Cold War historical research timeline: The US and a public enemy as an excuse to intervene in other countries.
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Period: to
40s
From WWII to a short bit of the post-war period
The biggest enemy for the US is at first Germany and Japan, then the Soviet Union, it will remain so until it's fall in 1991.
Bonus knowledge: The atomic bomb was created by the US's manhattan project and only utilised at the end of the 2nd World War in 1945. -
Pearl Harbour: the US joins the War.
The Japanese carry out a surprise attack on the military base at Pearl Harbour, prompting the US to join the war declaring war on Japan, in solidarity Germany declares war on the US as Japan is Hitler's ally. -
Occupation of Germany
The Allied powers and the USSR divide Germany into 4 zones militarily occupying the country, the occupation of West Germany will be from 1945-1955 -
The US enters Korea after Japan invaded it.
The US troops arrive into Korea to partition the country with help of the Soviet Union, the clash of the two ideologies will lead to the Korean war from 1950-1953. -
Period: to
50s
The Atomic age
Fear of Communism in the public eye in America. The Domino effect theory is introduced. The Russians get the atom bomb.
Bonus knowledge: the paranoia of nuclear war and communist spies led to Mccarthyism, Mccarthy was a politician who got popularity by spreading the fear of communist spies in the US. -
Iranian coup 1953
The Uk had controlled Iran's oil for decades, but after the then prime minister of Iran broke off negotiations with the UK, the UK asked the US for help, so the CIA orchestrated a coup d'etat. The control of Oil was vital to fuel the nations economically which led to the coup. -
Guatemalan coup.
The CIA overthrew the left leaning, and democratically elected president of Guatemala Jacobo Arbenz, under the guise of stopping the spread of communism, but in reality it was in order to protect the profits of the United Fruit Company, today known as Chiquita. -
CIA involved in TIbet
The chinese invaded Tibet in 1950, the nation had remained largely autonomous until 1956 when the PLA began reforms against the Tibetan government and limited their power. So, an insurgency arose with Chushi Gangdruk as their leader, when word got around the CIA proceed to help the Tibetans with weapons to fight the PLA against China (a socialist country of course). -
Period: to
60s
Crisis, Civil rights & Student movement
The domino effect theory justifies the conflict in Vietnam.
Bonus knowledge: The hottest point of the cold war was during the Cuban Missile crisis where it was found out that there were nukes in Cuba potentially pointing towards the USA. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
After Castro took power in 1959 the CIA began training cuban exiles to invade their homeland and instate a non-socialist government, the invasion was a total failure, leading to a deterioration in relationships between Cuba, the US and the USSR, which supported Castro's regime. -
First US troops arrive in Vietnam
A Marine brigade was deployed in Da Nang to protect military bases from the Viet Cong, soon after the military draft would increase, later on garnering a lot of unrest among the general population, the amount of troops in Vietnam would subsequently increase each year until it's peak in 1968. The US would fight in Vietnam until 1973 when they retreated upon the impending victory of the communist north Vietnam. -
US troops land in the Dominican Republic
President Lyndon B Johnson sent 22,000 troops to the Dominican Republic to overthrow the elected president Juan Bosch, who was liberal, he had been elected after the assasination of the previous anti-communist dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1961. LBJ said that the actions taken were to forestall a communist dictatorship. -
Period: to
70s
Unrest against the US government
Kent State shooting, Oil crisis, and the US recession.
Bonus knowledge: Watergate.
In order to get reelected, Nixon sent people to steal documents pertaining to the opposing party to his, when this was found out Nixon resigned. -
Nixon gives Iraq Kurds weapons
In the middle East, Iran was under the influence of the US, they sold them weapons, while the USSR promised to deliver weapons to Iraq. To counter the threat the US gave Kurdish rebels in Iraq weapons. -
The US provides weapons for Israel
Fighting had been going on in Israel for a while against the Palestinians, during the Yom Kippur war, in order to help its ally Israel the US airlifted weapons to the Israelis. -
Chilean Coup
In 1973 the government of the chilean president Salvador Allende was overthrown with help of the CIA, Allende had carried out actions the US thought communist like the nationalisation of industries. After the coup a military dictatorship was established under Pinochet. -
Period: to
80s
Reagan time.
Communism falls in the USSR.
Bonus Knowledge: Fall of the Berlin wall, the USSR began collapsing under its own weight in the 80s when the US was clearly zooming ahead technologically and economically. The fall of the Berlin wall was the first step towards the end of the Eastern block of Europe. As the Soviet Union began to decay the enemy of the US slowly shifted from them onto smaller terrorist groups. -
Invasion of Grenada
In 1979 Maurice Bishop took power in Grenada an started relations with Cuba, in 1983 Bernard Coard assasinated him and took power, violence began to spread and Reagan ordered the army to depose the Marxist leader for the safety of the nation. -
Libyan Intervention
The Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi had financed a variety of Muslim and anti-imperial groups in the 70s and 80s, in retaliation for terrorism against US troops the Reagan administration launches airstrikes against targets in Libya. -
Invasion of Panama
In 1979 Manuel Noriega then still a military official was recruited by the CIA to stop the spread of communism, he was removed because of drug trafficking changes in 1977, but when the Sandinista government came to power he was brought back under the CIA to fight the marxist government, in 1983 he became dictator of Panama. He was overthrown because of the drug trafficking, suppressing democracy and endangering US citizens. -
Period: to
90s
Terrorism and insurgencies. After the fall of the Soviet Union the public enemy of America is terrorist groups on various countries, this of course will increase with the war on terror but that hasn't happened yet...
Bonus knowledge: In 1991, the USSR dissolved and Russia became the Russian Federation, many industries were privatised leading to oligarchs rising up, under the corrupt government of the new nation. -
The Gulf War
The dictator of Iraq Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Alarmed Saudi Arabia and Egypt among other nations pleaded to the US and UN for help, after defying the UN's order the withdraw from Kuwait Hussein's government was overthrown by a US offensive and although this operation was effective, the unrest caused by the intervention led to further conflict in a second gulf war and the Iraq war. -
Restating the presidency of president Aristide.
In 1990 Aristide won the presidency and started to reform the country, this was not tho the liking of powerful groups in the nation, so he has overthrown, he fled to Venezuela in 1991 and then to the US, violence tore the country until 1994 when the US intervened against the forces terrorising the nation and tried to reinstate Aristide's presidency. -
Yugoslav bombing
In response to a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Serbian forces, NATO under permission of the US government began bombing the province of Kosovo.