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NATO
(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) United States, Canada, and 10 other countries formed a new military, members pledged to help one another if any of them of them were attacked. -
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Nuclear Arms Race and Detente
Shipthe Soviet Union had developed nuclear weapons.. By 1953, both sides had developed hydrogen bombs, which are much more destructive than atomic bombs. The result was a "balance of terror". The world's people lived in constant fear of nuclear doom. American and Soviet arms control agreements led to an era of detente, or relaxation of tensions, during the 1970's. The American stargety under detente was to restrain the Soviet Union through diplomate. -
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Chinese Civil War
Mao ZedongThe Chinese Communists had gained control of much of northern China. Communist forces, led by Mao Zedong, fought a civil war against Nationalist headed by Jiang Jiesh.
The Great Leap Forward was the Chinese Communist program from 1958-60 to boost farm industrial output that failed. -
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Berlin Wall
Berlin WallThis was the key focus of Cold War. City was split into democratic West Berlin & communist East Berlin. Massive exodus of low-paid East Germans, unhappy with communism, fled into West Berlin. East Germany built a wall in 1961 sealed off W. Berlim. The wall showed that workers, far from enjoying a communist paradise, had to be forcibly kept from fleeing -
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korean conflict
North and South Korea Korea was an independent kingdom until Japan conquered it. Soviet & American forces agreed to divide Korea temperaily. 38th parallel of latitude. Dictator Kim Il Sung became communist ally of the Soviet Union. In South Korea, the US backed the dictationial leader, Syngman Rhee. Him and Kim Il Sung both wanted to rule the entire country.
Germany was reunited at the end of the Cold War, Korea remained divided. -
Warsaw Pact
Soviet Union responded by forming its own military alliance, Warsaw Pact. Included 7 other satelites in Eastern Europe. They cemented the division of Europe into "eastern" & "western" blocs. -
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Soviet Union Falls
Leader Mikhail GorbachevKhrushchev sent tanks in to enforce obedince, and his successor, Leonid Brezhnev, did the same thing when Chzechs challenged the Soviets in the "Prague spring" 1968. In 1985, a new leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in the Sobiet Union. At the end of 1991, the remaning Soviet republics separated to form 12 independent nations, in addition to the three Baltic States. After 69 years, the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. -
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Cuba goes Communist
John F. KennedyThis involved Western Hemisphere and the Latin American island nation of Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Fidel Castro organized an armed rebellion against the corrupt dictor who ruled Cuba. 1961, John F. Kennedy supported an invasion attempt by u.S- traine Cuban exiles. -
Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba. Kennedy then omposing a naval blackade that prevented further Soviet shipments. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the Soviet missiles, and war was averted. -
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Vietnam Conflict
American Soldiers America enters the Vietnam War. They created the domino theory, which the governments across Southeast Asia would fall to commusim. America's leaders wanted to prevent this from happening. Ho Chi Minh wasa nationalist and communist who had fought the Japanese. In August 1st 1964, South Vietnamese commandos conducted on N. Vietnam islands in the Gulf of Tonkin.
US President Johnson reported the attacks. -
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Eastern European Independence
Vaclav HavelCzechoslovakia's defiance of Soviet control led to a Soviet invasion, Hungary introduced modest economic reforms. In the 70's, Hungary expanded its market economy. Vaclav Havek, a dissident writer and human rights activist was elected president.
Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania's dictator, was executed. Finally, in 1992, the Slovaks and Czechs peacefully agreed to divide Czechoslovakia into the new nations of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. -
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Soviets in Afganistan
Soviets in Afganistan 1979, the Soviet Union became involved in a long war in Afganistan. The policies inculded social reforms and land redistributioan that would redice the power of reginal landlord. They were battling mujahedin, who are Muslim religoius warriors, in the mountains of Afganistan. Then a new leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in the Soviet Union. They also allowed farmers to sell produce on the free market.
