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Causes of the Cold War
-Truman took over as president after Roosevelt died.
-America and Russia were the world's superpowers.
-America had freedom of speech, Russia had state control.
-Truman hated communism and Russia's leader, Stalin, hated captialism.
-America was captialist. Russia was communist.
-America had democracy. Russia had a dictatorship.
-America had the A-bomb and was afraid of the Russian army.
-Russia had the largest army.
-The nations believed in very different things. -
Iron Curtain
-Soviet Russia obtained "buffer" countries in Eastern Europe. The buffer was to provide protection.
-It was agreed at the Yalta conference that Germany would be split.
-The buffer nations were given communist governments by the Soviet Union.
-This was against the Yalta agreement.
-After the death of Roosevelt, Truman took the presidency. He was not okay with Stalin disregarding Yalta. Stalin said that captialism and communism could not coexist. Europe split with the Iron Curtain. Split Germany. -
U.S. Containment, Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
- Truman decided to use containment. He formed alliances with nations and assisted less powerful nations against the powers of the Soviet Union. Truman wanted to contain communism. -Truman also brought to Congress, the Truman Doctrine. He convinced Congress to give $400 million to Greece and Turkey to help them keep the Soviet Union at bay. -George Marshall made a plan. The Marshall Plan. America spent $12.5 million more on poorer nations in Europe after the g communists took Yugoslavia.
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Berlin Blockade and Airlift
-Germany was trusted enough to be a nation again.
-GB, USA, and France moved their troops out of W. Germany.
-Soviet Union kept power over the East German government.
-Berlin was divided into 4 zones. US, French, British, and Soviet.
-W. Berlin was made up of the non-Soviet nation's zones.
-E. Berlin was ruled by the Soviet Union. They had no access to W. Berlin and they starved.
-W. Berlin got food and goods
-SU thought the allied Western nations would give up. The Soviets gave up in July 1949. -
NATO
-After the Berlin Blockade that ended in the Soviet Union's defeat, Western Europe was in fear of SU.
-US, Canada, and 10 Western European nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance that would help with military force when a member was attacked.
-Formed in 1949. -
Communist Leader Mao Zedong Takes China
-Under Mao Zedong, northwestern China was a Communist area that supported food production and literacy, which sat well with the lower class.
-In southwestern China, Jiang Jieshi was the leader of the Nationalists.
-Both fought Japan, a common enemy. Then, they fought each other once Japan lost.
-Civil war '46-'49.
-Nationalists were supported by US. After, the economy worsened, Nationalists became Communists.
-Mao won and ruled China starting in 1959. They became pals with SU.
-US got scared. -
The Arms Race and the Threat of Nuclear War
-The US had atomic bombs, they had been dropped on Japan at the end of WWII.
-Soviet Union had already shown that it wanted to match the US's power with the Warsaw Pact, they developed an atomic bomb of their own in 1949.
-Truman wanted to make a more destructive bomb.
-In 1950, the H-bomb was conceived. US made one in 1952, the Soviet Union made one in 1953.
-Eisenhower was president of US in 1953. John Foster Dulles became his sec. of state.
-JFD brought up brinksmanship.
-4 decade arms race. -
China Under Communist Rule
-Jieshi went to Taiwan. US helped him establish Nationalism there. (Rep. of China)
-Soviets helped Communist China with money, trooops, and technology.
-US didn't want more Communism in Asia.
-Soviets tried to get Communism in Korea.
-US blocked them from the south, helping a new state emerge.
-China took many other nations under their reign.
-After Mao's reform, Soviets and Chinese both wanted to spearhead communism. They clashed and became much less friendly. -
Korean War
-After many troops from both US and SU had been withdrawn from Korea, SU provided weapons to North Korea to take over South Korea.
-North Korea surprised South Korea when they attacked, making their way far south of the 38th parallel.
-Truman stepped up, not wanting another Hitler-esque move to be made, used his containment policy and helped South Korea.
-Soviet Union didn't vote with UN. UN went to help South Korea.
-Even with UN help, N. Korea almost took the peninsula. -
Korean War Part 2
-Gen. MacArthur surprised N. Korea with an attack. An attack that was a success.
-The UN moved N. Korea far north of the 38th parallel.
-China felt threatened by the United States presence near their nation, so they deployed 300,000 soldiers into N. Korea.
-China and N. Korea took Seoul.
-MacArthur wanted to drop a nuclear bomb.
-Truman didn't. He didn't want WW3. MacArthur didn't want to listen. He was fired.
-After 2 more years of war, a cease-fire was signed and the border was moved slightly. -
Warsaw Pact
-The Soviet Union was intimidated by NATO.
-Soviet Union, Romania, East Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Albania took part in the Warsaw Pact.
-After the Soviet Union evened the playing field, so to speak, they constructed the Berlin Wall.
-Separated the communist and capitalist "worlds," and Berlin.
-Some powerhouse countries, like India and communist China stayed away from this conflict.
-China didn't trust the Soviet Union. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
-Fidel Castro overthrew Batista, who was liked by the US.
-Castro took US business, a trade embargo was ordered.
-The CIA trained Cubans that were against Castro. They planned to attack the Bay of Pigs. It failed.
-Soviets saw this as a weakness, so ruler Nikita Khrushchev made 42 sites for missiles in Cuba, secretly.
-A spy plane from America found these places.
-JFK said they were a threat. Made a naval blockade.
-SU and US got close to nuclear war.
-SU moved missiles, US wouldn't attack Cuba. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
-Germany was still divided into East Germany and West Germany.
-East Germans were oppressed by their government.
-They protested.
-Reagan wanted the wall down.
-Finally, Egon Krenz, the new leader of East Germany ordered that the wall be opened up. (Nov. 9)
-The Wall fell and Germany reunited. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
-Yeltsin and others staged a coup against the Communist government.
-The party ceased activity.
-Latvia and Estonia became independent.
-The 13 other republics followed by that December.
-Boris Yeltsin became president and promised and provided reform. (Good and bad.)
