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What resentments did the Soviet Union and America have towards each other following WWII? Explain the ideological issues between the two nations.
The relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union was very tense and confrontational during most of the Cold War. The Soviet Union wanted to spread communism around the world. America wanted to prevent communism from spreading. They fought with arms races, space races, and spying. US
-Stalin's Purges
-Non-aggression Pact USSR
-US attempted to undo Revolution. -
The end of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War marks a significant change in American foreign policy. Identify this major change in US foreign policy and how do we change?
In the years after World War II, the United States was guided generally by containment — the policy of keeping communism from spreading beyond the countries already under its influence. The policy applied to a world divided by the Cold War, a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. Many people that shape American foreign policy today accept the fact that the US is a member of a world community that cannot afford to ignore the importance of getting along. -
Soviets detonate an atomic bomb
On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. It came as a great shock to the United States because they were not expecting the Soviet Union to possess nuclear weapon knowledge so soon. President Truman responded by reevaluating the United States position in the world and called for the United States to build up its conventional and nuclear weapons to halt the spread of Soviet influence around the globe. -
Korean War
On June 25, 1950, World War II divided Korea into a Communist, northern half and American-occupied southern half, divided at the 38th parallel. The North Korean communist army invaded South Korea, and began war for three years, it ended on 1953. Even after the treaty, neither the war nor its outcome did much to reduce the tension of the Cold War. -
Rosenbergs executed
In June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the electric chair. The Rosenbergs were the first U.S. citizens to be convicted and executed for espionage during peacetime and their case remains controversial to this day. -
McCarthy hearings
The Army-McCarthy hearings dominated national television from April to June 1954. A subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Government Operations was seeking to learn whether Senator Joseph R. McCarthy had used improper influence to win preferential treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former member of the senator’s staff who had been drafted. McCarthy countercharged that the army was trying to derail his embarrassing investigations of army security practices through blackmail and intimidation. -
Geneva Accords signed
Geneva Accords, collection of documents relating to Indochina and issuing from the Geneva Conference of April 26–July 21, 1954, attended by representatives of Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China, France, Laos, United Kingdom, United States, the Soviet Union, Vietnamese, and the State of Vietnam. The 10 documents—none of which were treaties binding the participants—consisted of 3 military agreements, 6 unilateral declarations, and a Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference (July 21, 1954). -
Sputnik Orbit
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the earth's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I. The successful launch came as a shock to experts and citizens in the United States, who had hoped that the United States would accomplish this scientific advancement first. The fact that the Soviets were successful fed fears that the U.S. military had generally fallen behind in developing new technology. As a result, the launch of Sputnik served to intensify the arms race and raise Cold War tensions. -
NASA Created
The United States Congress passes legislation formally inaugurating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The establishment of NASA was a sign that the United States was committed to winning the “space race” against the Soviets.
In July 1958, Congress passed legislation establishing NASA as the coordinating body of the U.S. space program. -
Fidel Castro seizes power
Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in Jan 1959. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades, until handing off power to his younger brother Raúl in 2008.
