Cold War 1945–1991

Eastern Bloc ⚔ Western Bloc

Key battles

• Battle of Hanoi (1946)
• Battle of Inchon (1950)
• Battle of Changjin Reservoir (1950)
• Battle of Pusan Perimeter (1950)
• First Battle of Seoul (1950)
• Battle of Osan (1950)
• Battle of Taejon (1950)
• Battle of Route Coloniale 4 (1950)
• Battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954)
• Battle of Algiers (1956)
• Siege of Jadotville (1961)
• Battle of Ap Bac (1963)
• Battle of Ia Drang (1965)
• Battle of Long Tan (1966)
• Battle of Dak To (1967)
• Operation Junction City (1967)
• Operation Cedar Falls (1967)
• Tet Offensive (1968)
• Battle of Khe Sanh (1968)
• Battle of Hue (1968)
• Battle of Karameh (1968)
• Battle of Hamburger Hill (1969)
• Operation Ivory Coast (1970)
• Operation Lam Son 719 (1971)
• Operation Linebacker II (1972)
• Fall of Saigon (1975)
• 1975 spring offensive (1975)
• Battle of Xuan Loc (1975)
• Panjshir offensives (1980)
• Siege of Beirut (1982)
• Battle for Hill 3234 (1988)
• Gulf of Sidra incident (1989)
• Black January (1990)
• Battle of Tora Bora (2001)
• Fall of Mazari Sharif (2001)
• Fall of Kabul (2001)
• Battle of Qala-i-Jangi (2001)
• Operation Anaconda (2002)
• Operation Red Wings (2005)
• Operation Achilles (2007)
• Battle of Musa Qala (2007)
• Battle of Kamdesh (2009)
• Operation Moshtarak (2010)
• Battle of Kunduz (2015)
• Fall of Kabul (2021)
• 2021 Taliban offensive (2021)

Who lived through the Cold War

Well-known people alive during 1945–1991:

• Barack Obama (1961–) — president of the United States from 2009 to 2017 (born 1961)
• Donald Trump (1946–) — American businessman and politician (born 1946), President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)
• Michael Jackson (1958–2009) — American singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer (1958–2009)
• Albert Einstein (1879–1955) — German-born theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
• Vladimir Putin (1952–) — 2nd and 4th President of Russia (2000–2008, 2012–present), 7th and 11th Prime Minister of Russia (1999–2000, 2008–2012)
• Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) — president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor (1911–2004)
• Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) — President of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist (1918–2013)
• George W. Bush (1946–) — President of the United States from 2001 to 2009
• Joe Biden (1942–) — 46th President of the United States (2021–2025)
• Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) — Spanish painter and sculptor (1881–1973)
• Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) — English comic actor and filmmaker (1889–1977)
• Winston Churchill (1874–1965) — British statesman, soldier and writer (1874–1965)
• Elizabeth II (1926–2022) — Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022 (1926–2022)
• John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) — president of the United States from 1961 to 1963 (1917–1963)
• Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) — Spanish artist (1904–1989)
• Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) — American Baptist minister and civil rights leader (1929–1968)
• Bill Gates (1955–) — American businessman, investor, and philanthropist (born 1955)
• Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) — American actress and model (1926–1962)
• Jimmy Wales (1966–) — co-founder of Wikipedia (born 1966)
• Pope Francis (1936–2025) — 266th pope of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025 (1936–2025)
• Mao Zedong (1893–1976) — 1st chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the People's Republic of China (1893–1976)
• Steve Jobs (1955–2011) — American entrepreneur; co-founder of Apple Inc. (1955–2011)
• Che Guevara (1928–1967) — Argentine Marxist revolutionary (1928–1967)
• Bill Clinton (1946–) — President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 (born 1946)
• Angela Merkel (1954–) — chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021 (born 1954)

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Who else was alive in 1940 →