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The Nuclear Race (MAD)
Both the US and the USSR had the nuclear weapons to destroy the other side. This led to a situation in which neither side would attack first, since the other retaliate with equal or greater force. Another consequence of the rivalry between the united States and the Soviet Union was the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The US tested the first atomic bomb at New Mexico to would allow control of foreign policy. In 1991, The United Sates and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Act. -
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The Greek Civil War
During the Greek Civil War the British and the USA send military support to the Greek Government to help fight Greek communist insurgents. It established the way that the two superpowers would behave for the next forty years.
The Truman Doctrine based on the idea of containment. If the Soviet Union could be contained within a certain area then there would be no problems regarding a new world war.The problem was that the suspicion was mutual.
Estimated to have taken more than 80,000 lives. -
The Berlin Blockade
Stalin´s blockade in Berlin meant that people and goods couldn´t travel freely through the city.
People in Berlin worried that wouldn´t have food and medicines. Also, the rest of Europe worried that this crisis would lead to war.
The Western Allies organised the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the size of the city's population.
The Americans and British then began a joint operation in support of the entire city.
They were 101 fatalities. -
The Hungarian Uprising
Hungary had been controlled by Russia. The death of Stalin brought people in Eastern European countries the hope of freedom and change.The revolt spread quickly and the government collapsed, during the revolt there were violent incidents.The new government, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections.
Initially appearing open to negotiating a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. -
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The Vietnam War
The causes of the Vietnam War revolve around the simple belief held by America that communism was threatening to expand all over south-east Asia. Neither the Soviet Union nor the United States could risk an all-out war against each other.
It was very traumatic for both sides:
For USA, because they lost the war and experienced ideological divisions in their country.
For Vietnam, because the country was devastated by the war, with 4 million civilians killed. -
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The Berlin Wall
Many people living in East Germany wanted go out. East Germany was rapidly losing its labor force and its population. So, they decided to build a wall to prevent them from crossing the border.
During this period, over 100,000 people attempted to escape, and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll ranging to more than 200.
In 1989, its fall came to represent the end of the Cold War. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
It was confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba.
In response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to Cuba's request to place nuclear missiles on the island to deter a future invasion.
The US announced it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the weapons already in Cuba be dismantled and returned to the Soviet Union. -
The Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in an invasion of Czechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague. Although the Soviet Union's action successfully halted the pace of reform in Czechoslovakia, it had unintended consequences for the unity of the communist bloc.
The Czech government decided not to resist the invading forces. Although there was some street fighting.Thousands of Czech were arrested. Czechoslovakia was once more under Soviet control. -
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The Invasion of Afghanistan
The war in Afghanistan became a impossible for what by the late 1980s was a disintegrating Soviet Union. (The Soviets suffered some 15,000 dead and many more injured.) Despite having failed to implement a sympathetic regime in Afghanistan, in 1988 the Soviet Union signed an accord with the United States, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and agreed to withdraw its troops. The Soviet withdrawal was completed on February 15, 1989, and Afghanistan returned to nonaligned status.
