-
The Cuban Missile Crisis
War was averted when the Soviet Union agreed to remove the Cuban missiles if the USA agreed to remove missiles from Turkey. This was a turning point because it changed the way people thought about Nuclear War. This event showed how easy it would be for war to break out because of the high tensions between the USA and the USSR. This event was also one of the first times in the Cold War where the USA directly ordered an ultimatum at the USSR. -
The Cuban Missle Crisis
On October 14, 1962, nuclear warheads were located on launch pads based in Cuba. John F. Kennedy called for a meeting to discuss how to handle the situation. The meeting called for a blockade to be put into place against Cuba. Kennedy also made a speech on television, directed toward the Soviet Union (link to video of the broadcast: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EgdUgzAWcrw). Tensions were extremely high at this point as the world feared that war would finally break out. -
The US Enters Vietnam War
The US entered the Vietnam war on March 8, 1965. Vietnam was split into two, the communist north and the noncommunist south. The US sided with South Vietnam while the Soviet Union sided with North Vietnam. The US entered the war based on the domino theory. The domino theory was the idea that if South Vietnam fell to the Communists, all the Southeast Asia non communists would fall to communism. The US withdrew from war, and two years later South Vietnam fell to communism. -
The US Enters the Vietnam War
This event is significant because communism would spread to much of Southeast Asia, just like the US had predicted. This stregthened the Soviet Union and boosted their morale. -
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The Fall of the Soviet Union was brought about by decades of issues that erupted within the span of a few years. The highly centralized government of the USSR was very disconnected with the Soviet public, and economic stagnation high expenditures in the arms race with the U.S and the war in Afghanistan did a high toll on the already weak economy. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attempted numerous reforms to attempt to save the union. -
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Gorbachev's reforms however, would only prove to accelerate the inevitable downfall of the USSR. Rationing of alcohol and appeasement of nationalist demands would planted the seeds for nationalists uprisings and further discontent with the public, leading to the collapse of the Union after Gorbachevs resignation. This event is important because it marks the true end of the Cold War, as the main conflict was between the U.S. and USSR. -
The Split of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia, a country that was created at the end of World War One, split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on New Years Day, 1993. Czechoslovakia had been divided by Nazi Germany, but later unified by the communist Soviet Union. When the USSR fell, tensions arose between the Czechs and the Slovaks. Though the split between the Czechs and Slovaks was peaceful, most of the countries 15 million citizens wished against the split of the two nations. -
-
-
-
Work Cited
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis/pictures/cuban-missile-crisis/fidel-castro-standing-at-podium-with-hands-behind-his-back-2 http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Cuban-Missile-Crisis.aspx http://www.politico.com/story/2011/01/us-formally-ends-participation-in-vietnam-war-jan-27-1973-048235 iBook https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War