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Period: to
The Cold War 1945-1991
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The Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference occured to decide the post-war status of Germany. The Allies of WWII divided Germany into four occupation zones. The allied nations then agreed that free elections are to be held in all countries occupied by Nazi Germany. The new United Nations also replaced the failing League of Nations. -
Berlin Blockade/Airlife
West Berlin was vulnerable because they wer in between Soviet nations. Only some highways were open to allow westerners to recieve the supplies they needed. The leader, Joseph Stalin, didn't like that the ally powers were disagreeing with him over Germany so he closed all highways and routes to the West. President Harry Truman didn't want to back down to the Soviet Union, so when they carried out the Berlin blockade, they started a massive airlift that dropped supplies to West Berlin. Slide #6 -
Second Red Scare
Joseph McCarthy gave a speech in Virginia declaring he had a list of memebers of the US state department who were communists. There was an anti-communist crusade started because of this and he became very popular for several years. He didn't completely make up the threat, bu he exaggerated it to accuse certain people and to launch his own career. Eventually the senate shut him down & he died in 1957.
Slide #9 "Second Red Scare" -
Korean War
In 1950 North Korean troops attacked South Korea. UN troops got involved with the conflict to stop the spread of communism. The troops pushed through North Korea & into China. The Chinese had unoficially joined the war so the UN became outnumbered and forced to retreat. The war settled to a stalemate & ended in 1953.
Slide #8 "Korean War 1950-1953" -
A-Bombs Developed by Britain
Britain developed its own atom bomb to remain a great power and avoid complete dependence on the United States, which was refusing to share atomic information. They were the third country to test nuclear weapons, behind the United States and the Soviet Union. Over the next 5 years they tested 11 more atomic weapons. -
The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a treaty between the Soviet Union and 7 other communist states. The purpose was to give Soviet Union control over the armed forces of the member states. It was a Soviet military reaction to the integration of West Germany into NATO, but it was mostly motivated by Soviet desire to maintain control over military forces in central and eastern Europe. -
Space Race
In 1957 the Soviet Union put two satellites into orbit that were powered be rockets. The first one was unmanned but the second one had a Russian dog on board. The US were concerned that that could tip the balance of power in the Cold War, so they wanted to be the first to put a man on the moon. That was accomplished in 1969 and the United States took back the lead.
Slide #10 "Space Race -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
In 1959 on the island of Cuba, Fidel Castro had just overthrown a government that had been friendly with the US, but Castro turned to the Soviet Union. By 1961 when Kennedy took office there was a fear of cimmunism spreading to the US. The CIA trained Cuban exiles and took them to Cuba to attack, but it was a big failure. Castro knew they were coming & they surrendered quickly.
Slide #14 "Bay of Pigs Invasion '61" -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union made an offer to Castro saying that if he agreed they would install nuclear weapons in Cuba as a way to deter the US from attacking. He eventually said yes & let them begin construction. They tried to keep it a secret, but US surveillance aircrafts picked up details and sent it to president Kennedy. He let the whole world know what was happening. US & Soviet official resolved the issue by agreeing to remove the missiles in exchange for US promise not to invade Cuba.
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Gulf of Tonkin Incident
On this day, the USS Maddox detected 3 North Vietnamese torpedo boats approaching at high speed, which then resulted in a sea battle. The outcome of this was the passage by congress the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which granted Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by communist aggression. -
Soviet Union Invades Afghanistan
The Soviet Union intervened in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anticommunist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War. The war in Afghanistan became a quagmire for what by the late 1980s was a disintegrating Soviet Union. 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 Feb. 15, -
Invasion of Grenada
In 1983 the United States invaded the island of Grenada and overthrew the communist government in favor of a pro-western one in a span of less than two months. The invasion highlighted issues with communication and coordination between the branches of the United States military, contributing to investigations and sweeping changes, in the form of the Goldwater-Nichols Act and other reorganizations. -
Fall of Soviet Union
In December of 1991, the Soviet Union disintegrated into 15 separate countries. It's collapse was a victory of freedom for the West. The fall of the Soviet Union prompted the end of the Cold War. The breakup of the Soviet Union transformed the entire world political situation, leading to a complete reformulation of political, economic and military alliances all over the globe.
