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Timeline of key international relations events
January USSR requests American loan. February Yalta conference of Big Three leaders. Ceasefire in Greek Civil War. March British Foreign Office discusses value of a tougher stance against and showdown with the Soviets. Some Anglo-American concern over Soviet installation of puppet Romanian government ( Feb.) and failure to broaden Lublin governments in Poland in breach of Yalta agreement. Soviets denounce Turkish treaty and refuse to sign another one unless Turkey returns provinces of Kars and Ardahan. April President Roosevelt dies. Truman confronts Molotov over Soviet failure to stick to all the Yalta agreements. May German surrender ends the war in Europe. May–June Hopkins mission to Moscow succeeds in securing agreement on Poland with Stalin broadening the Polish government. June Soviets inform Turkey of their desire for bases in the Straits of the Dardanelles. State Department report on international communism concludes it poses a serious challenge to the US. UN Charter agreed at San Francisco. Soviet request for say in the international administration of Tangier. James Byrnes becomes US Secretary of State. George Kennan reports that the end of the Comintern has not weakened Moscow’s control over international communism. July Potsdam conference of Big Three leaders. British Foreign Office debating value of concentrating on protecting vital interests in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Germany at the expense of endeavouring to retain a say in areas such as Poland and Romania where no interests were at stake. 6 August Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 8 August USSR declares war on Japan. 9 August Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. 14 August Japanese cease fighting. September 54 per cent of US public opinion trusts Soviets to cooperate. September–October London Council of Foreign Ministers (UK, US, China, France, and USSR attend). November Communists are defeated in Hungarian elections. Marshall leaves for China to mediate between communists and Nationalists. 44 per cent of US public opinion trusts Soviets to cooperate. December Ethridge report on Soviet policy in Romania and Bulgaria concludes that to concede Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe would be to invite its extension. 16 – 26 December Moscow Council of Foreign Ministers.
January UN meeting where Iran complains about alleged Soviet interference in its internal affairs. Truman tells Byrnes he is tired of babying the Soviets. Secret Yalta agreement on Soviet acquisition of South Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands made public in the United States. February US warship sent to Istanbul to signal support for Turkey. 9 February Stalin speech calling for new 5-year plan to prepare for the inevitable conflict between communism and capitalism. February 35 per cent of US public opinion trusts the Soviets to cooperate.
Reports on Soviet spy ring providing information on US atomic bomb. 22 February Kennan’s Long Telegram from Moscow. March Soviets fail to withdraw troops from Iran in accordance with agreement. 5 March Churchill’s Fulton speech describing an Iron Curtain across Europe from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic. March US send a note complaining of the Soviet troops present in Iran which violated the Soviet–Iranian treaty. 70 per cent of Americans disapprove of Soviet actions. April Soviets agree to withdraw troops from Iran in May. Fighting begins again in Manchuria between Chinese Nationalists and communists. April–May First Paris Council of Foreign Ministers takes place. June–July Second Paris Council of Foreign Ministers. July–October Paris Peace Conference (all Allied nations attend). November–December New York Council of Foreign Ministers takes place. December The Bi-Zone agreement fuses US and British occupation zones in Germany.
January Polish elections are rigged. 12 March Truman makes his Doctrine speech. March–April Moscow Council of Foreign Ministers on Germany. June The Marshall Plan is launched. July Kennan’s Mr X article in Foreign Affairs. August Elections in Hungary are rigged. September Rio Treaty of Latin American states signed. November UN partition plan for Palestine.
February Communist coup in Czechoslovakia. March Brussels Treaty signed. May British leave Palestine and Israel established. June The Berlin blockade begins as the Soviets block the surface access to West Berlin. Yugoslavia is expelled from Cominform.
April The North Atlantic Treaty is signed. May Berlin blockade is ended. August Soviets explode their first atomic bomb. September The Chinese People’s Republic is proclaimed by Mao Tse-tung.
January Acheson speech withdraws Korea from US defensive perimeter. Stalin decides to authorize N. Korean plan to attack S. Korea. February The Sino–Soviet Alliance is signed. April The National Security Council memorandum number 68 (NSC 68) proposes a large arms build up. May Schuman Plan launched for a European Coal and Steel Community. June North Korean forces invade South Korea. October Pleven plan for a European army launched. November The Chinese intervene by using force in Korea.
February Khrushchev denounces Stalin at 20th Party Congress. April The Cominform is dissolved. October Polish crisis resolved peacefully. October–November Suez Crisis. Soviets suppress the Hungarian anti-Communist revolt. November Eisenhower is re-elected.
January Eisenhower doctrine for the Middle East is created. March Agreement to establish the European Economic Community. May Gaither Committee formed. August US and Canada begin a Distant Early Warning (DEW) system against nuclear attack. October First sputnik is launched by the Soviets. Rapacki Plan. November Mao’s visit to Moscow forms watershed in ending Sino-Soviet cooperation.
January First US intercontinental missile launched. May Vice-President Nixon encounters strong anti-American feeling during a trip to Latin America. July Iraq coup overthrows monarchy. August Second Chinese offshore islands crisis begins with shelling of Jinmen. November Khrushchev delivers an ultimatum over Berlin. and calls for it to become a free city.
January Castro takes power in Cuba. July Nixon visits the USSR and takes part in the ‘Kitchen Debate’. September Khrushchev visits the US.
February The French perform their first atomic bomb test. Soviet-Cuban trade agreement. May An American U2 spy plane is shot down over Soviet territory. May Khrushchev storms out of the Paris summit. November John F. Kennedy is elected to be the President of the US. December Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is founded.
January Eisenhower’s farewell speech condemns military industrial complex. Kennedy is inaugurated as President. March Alliance for Progress announced. April The Bay of Pigs invasion takes place. Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space. Hundreds of US military advisers in Laos. May Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. June The Vienna Summit, involving Khrushchev and Kennedy, takes place. August Berlin Wall is constructed. October Taylor-Rostow mission to Vietnam starts a massive build up of American advisers in Vietnam.
January Cuba is excluded from the Organisation of American States (OAS). June Laos becomes neutral. October Cuban Missile Crisis. December Kennedy–Macmillan Nassau meeting takes place.
20 January Indonesia begins opposition campaign to creation of ‘Malaysia’. 5 August Test Ban Treaty signed in Moscow. 16 September Formal launch of Malaysia leads Sukarno of Indonesia to intensify ‘confrontation’ with it. 1 November Overthrow of President Diem of South Vietnam following months of instability. 22 November President Kennedy assassinated in Texas.
February–March Fighting between Greek–Cypriot and Turkish–Cypriot communities, leads to deployment of UN peacekeeping force. 2 – 4 August Gulf of Tonkin incident: supposed attacks on US ships by North Vietnam. 14 October Khruschev replaced by Brezhnev and Kosygin. 16 October First Chinese atom bomb exploded. 3 November Johnson wins US election.
24 February US begins ‘Rolling Thunder’ bombing of North Vietnam. 8 March Marines are first US ground troops deployed in Vietnam War. 25 April Attempt to overthrow Cabral government in Dominican Republic. 28 – 29 April Johnson sends Marines to forestall leftist drift in Dominican Republic. August Indo–Pakistani tension mounts in disputed Kashmir. 22 September Cease-fire in Indo–Pakistani War. 30 September Coup in Indonesia followed by army crackdown on Communist party.
January Violent overthrow of Abubakar’s government in Nigeria. 10 March De Gaulle quits NATO military structure. March General Suharto effectively becomes Indonesian leader. 20 June–1 July De Gaulle visits USSR. July Warsaw Pact calls for Pan-European security system. August Indonesia ends ‘Confrontation’ with Malaysia. September Violence in Northern Nigeria, directed against Ibos from the Eastern Region.
7 April Israelis shoot down several Syrian aircraft in latest border tension. 5 – 10 June Six day Arab–Israeli war. 23 – 25 June Glassboro’ meeting of Johnson and Kosygin. 5 July Civil war begins between Nigerian government and secessionist ‘Biafra’. 22 November UN resolution 242, on Middle East, passed. 14 December NATO adopts Harmel Report, opening way for talks with Warsaw Pact.
1 January Britain, Ireland and Denmark join the EEC, in its first enlargement. 27 January In Paris a Vietnam peace settlement is signed. 22 February US and China agree to open ‘liaison offices’ in the other’s capital. 23 April Kissinger, speaking in New York, proposes a ‘New Atlantic Charter’. 30 April Watergate crisis begins to intensity, with resignations of key White House staff. 18 – 24 June Nixon–Brezhnev summit in Washington. 3 July Thirty-five countries begin talks on European security in Helsinki. 15 August US ends all military involvement in Cambodia. 12 September President Allende of Chile toppled in a military coup. 6 – 29 October Middle East War. 18 October Arab oil producers raise prices and introduce oil embargo against US. 30 October ‘Mutual Balanced Force Reduction’ talks open in Vienna between NATO and Warsaw Pact. 7 November US Congress passes War Powers Act. 11 December West German–Czechoslovakian Treaty signed.
1 January New price rises, introduced by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, take effect. 25 April Portuguese dictatorship overthrown by the military, leading to Leftist-dominated governments. 18 May India explodes its first atomic bomb. 27 June–3 July Nixon–Brezhnev summit in USSR. 16 July Coup against President Makarios of Cyprus. 20 July–16 August Turkish military intervention in Cyprus. 8 August Nixon resigns over Watergate scandal. 12 September Emperor Haile Selassie overthrown by Marxist army officers. 23 – 24 November Ford–Brezhnev summit in Vladivostok.
14 January US–Soviet trade deal collapses over Jackson–Vanik amendment. Late March Major communist advances in South Vietnam. 16 April Fall of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, to Khmer Rouge 25 April Communists fare badly in Portuguese elections. 30 April Fall of Saigon to communists. 12 May Cambodians seize US ship, the Mayaguez. 15 May US attacks on Cambodia; crew of Mayaguez released. 10 June Rockefeller Commission (sitting since January) reports that the CIA had spied on US citizens. 30 July–1 August Helsinki summit of US, Canada and European states; signs Helsinki Accords. 23 August Vientiane, capital of Laos, falls to communist Pathet Lao. 11 November Angolan independence from Portugal; rival governments established by three independence movements. 1 – 5 December Ford–Mao summit in Beijing.
11 February Organization of African Unity accepts pro-Soviet MPLA as government of Angola. 15 March Egypt ends its 1971 treaty with USSR. 13 April Kissinger opposes a communist role in Italian government 21 June Christian Democrats only narrowly ahead of communists in Italian elections. 9 September Death of Mao Zedong. 2 November Democrat Jimmy Carter wins US Presidential election.
17 February Carter letter to dissident scientist, Andrei Sakharov, backs human rights in USSR. 27 February USSR rejects Carter’s hopes of a major change of direction in SALT II talks. 30 June Carter cancels B-1 bomber. 5 July Ali Bhutto, President of Pakistan, overthrown by military under General Zia ul-Haq. July Fighting breaks out between Ethiopia and Somalia over disputed Ogaden. 7 September Treaties signed to transfer Panama Canal from US to Panamanian sovereignty. 4 October ‘Follow up’ conference to Helsinki, on European security, opens in Belgrade (closes 9 March 1979). 18 October Vaclav Havel and other ‘Charter 77’ members are sentenced to imprisonment in Prague. 13 November Somalia ends its 1974 friendship treaty with USSR; Soviets and Cubans are supporting Ethiopia in Ogaden War. 19 – 21 November President Sadat of Egypt visits Israel and addresses its parliament. 31 December Cambodia breaks diplomatic relations with Vietnam due to border clashes.
Late March Somali forces withdraw from Ogaden. 5 April West Germany’s Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, agrees to deployment of controversial neutron bomb in Europe. 7 April Carter suspends production of neutron bomb. 28 April President Daud of Afghanistan overthrown by communists led by Mohammed Taraki. 18 May Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov imprisoned. 7 June Carter warns Soviets they must choose between confrontation and détente. 12 August Sino–Japanese friendship treaty signed. 6 – 17 September Camp David Summit on Middle East peace, between Carter, Sadat and Begin. 3 November Vietnam and USSR sign a Friendship Treaty. 6 November Martial law declared in Iran after mounting unrest. 5 December Soviet–Afghan friendship treaty. 25 December Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.
1 January Normalization of Sino–American relations. 7 January Vietnam replaces Pol Pot’s Cambodian government. 16 January Shah of Iran goes into exile. 28 January–5 February China’s Deng Xiaoping visits USA. 1 February Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran. 17 February–15 March Chinese invasion of North Vietnam, followed by withdrawal. 26 March Egyptian–Israeli peace treaty signed in Washington. 15 April New round of oil price increases led by Iran. 28 May Greece becomes tenth member of EEC. 7 June Carter decides to build ‘MX’ missile. 15 – 18 June Vienna Summit of Carter and Brezhnev; SALT II treaty signed. 17 July President Somoza of Nicaragua overthrown by Sandinistas. 31 August US complains over Soviet troop presence in Cuba. 10 September Soviets say their troops have been in Cuba since 1962. 16 September President Taraki of Afghanistan overthrown by Hafizullah Amin. 22 October Shah of Iran arrives in US for medical treatment. 4 November Occupation of American Embassy in Tehran. 10 December NATO agrees to deploy intermediate range Cruise and Pershing missiles in Europe. 25 December Soviet troops invade Afghanistan; replace President Amin with Babrak Karmal.
9 February Death of Andropov; succeeded on 13th by Konstantin Chernenko. 26 April–2 May Reagan visits China. 8 May USSR says it will boycott forthcoming Los Angeles Olympics. 28 September Reagan meets Soviet foreign minister, Andrei Gromyko, for the first time. 22 November Reagan re-elected President.
4 February New Zealand refuses to let nuclear-capable US ships into its ports; leads to virtual breakdown of ANZUS Pact (US suspends obligations to New Zealand in August 1986). 11 March Mikhail Gorbachev succeeds Chernenko as leader of the Soviet Union. 12 March INF and START talks reopen. 7 April Gorbachev suspends new deployments of nuclear missiles and urges NATO to do the same. 26 April Warsaw Pact renewed for twenty years. 1 May US launches trade embargo against Nicaragua. 6 August Gorbachev initiates a moratorium on nuclear tests (lasts until April 1986). 19 – 21 November First summit meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan, in Geneva.
15 January Gorbachev accepts ‘zero option’ for destruction of INF systems. 25 February In the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, after an election defeat, finally surrenders the Presidency to Corazon Aquino. 15 April US air forces strike targets in Libya. 26 April Chernobyl nuclear reactor melts down, near Kiev, USSR. 28 July Gorbachev’s Vladivostok speech urges improved relations with China. 23 August Gennady Zakharov, a Soviet embassy official, is arrested for spying in US; on 30 August Soviets arrest Nicholas Daniloff, an American journalist. 30 September Release of Zakharov and Daniloff. 11 – 12 October Gorbachev and Reagan summit in Reykjavik breaks down over SDI. 3 November The ‘Irangate’ scandal breaks: a Lebanese newspaper reveals that a high level US official visited Iran in May.
10 April Gorbachev’s Prague speech advocates a ‘common European home’. 20 July UN passes Resolution 598 on an Iran–Iraq cease-fire and return to border as it was in 1980. 7 August ‘Arias Plan’, for peace in Nicaragua, put forward by Central American governments. 29 November In Poland, the Communist government holds a referendum on economic reform but fails to get 50 per cent support. 7 – 10 December Third Gorbachev–Reagan summit, in Washington. INF treaty signed on 8th.
8 February Gorbachev announces Red Army will evacuate Afghanistan in March 1989 if a peace settlement is made. 3 March US Congress effectively cuts financial support to Contras in Nicaragua. 23 March Cease-fire in Nicaragua between the Contras and the government. 14 April Geneva peace agreement on a settlement in Afghanistan. 29 May–2 June Gorbachev–Reagan summit in Moscow. 30 June Vietnam begins withdrawing its troops from neighbouring Kampuchea (Cambodia). 20 July Ayatollah Khomeini reluctantly agrees to end the war with Iraq. 31 August Lech Walesa meets a Polish government minister to discuss mounting internal unrest.
8 November George Bush wins Presidential election. 22 December UN agreements on independence of Namibia and Cuban withdrawal from Angola.
11 January Non-communist parties legalized in Hungary. 15 February Last Red Army troops leave Afghanistan. 6 March Talks on reducing ‘Conventional Forces in Europe’ open between Eastern and Western representatives in Vienna. 26 March and 9 April First elections for a ‘Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies’. 5 April In Poland, the government agrees to recognize Solidarity and elect an assembly. 25 April Soviets begin to pull troops out of Hungary. 7 May In Panama, President Noriega annuls recent election results. 12 May Bush’s Texas A&M University speech effectively ends the policy of containment. 15 – 18 May Gorbachev–Deng Xiaoping summit held in Beijing. First Sino–Soviet summit for thirty years. 21 May Egypt rejoins the Arab League after ten years. 4 June Chinese Red Army forcibly ends the occupation of Tienenmen Square, Beijing, by over 100, demonstrators (who had been there since 22 April). 4 and 18 June Solidarity scores major successes in Polish elections. 23 August Demonstrations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in favour of independence from USSR. 26 September Last Vietnamese troops leave Cambodia. 9 – 10 November Opening of the Berlin Wall. 2 – 3 December First Bush–Gorbachev summit in Malta. 20 December US forces invade Panama, to overthrow Noriega. 29 December Czechoslovakia chooses the dissident Vaclav Havel as its President.
10 February In Moscow, Gorbachev and Kohl agree to principle of German reunification. 26 February Nicaraguan elections won by ‘Uno’ coalition of Violetta Chamorra, defeating the Sandinistas. 2 March Nationalists win elections in Lithuania, the first free elections ever in the USSR; Lithuania declares independence on 11 March. 11 March President Augusto Pinochet of Chile hands over to a civilian successor, Patricio Aylwin. 18 March Christian Democratic ‘Alliance for Germany’ triumphs in East German elections. 30 May–4 June Bush and Gorbachev meet in Washington. 29 June Lithuania suspends its declaration of independence, following an economic blockade (since 17 April) by Moscow. 1 July Economic and monetary union takes effect between the two Germanies. 5 – 6 July London summit of NATO leaders redefines the alliance’s role in the post-Cold War world. 2 August Iraqi invasion of Kuwait takes place. 9 September Bush and Gorbachev meet in Helsinki. 12 September US, USSR, Britain, France, and the two Germanies sign Moscow Treaty on a reunified Germany, which takes effect on 3 October. 19 November Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe signed in Paris. 2 December Helmut Kohl elected the first Chancellor of a reunified Germany.
2 January Lithuania revives its claim to independence. 13 January Thirteen die in clashes with the Red Army in the Lithuanian capital. 17 January US-led alliance begins airstrikes in Iraq. 24 – 28 February Allied forces liberate Kuwait. 15 – 19 May Jiang Zemin becomes first general Secretary of Chinese Communists to visit Moscow since 1957. 21 May Collapse of the Marxist regime of Colonel Mengistu in Somalia, which slips into anarchy.
1 January Austria, Finland, and Sweden join the European Union. 15 January After a month of fighting, Russian forces capture Grozny, capital of Chechnya, from rebels. 11 July UN ‘safe-haven’ of Srbrenica is overrun by Serbs in Bosnia and many Muslims massacred; more ‘safe-areas’ are then attacked. 30 August NATO launches ‘Operation Deliberate Force’, with air attacks on Serbs in Bosnia. 31 October– Bosnian peace agreement brokered in Dayton, Ohio. 21 November
12 March Clinton approves Helms-Burton Act, raising possibility of sanctions against any country trading with Cuba. 23 March First free elections for a Taiwanese President; bitterly criticized by China. 30 June Communists lose power after elections in Mongolia. 3 July Yeltsin re-elected Russian President after run-off against Communist Gennadi Zyuganov. 6 August Chechen rebels seize control of Grozny. 29 August Russia agrees to withdrawal from Chechnya. 27 September Taleban movement seizes control of Afghan capital, Kabul.
17 April Communist China and Taiwan open direct sea link for first time. 16 – 17 May President Mobutu of Zaire overthrown by Laurent Kabila after seven months of civil war. 27 May NATO–Russian Founding Act signed. 1 July Hong Kong returns to Chinese sovereignty from British rule. 4 December Most UN members sign a treaty to ban anti-personnel mines; but not America, Russia, or China. 9 December Geneva talks open between US, China, and the two Koreans to try to secure lasting Korean settlement. 14 December President Khatami of Iran offers ‘dialogue’ with America.
4 – 24 February Crisis in Gulf as US and British mass forces because of Iraq’s refusal to allow arms inspectors to continue their work. 11 – 30 May Series of nuclear tests by India, then by Pakistan. 21 May Reorganization of President Suharto of Indonesia after five months of unrest. 7 August Bomb attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania kill over two hundred; US launches retaliatory strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan on the 20th. 17 August Economic crisis in Russia deepens, with value of rouble cut by a third. September Intensive fighting breaks out in Kosovo between Yugoslavian forces and local Albanians, after sporadic violence since March. 27 September Following election defeat, Helmut Kohl loses power in Germany after sixteen years. 15 – 23 October Clinton brokers Israeli–Palestinian peace deal at Wye Plantation, Maryland, ending 18-month stalemate in peace process. 25 – 30 November Jiang Zemin becomes first Chinese Head of State to make an official visit to Japan.
1 January Introduction of the ‘euro’ as a single currency between most European Union members. 7 January Trial of Clinton opens in Washington on charges of impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair. 12 February US Senate throws out the impeachment charges against Clinton. 6 – 23 February Rambouillet talks on Kosovo situation fail to secure a settlement. 12 March The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland join NATO. 24 March NATO begins air strikes against Yugoslavia. 7 May US aircraft mistakenly bomb Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
10 June NATO suspends its bombing campaign as Serb forces withdraw from Kosovo. 12 June NATO ground forces begin deployment in Kosovo. 30 August Referendum in Indonesian-controlled East Timor votes for independence, sparking weeks of violence. 4 September Israel and Palestinian leaders sign the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, supposedly paving the way for a ‘final’ settlement in a year. 30 September Following a month of tension, Russian ground forces invade Chechnya. 19 December Portuguese-ruled Macao is handed over to Chinese sovereignty, ending the last colonial possession in mainland Asia. 31 December Panamanian sovereignty over Panama Canal takes effect. Sudden resignation of Yeltsin as President of Russia; Vladimir Putin becomes acting President.
January Haiti - Withdrawal of US troops A US government spokesman in the Haitian capital – Port-au-Prince – announced that the US would end its regular military presence in Haiti and consequently would replace the permanent troops with support units for humanitarian relief work. In 1994 the US had sent 20,000 troops to Haiti to restore the legitimately elected President, Jean Bertrand Aristide.
Bosnia-Hercegovina - War crimes tribunal judgement On 14 January the Hague-based UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia awarded prison sentences (between 6 and 25 years) to five Bosnian Croat men for killing more than 100 Bosnian Muslims on 16 April 1993 during an offensive by Croatian Defence Council forces against Muslim villages. The case was the first to be tried by the tribunal.
United Nations - Treaty on child soldiers A treaty to prohibit the use of child soldiers in war was agreed by 70 countries on 21 January at the end of a two-week meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
February Russia - The Fall of Grozny On 6 February, the acting Russian President, Vladimir Putin announces the fall of Grozny, the Chechen capital, to Russian troops.
March Lebanon - Vote by Israeli Cabinet on pullout from Lebanon On 5 March the Israeli Cabinet voted unanimously to withdraw its troops from Israel’s self- declared ‘security zone’ in southern Lebanon by July, regardless of whether a peace agreement had been reached with Syria.
Spain - General Elections In legislative elections held on 12 March the ruling Popular Part (PP) of Prime Minister José María Aznar won an absolute majority, easily surpassing the expectations of pre-elections polls.
Russia - Presidential Elections Acting Russian President Vladimir Putin won the presidential elections on 26 March with over 50 percent of the vote. The turnout was 68.88 per cent.
April Russia - Ratification of START II and CTBT Russia’s Duma (the lower house of the bicameral legislature) on 14 April ratified the 1993 strategic arms reduction treaty (START II) by 288 votes to 131 with four abstentions. The ratification of the treaty signed by Russia’s former President Boris Yeltsin had formerly been reportedly blocked by a majority of communist deputies in the Duma, which was lost in the December 1999 legislative elections. The treaty had been ratified by the US congress in 1996.
May Sierra Leone - Breakdown of peace agreement
US President Bill Clinton visited Vietnam on 16-19 November, the first US President to visit the country since Richard Nixon in 1969 and the first ever to set foot in a unified Vietnam. Clinton’s administration had consistently attempted to foster improved relations with Vietnam, notably with the lifting of the US trade embargo in 1994 and the conclusion of a bilateral trade agreement in July (2000). A number of US officials had recently visited Vietnam, the most senior being Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in September 1999.
Sweden - Proposal to end commitment to neutrality During November 2000 Prime Minister Göran Person proposed that Sweden end its century long commitment to neutrality. He said that following the end of the Cold War the concept was no longer relevant. Some military experts, however, claimed that the change could confuse the defense policy and endanger Sweden’s role as an independent arbiter of international conflicts.
December United States - Bush victory in disputed presidential elections Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate conceded the disputed November presidential election to the Republican candidate George W. Bush on 13 December, a day after the US Supreme Court had declined to overturn its earlier say on state-wide manual recounts ordered by the Florida Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruling was arguably the most important since US vs. Nixon , the 1974 ruling which had forced President Richard Nixon to surrender incriminating White House tape recording to congressional investigators in the Watergate affair. The Supreme Court’s action meant that, despite the fact that he had won a majority of the national popular vote, Vice President Gore had not secured a majority in the Electoral College.
January United States – Inauguration of President George W. Bush George W. Bush was inaugurated as the 43rd^ President of the United States on 20 January, the first son of a former President to be inaugurated since John Quincy Adams in 1825.
February Israel – Election of Sharon as Prime Minister Likud candidate Ariel Sharon easily defeated incumbent Labour Prime Minister Ehud Barak in a special premiership election held on 6 February. Sharon, a former Defence Minister and the architect of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, had replaced Binyamin Netanyahu as Likud leader in 1999.
March Macedonia – Serious clashes with ethnic Albanian guerrillas Fighting between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Macedonian police and troops during March raised fears that the unrest might spark ethnic conflict across Macedonia, thereby igniting a new Balkan war. Ethnic Albanians comprised at least a quarter of the population of Macedonia.
June United Kingdom – Labour election victory The ruling Labour Party on 7 June swept to a predicted victory in general elections to the House of Commons (the lower house of the bicameral UK legislature), winning a second successive overall majority only slightly smaller than the commanding margin achieved in May 1997.
July Yugoslavia – Appearance of Milosevic before war crimes tribunal Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic made his first appearance before the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (the war crimes tribunal) in The Hague, the Netherlands, on 3 July. Milosevic had been handed over to the tribunal by the Yugoslav authorities on 28 June. He had been indicted on charges of crimes against humanity in May 1999.
September United States – Terrorist attacks on Washington DC and New York In a series of suicide attacks on the morning of 11 September the US suffered the most devastating loss of life and property in peacetime since the attack on the Pearl Harbour naval base in 1941. Four passenger airliners were hijacked and two of those aircraft were deliberately flown by the hijackers into the twin towers of the 110-storey World Trade Centre in the financial
district of New York city, resulting in huge explosions which ultimately led to the complete collapse of the towers in less than two hours. A third hijacked passenger aircraft struck the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Department of Defence, just outside the capital, Washington DC, and a fourth hijacked aircraft, apparently heading for another target in the Washington area, crashed in Pennsylvania.
October United Nations – Elections to Security Council The General Assembly on 8 October elected five new non-permanent members of the 15- member Security Council to serve a two-year term from 1 January 2002. The most controversial new member was Syria, which in March had been chosen unopposed as the representative of the 50-state Asian group of the Assembly.
2001 Centenary Peace Prize The Nobel Committee of the Storting (the Norwegian legislature) on 12 October awarded the 2001 Centenary Nobel Peace Prize jointly to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to the UN itself.
November Uganda – Peace Agreement with Rwanda Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda signed a peace agreement in London on 6 November aimed at pre-empting a fresh outbreak of hostilities in central Africa. The agreement was signed after the two leaders held talks chaired by UK International Development Secretary Clare Short and attended by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Uganda and Rwanda were former close allies that had fallen out over their involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Fighting had broken out between Ugandan and Rwandan troops, and their proxy militias, in and around the northern DRC city of Kisangani on numerous occasions.
February Indonesia – Signing of peace agreement in Moluccas Christian and Muslim leaders from the eastern Molucca islands (the provinces of Maluku and North Maluku) on Feb. 12 signed a peace accord to end three years of sectarian fighting in which 5,000 people had been killed since January 1999 and 750,000 were rendered refugees.
Yugoslavia – Opening of Milosevic trial The landmark trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic opened at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, the Netherlands, on Feb 13. Milosevic was the first former head of state to stand trial for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
March Yugoslavia – Agreement between Serbia and Montenegro on joint state The leaders of Serbia, Montenegro, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) government signed an ‘agreement in principle’ in Belgrade, the capital of the FRY and Serbia, on March 14, to maintain a joint state under the name of Serbia and Montenegro. The deal, which effectively kept Montenegro within the Serb-dominated federation of the ‘rump Yugoslavia’ but with equal powers to Serbia, was designed to prevent further fragmentation of the western Balkans.
July Democratic Republic of Kongo – DRC-Rwanda peace agreement The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda signed a peace agreement in Pretoria (South Africa) on July 30. The agreement was widely regarded as a major step towards ending the four-year war that had engulfed the DRC. Rwanda was one of a number of African states that had maintained a military presence in the DRC during its civil war.
September East Timor – UN membership
December European Union – Copenhagen Summit An historic EU summit conference on Dec. 12-13 in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, approved the enlargement of the EU to include 10 candidate countries, namely Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, following the successful completion of their accession negotiations.
February Serbia and Montenegro – Dissolution of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Federal Assembly (the bicameral legislature of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – FRY), voted on February 4 to replace the FRY with a loose union between its two constituent republics, Serbia and Montenegro.
Bosnia-Hercegovina – Sentencing of Plavsic Biljana Plavsic, the former President of the Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serb entity), was on February 27 sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment by the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Plavsic, aged 72, had surrendered to the tribunal in January 2001 after she was indicted on eight separate war crimes charges, including genocide. In October 2002 she agreed to plead guilty to one count of crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war, and the prosecution had accordingly dropped the seven other charges.
March Serbia and Montenegro – Assassination of Djindjic Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia since 2001, was assassinated in the capital, Belgrade, on March 12. He had survived an apparent assassination attempt in February when a lorry cut across his speeding motorcade near Belgrade airport.
Iraq – US-led invasion The US, with the support of the UK, launched a war against Iraq on March 20 with the aims of disarming the country of its weapons of mass destruction, freeing its people, and deposing President Saddam Hussein and his regime.
April China – SARS crisis In their first detailed briefing on the outbreak of a mysterious form of pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the Chinese health authorities said on April 8 that although the disease was spreading in southern China, it was nonetheless ‘under effective control’. The announcement came at the end of visit by World Health Organisation (HWO) officials to Guangdong, the southern province in which the disease first erupted in November 2002.
Afghanistan – Strikes against Taliban remnants In concentrated and heavy strikes, US forces launched airborne attacks on suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in the Tor Ghar mountains of southern Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan, on April 2. The bombardment was in response to an earlier attack on US and Afghan soldiers from a group of 40 suspected Taliban fighters. Afghan officials had expressed concern about an increase in Taliban activity apparently orchestrated from Pakistani territory.
Iraq – Fall of Saddam In early April the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein collapsed under the pressure of an overwhelming military onslaught from US and UK forces launched on Iraq on March 20. The whereabouts of Saddam himself, who had served as President since 1979, remained unclear, although a number of his close associates were taken into custody by US forces.
May China – SARS crisis President Hu Jintao, general secretary of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), on May 2 called for a “people’s war” to combat the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), as the country reported 11 more deaths and 176 new cases of the disease.`
Saudi Arabia – Suicide bomb attacks in Riyadh
At least 34 people died in three separate, coordinated suicide bomb attacks on expatriate residential compounds in the capital, Riyadh, on May 12. The attackers were immediately linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and more specifically to a group of 19 al-Qaeda suspects who had been under police observation, but had escaped a raid in Riyadh shortly before the attacks had taken place. The Saudi government’s failed attempt to foil the attacks followed warnings of an impeding terrorist act issued by the US State Department in early May.
Morocco – Suicide bomb attacks in Casablanca A team of 12 suicide bombers attacked five targets in Morocco’s commercial capital, Casablanca, on May 16, killing 43 people (including the bombers) and injuring around 100 others. The Moroccan government declared that the attacks had been the work of a local Islamist fundamentalist group, al-Assirat al-Moustaquim (the Righteous Path), part of a fringe movement of ultra-conservative Islamists, the Salafiya Jihadiya. The attacks, however, bore the hallmarks of operations carried out by the al-Qaeda network. The Economist of May 25 said that there was a possibility that al-Qaeda had ‘subcontracted’ a local Moroccan group prepared to accept high suicide casualties.
June Finland – Resignation of Prime Minister over ‘Iraqgate’ scandal Centre Party (KESK) Prime Minister Anneli Jaatteenmaki resigned on June 18 after being accused of lying about the use of classified Foreign Ministry documents concerning the US-led war on Iraq, of publishing confidential information on the Internet, and leaking documents to the press. Jaatteenmaki rejected the allegations but announced that they had made her position untenable. The scandal, referred to as ‘Iraqgate’, severely damaged public confidence in the government.
August Liberia – Departure of President Taylor Charles Taylor announced on August 2 that he would step down as president of Liberia on August 11. Pressure for Taylor to resign had increased markedly in July as rebel forces surrounded the capital, Monrovia.
Afghanistan – NATO assumption of control of ISAF In the first peacekeeping operation outside Europe’s borders in its history, NATO assumed formal control of the 5,500-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on August 11.
November Georgia – Overthrow of Sheverdnadze Eduard Sheverdnadze, the former Soviet Foreign Minister who had served as President of Georgia since 1992, was forced to resign in late November after weeks of peaceful mass protests by opposition parties culminated in the storming of Parliament. The drive to remove Sheverdnadze, led by former Justice Minister Mikhail Saakashvili, began at the start of the month in the form of protests at the results of elections to Parliament, which were widely believed to have been rigged in favour of the President.
December Macedonia – Ending of EU military mission The mandate of the EU-led military mission to Macedonia, Operation Concordia, ended on December 15. Concordia, the EU’s inaugural military mission, was replaced by an EU-led police mission, Operation Proxima.
Iraq – Capture of Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi President overthrown by US-led forces in April was captured by US soldiers near his home town of Tikrit on December 13. In July, US forces had killed his two sons during a fierce gun battle in Mosul in northern Iraq. Saddam’s capture, alone, dishevelled and hiding in a small hole in the ground, appeared to undermine the idea that he had been co- ordinating the guerrilla attacks against US forces and, instead, reinforced the view that the insurgency was being driven by hostility to the US-led occupation and Sunni Muslim resistance to the possibility of Shi’ite Muslim dominance in the post-Saddam era.
