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Period: to
Confrontation of the Superpowers
The Soviet government nor the American leaders were willing to give up power and prestige. A number of events led these two superpowers (countries whose military power is combined with political influence) into conflict. -
Greece
The Communist People's Liberation Army and anti-Communist forces supported by Great Britain fought for control of Greece -
Truman Doctrine
Adressing a joint session of Congress, Truman asked for $400 million dollars in aid for Greece and Turkey. -
Marshall Plan
The Truman Doctrine was followed by the European Recovery Program. Proposed by General C. Marshall, U.S. secretary of state. -
Policy of Containment
The split in Europe between the United States and the Soviet Union had become a fact of life. George Kennan, a well-known U.S. diplomat with much knowledge of Soviet affairs, argued for a policy of containment to keep communism within its existing boundaries. -
Unification
Great Britain, France, and the United States were making plans to unify the three Western sections of Germany (and Berlin) and create a West German government. -
Berlin Airlift
Supplies would be flown in by American and British airplanes. For more than 10 months, more than 200,000 flights carried 2.3 million tons of supplies. -
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek finally lost control of China, and the Communist Mao Zedong announced the formation of the People's Rupublic of China. -
COMECON
The Soviet Union responded to the Marshall Plan by founding the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance for the economic cooperation of the Eastern European states. -
Blockade
The Soviets, who wanted to avoid war as much as the Western powers, finally gave in and lifted the blockade. -
H-Bomb
In the early 1950s the United States and the Soviet Union developed the even more deadly hydrogen bomb. -
Korean War
The war began as an attempt by the Communist government of North Korea, which was allied with the Soviet Union, to take over South Korea. -
ICBMs
Both the Soviet Union and the United States had intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of sending bombs anywhere -
Allies
In the mid 1950s the Untied States found itself in military alliance with 42 states around the world -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and its European allies began to create the Warsaw Pact. -
Berlin Wall
Nikita Khrushchev, being the new leader of the Soviet Union, tried to take advantage of the American concern over missiles to solve the problem of West Berlin. -
Sputnik 1
The Soviets sent Sputnik 1, the first human-made space satellite, to orbit Earth. New fears seized the American public. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A left-wing revolutionary named Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and set up a Soviet-supported totalitarian regime in Cuba. -
Bay of Pigs
The invasion began on Sunday, April 16, 1961. By wednesday, the exiled fighters began surrendering. One hundred and fourteen died; the rest were captured by Castro's troops. -
Counteract
Khrushchev began to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. The missiles were meant to counteract U.S. nuclear weapons placed in Turkey. -
Art
Khrushchev loosened government controls on literary and artistic works. -
Hot Coms
A hotline communications system between Moscow and Washington, D.C., was installed. -
Vietnam 1
Under president Lyndon B. Johnson, increasing numbers of U.S. troops were sent to Vietnam. -
Veto
While Khrushchev was away on vacation, a special meeting of the Soviet leaders voted him out of office. -
Antonin
Novotny` had alienated many members of his own party and Czechoslovakia's writers. -
Nixon
Presindent Nixon reached an agreement with Vietnam to withdraw their forces.
