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The Holocaust was a period of time in the 20th century when a mass genocide of European Jews occurred. Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler murdered around 6 million Jews across Europe or 2/3 of Europe's Jewish population. The reasoning behind this mass murder was for ethnic cleansing. Jews were constantly being blamed for the failures and losses suffered by Germany, so when Hitler came to power after the Great Depression, he began to take the steps to eliminate all the Jews in Europe.
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This revolution was the conflict led by the Communist Party of China and Chairman Mao Zedong, resulting in the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, on October 1, 1949. The way China was treated by the Allies after World War I led to a rise in Nationalist sentiment and a distrust of the Western ideas of democracy & liberalism, causing unrest in the peasants. The failure of Jiang's government ultimately brought corruption, converting many peasants to the Communist party.
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The Iron Curtain was a political boundary dividing Europe into 2 separate areas beginning from the end of World War II in 1945 to the end of the Cold War in 1991. It symbolizes the Soviet Union making efforts to completely conceal itself from the rest of the world, preventing open contact with the West and its Allied states.
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"Little Boy" and "Fat Man" were codenames for the (atomic) uranium and (nuclear) plutonium-based bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The bombings occurred during World War II, and they caused about 240,000 deaths in total.
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The UN is an intergovernmental organization aiming to maintain peace and security on an international level, while developing friendly relations with other nations, as well as being a center for harmonizing the actions of nations. It was founded in New York by the leaders of the US, India, UK, China, France, Soviet Union, and many many more nations.
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The 2nd Red Scare occurred right after World War II, popularly known as "McCarthyism," after its most famous supporter, Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The event refers to the fear of communism permeating the American government, culture, and society during the opening phases of the Cold War. Beginning in 1947, the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), started a series of hearings designed to show that communist subversion in the US was alive. Hundreds lost jobs, testifying against each other.
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With this doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that the US would provide political, economic, and military assistance to all democratic nations under threat from authoritarian forces. The doctrine was created in hopes of ceasing the spread of communism.
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The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was an American initiative passed to provide aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. Enacted in 1948, it provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent.
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The Berlin Blockade was a time period when the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to Berlin. This was due to the refusal of American and British officials to allow Russia to say more in the economic future of Germany. In response to the blockade, the US begins a massive airlift of food, water, and medicine to the citizens of the city.
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N.A.T.O, also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty signed on April 9, 1949. Its essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by means of politics and military.
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The Korean War was a war between North and South Korea, in which the north invaded the south following clashes along the border and insurrections in the south. The war began when the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded non-Communist South Korea. A month after the dispute began, the US officially entered the Korean war, supporting South Korea in repelling an invasion from the North. The Korean War was also a proxy war for the Cold War.
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Space travel served as another dramatic arena for the US-Soviet Cold War rivalry. The Space Race was a competition between Russia and the US taking place during the 20th century in attempts to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It originated in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II. Beginning with Sputnik's launch in 1957, the competition ended with the US landing Apollo 11 as well as American astronaut John Glenn on the moon first.
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The Warsaw Treaty Organization, was a 'collective defense treaty' signed in Warsaw, Poland established by the Soviet Union as a counterbalance to NATO. In reality, it was soon discovered that the primary purpose of the pact was to reinforce communist dominance in Eastern Europe. It was also signed by 7 other countries; Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, & Romania. When the countries started to remove themselves as Soviet allies, the pact dissolved in 1991.
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This event was a period of political conflict in the Republic of the Congo, beginning almost immediately after their independence from their colonizing country, Belgium. It ended with the country being under the dictatorship of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, & the establishment of an independent unitary state. During this time, the Soviets split the Congolese government, leading to an impasse between the president & prime minister of the Congo. The deadlock was broken with general Mobutu's coup d'état.
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The invasion was a failed landing operation in the Bay of Pigs by Cuban exiles opposing Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution. It resulted in the victory of the Cuban government when the American invasion was repelled. Backed by Kennedy, Cuban exiles were trained by the Eisenhower Administration to invade their homeland in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro and establish a non-communist government in alignment with the US.
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Also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a month-long confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. This event was considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. The dispute occurred over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, 90 miles from US shores. President John F. Kennedy authorized a full naval blockade around Cuba, making it clear they were prepared to use military force to neutralize the threat.
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The Pentagon Papers were US military documents revealing detailed plans and secrets on the Vietnam War. It revealed that the US had secretly enlarged the scope of its actions in the war with the bombings of nearby Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on North Vietnam, and Marine Corps attacks. None of these plans were reported in mainstream media, so their publishing was huge.
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The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the US involving the administration of President Richard Nixon, leading to his resignation. On June 17, 1972, police arrested burglars in the Democratic National Committee HQ at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Evidence linked the break-in to President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. The scandal resulted in presidential veto power being expanded, and congressional power being reduced.
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The Iranian Revolution was a popular uprising in Iran resulting in the toppling of the monarchy, which led to the establishment of an Islamic republic. The goal of the revolution was to overthrow the Pahlavi dynasty, by way of general strike and civil resistance.
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The Iran-Contra Affair was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. A secret operation in which the US gov. secretly sent weapons to a known enemy as well as financial aid to a rebel force. Both of those actions were illegal, resulting in the indications of several dozen administration officials, and 11 convictions following.
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The disaster was a nuclear accident occurring at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It was caused by reactor design flaws and a serious breach of protocol during the simulated power outage safety test. There were 31 casualties, and it was later predicted that another 4,000 would eventually die from radiation exposure.
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When the oil tanker Exxon Valdez, owned by Exxon Shipping Company, crashed into Bligh Reef in the Gulf of Alaska, 11 million gallons of crude oil was spilled into the water. 1,300 miles of oil-covered coastline killed hundreds of thousands of marine animals. It's said that even 30 years later, pockets of this crude oil still remain in some locations.
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