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Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine came into effect when Greece and Turkey were in danger of collapsing towards communist influence. To help, President Truman get $400 million from congress to aid both countries in the fight. This event reflects the theme of "economics" because it was a large economic move for Truman to send such a large amount of money to help aid in the war against communism. This event was one of the first starting points towards the cold war and made communism the enemy. -
Marshall Plan
This was a plan executed by the U.S. Secretary of State at the time which was George Marshall. This plan was designed to rebuild Europe from the destruction caused by WWII. This event relates to to the theme of "geographic" because this was an attempt at sending more resources to other nations to try and build back up again from the previous war. This further impacted the war because many European nations had declined the money which increased tensions between nations. -
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
The Soviet's had blocked all land and water access to the capital of Berlin in response to the U.S. trying to aid European nations. From June 1948 to 1949, the US and British planes flew 1.5 million tons of supplies to the citizens of West Berlin. After a while, the Soviets had gotten rid of the barrier because so much supply was already getting through. This event relates to the theme of "geographic" because the German's were cut off geographically from any other region. -
Comecon
The Comecon was the Soviet's response to the Marshal Plan. This plan was to give other European nations money so they wouldn't accept the deal from the U.S. anymore. This event falls under the theme of "social" because the soviets had reacted to the U.S. Marshall Plan with another similar plan. This played a role in the Cold War because it had started the direct conflict of the USSR and the U.S. -
Korean War
The Korean war was fought on the border between the North and South sides. The UN forces came to aid South Korea. Communist China and the USSR had given military support and weapons to North Korea. The war had ended in a stale-mate along the 38th parallel and the borders had ended up staying the same. This event relates to the theme "culture" because the war had started over the culture of the different governments. This was important to the Cold War because it made many countries go to war. -
Bay of Pigs
Fidel Castro had overthrown the Cuban government in 1959 and had implemented a communist regime with support from the USSR. Then, the US trained over 1000 exiles to overthrow the new communist government. They had invaded in 1961 and it is known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. This event has the theme of "psychological" because the US had tried to take down Castro's new government by using his own people against him. This was important in the war because it leads to the Cuban missile crisis. -
Space Race
The Space Race was when the US and USSR wanted to show who was the most technologically advanced. It had started with Russia sending the first person to space and then the US had sent the first person to the moon in 1969. This event has the theme of "intellectual" because this was the race over new technology that had yet to be seen by anyone. This was important during the Cold War because it was the showcase of technology between the two conflicting regions. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1962, the USSR had sent nuclear missiles to Cuba. The US responded to this by blockading Cuba and JFK had demanded that the missiles be removed. In October of 1962, the Soviet leader at the time removed the missiles from Cuba. This fits under the theme of "psychological" because there were so many threats and arguments over the actual supplying of missiles in Cuba. This was important during the Cold War because this was the peak during the war and a main conflict. -
Presidential Election
The 2016 presidential election was very controversial over the ties with Russia. Many believe that the Russians had some impact on the election outcome. This event relates to the theme of "political" because this has a large impact on our modern day politics. This might have been impacted by the Cold War because Russia still might have some grudge against the United States. -
Interview
I had interviewed my grandfather who is currently 63 and I chose him because I thought he would have the most knowledge of the war within my family. The first question I asked what did he think was the definition of the Cold War and the first image that came to mind. He had said, "The nuclear threat of the early 1960's and the image that comes to mind is Cuba.". The second question was what he thought about the Soviets during the war.
