962: June -- **US Army Europe troop strength peaks**
 * 1962: Oct -- Cuban Missile Crisis (nuclear war narrowly averted)
 * 1963: June 25 -- **Kennedy visits 3AD troops in Germany**
 * 1963: July -- Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified
 * 1963: Sept -- **3AD is completely revamped in organization**
 * 1963: Oct-Nov -- **3AD participates in Operation BIG LIFT**,
 * 1964: Aug -- Gulf of Tonkin incident -- Start of Vietnam War
 * 1964: Oct 16 -- China detonates its first atomic bomb
 * 1968: Jan -- North Korea captures USS Pueblo
 * 1968: Aug -- Soviet troops crush Czechoslovakian revolt
 * 1969: Jan -- **3AD in USAREUR's first REFORGER field exercise**
 * 1969: July 20 -- U.S. lands first man on moon
 * 1970's: *** 1970: April -- President Richard Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia
 * 1970: July -- **3AD begins belated conversion to M-16 rifle**
 * 1972: July -- SALT I nuclear treaty signed
 * 1973: Jan -- Ceasefire in Vietnam between North Vietnam & U.S.
 * 1973: March -- Last sizable U.S. military units depart South Vietnam
 * 1973: Oct -- Egypt & Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid
 * 1973: -- **End of the U.S. military draft**
 * 1974: -- **3AD begins conversion to all-volunteer force**
 * 1974: -- **First female soldiers join 3AD** (then still WAC's)
 * 1974: Aug -- President Nixon resigns
 * 1975: April 30 -- Saigon falls to North; the end of South Vietnam
 * 1975: July 27 -- **President Gerald Ford visits 3AD**
 * 1979: July -- SALT II nuclear treaty signed
 * 1979: Nov -- Shah of Iran overthrown; Iranian Hostage Crisis
 * 1980's *** 1980: Nov -- Ronald Reagan elected President
 * 1983: -- Reagan reveals Strategic Defense Initiative, "Star Wars"
 * 1985 -- **3AD begins conversion to M1 Abrams Battle Tank**
 * 1985: -- Mikhail Gorbachev ascends to power in USSR
 * 1986: -- Gorbachev ends economic aid to Soviet satellites
 * 1986: Oct -- Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe
 * 1987: June 19 -- **3AD wins the Canadian Army Trophy (CAT)** with a remarkable performance by 1st platoon, Delta Company, 4th Battalion, 8th Cavalry (formerly 3-33 Armor). It was the first such "world series" victory by a U.S. Army unit in 24 years of this international tank gunnery competition.
 * 1987: Oct -- Reagan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear missiles from Europe by signing treaty
 * 1988: Jan -- **3AD receives its first Bradley Fighting Vehicles**
 * 1988: Jan -- **3AD in last full-scale REFORGER exercise**
 * 1989: Jan -- Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan
 * 1989: June -- China puts down protests for democracy
 * 1989: June -- Poland becomes independent
 * 1989: Sept -- Hungary becomes independent
 * 1989: Nov -- Berlin Wall falls
 * 1989: Dec -- Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania
 * 1990's *** 1990: Jan -- **3AD in scaled-down REFORGER exercise**
 * 1990: March -- Lithuania becomes independent
 * 1990: May 29 -- Boris Yeltsin elected to presidency of Russia
 * 1990: Aug 2 -- Iraq invades Kuwait; threatens Saudi Arabia
 * 1990: Oct 3 -- **West Germany and East Germany unite**
 * 1990: Dec -- **3AD redeployed to Saudi Arabia**
 * 1991: Feb -- **3AD in Operation Desert Storm**
 * 1991: March - July -- **3AD redeployed back to Germany**
 * 1991: April -- Warsaw Pact ends
 * 1991: June 8 -- 3AD battalion-size contingent marches in Desert Storm Victory Parade in Washington, D.C.
 * 1991: Aug -- **USSR Dissolved -- Cold War Ends**
 * 1992: Jan 17 -- **3AD deactivated in Germany**
 * 1992: Oct 17 -- Formal 3AD deactivation at Ft. Knox, ceremony & speeches, including WWII veterans and former Division commanders. ||