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Just before WWII was over, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin (the "Big Three") met at Yalta in the Soviet Union to discuss postwar plans.They discussed the Declaration of Liberated Europe and The Division of Germany.
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Victory in Europe
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Victory in Japan
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Harry Truman's speech. Its goal was to aid "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
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Gave European nations American aid to rebuild their economies.
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Rather than send troops and risk starting another war. Truman ordered planes to drop supplies over West Berlin so that they wouldn't starve. This lasted for over a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin.
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(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) The Berlin blockade convinced Americans that they needed military alliances to counter Soviet expansion. NATO formed with the goal of mutual defense of Western Europe. NATO members agreed to come to the aid of any member who was attacked. This meant the US was committing itself to maintaining peace in Europe.
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Mao Zedong came to power and made China communist. This alarmed the US -- according to the 'domino theory', other Asian countries were in danger of falling to communism.
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UN forces were outnumbered and poorly supplied, they were pushed South all the way to Pusan. North Koreans used Soviet tanks to continue pushing South. Macarthur ordered a daring invasion behind enemy lines at the port of Inchon. The Inchon landing had sent the North Koreans retreating back across the 38th parallel, but Macarthur wanted to keep pursuing the North Koreans. China was threatened and joined the war on the North Korean side and eventually the war became a stalemate.
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(Armistice) Border was set between North and South at the 38th Parallel and along it was a demilitarized zone and it remains there today. Korean War changed nothing and Korea remained divided. 36 thousand Americans killed and 2 million Korean/Chinese killed.
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The Soviet Union and its satellite states formed the Warsaw Pact, a rival military alliance. All of the communist states of Eastern Europe were members except Yugoslavia. The members pledged to defend each other if another attacked, just like NATO.
