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NATO and the Warsaw Pact continued
...;a pact between the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet-ruled satellites in Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact, however, was more often utilized to stop revolt inside of the Soviet satellites. The formation of these alliances defined the two sides of the war. -
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NATO and the Warsaw Pact
NATOIn the late 1940’s, The Cold War brought tension in Europe. Stalin’s Communist party fought for control of the Eastern European colonies they had acquired during WWII and supported the spread of Communism, while the Europeans and the US fought for self-government and the spread of Democracy. In order to strengthen their defense, the US, Canada, and ten other European countries formed NATO, (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), in 1949. In response, in 1955, the Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact... -
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Nuclear Arms Race and Detente
Nuclear Arms RaceThe US building of the A-bomb gave the Soviets incentive to research nuclear weaponry and they succeeded by 1949. This started an “arms race” in which the US and the USSR each were fighting to obtain the greatest nuclear power. This created many newer, bigger nuclear weapons, including the hydrogen bomb, and a growing fear of nuclear warfare. -
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Nuclear Arms Race and Detente continued
Each side knew that nuclear war would desolate both nations. Because of this, in 1969, the US and USSR began discussing limitations on nuclear arms. In 1972 and again in 1979, the US and USSR signed agreements limiting the use of nuclear arms. These agreements lead to a time of relieved tensions or a détente during most of the 1970’s. Tensions reappeared when the soviets attacked Afghanistan in 1979. -
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Chinese Civil War
Mao ZedongMao Zedong and the Communist Chinese had taken most of northern China by the end of WWII and now fought a war against the Chinese nationalists led by Jiang Jieshi. Due to peasant support, the nationalists lost popularity and the Communists gained greater numbers. Eventually, the Communists took control of China and later Tibet, in 1950. Mao Zedong quickly built a Communist, one-party, totalitarian state in China. -
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Chinese Civil War continued
His rule discouraged any form of religion and exterminated any counterrevolutionaries. Mao also collectivized farmland and in 1958, instituted the Great Leap Forward; a 2 year plan to modernize China. This plan, which failed to accomplish its goal, lasted till 1960. Many Chinese lost their lives to starvation because of Communist failure to create incentive for cultural productivity. -
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Chinese Civil War continued (2)
. In 1966, Mao initialized the Cultural Revolution, targeting young men as easily brainwashed servants to the state. The goal was to purge China of its bourgeois tendencies and renew revolutionary fervor. Its success cost the lives of many Chinese citizens. -
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Comunist Cuba and the Missle Crisis
Cuban flagIn the 1950’s Fidel Castro rallied an uprising against the corrupt dictator of the time, and after many conflicts, took power. By 1959, Castro and his rebellion had gained victory and began reforming Cuba. Castro imposed restrictions on freedoms of speech and took most land under government control, enforcing a communist regime. He also sought the assistance of the Soviet Union. -
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Communist Cuba and the Missile Crisis continued
This upset the US, causing John Kennedy to support the Bay of Pigs Invasion and enforce a trade embargo when the invasion failed. Tensions grew and in 1962, the USSR sent nuclear missiles to Cuba, severely threatening the US with mass destruction and the world with nuclear war. In response, the US blockaded Cuba to prevent further importation of Nuclear weapons, and demanded the deportation of all nuclear arms from Cuba. -
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Communist Cuba and the Missile Crisis continued (2)
The Soviets withdrew when Premier Nikita Khrushchev was convinced of Soviet inferiority in potential nuclear war with the US. -
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Korean Conflict
Korean WarAfter WWII, Kim II Sung, the leader of North Korea joined forces with the Soviet Communist state. In opposition of Communism, the US supported the dictatorship in South Korea, under Syngman Rhee. Both sides want to reunite, but under their own leadership. In early 1950, the North Koreans begin to push downward steadily. Despite UN troops arriving in July, the North Koreans continue to push south until they are stopped at the Pusan Perimeter. -
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Eastern European Independence
The Soviet Union maintains control over all of its Eastern European satellites by force. Eastern Europeans demanded an end to soviet domination. Many opposed communist rule. Revolts had erupted in Poland, Hungary and, Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s, demands for change mounted once again. Drive for freedom combined with economic hardship in Hungary and Poland called for greater reform. -
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Eastern European Independence continued
However, German communist rulers resisted new freedoms, but German émigrés and exterior propaganda pushed reform. Economic hardship and overpowering revolt in the Soviet Union pull it apart and one by one, each nation claims self-government. In 1992, Czechoslovakia divides peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For the first time since 1939, Eastern European countries were free. -
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Eastern European Independence
The Soviet Union maintains control over all of its Eastern European satellites by force. Eastern Europeans demanded an end to soviet domination. Many opposed communist rule. Revolts had erupted in Poland, Hungary and, Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s, demands for change mounted once again. Drive for freedom combined with economic hardship in Hungary and Poland called for greater reform. -
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Eastern European Independence continued
However, German communist rulers resisted new freedoms, but German émigrés and exterior propaganda pushed reform. Economic hardship and overpowering revolt in the Soviet Union pull it apart and one by one, each nation claims self-government. In 1992, Czechoslovakia divides peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For the first time since 1939, Eastern European countries were free. -
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Korean Conflict
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Korean Conflict continued
In September, UN troops deploy behind enemy lines and cut off supplies to the North Korean troops and the UN troops advance northward. In November, Mao Zedong sends hundreds of thousands of troops to support North Korea and push the UN forces back to the 38th parallel; their original starting point. After a long stalemate, an armistice was signed ending the fighting on 1953. -
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Eastern European Idependence -image-
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Berlin Wall
Berlin Wallby the 1950’s Berlin had been divided after WWII between the Democratic Party in the West and the Communist State in the East. Due to obvious flaws in communist practice, many citizens fled East Berlin for West Berlin and a mass exodus resulted. In order to stop the loss of Communist citizens, in 1961, the Soviets built a large, heavily guarded, cement wall. The Berlin Wall became a staple for the Cold War, and proved that Communism was much more a tyranny than it was fair treatment. -
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Soviet Union Falls
GlasnostBeginning with Khrushchev’s rise to power, the Soviet Union saw freedoms slowly return to its European satellites. The USSR maintained a command economy but changed its focus from war to local goods, which failed to meet the needs of the citizens. The communist failure to create incentive also crippled the market greatly and weakened the Soviet Union. The people saw little improvement. The hit on morale they took in the Afghan war was the last straw. -
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Soviet Union Falls continued
Revolts became too frequent and too great, and by late 1989, a powerful democracy movement was sweeping across the region. The Soviet Union slowly fell apart, as country by country left the union. The revolutionized satellites dissolved the Warsaw Pact in1991 and requested that Russian troops leave. By then, the Soviet Union itself had crumbled. -
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Vietnam Conflict continued
Northern troops, who mistook a US destroyer as an accomplice in the raids, attacked it, provoking the US congress to give the president authority to do everything necessary to stop Southeast Asian aggression, i.e. the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, august 7, 1964. In Vietnam, American troops faced rough terrain which was in favor of the natives who were familiar with it. -
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Vietnam conflict continued (2)
In 1968, communist guerrillas attacked American and south Vietnamese cities unexpectedly during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, in the bloody Tet offensive. In the US anti-war movements became increasingly frequent and passionate. Eventually, in 1973, the US signed the Paris Peace Accord and established a cease fire with North Vietnam. In return, the North Vietnamese, agreed not to send more troops to South Vietnam, however, two years after the Americans withdrew, the North had conquered the South -
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Vietnam Conflict
Vietnam peace protestAs the Vietnam War began, American strategists concluded that if Vietnam were to fall to communism, then many other south Asian countries also would fall to communism. In response, they began sending supplies to South Vietnam while the Mao Zedong sent supplies to North Vietnam. In august of 1964, South Vietnamese commandos raided North Vietnamese islands in the gulf of Tonkin. -
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Soviets in Afghanistan
Stringer missileIn 1979, the Soviet war on Afghanistan began. As soviet-supported Afghan governments attempted to modernize Afghanistan and rid it of religious tendencies, Afghan conservatives fought back. This resistance formed the mujahedin, a force of Muslim “holy warriors” that created a great struggle for the Soviet revolutionaries. By the mid 80’s the Americans began smuggling in weapons to the Afghan soldiers. The effect of the battle devastated Soviet morale and proved to be a great cost to the Soviets.
