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The first American Troops on European soil in WWII
The first American combat troops entered the war, landing in French Morocco and pushing the Germans east while the British pushed west. By 1943, the Allies had pushed Axis forces out of Africa.
-The American Yawp -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, End of WWII
The Americans successfully exploded the world’s first nuclear device, Trinity, in New Mexico in July 1945. Two more bombs—Fat Man and Little Boy—were built and detonated over two Japanese cities in August. Hiroshima was hit on August 6. Over one hundred thousand civilians were killed. Nagasaki followed on August 9. Perhaps eighty thousand civilians were killed. Japan surrendered in September.
-The American Yawp -
The Long Telegram
George Kennan sent a lengthy telegram to the State Department denouncing the Soviet Union. "There could be no cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union," Kennan wrote. Instead, the Soviets had to be “contained.” Less than two weeks later, former British prime minister Winston Churchill declared that Europe had been cut in half. Aggressive anti-Soviet sentiment seized the American government and soon the American people.
-The American Yawp -
The Koreas Become Nations
The UN passed a resolution to create a united government in Korea, but the Soviet Union refused to cooperate. Only the south held elections. The Republic of Korea (ROK), South Korea, was created three months after the election. A month later, communists in the north established the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Both claimed to stand for a unified Korean peninsula. The UN recognized the ROK, but incessant armed conflict broke out between North and South.
-The American Yawp -
The Television
Television was presented to the American public at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, but commercialization of the new medium in the United States lagged during the war years. In this year, though, regular full-scale broadcasting became available to the public. Television was instantly popular. By the end of the 1950s, 90 percent of American families had one and the average viewer was tuning in for almost five hours a day.
-The American Yawp -
Germany is Cut in Half
The Soviet Union initiated a ground blockade, cutting off rail and road access to West Berlin to gain control over the entire city. The United States organized and coordinated a massive airlift that flew essential supplies into the beleaguered city for eleven months. Germany was officially broken in half. On May 23, the western half of the country was formally renamed the Federal Republic of Germany and the eastern Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic.
-The American Yawp -
The Korean War Starts
Stalin hesitantly endorsed North Korean leader Kim Il Sung’s plan to liberate the South by force, The North Koreans launched a successful surprise attack and Seoul, the capital of South Korea, fell to the communists on June 28. The UN passed resolutions demanding that North Korea cease hostilities and withdraw its armed forces to the thirty-eighth parallel and calling on member states to provide the ROK military assistance to repulse the northern attack.
-The American Yawp -
The Arms Race and Cold War Majorly Escalate
The USSR successfully tested a hydrogen bomb in 1953, and soon thereafter Eisenhower announced a policy of “massive retaliation.” The United States would henceforth respond to threats or acts of aggression with perhaps its entire nuclear might. Both sides, then, would theoretically be deterred from starting a war, through the logic of mutually assured destruction (MAD).