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Differences Between US and Soviets
The US was a capitalist nation while the Soviets were communists, meaning that they didn't see eye to eye on their form of government. Russia had censored freedoms while America had entire freedom of speech. America also wanted to repare Germany when Russia wanted them to pay for the war reparations. -
The Iron Curtain
Churchill described Eastern and Western Europe as being divided by an iron curtain. Stalin took these eastern nations and used them to create a barrier to protect Russia. All of Eastern Europe was under control of Russia. -
The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
President Truman creates a policy called containment to attempt to stop the spread of communism. Truman created the Truman Doctrine, support for nations which opposed communism. The Marshall plan was created to help Western Europe rebuild and help it's people, providing food and machinery. -
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
France, Britain and the US remove their troops from Germany, though the Soviets want it to be a weaker country. Germany was divided into four sections, split between America, Britain, France, and Russia. -
NATO and Warsaw Pact
The US and Canada form NATO, a military alliance. The Soviets then created the Warsaw pact, in fear of NATO. The Warsaw pact consisted of Eastern Germany, the Soviet union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. -
Korean War
After the war, Korea split into the north and south and the Soviet union and the US withdrew from Korea. North Korea attempted in taking over South Korea and Truman tried his containment plan to try to help South Korea resist communism. American troops pushed the North Koreans closer to the Chinese border and China felt threatened. The Chinese sent thousands of troops to North Korea and captured Seoul in South Korea. MacArthur called for nuclear attack against China which Truman didn't want -
Nuclear Threat
As the cold war progressed, countries threatened to destroy each other. Truman developes the hydrogen bomb which is more powerful than the atom bomb which the Soviets had teasted in 1949. When Eisenhower became president, America began to stockpile weapons and the Soviets raced to do the same. -
Communist Control of China
Under rule of Mao Zedong, peasants who promoted war against Japan mobilized to the Northeast part of the country. The communist party took over the north while the nationalists led by Jiang Jieshi had the south. Several battles were fought against the Japanese but the nationalists and communists continued to fight. The nationalists were weak and the communists began to take over. Mao creates communes and the communist party begins to fail so he suggests that people create a militia army. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuba began to revolt against their dictator and after he left his position, Fidel Castro came to continue leading the revolution. The people likes Castro, for he improved the economy and the well being of the people. Cuba took over American sugar mills and Eisenhower orders the invasion of Cuba. The Soviets believed that the US would not resist Soviet invasion of Cuba so they secretly began to build missiles. President Kennedy discovered the missiles and ordered for Cuba to be off limits. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
Under the rule of communism, people were restricted from creating their own ideas or haing freedom of speech. In order for social and economic reforms to occur, people would need to individualize themselves. A new policy called glasnost allowed churches to open and people to have more rights, slowly leading to communism's decline. As the government began to become a democracy, the soviets were freed out of communism.