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Truman Doctrine
“The Truman Doctrine was the guiding principle of U.S. foreign policy for a generation” (Klauthammer). Harry Truman requested $400 million from congress to aid other countries who were suffering from the communist regime. This impacted the US culturally by making it our culture to try to reach out to countries in need. It affected the Cold War later by showing how much the US opposed communism and how they would aid other countries by sacrificing money so they wouldn’t fall for communism. -
Marshall Plan
Countries were still severely suffering from WWII so George Marshall decided to start an aid program to rebuild Europe.
$13 billion was sent to Europe in the next 4 years. The GASPIRE theme of economy is illustrated because the US was sacrificing their economy to benefit other countries and it showed how much other countries’ economies were struggling. This again shows how much the US was willing to stop communism from spreading. -
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Korean War
North Koreans wanted to unite Korea as a communist nation. US forces came to aid South Korea with UN. The war ended with South and North Korea in the same situation as before the war started and communism didn’t spread. Politically, North and South Korea had separate views and were not a united country.
The impact this had later on the Cold War was how separate North and South Korea stayed. -
Cuban Revolution
Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government and made Cuba a communist and totalitarianism regime with the support of the Soviet Union. The US then trained Cubans to overthrow Fidel’s government but it failed so US cut off ties with Cuba in 1961. This event demonstrates politically how one country can not come in to change another country’s views and force their people to overthrow their government. This later impacted the war by making it harder for the US to completely demolish communism -
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Space Race
The Soviet union and the United States emerged as the two most powerful nations and wanted to prove themselves as better in lots of aspects. Soviet Union sent the first man to space, but the US sent the first man to the moon.This shows culturally, both countries were very focused on improving their societies and were very well educated and with a lot of resources. US sending the first people to the moon impacted the war by showing how influential they were and how democratic government is better -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet union threw missiles into Cuba and John F Kennedy realizes this and tells them to remove them or they might go to war. Krushchev removes the missiles and there is no nuclear war.
Politically, the Soviet Union is very reckless and inconsiderate of other countries. This impacts the cold war because of the amount of fear that was implemented that a nuclear war almost happened. -
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Détente
Tension between the Soviet Union and the United States eased. Both countries knew that a nuclear war would cause unnecessary mass destruction so they agreed to do nothing. They also signed lots of SALT treaties. Psychologically this was relieving for the populations of both countries because they knew they wouldn’t have to prepare for the effects of nuclear radiation. The impact this had on the cold war was prolonging the issue and taking it longer for them to resolve it. -
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Soviets Fight in Afghanisan
The Soviet Union decided to fight Afghanistan because of government rebellion. America gave the Afghans weapons to fight against the Soviets, and war finished and country was left in devastation. The USA didn’t help restore their country. Psychologically, the people were extremely upset at the US because they only helped them halfway. This impacted the cold war because the Afghans got upset at US and were trained with weapons. -
Glasnost
This was a policy that relaxed the previous policies of the Soviet Union. It was translates to openness. People were now allowed to criticize the government. This impacted the country socially because people felt like they had a lot more freedom. This would impact the cold war by making the people of the Soviet realize things about their government. -
Perestroika
This was a reconstructing program instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev. The goal was to bring the Soviet Union’s economy to be on par with the United States. Votes were open to the body of congress. This impacted the soviet union economically because their economy grew. Overall this changed the Soviet Union to be less communist. -
Falling of the Berlin Wall
The falling of the berlin wall symbolized the end of communism in the eastern parts of Europe. It fell because of mass demonstrations of the people. A new travel law opened and people demanded to get through the border. Politically, the entire government system of the soviet was changed. This symbolized the end of the communism in the cold war in eastern Europe -
Tyranny in Berlin
Berlin was closed off in the 1960s by a wall. People rioted and were very upset for a long time. Finally in 1989 the fall of the Berlin wall symbolized the end of the tyranny. Politically, this shows how unstable Berlin was. This influenced other people in other countries to know communism wasn’t a good thing. -
End of the Cold War
In December 1991, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Russia itself declared independence and the Soviet Union was dissolved. Gorbachev was a president without a country. The cold war was over
Politically, this ended the disputes between US and Soviet Union
This symbolized the end of the cold war -
Interview With Mr. Hickman
