-
HUAC
The House Un-American Activities Committee was created as a result of the red scare. They would seek out anybody whom they found suspicious, and blacklist them, labeling them as Communists. HUAC got out of hand on numerous occasions, and would accuse wrongly at times. -
Stalin
Stalin was a primary instigator of the cold war. He came to power in the USSR and continued where Lenin left off with Communism. The US, of course, did not like Communism, and we made it obvious, not allowing the USSR into the UN. Thus started a distaste between the two superpowers, ultimately resulting in the cold war. -
United Nations
The UN was created by the US, GB, France, and numerous other anti- communist countries. It was an alliance formed, to keep Communism in check, and also to aid allied countries, especially after WWII's devastating impact. They wanted to right all wrongs, and eventually establish world peace. -
Mao Zedong
China, led by Mao Zedong, was the first country, besides the USSR, to turn to Communism. Though the UN struggled to prevent this, it happened, and Red China became an instant enemy of the US. However, China and the US never had any intense conflict. -
Yalta Conference
This was a secret meeting between GB, US and USSR leaders to determine how to rebuild post WWII Europe. It was determined that the US would give a large sum of money to help rebuild as well as offer men to help. -
Truman
Harry Truman was a less aggressive, less controlling president. He relied moreso on his cabinet. However, Truman did activate the Truman Doctrine. This started the policy of containment upon Communism. -
Potsdam Conference
This was a post WWII conference held to determine how to punish Nazi Germany. It was finally decided that the land be split up into 4 parts between France, US, GB and the USSR. Also, Germany was not to build up an army. -
Korea Falls to Communism
Secretly, Korea had been forming a Communist party behind Japans back. Japan had set up an anti-Communism corps as well, but this obviously failed, as Korea truned to communism seemingly over night. The US and Korea fought in a war that lasted 3 years, and the end result was an armistice. North Korea stayed Communist, and backed off of South Korea, causing the nation to split. -
Red Scare
The red scare was the fear that Communism was going to spread to the US or that they would drop a bomb on us at any minute and kill us. Joseph McCarthy escalated this fear by accusing many high up government officials of being communists, coining the term McCarthyism. Everyone saw through his lies eventually and he was known as a fraud. Also, many Hollywood actors were being questioned of supporting communism as well. Of the many that were questioned, 10 were blacklisted. -
Truman Doctrine
BAsically states that the US and its allies will aid any country threatened by Communist takeover. The initial primary focus of the Truman Doctrine was on Greece and Turkey, because the USSR had threatened to invade. This would continue on to China, Korea, Vietnam and eventually Cuba. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was brought into action so that Europe could recover from the devastation of WWII. Western Europe prospered because of this financial growth, and to this day, is still a wealthy place. The Marshall Plan also offered help for Soviet Russia, but they refused seeing it as a Capitolist ploy. -
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency was formed to plant agents into everyday life to try to find possible Russian spies or conspirators. They also dealt with foreign affairs, acting as a sort of secret agent. However, like HUAC, they often crossed boundaries too, and made false accusations that led to the harming of innocent people. -
Berlin Blockade
Berlin was split into 4 parts, one for GB, France, US and the USSR. Then it was split into East and West. West Germany was prospering, while East Germany wasn't doing so hot. The USSR didn't like that at all, and blocked off all aid from Western Europe and the US. However, this did not stop us, and we flew care packages in 24/7 for numerous years until the blockade was taken down. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed between countries mainly of the UN. It was made mainly to keep an eye on Germany and to keep Communism away from anyone who didn't want it. NATO would send troops to aid any military force combatting Soviet forces. -
Fall of China to Communism
The CPC was founded in China in 1929, but wasn't able to take control of the mainland until 1949. A civil war raged between the CPC and KMT, that ended in the KNT fleeing to Taiwan and the CPC taking control of most of China. The CPC was lead by Mao Zedong, and though both he and Stalin supported Communism, neither liked eachother. To this day, China is still Communist. -
Arms Race
The arms race officially began when the Soviet Union was able to detonate their first atomic bomb. After that, they began to build their arsenal. There was a strong mutual distrust between the US and USSR, and as you can probably guess, this lead up to both sides building arsenals strong enough to wipe the world clean hundreds of times over. None of these nukes were never used. -
Korean War
North Korea was communist, and the South was not. One day, North Korea thought that it would be a brilliant idea to invade South Korea and impose their nasty communist ways on them. The UN saw this happen and didn't like it one bit. They intervened, along with US and GB aid, in a battle that lasted 3 years, and resulted in armistice (ceasefire). -
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh followed in the footsteps of China and Korea, turning to Communism as well. The US fought in Vietnam to try to contain communism but failed. This would be the US first, and only loss to date. -
Eisenhower
Eisenhower is often listed as a top president of all time. Even though he served during harsh times, his terms were both peaceful. He was able to halt all sorts of conflict for the two terms he served. That being said, he was also very dorman as a president. -
Cuba Falls to Communism
Led by Fidel Castro, Communist forces were able to overthrow Fugencio Batista. Castro was excellent at the usage of guerilla tactics, and easily overthrew Batistas regime. When he finally gained control, he got in touch with Stalin and had him send in Nuclear missiles. This is what started the Cuban Missile Crisis. -
Krushchev
Krushchev was the succesor of Stalin. He lead the Soviet Union for most of the Cold War. Though he supported Communism, and was an enem of America, he was nowhere near as evil as Stalin. He was simply a man in charge of a red nation that was opposing ours comprised of Democracy. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was created to combat the newly founded NATO. NATO was formed primarily to keep Communism in check, while the Warsaw Pact was created between Russia and all of its communist sattelite states to make sure that the spread of Communism was imminent. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War is the only war that the US has ever lost. It started with the vietcong, a small guerilla force of communists, attacking anti-communist areas. The US joined, and then more and more nations joined, until there were over 20 participating in the war. Although the tides seemed to turn with the Tet Offensive, Nixon ordered Vietnamization, which began the removal of US troops. Sadly, anti-Communist Vietnamese forces could not hold off their opposers, and Vietnam fell. -
Space Race (Nasa, First Man on the Moon, and Sputnik)
The space race was a huge test of outdoing eachother between the US and USSR. The USSR devastated the US with the first ever sattelite being succesfully launched into space, called Sputnik. JFK wanted to one-up them, and started NASA, which is completely devoted to the furthering research of space. Though they were in space first, we put Neil Armstrong and an American flag on the moon before they even got close. -
U2 Crisis
A US U2 spyplane was shot down over Soviet Russia. At first, we tried to claim that it wasn't ours, but the pilot was obviously American and working for the US. This caused a great ammount of shame and embarassment to be placed on the shoulders ofthe US. -
JF Kennedy
JFK is regarded as one of the most influential presidents of all time. He helped modernize America, ending segregation and was a huge factor in the space race. He also was president during the treacherous Cuban missile crisis. Though he did make a mistake regarding the Bay of Pigs, he still is considered a great. He was assassinated in 1963. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs was a not very well thoughout invasion of Cuba. The US took in Cuban exiles, and the CIA trained them. We sent them in, promising to provide backup, but in actuallity lead many men to their deaths. Tho this day, nobody really knows why JFK chose not to sned in reinforcements. It was considered his one and only fault. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was eventually put up to block any contact from Capitolist West Germany, and Communist East Germany. The wall was always guarded, and many families were split apart for years because of it. Artists, such as Pink Floyd wrote music about the wall, and how it was symbolic of the Cold War in general. It was taken down in November of 1989. -
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro led Cuba into Communism. Cuba was the final Communist nation to arise. Although Cuba's time being Communist was the shortest, we had the most conflicts with them, because of how close they were to us. To this day, there is still hostility between the US and Cuba. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was a thirteen day period in which Fidel Castro, a communist leader, took over in Cuba. He was backed by Stalin, and given nuclear weapons whiucich could be easily launched at anywhere in the US. It eneded with Soviets withdrawing their missiles, and us removing our IBM's from Turkey. -
Lyndon B Johnson
Lyndon B Johnson took over as president after Kennedy was assassinated. He also helped fulfill Kennedys dream of modernizing America. He designed the "Great Society" which was very succesful and helped end much poverty as well as give under priveleged children a good education. However, he resigned from presidency, because he couldn't handle having the Vietnam War on his hands. -
Kent State Massacre
Students of Kent State University protested (slightly violently) against the war in Vietnam. A firing squad was egged on, and finaly fired into the crowd, killing 4 and wounding 9. -
Vietnam Falls to Communism
Saigon fell, US forces had retreated, and all hope was lost. Vietnam really had fallen to Communism. Even after nearly 20 years of fighting, we did not prevail, and South Vietnam was overtaken by Communist North Vietnam led by Le Duan.
