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The Marshall Plan
The United States gave countries money to help rebuild the other ountries after World War II, in doing this we believed that these countries would then be Democratic and prevent the spread of Soviet Communism. Many Communist states rejected help because they believe that would make them obligated to have some form of democracy. -
Forming of NATO
NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it was formed to do many different things, such as oppose corrupt world leaders, help oppressed people, and try to keep peace. The first NATO secretary, Lord Ismay, stated" NATO was created to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down. NATO still exists today so it obviously was a pretty good thing for the sorld. -
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Korean War
The Korean War was a war between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). The North invaded the South in hopes of taking it over and uniting the country under a communist government. The war was a stalemate for the majority of the time and when the fighting stopped in 1953, no progress had been made by either side and the two countries stayed -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a mutual defense treaty between 8 Communist states of Eastern Europe. These 8 Communist states made this in respnse to the formation in order to protect themselves. The countries that signed i were Albania, Bulgaria, USSR, Poland, East Germany, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. -
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Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a struggle between the Communist north who was trying to unify the entire country into one Communist government. They fought mostly against the United Sates who had some aid from the South Vietnamese. This was unsuccessful struggle for the United States mostly because of the insurgent powers of the Viet Cong. We joined this war because of our policy of containment and fear of the "Domino Theory". -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs was an unsuccessful military invasion by the US into Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. The group that invaded was a counter-revolutionary militia that was funded by the United States' CIA. It was unsuccessful because the local counter-offensive was much more powerful than expected. -
Berlin Wall goes up
The East Germans began constructing the berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 to divide up the city into East and West. They placed guard towers all along the wall to make sure that nobody was crossing from one side to the other without permission. The East Germans put in up as an "anti-Fascism" tool because they believed that West germany had not been fully "de-Nazified". -
Castro comes to power
Fidel Castro came to power by overthrowing the Batista regime in 1961. Shortly after that he played a big role in the Cuban Missile Crisis and made it clear that Cuba was now a Communist state and would not have relations with America. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a nuclear scare between the United States and the Soviet Union which almost saw the annhialtion of the two main world powers. All warfare was avoided however and both countries agreed to remove nuclear weapons from other countries, Soviets from Cuba and Americans from Italy and Turkey. -
Watergate Scandal
Teh Watergate scandal first started on June 17, 1972 when five men dressed in black dress suits and surgical gloves. They got caught and it didn't seem to be that big of a deal at the time but over the next year or two speculation came up that President Nixon may have played a part in it. He eventually resigned in August of 1974. -
USSR invades Afghanistan
The Soviets invaded Afghansitan in December of 1979 in hopes of turning Afghanistan into a Communist state. Their attempt was unsuccessful and it lasted for nine years. USA helped the Afghan rebels by supplying them with weapons, now many of them are the terrorrists we are trying to combat. -
German Reunification/Fall of Berlin Wall
Throughout 1989 the East German regime was continuously falling apart and the end of it was inevitable. Late in 1989, parts of the Berlin Wall began to be desttroyed and you could once again travel freely thorughout Berlin. This led the the eventual total reunification on October 3, 1990. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
The Collapse of the Soviet Union was a series of numerous events that spanned over about 10 years. The collapse caused 15 countries including Russia to become independent and try to start fresh. Many if these countries still don't have functioning economies.
