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World war two began on September 1st 1939, During the war japan expanded throughout asia. The USA was skeptical of this expansion because parts of asia were important for USA trade. The US issued an oil embargo on Japan/ stopped giving them oil. Japan was upset and bombed pearl harbor thinking it would cripple the US military because pearl harbor housed military resources. It did not have the intended effect. Importance: It caused the USA to join the war.
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The yalta conference was between stalin roosevelt and churchill. It confirmed what was discussed in the tehran conference about setting up the UN. Stalin also promised to allow democratic elections in countries taken by russia. importance: stalin did not keep that promise. The conference agreed to divide germany and berlin into 4 allied zones. Under control of US brits french and soviets.
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After defeating Germany, Truman, Stalin and Churchill met there to set up zones of control. It was decided that there would be a complete disarmament and demilitarization of germany. They also informed that japanese that if they refused to surrender at once, they would face total destruction. importance: It settled matters related to germany and poland and helped to define the post ww2 balance of power.
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Berlin was blocked off by the soviets in an attempt to strangle the allied forces. To combat this, the USA began airlifting supplies into berlin. These supplies mainly included food to help them survive. importance: solidified the division between the East and west.
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The north atlantic treaty organization was a defense alliance between the USA, canada, and 10 western european countries. Its goal/aim was to provide collective security against the soviet union/ protect its members. importance: It was the first peacetime military alliance the Us entered outside of the western hemisphere. It provided significant opposition against the soviet army.
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Began as a civil war between NK and Sk but ended up becoming international when the UN gave south korea support and china entered to give north korea support . The war resulted in the 38th parallel which is a line that split the koreas/the border. It was an example of the US cold war policies of containments and militarization. importance: It set the stage for the expansion/enlargement of the US defense in asia.
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This was formed by the soviet union in 1955. It included the soviets and seven allied countries in eastern europe. It was an allyship promising mutual military cooperations importance: This pact helped to reinforce communist dominance in europe and split europe between its east and west establishing front lines for the war.
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Abudl gamal nasser, egypts dictator (led the coup against king farouk), nationalized the suez canal. The british, french and israeli forces were against this bcs they viewed the canal as a threat to their economic interests (the canal was a key route for oil supplies and helped them maintain political influence in the region) . They attacked egypt and the USA intervened on egypt's behalf. importance: Damaged britain and france's standing as world powers/allies with the US/regional stability.
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The US backed central intelligence agency otherwise known as the CIA tried to stage a coup to overthrow castro and free cuba from communism. The CIA trained anticommunist cubans then sent them to invade and overthrow castro. This invasion ended up failing. importance: This made castro publicly solidify his allyship with the soviets and look more powerful infront of his people. It also embarrassed kennedy and made him take a more hardline stance.
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This was a confrontation between the Us and soviet union on the western front. The soviets were housing missiles in cuba which was essentially the United states' back yard. The united states was skeptical of soviet missiles being so close. It lasted 13 days but ended up being resolved. Importance: This is considered the closest the USA has ever come to nuclear war, if a nuclear war did break out the consequences would have been catastrophic.