The Cold War
- The Cold War was a war mainly between USA and the Soviet Union
- The premise of the Cold War was that both sides had nuclear weapons and they could be launched at any time
- The Space Race was started because of the Cold War
"Our Tragedy today is general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: when will I be blown up?".
- William Faulkner
- William Faulkner
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How did the Cold War Start?
The Soviets were worried about an attack from Germany, so they decided to use comunisim (a political theory advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs) to create a sheild that they could use agaisnt German. It was easy for Stalin to impliment comunism to countries like Bulgaria, Romainia, and Poland because Soviet troops were currently in those areas. Why was this a problem? To the US it looked like communism would keep spreading, that would be very bad for the US because nobody would be able to buy our industial goods.
"If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves." - Josesph Stalin
America's Respond to Comunism
The US decided to use containment as a response to communism, the goals of containment are the following;
- Block further expansion of Soviet power
- Expose the Falsities of Soviet pretensions
- Reduse a fraction of the Soviet control and influence
- Foster the foundation of destruction
The Berlin Wall
While the Vietnam war was still raging on Berlin was experiencing its first crisis. Germany was divided into East Germany and West Germany. Even though the capital, Berlin was entirely in the east, it was divided as well. This meant that West Berlin was dependent on shipments that went through East Berlin, since the original capital was there. But then in 1948 Stalin cut off the roads to west Berlin. The Americans responded with an 11 month air lift that lead to Stalin finally lifting the blockade and instead building the Berlin wall in 1961.
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The 33rd President
Harry S. Truman was an American politician who served as a President. Truman is the president that decided to bomb Japan and was a big supporter of containment in the Cold War. In 1947 Truman developed the Truman Doctrine, which basically says the US will help democratic nations. More specifically the Doctrine provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.
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Due to the Truman Doctrine the US sent $400 million to Turkey and Greece which marked the start of the Cold War. Eventually the Truman Doctrine lead to the creation of certain global alliances, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, and the Air Training Command. All of which were some what partially immune to government oversee and were definitely not democratically elected.
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Marshall's Plan
George Marshall had and idea that he appropriately named, the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was a response to economic chaos in Europe the instilled because of a particularly brutal winter in Italy and France that strengthened communism in those locations. People in Italy and France didn't have the resources that the needed to get through the winter, so in order to get this the used communism because they didn't have enough money individually. As part of the plan the United States gave over $12 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies, modernize industry, make Europe prosperous once more, and prevent the spread of communism. The Marshall Plan also effected Japan even though it wasn't part of the original plan. Also the Marshall Plan allowed women to vote in Japan, but restricted the military so they could spend more money on industry.
"The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it."
- George Marshall
"The Cold War isn't thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn't sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting." - Richard Nixon
The Bay of Pigs
- Fidel Castro (at the time a Cuban nationalist) drove his guerrilla army into Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista.
- General Fulgencio Batista backed America, so the US didn't like Castro taking over.
- The CIA tried for two year to push Castro from power, but nothing worked.
- Eventually the CIA launched a full scale invasion with troops consisting of ex Cuban exiles.
- The invaders were extremely outnumbered by Castro’s troops, the attackers surrendered in less than 24 hours.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
America and the Soviet Union stood off against each other from across the globe, this was the premise of the Cold War. But Mutually assured destruction (MAD) was never closer until the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Bay of Pigs convinced Cuba to seek help from the USSR. Nikita Khrushchev (the dictator that took over after Stalin died) was happy to comply, he sent missiles to Cuba which combated the threat of US missiles in Italy and Turkey. Missiles in Cuba gave first strike opportunity to the USSR. When the US found out, military advisers recommended airstrike on missile site and another invasion, President Kennedy had a more careful approach. He decided to use a naval blockade to intercept any supplies for missiles on boats, unfortunately that's considered and act of war and the Soviets didn't appreciate the "quarantine" as Kennedy said. While the US insisted that the missiles must be removed the USSR insisted that they were only defensive. After a secret meeting between Robert Kennedy and Anatoly Dobrynin the following agreement was reached; the US would remove their missiles from Turkey and Italy and never invade Cuba in exchange for a Soviet withdrawal from Cuba under a UN inspection. Khrushchev agreed to the deal and the crisis was over.
Later Events
It took 29 more years for the war to come to an end after the Cuban Missile Crisis, but not many major events happened in that period of time.
- 1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1963 - President Kennedy was assassinated
- 1969 - The US wins the space race by sending a man to the moon
- 1989 - The Berlin wall fell
- 1989 - The Soviet Empire and some other communist governments fell
- 1991 - The end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War come to an end