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Nato alliance formed
After the war the Allies begin distrusting one another. To protect each other they once again formed two alliances. The United States and other democratic countries formed the North Alantic Treaty Organzation, or NATO. They promised to help one another if they were ever attacked. -
Korean Conflict
Kim II Sung wanted to reunite all of Korea. The North Koreans attacked South Korea in June and were all over most of the South. The United Nations condemed the invasion and organized a millitary force to help South Korea. Troops arrived in July but they continued to advance south until they got to what's known as the Pusan Perimeter. In November UN forces advanced to the Yalu River. The Chineese sent forces to assist North Korea and they foought back to the 38th parallel. -
Korean Conflict
At the 38th parallel there was a stalemate until 1953. They signed an armistice to end fighting. Two million troops remained dug in on both sides of the DMZ. -
Berlin Wall constructed
Berlin was split ino the democrattic West Berlin and communist East Berlin. West Germany experinced economic excellence but East Germany was full of low paid workers who fled from the East side to the West side. To prevent any more people leaving they built the Berlin Wallfrom concrete and topped it with barbed wire and patrolled it with armed gaurds. -
Communist Cuba and the Cuban Missle Crisis
In 1959 Fidel Castro succesfully led a revolt aginst the corrupt dictator. He transformed the country into a communist government. The Soviet Union offered nuclear weapons as protection for cuba and they accepted. The US set up a naval blockade to prevent anymore weapons to get to Cuba. The world was on the brink of nuclear war for about week until the Soviet leader backed off. -
Vietnam Conflict
The Gulf of Tonkin incident occured on August 2nd and 5th, 1964. What happened is the North Vietnameese attacked the US destroyer, the Maddox, believing they had assisted with a raid. President Johsnon reported the attacks to Congress and war was declared on August 7, 1964. The US instituted the draft and sent more than 500,000 troops to assist the South Vietnameese. Most of the fighting by the North Vietnameese was guerilla style. -
Vietnam Conflict
In 1968 numerous guerrila troops attacked American and South Vietnameese cities in the south. This took place during the Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. Due to this it infamously bacame known as the Tet offensive. The communist did not succed but both sides lost a lot of soldiers. Increasing deaths and frustaration decreased morale, both at home and on the front lines. Increasing pressure from the public and the lack of succes forced America to pull out in January 1963. -
Nuclear Arms Race and Detente
The arms race was a huge part of the Cold War. Until 1949 the US was the only country with nuclear weapons. In 1949 the Soviet Union developed an atomic bomb and both countries had a hydrogeon bomb by 1953. Everyone knew that a nuclear war would destroy both countries so a balance of terror was formed. MAD, or mutually assured destruction, was when each side knew if they launched a missle the other country would also. To counter .these missles anti-ballistic missles, or ABM's, were built. -
Chineese Civil War
The communist force led by Mao Zedong defeated the Nationalist led by Jiang Jieshi. Mao had the peasents who strongl disliked the nationalist. The Nationalist policies brought economic difficulties and high taxes. They hoped corruption in Jiang's government would when Mao's Communists built a new China. After the Nationalist were defeated the Communist also defeated Tibet in 1950. -
Soviets in Afghanistan
The Soviets supported the Afghanistan government. The Afghans attempted tp modernize it's country. They redistributed land away from landlords and reduced their power. The people thought that these policies offended Muslim tradition. When warlords took up arms aginst the government Soviet troops moved in. They battled mujahedin in the mountains of Afghanistan. During the 1980's America started smuggling weapons to the Afghani's. After years of high casualties and a lack of succes they pulled out -
Eastern European Independece
In 1968 Czechloslavokia was invaded when they tried to make reforms. Hungary did they same thing but were allowed to keep them because they sayed loyal to communisim. Then in the 70's they introduced more aspects of a market economy. Then during the late 80's they eased up on regulations and allowed greater freedoms due to public pressure. -
Soviet Union Falls
After the war in Afghanistan the Soviet Union was depleted of money and power. Multiple Communist countries in the Warsaw Pact started small revolts. Countries made small economic reforms while others made huge changes. The Soviet union was rapidly losing control and countries were giving more freedom to the people and the goverment. Soon all the countries within the Soviet Union broke away and simply ceased to exist.
