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NATO and Warsaw Pact
In 1949 the United States, Canada, and ten other countries formed a new militart alliance. This new alliance was called the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). This was an agreement to help each other if they got attacked. In 1955 , the Soviet Union responded by creating the Warsaw Pact. This included seven satellites in Eastern Europe. -
Nuclear Arms Race and Detente
In 1949 the Soviet Union had also developed hydrogen bombs. These bombs were much more detructive then atomic bombs. In 1972 both side signed agreement setting these limits. Anti-ballistic missiles, these missiles could shoot down other missiles from hostile countries. This was a problem because it gave one side more protection then the other side. -
Chinese Civil War
In 1949, the communists gained control of one fifth of the world's people. Mao had won the support of China's huge peasant population. With the communists growing the nationalists lost popularity. Mao had the a program called the Great Leap Forward, this was to increase the farm indesty. This failed because of a drought. -
Communist Cuba and Missile Crisis
The most serious Cold War conflict in the Western Hemisphere involved Cuba, Soviet Union, and the United States. Fidel Castro organized an armed rebellion against the corrupt dictator who then ruled Cuba. In 1962 the Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba. President Kennedy responded by imposing a naval blockade around Cuba. Later Kennedy ordered that the Soviet Union remove the missiles. -
Korean Conflict
Korea was independent untill Japan conquered it in the early twentieth century. When Japan was defeated in WWII, Soviet and American forces agreed to divide Korea along the 38th parallel. In the summer of 1950 North Korea invades South Korea and pushes them back to Pusan. In the Fall of 1950 UN forces land at Inch'on, break out of the Pusan Perimeter, and advance to the Yalu River. In the late fall of 1950 North Korean forces push back to the 37th paralles. In 1951 they end in a stalemate, -
Vietnam Conflict
After 1954, however, the strugle for Vietnam became part of the Cold War. The agreement called for elections to reunite the two Vietams. These elections were never held because Americans were feared that communist would win. -
Eastern European Independence
The Soviet Union had maintained control over its Eatern European satellites by force. When Gorbachev introduced glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europeans began to seek greater freedon in their own countries. As the Soviet Union crumbled, Eastern Europeans demanded an end to Soviet domination, This time the got it. -
Berlin Wall
The city of Berlin was split into democratic West Berlin and communist East Berlin. East Berlin built a was to stop the flight. This was sealed off West. The wall was a massive concrete barrier. The wall had barbed wire on the top and patrolled by guards. -
Soviets in Afghanistan
The Soviet Union became invoved in a long war in Afganistan.The Soviet Union were fighting majahedin or muslim religious warriors, in the mountians of Afganistan. In the mid-1980's the U.S. were smuggling modern weaponry to the majahedin. The struggle in Afghanistan provoked a crsis in morale for the Soviets at home. -
Soviet Union Falls
Western fears of growing Soviet power did not come true. In fact , Soviet commucism was doomed. Signs of the weakness of the Soviet system had in fact been visible from the beginning. They also lost a lot of money in WWII and in Afghanistan which leat to the fall of the Soviet Union.
