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After WWII, a civil war broke out in China between the nationalists and communists. The communists won and set up the government under Mao Zedong. He put in place a marxist system. The nationalists fled to Taiwan.
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US beat the USSR to the atomic bomb.
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The Cold War begins because of Truman's dislike for Stalin, USSR's fear of the A-Bomb, their dislike for capitalism, USA's dislike for communism, both countries fear of an attack and the USA's fear of the spread of communism.
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The USSR made a "buffer" of communist countries making an"iron curtain" between it and capalist, western countries.
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Containment was an American strategy to help "contain" the spread of communism. This included forming alliances and helping weaker countries. The Truman Doctrine stated that America would give help to any country that rejected communism.
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The Allied forces united their share of Germany. In response the USSR held West Berlin under siege. The Allies spent that time airlifting in food to the victims.
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the USA and 11 other Western nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in order to prevent communist expansion. The USSR and its communist counterparts had their own with the Warsaw Pact.
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Throughout the cold war the USA and USSR competed to have the latest and greatest arms technology. The USSR dropped their first nuke in 1949. Other technologies include the H-Bomb, and ICB missiles. The Brinkmanship also came out of this where both countries stocked for war, and great investments in science education. Eisenhower proposed a pact to be able to fly over eachothers countries, USSR said no and shot down an American plane.
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The USSR provided military aid to North Korea for their attempt to cummunize. In response the USA called for war in order to prevent the spread of communism in Korea. It eventually split to N. Korea (communist) and S. Korea (democratic).
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In order to get the US within missile range, the USSR tried to ship missiles to their communist ally and US neighbor, Cuba. The shipment was blocked by the US Navy.
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After decades of the Soviet Union regime, it finally fell in 1991 under a failing economy, angry citizens and western pressures. Also in 1991 the Berlin Wall, seperating East and West Berlin, came down.
