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NATO
In 1949, the United States along with Canada and ten other countries formed a new military alliance, NATO. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Members of the treaty agreed that they would come together and fight if anyone of the countries were attacked. -
Nuclear Arms Race
At first, only the U.S was the nuclear power. But by 1949, the Soviet Union had also developed nuclear weapons. By 1953, both sides developed hydrogen bombs. Critics argued that nuclear war would destroy both sides. Both sides tried to match each other's weapons. The result of matching weapons was "balance of terror" which is where both sides knew that the other side would destroy it, if nuclear weapons were launched. -
Chinese Civil War
Communists forces led by Mao Zedong fought a civil war against Nationalists who were led by Jiang Jeshi. When the Nationalists were defeated, they fled to an island off the coast of China called Taiwan. China was finally under communist control. The Communists won for many reasons. One being that Mao had the support of China's peasant population. Popularity for the Nationalists decreased because of the corruption in Jiang's government. -
Chinese Civil War 2
Mao then started to change China. He built a Communist one-party totalitarian state in the People's Republic of China. They started to reshape the economy and the society that China had inherited. The government also seized the property of rural landlords and urban business owners. Opponents of the Communists were put down as "Counterrevolutionaries" and the bourgeoisie was accused of counterrevolutionary beliefs. They were then beaten and sent to work camps. -
Berlin Wall
The city of Berlin was split into democratic West Berlin and communist East Berlin. West Berlin became a showcase for West German prosperity. Massive crowds of unhappy East Germans fled to West Berlin. To stop this, East Berlin built a huge barrier in 1961 that kept West Berlin out. When the wall was finished, it was a massive barrier with barbed wire at the top and was patrolled by guards. -
Korean Conflict
Korea was split intwo by rival forces after World War II. Korea was independent until Japan conquered it. After Japan was defeated, the Soviet and American forces agreed to divide Korea temporarily along the 38th parallel of latitude. North Korea was now communist and was led by Kim II Sung while South Korea was Non-communist and led by Syngman. North Korea then attacked South Korea and soon over ran the South.The United Nations stepped in and then organized a group to help South Korea. -
Communist Cuba
By the 1950s, Fidel Castro organized an armed rebellion against the dictator who ruled Cuba at that time. By 1959, Castro le d his army to victory and he tried to transform his country. The transformation wa sknown as the Cuban Revolution. Castro gained support from the Soviet Union. He put most land under government controlled and he restricted Cuba's political freedom. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy supported an invasion attempt by U.S trained Cuban exiles. -
Korean Conflict 2
The war turned into a stalement and finally in 1953, both sides agreed to stop fighting. After the war, South Korea slowly rebuilt their economy. By 1960, the economy was ahead of North Korea. The economy of North Korea was slowed down but they still kept to Communism while elections pushed the South Korean government to democracy. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance and a response to NATO. It included the Soviet Union and seven satelites in Eastern Europe. The Soviets were supposed to keep the satelites in order. Warsaw Pact cemented the division of Europe in eastern and western blocs. The east was the Soviet dominated countries and the West were the western democracies led by the U.S. -
Soviet Union Falls
The United States and the Soviet Union dissagreed on many things. From political to cultural. This started the Space Race which -
Stopping Nuclear Weapon Spread
By the late 1960s, Britain, France, and China all developed their own nuclear weapons. The leaders of many nations tried hard to keep the arms race from spreading. In 1968, many nations signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The nations agreed not to develop nuclear weapons or to stop profileration, or spread, of nuclear weapons. -
Missile Crisis
The Bay of Pigs quickly ended in failure when Castro's forces captured the invaders. The Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba. President Kennedy reacted by imposing a naval blockade that prevented further Soviet Shipments. He also demanded that the Soviet Union remove its nuclear missiles from Cuba, and for a few days, there was a world wide risk of nuclear war. But then the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles and the war was reverted -
Limiting Nuclear Weapons
In 1969, The U.S and the Soviet Union began Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) to limit the number of nuclear wapons held on both sides. In 1972, and 1979, both sides signed agreements setting these limits. One of the agreements was ABMs, or missiles that can shoot down other missels from hostile countries. During the 1980s, President Ronald reagan launched a program to build a "Star Wars" missile defense against nuclear attack. Critics thought that the program would violate the ABM treaty. -
Limiting Nuclear Weapons 2
Also, both sides signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in 1991. -
Detente
American and Soviet arms controls led to an era of dentente, or relaxation of tensions. The American strategy was to restrain the Soviet Union through diplomatic agreements rather than by military means. The Detente ended in 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afganistan. -
Vietnam Conflict
Basically the same thing that happened with Korea happened to Vietnam. Western and Communist powers agreed to temporarily divided Vietnam. Communists controlled North Vietnam while non-communists ruled south Vietnam. The U.S supports South Vietnam. The U.S had to enter the Vietnam War and developed the domino theory which was a view that if communists had a victory, southeast asia would fall to communism. America faced a guerilla war. Soon America decides to get out of the war. -
Soviets in Afghanistan
The Soviet became involved in a long war in Afghanistan because a Soviet-Supported Afghan government tried to modernize the nation. Policies included social reforms and land redistribution. Warlords thought that the policies threatened Islamic tradition and when they took up arms, Soviet Troops moved in. The Soviets struggled so in 1985, when a new leader, Gorbachev, came to power in Soviet, the changed he made spun out of control. He only worsened the economy. -
Soviets in Afghanistan 2
The Baltic states regained full independence even though they were seized before. Russia's empire began to fall. People tried to overthrow Gorbachev that year and restore old order but that failed. At the end of 1991, remaining Soviet separated to form 12 independen nations. -
Eastern European Independence