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Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting between the three biggest powers: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. This conference took place after WWII when the "Big Three" had to decide what to do with Germany. They agreed to govern Germany and split it between them. This was for geographical purposes because they did not want the other to have more land, so they had to split Germany evenly to avoid conflict. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine showed President Truman's support for countries who rejected communism. Greece and Turkey were in danger of being a communist state, so Truman received $400 million from Congress to aid these countries in need. This was a very shocking move by Truman because many people didn't want to get involved in foreign conflicts. This affected the war economically because this took money from America's pocket to support other countries. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was created by George Marshall. This plan was created to help European countries in need by materials to help feed and rebuild the broken countries. The plan had positive feedback from the Congress, but not the Soviet Union who did not want to make their former enemies look weak.This improved Europe economically because their people did not have enough money to produce for themselves. The impact of this plan was beneficial and showed America's generosity towards other nations. -
Berlin Airlift
The USSR had taken control of West Berlin when the Allies retreated their forces. The USSR cut off water and food to the people in Berlin. The USSR thought capturing these people would lead the Allies to surrender Berlin, but instead some Allied soldiers flew in supplies for the people.This could have turned into a territorial war and West Berlin could have been Russia's today if the U.S. had surrendered. This impacted the war by showing the Allie's obligation to help those against communism. -
Space Race
The Space Race was a race between the Soviet Union and the U.S. about who could get to space first. This was a competition who could be the smartest, most advanced country. Yuri Gagarin, a USSR astronaut, was the first man in space, but the U.S. responded by putting Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins on the moon. This challenged the world intellectually to see how far each country could create. This impacted the war with new technology no one has seen before like nuclear weapons and people on space. -
Communists Take Power in China
From Communists invading China, China turned into a communist state, though there were many supporters under nationalism led by Jiang Jieshi. A part of China then split off, making Taiwan, the part of China who were Nationalists. This created political opponents between Communist China and Nationalist Taiwan who once lived in the same country, and are now two different nations. The U.S. helped set Jieshi into a Nationalist nation and the Soviets gave their support to Communist China. -
38th Parallel
Korea split into two nations during WWII, North and South Korea. North Korea was Communist while South Korea was not. On June 25, 1950, North Koreans crossed the 38th parallel in a surprise attack on the South. This showed how two different political beliefs can split a country in half. This affected the war because South Korea asked the UN to assist them, and they did. The Soviet Union was not a part of this choice because they were angry about the two political feuds in China. -
U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War
The war between North and South Vietnam grew more intense and the North seemed like it would win, meaning a Communist Vietnam. -
The Cultural Revolution
In order to keep China a Communist country, Mao Zedong inspired students in China to help this revolution. Millions of students left their school and formed the Red Guards. The Red Guards led the Cultural Revolution and pledged their allegiance to Mao. They caused major chaos and exiled anyone who valued the individuality and the arts. Creativity was banned and those were were intellectuals were forced to do hard labor. The Red Guards impacted the war by showing China's struggle to be stable. -
SALT Treaty
SALT stands for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. The Cold War was about done and President Richard Nixon and Brezhnev signed the SALT I Treaty. The SALT I Treaty was a five-year agreement to limit the number of nuclear weaponry. This helped improved psychological warfare between the countries because they no longer had to worry about who was going to attack who. This impacted the war positively because the countries were making peace with each other. The Cold War was almost at an end. -
A Life in the Cold War
The person I interviewed was my grandma who I chose because she would have answers about the Cold War in America and Vietnam. She defined the Cold War as 2 countries turning their backs on each other. She said even though she didn't think about it constantly, it was always on the news; you couldn't get away from it. The Cold War affected my grandma a lot because she was in Vietnam for most of it and she said "Vietnam was a point of war." The war did not scare her once she came to America. -
Glasnost
The Soviet Union created totalitarian state in the past, but the an upcoming leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, created a policy called the glasnost which means "openness". The glasnost had positive effects on the USSR's society; churches were opened, previously banned authors could have their books published, and even criticized officials who treated citizens poorly. This helped the Soviet Union socially because the people could now read books and attend churches they couldn't before. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was built to separate East and West Berlin to keep the West, who was labeled as fascist, out. Soon, protesters against the wall argued that they wanted to travel between borders and wanted free electrons. The Berlin Wall was chipped away by the people and communism had ended in Eastern Europe. This was a good way for political reforms to happen since there is no more fascism or communism. The Germans had to find a new form of government, which could be a good thing for the war. -
Reunification of Germany
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germans wanted to talk of merging the two Germanys together again. Some people were worried about having a united Germany, but Helmet Kohl, the West Germany chancellor, stated they were now democratic and advocates for human rights. The geography of German was now changed once Germany was finally united on October 3. This affected the war because Germany was united again and at peace with the other nations. The world was almost stable again.
