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For the first time since 1939, Eastern European countries were free.
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In the late 1940’s, The Cold War brought tension in Europe. Stalin’s Communist party fought for control of the Eastern European colonies they had acquired during WWII and supported the spread of Communism, while the Europeans and the US fought for self-government and the spread of Democracy.
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In order to strengthen their defense, the US, Canada, and ten other European countries formed NATO, (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), in 1949.
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The US building of the A-bomb gave the Soviets incentive to research nuclear weaponry and they succeeded by 1949. This started an “arms race” in which the US and the USSR each were fighting to obtain the greatest nuclear power. This created many newer, bigger nuclear weapons, including the hydrogen bomb, and a growing fear of nuclear warfare. Each side knew that nuclear war would desolate both nations.
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By the 1950’s Berlin had been divided after WWII between the Democratic Party in the West and the Communist State in the East. Due to obvious flaws in communist practice, many citizens fled East Berlin for West Berlin and a mass exodus resulted.
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In the 1950’s Fidel Castro rallied an uprising against the corrupt dictator of the time, and after many conflicts, took power.
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Revolts had erupted in Poland, Hungary and, Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 1960s.
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1950- Communists conquer Tibet
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Kim II Sung called for a Heroic Struggle to reunite Korea.
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Troops from the United Nations landed on the beaches around the port of Inch’on , behind enemy lines. These U.S led troops quickly captured Korea’s North-south rail lines and cut of North Korean from their supply of food and ammunition.
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1953- Both sides signed an armistice to end the fighting
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In response, in 1955, the Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact; a pact between the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet-ruled satellites in Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact, however, was more often utilized to stop revolt inside of the Soviet satellites. The formation of these alliances defined the two sides of the war.
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1956-Hungarians tried to break free of Soviet control. Krushchev sent tanks in to enforce obedience.
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1957-The government poured resources into science an technology, launching the first satellite called Sputnik.
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1958-1960- Mao led a program called the GREAT LEAP FORWARD. He urged people to make a super human effort to increase farm and industrial output.
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By 1959, Castro and his rebellion had gained victory and began reforming Cuba. Castro imposed restrictions on freedoms of speech and took most land under government control, enforcing a communist regime. He also sought the assistance of the Soviet Union. This upset the US, causing John Kennedy to support the Bay of Pigs Invasion and enforce a trade embargo when the invasion failed.
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1959- The Dalai Lama of Tibet was forced to flee the country
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1959-1961- 55 million Chinese were thought to have starved to death.
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Koreas economy had leapt ahead.
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In order to stop the loss of Communist citizens, in 1961, the Soviets built a large, heavily guarded, cement wall. The Berlin Wall became a staple for the Cold War, and proved that Communism was much more a tyranny than it was fair treatment.
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Tensions grew and in 1962, the USSR sent nuclear missiles to Cuba, severely threatening the US with mass destruction and the world with nuclear war. In response, the US blockaded Cuba to prevent further importation of Nuclear weapons, and demanded the deportation of all nuclear arms from Cuba. The Soviets withdrew when Premier Nikita Khrushchev was convinced of Soviet inferiority in potential nuclear war with the US.
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August 1, 1964 South Vietnamese commandos conducted raids on North Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. The following day, the North Vietnamese attacked a nearby U.S. Navy destroyer, the Maddox, Which they mistakenly believed had assisted the South Vietnamese raids.
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August 7, 1964 Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the resolution authorized the president to take all necessary measures to prevent further aggression in Southeast Asia.
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1966- Mao launched the great proletarian Cultural Revolution. The goal of this was to purge China of “Bourgeois” tendencies.
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1968-Leonid Brezhnev (Krushchev’s successor) did the same thing when Czechs challenged the Soviets in the “Prague spring”.
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In 1968 guerrilla forces came out of the jungles and attacked American and South Vietnamese forces in cities all across the south, the assault took place during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year which made it unexpected.
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In 1969, the US and USSR began discussing limitations on nuclear arms.
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In 1972 and again in 1979, the US and USSR signed agreements limiting the use of nuclear arms. These agreements lead to a time of relieved tensions or a détente during most of the 1970’s.
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In January 1973 President Nixon finally negotiated the Paris Peace Accord. This agreement established a cease-fire or a halt in the fight. The U.S. agreed to withdraw its troops and North Vietnam agreed to stop sending troops into the South.
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Tensions reappeared when the soviets attacked Afghanistan in 1979.
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1979-The Soviet Union became involved in the war in Afghanistan.
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In 1979 became involved in a long war in Afghanistan, an Islamic country just south of the Soviet Union.
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Mid 1980s-The American government bega to smuggle modern weaponry to the mujaedin.
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In the 1980s, demands for change mounted once again.
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In the 1980s, Hungarians began to criticize the communist government more openly. Economic troubles led to later discontent.
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In Poland, in 1980, economic hardships ignited strikes by shipyard workers. They organized solidarity (an independent labor union. It won millions of members and demanded political and economic change.
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By mdi-1980s the American government started to smuggle modern weaponry to the Muslim religious warriors.
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1985- A new leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in he soviet union. He was eager to bring about reforms. The changes he had made soon spiraled out of control.
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Finally, in 1988 and 1989, under public pressure, the communist government allowed greater freedoms. New political parties were allowed to form, and the western border with Austria was opened.
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989-Eastern European countries from Poland to Bulgaria broke out of the soviet orbit.
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1989-The Baltic States-Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia-which the soviet union had seized in 1940, regained full indipendance in 1991.
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East Germany resisted Gorbachez’s call for change. Germany’s communists blocked moves towards a market economy or greater political freedom. When Hungary opened its border with Austria in 1989, thousands of East Germans fled through Hungary and Austria to West Germany. Thousands more held demonstrations across East Germany demanding change.
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By late 1989, a powerful democracy movement was sweeping throughout the region. Everywhere, people took to the streets, demanding reform. One by one, communist governments fell.
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In Poland in 1990, Lech Walesa was elected President of Poland. The new government began a difficult, but peaceful, translation from a command economy to a market economy. A flowering of opposition and reform movements spread across the Eastern European countries.
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The end of 1991-The remaining soviet republics separated to form 12 independant nations, in addition to the Baltic States.
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They dissolved the Warsaw Pact in1991 and requested that Russian troops leave. By then, the Soviet Union itself had crumbled.