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Fall of Saigon
On the 30th of April, 1975 the city of Saigon fell to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces. The capture of the city led to the mass evacuation of any American's in the region and many South Vietnamese civilians who were associated with the United States. President Ford announced three different operations to evacuate from the city. The largest evacuation, Operation New Life, evacuated 110,000 Vietnamese refugees who would be in danger out of the region. As Saigon fell, the Vietnam war ended. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
Starting in 1979, Iran held 52 American diplomats hostage. The U.S. embassy was taken over by a group of students who supported the Iranian Revolution. The group of students sparked a conflict outside of the embassy with the help of a crowd of protestors. The United States lost control of the embassy and the diplomats from the embassy were held for 444 days. Two attempts to rescue the hostages were planned by President Carter with the help of the Canadians but failed. In 1981, they were released -
Start of the Soviet-Afghan War
At the end of 1979, Soviet forces entered Afghanistan and began to take over major cities, military bases and other major locations. The occupation was designed to pacify the country and scare the Mujahideen but it caused the rebellion to spread and create an even more prevalent feeling of nationalism. The Soviets started to engage in constant combat in the areas they controlled with the Mujahideen, groups of local tribes people who disliked the occupation and some rebel units of Afghan soldiers -
Boycott of the Moscow Olympics
On the 20th of January, President Jimmy Carter gave the Soviets the option to leave Afghanistan or the Olympics in Moscow that year would be Boycotted. Other countries supported the U.S. and when the deadline given to the Russians was up and they were still in Afghanistan, the President was true to his word and the Olympics were protested. The protest made people in the Soviet Union how serious President Carter was. -
Mariel Boatlift
From late 1980 to early 1981, thousands of Cubans migrated to America. The Cuban government allowed the citizens to leave Cuba and the migration was organized by Cubans already living in America. The mass migration caused problems for President Carter because of his past problems when dealing with immigration. Once the number of migrants to the U.S. reached over 100,000, the Cuban government came to an agreement with the U.S. to stop the migration -
Beirut Barracks Bombings
In October 1983, terrorist attacks in Lebanon killed 241 Americans, 58 French, and 6 civilians from the area. The bombing was done by two Jihadist suicide bombers. Rescue operations were run by the U.S. and French to help save the people who were injured and trapped in the wreckage. President Reagan and the French President made promises to keep forces in Lebanon for protection. This was one of the first incidents of terror in the world and was the highest death toll for the U.S. in years. -
The Invasion of Grenada
Lasting less than a month, the invasion of the small island Grenada was caused by the execution of the countries previous leader by a Stalinist coup that did not support their current government. President Reagan quickly started a military intervention to save a large number of U.S. students in Grenada. Many U.S. forces invaded the island together. Although some allied countries did not like the invasion, it was deemed necessary and after less than a month, the Cuban and local forces lost power. -
Iran-Contra Affair
Senior administration officials secretly sold weapons to Iran which violated a trade embargo set in place. They did this to fund the Nicaraguan "Contras" and to help free American Hostages in the middle east. The event became a political scandal but it was unknown whether President Reagan authorized the sale of weapons or the funding to the Contras. It was known that Reagan did support the Contras cause. After the event, President Reagan made an address stating his regret towards what happened. -
INF Treaty Signing
The intermediate range nuclear forces treaty was signed to eliminate close and intermediate ranged missiles from use or possession. Thousands of nuclear and regular missiles were disposed of as a result of the treaty between the U.S. and the Soviets. The treaty came from years of negotiation between the two parties but was eventually signed. Multiple missile programs for both countries were dissolved and both countries were subject to checks for weapons for 10 years after the signing. -
Ending of Soviet-Afghan War
After years of war, the Soviets came up with a plan to get out by giving all responsibility of fighting the Mujahideen to the Afghan armed forces. The plan did not really work and about 2 years later the Soviets just completely withdrawled from the conflict. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Following large numbers of citizens escaping from East Germany, large protests at West German embassies took place in the hopes of not being sent back to the communist East Germany. During the same time this was happening, U.S. President Reagan was making a speech directed at the communist leaders of East Germany asking for the demolition of the wall. His main line was towards soviet leader Gorbachev where he said: "open up the barrier that divided berlin since 1961". The wall was soon torn down -
Gulf War
Lasting from 1990-1991, the Gulf War was fought by a coalition of forces in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Multiple operations took place during the duration of the war to support Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and their large supply of oil that was the key factor of the region financially. Kuwait was eventually liberated and coalition forces began to push into Iraq as a result. A ceasefire was eventually reached and the conflict ended with tensions rising in the middle east more and more. -
Original World Trade Center Attack
In 1993, the world trade center was attacked for the first time. A small group of terrorists who had some connections to Al-Queda planned and committed the attack and killed 6 people and injured hundreds. They had a vehicle loaded with explosives and detonated it on the North Tower. A memorial was created for those who were killed and a large investigation took place involving multiple agencies -
NAFTA Signed
The major trade agreement for the three North American countries was signed on new years day of 1994 with the purpose of eliminating almost all tariffs when trading between North American countries. Signed by President Clinton, and having a large majority support in the senate, the trade agreement appeared to be successful but as a result, many Amerian Jobs were sent to Mexico and Canada because of cheaper labor costs and the elimination of tariffs. Many Mexican farmers were deemed irrelevant. -
United States Embassy Bombings
Terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassy in Kenya were committed by Osama Bin Laden and Al-Queda. Over 200 people died with much more injured. The attack was in response to the alleged torture and capture of Egyptian Jihadists. As a result of the bombings, President Clinton started an operation to retaliate which consisted of numerous cruise missile bombings on Al-Queda sites. This attack was the first major attack committed by Osama Bin Laden to be well known by many world governments.
