Both of these timeline examples should have far more detailed explanations of each event.
| Year | WWW | Event |
| 1945-1953 | USA | Harry Truman President |
| 1945-1991 | USA/Russia | Cold War |
| 1947 | USA | President Truman announced U.S. aid to Turkey and Greece independence |
| 1947 | Rio Pact | U.S. influences most Latin American countries to ban communist parties and accept a collective security agreement |
| 1948 | OAS | Organization of American States follows Rio Pact |
| 1949 | Soviet Union | Exploded their first atomic bomb |
| 1949 | West Germany | Federal Republic of West Germany created |
| 1950 | NATO | North Atlantic Treaty Organization (U.S., Canada, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Italy, and Portugal) created (Greece and Turkey in 1952) |
| 1950 | NSC | NSC-68, a secret planning document |
| 1950 | USA | Central Intelligence Agency created |
| 1950-1953 | Korean War | North Korea attacks South Korea |
| 1951 | Europe | European Coal and Steel Authority merged mines and steel mills in France, West Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries |
| 1953 | Soviet Union | Stalin’s Death |
| 1953 | Soviet Union | Exploded their hydrogen bomb (nine months after the U.S. did) |
| 1953-1961 | USA | Dwight D. Eisenhower President |
| 1954 | Vietnam | Viet Minh defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, US later started protecting S. Korea |
| 1955 | USA | Rosa M. Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, AL |
| 1955 | Warsaw Pact | Alliance of Eastern European client states |
| 1956 | Hungary | Revolted against Soviet domination (U.S. would not interfere) |
| 1956 | USA | Retaliated against allies (British, French, and Israelis) invading Egypt |
| 1956-1964 | Soviet Union | Nikita S. Khrushchev |
| 1957 | Europe | France, West Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries signed the Treaties of Rome and formed the European Economic Commission (EEC) |
| 1958-1969 | France | General de Gaulle wanted Europe to be independent of the bi-polar powers of U.S. and Soviet domination, ousted NATO from France, attacked the international monetary system, demanding gold for payments |
| 1959 | Cuba | Fidel Castro came to power after the Cuban Revolution |
| 1960 | Vietnam | National Liberation Front (FLN in French) started guerrilla operations in S. Vietnam jungles |
| 1961 | Cuba | Cuban refugees formed by CIA overtaken at the Bay of Pigs |
| 1961 | Soviet Union | Berlin Wall built to keep people in |
| 1961-1963 | USA | John F. Kennedy President |
| 1962 | Cuba/USA | Cuban Missile Crisis with missile bases in Cuba |
| 1963-1969 | USA | Lyndon B. Johnson President |
| 1964 | USA | Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Martin Luther King |
| 1968 | Vietnam | The FLN achieved great successes and infiltrated the American Embassy, bringing the war to a close |
| 1968 | USA | Martin Luther King assassinated |
| 1969-1974 | USA | Richard M. Nixon President |
| 1972 | China/USA | President Nixon visits China |
| 1972 | Soviet Union/USA | President Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev come to terms after 3 years of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) |
| 1973 | Vietnam | Withdrawal of U.S. troops |
| 1973 | OPEC | Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries created to control costs |
| 1975 | Vietnam | The war was lost when North Vietnamese entered Saigon |
| 1975 | Europe | European Security Conference in Helsinki, Finland, European countries and the U.S. promised to honor each others borders |
| 1977-1981 | USA | Jimmy Carter President |
| 1979 | Soviet Union/USA | President Carter and Soviets come to terms on the second round of SALT; 7 European nations lifted passport examination between their borders |
| Year | WWW | Event |
| 1500-1914 | Power Center | European countries were the power center |
| 1850-1991 | Century | "long twentieth century" |
| 1914-1945 | World Economy | Crises period |
| 1914-1991 | Century | "short twentieth century" / Nation-states quintupled |
| 1945-1973 | World Economy | Growth Surge |
| 1945-1991 | Cold War | Cold War Era |
| 1945-1991 | Power Center | Soviet Union and USA vied for the power center position |
| 1953 | Science | Discovery of Molecular structure of DNA |
| 1963 | Arms Control | Limited Test Ban Treaty prohibited nuclear testing in the atmosphere, space, and under water; only underground testing allowed |
| 1968 | Arms Control | Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) prohibited signatory states without nuclear weapons from acquiring them. |
| 1973-1998 | World Economy | Slowed growth and episodic recessions |
| 1979 | Energy | Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, Nuclear plant disaster |
| 1986 | Energy | Chernobyl (Ukraine) Nuclear plant disaster |
| 1987 | Science | Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete The Ozone Layer |
| 1987 | Arms Control | Missile Technology Control Regime, agreement to halt spread of ballistic missile technology. |
| 1988 | Science | Pivotal year when "greenhouse" effect became front page news |
| 1988 | Arms Control | Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), eliminated both intermediate (600-3400 miles) and shorter range (300-600 miles) land based missiles. |
| 1991 | Arms Control | Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty I, limited number of super power delivery vehicles and warheads. |
| 1992 | Science | UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro halting of CFC use |
| 1992 | Arms Control | Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty I, limited number of super power delivery vehicles and warheads. |
| 1992 | Arms Control | Global Positioning System (GPS) became available for accurate navigation (used with cruise missiles). |
| 1993 | Arms Control | International Atomic Energy Agency censured N. Korea for non-compliance of the NPT. |
| 1995 | Arms Control | Renewal of Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) prohibiting signatory states without nuclear weapons from acquiring them. |
| 1996 | Arms Control | Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), if ratified, will prevent tests. |
| 1996 | Science | Scottish scientist cloned a sheep |
| 2000 | Century | New millennium |
| 2000 | Power Center | Three power centers will exist - Europe, North America, and East Asia |