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Chinese Revolution Part 1
The Chinese Communists lead by Mao Zedong fought for power in China with the Nationalists led by China's president Chiang Kai-shek. After Japan left after the end of World War II cooperation between the two parties ceased, and the civil war began. The United States supported Chiang and the Nationalists giving lots of aid in money and supplies. The US even tried to play peacekeeper between the two sides but failed. -
Chinese Revolution Part 2
With a weak military and corruption, the Nationalists fell and the people turned to the Communists. In May 1949, the Nationalist fled to Taiwan (Formosa).
The United States was trying to stop Communism from spreading, first with the the Soviet Union, and now with China. The loss in China made people question the strenght of the US government and whether or not they would be able to hold their own against Russia in the Cold War. -
Korean War Part 2
After a lot of back and forth fighting across the 38th parallel it finally came to a standstill. The two Koreas have been divided since.
This impacted the Cold War because the US backed the South while the Soviets backed the North. They were basically using the Koreans to fight their war against ideals for them. It increased the tension between the US and the Soviets even more. -
Korean War Part 1
After WWII Japan had to give up occupation of the Korea and the peninsula was split in half at the 38th parallel dividing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (north), lead by Kim Il Sung, and the Republic of Korea (south), lead by Syngman Rhee. The Soviets backed the communist North Korea while the UN and the US backed the democratic South.The war started when the Northern Army crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. -
Uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia Part 1
Workers and students in Hungary tried to force leaders out of office. Nakita Khrushchev agreed that leader Imre Nagy should be premier. The Soviet army was forced to leave Hungary, but when the Hungarians demanded other freedoms and liberties, the Soviets responded by sending tanks in to Hungary and killed about 30,00 Hungarian Protesters. In 1968, social and economic problems reached a peak in Czechoslovakia and the communist party took over , claiming to be able to fix everything. -
Uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia Part 2
New leader Alexander Dubek promissed increased freedoms inlcuding freedom of religion, press, assembly, speach, and trabvel. This did not sit well with the Soviet Government and so on August 20, 1968, Russia, Bulgariea, Poland, East Germany, and Hungary sent troops to occupy Czechoslovakia. -
Sputnik launched (and the Space Race) Part 1
Who: Soviet Union, Unites States
When: October 4, 1957
What: Sputnik is a satellite launched by the Soviet Union into space, it was the first ever satellite. The launching of it started the space age. The United States and the Soviet Union competed to be the first to send a man to the moon, and to have the best space technology. -
Sputnik Launched (and the Space Race) Part 2
How: The space race basically mirrored the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, except for the fact that it was about space technology instead of weapons technology. -
U2 Spy Plane Shot Down Part 1
Who: Francis Gary Powers, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev
When: May 1, 1960
What: Pilot Francis Gary Powers was flying an American U2 spy plane over the Soviet Union when he disappeared. The US government attempted to cover it up by saying that a weather plane had gone off coarse and crashed in Russia. Khrushchev revealed the basically intact plane wreckage, and the pilot who was still alive. The US admitted to it being a spy plane. -
U2 Spy Plane Shot Down Part 2
How: Later that month, there was a meeting between the US, USSR, Great Britain, and France to discuss Berlin, Khrushchev threw a fit and left the summit. The U2 incident ruined what little communication the US and the USSR had left. -
The Berlin Wall Goes Up
The German Democratic Republic, the government of East Berlin began to make a wall made of concrete and barbed wire to seperate East and West Berlin and to keep western "facists" out of their socialist state. No one was allowed to cross between the two Berlins. The Berlin wall symbolized the isolation that the Soviet Union had created for themselves. Just like East Berlin, they wanted to sperate themselves from the world. -
Cuban Missile Crisis Part 1
This was a 13 day standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States due to the fact that the Soviet Union had sent nuclear missiles to Cuba to be aimed at the US. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade around Cuba and was prepared to use military force if necessary. It eventually ended with the US agreeing not to invade Cuba and the Soviet Union removing all nuclear missiles from the island. The US also agreed to removing their missiles from Turkey. -
Cuban Missile Crisis part 2
The agreement at the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis did eliminate the immediate threat of nuclear missiles being fired, but it also introduced a new threat to the US, Cuba. With Cuba being so close, the US was on constant edge. The crisis did nothing to improve the relations between the US and the USSR. -
Russia Invades Afghanistan Part 1
Soviet Union troops invaded Afghanistan to support the communist Afghan government who were being challanged by anticommunist Muslims. The Soviets sent in 30,000 troops to get rid of the People's president Hafizullah Amin and set up their own leader, Babrak Karmal. The United States helped aid the rebellion of the Soviet government. The fighting came to a standstill for a while but in the end, with aid from the US, the rebels were able to drive the Soviets out. -
Russia Invades Afghanistan Part 2
This was one of the closest that the US and the USSR came to actually fighting in the Cold War. It was also a major plus for the US after the Chinese revolution and the Korean War, They had stopped communism from spreading to yet another country.
