| 1945 | Yalta Conference; end of World War II in Europe; Potsdam Conference; Nuremberg trials begin |
| 1945–1960s | Decolonization of Asia and Africa |
| 1945–1965 | United States takes lead in Big Science |
| 1947 | Truman Doctrine; Marshall Plan |
| 1948 | Foundation of Israel |
| 1948–1949 | Berlin airlift |
| 1949 | Creation of East and West Germany; formation of NATO; establishment of COMECON |
| 1950–1953 | Korean War |
| 1953 | Death of Stalin |
| 1954–1962 | Algerian War of Independence |
| 1955 | Warsaw Pact founded |
| 1955–1964 | Khrushchev in power; de-Stalinization of Soviet Union |
| 1956 | Suez crisis |
| 1957 | Formation of Common Market; Pasternak publishes Doctor Zhivago |
| 1961 | Building of Berlin Wall |
| 1962 | Cuban missile crisis; Solzhenitsyn publishes One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich |
| 1964 | Brezhnev replaces Khrushchev as Soviet leader |