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Britain and France fighting against Germany, Italy and japan. France was defeated. Then the U.S joined Britain.
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While the U.S. sought to spread democracy and capitalism, the Soviets wanted to promote the expansion of Communism.
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After being drawn into WW2. American leaders feared repeating the errors of isolationism or the mistakes of Britain and France in following a policy of appeasement. American leaders saw Communism as the next major threat to world stability. They decided to reject appeasement and to resist all Soviet demands with their containment policy.
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After WW2 the old powers of Europe, Britain, France, Germaany, and Italy were exhausted. This left two "Superpowers". The Soviet.Union had the largest military, while the U.S.had the world's most productive economy and weapons including atomic weapons.
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The invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany in 1944 created fears of a future attack. Soviet Leader Stalin sought control of Eastern Europe to prevent any future invasion of the Soviet Union from the west.
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The Japanese invasion of China. weakend the Chinese Nationalist government. Within a few years after the defeat of Japan, Communist Chinese leaders seized power.
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After WW2 the country was divided in two in 1950. Then under U.S. leadership, the United Nations intervened and drove Communist forces back to North Korea. China then entered the war whe U.N. forces invaded North Korea. A compromise ended the war. Leaving North and South Korea divided much as before.
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New weapons developed in WW2, such as the atomic bomb, made wasfare extremely dangerous. The two superpowers engaged in a "Cold War" rather than attack each other directly.
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After Stalin died, Eastern Europeans began to desmotrate against communist rule. When Hungary threatened to leave Warsaw Pact.
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The Soviets buitl a wall between East and West. The Berlin Wall served as a constant reminder of the Cold War.
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The end of the Cold was and the elimination of Communist dictatorship in Eastern Europe have led to the re-emergence of ethnic conflicts there.
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WW2 weakend Britain and France, causing them to give up their colonial empires. This led to a host of independent nations in Asia, but their borders often cut through tribal areas, causing conflicts.
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The end of the Cold War allowed the United States to take a larger role in the world,especially in the Middle East. This increased prominence made the U.S. a target for Islamic Fundamentalist terrorists.
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The Holocaust during WW2 led the U.N. to create the state of Israel. This has posed an ongoing source of conflict between Israel's right to exist and the desire of Palestinians for their own state.
