1946-2000s+(A)+Cold+War

= 1946-2000's COLD WAR = Mohan Mandali and Ethan LaFrance



=Key Players during the Cold War=

A World War II hero and former supreme commander of **NATO** who became U.S. president in 1953. Eisenhower committed federal dollars to fighting Communists in **Vietnam**, resolved the **Suez crisis**, and authorized **CIA**-sponsored coups in Iran and Guatemala. The nationalist, Communist leader of the Viet Minh movement. Ho received aid from the USSR and won a major victory over French forces at **Dien Bien Phu** in 1954. This French defeat forced the **Geneva Conference** of 1954, which split Vietnam into Communist-dominated North Vietnam and French-backed South Vietnam. Feeling that their hands were tied by Eisenhower’s policy of “massive retaliation,” Kennedy and members of his foreign policy staff devised the tactic of **“flexible response”** to contain Communism. Kennedy sent “military advisors” to support Ngo Dinh Diem’s corrupt regime in **South Vietnam** and formed the **Alliance for Progress** to fight poverty and Communism in Latin America. He also backed the disastrous **Bay of Pigs invasion**, which ultimately led to the **Cuban missile crisis**. The head of the Soviet Communist Party and leader of the USSR from 1958 until the early 1960 s. Initially, many Americans hoped Khrushchev’s rise to power would lead to a reduction in Cold War tensions. Khrushchev toured the United States in 1959 and visited personally with President Eisenhower at **Camp David**, Maryland. The **U- 2 incident** and 1962 **Cuban missile crisis**, however, ended what little amity existed between the two nations and repolarized the Cold War. Party leaders, upset with Khrushchev for having backed down from the **Cuban missile crisis**, removed him from power in 1964. The nationalist, Communist-leaning president of **Egypt** who seized the British-controlled **Suez Canal** in 1956, after economic aid negotiations among Egypt, Great Britain, and the United States fell apart. Nasser’s action precipitated the **Suez crisis**, in which Eisenhower uncharacteristically backed the Communist-leaning Nasser and cut off all oil exports to Great Britain and France. Truman was instrumental in creating a new international political and economic order after the war, helping to form the **United Nations**, **NATO**, the **World Bank**, and the **International Monetary Fund**. His **Marshall Plan** also helped Western Europe rebuild after the war and surpass its prewar levels of industrial production. Determined not to let the Soviet Union spread Communism, Truman adopted the idea of **containment**, announcing his own **Truman Doctrine** in 1947. Led the U.S. into the Korean War. German statesman who took his nation from the ruins of World War II to the most prosperous nation in Europe. He was the first chancellor (top official) of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, called West Germany), 1949–63. He was the founder and leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a coalition of Catholics and Protestants that since 1946 has dominated German politics most of the time. Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991. Romanian politician and dictator who was the Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, President of the Council of State from 1967, and President of Romania from 1974 to 1989. =Major Events during the Cold War=
 * =====Dwight D. Eisenhower=====
 * =====Ho Chi Minh=====
 * =====John F. Kennedy=====
 * =====Nikita Khrushchev=====
 * =====Gamal Abdel Nasser=====
 * =====Harry S Truman=====
 * ==== Konrad Adenauer ====
 * Mikhail Gorbachev
 * Ceausca

=
President **John F. Kennedy**’s failed plan to invade Cuba and topple revolutionary leader **Fidel Castro** with an army of CIA-trained Cuban exiles in 1961. Although Kennedy had originally intended to use the U.S. Air Force to help the exiled Cubans retake the island, he unexpectedly withdrew support shortly before the operation started. As a result, the invasion failed utterly, actually consolidated Castro’s power, and pushed Cuba into signing a treaty with the Soviet Union. The dropping of thousands of tons of food and medical supplies to starving West Berliners after **Joseph Stalin** closed off all highway and railway access to the city in mid- 1948. Stalin hoped to cut off British, French, and American access to the conquered German city, but President **Harry S Truman**, determined not to lose face or the city, ordered American military planes to drop provisions from the air. The blockade was foiled, and Stalin finally lifted it in 1949. A U.S. foreign policy doctrine that argued that the Soviet Union needed to be “contained” to prevent the spread of Communism throughout the world. First formulated by State Department analyst **George Kennan** during the Truman administration, it suggested that the United States needed to fight Communism abroad and promote democracy (or at least anti-Communist regimes) worldwide. Policy makers tied it closely with the **domino theory**. Kennan’s idea eventually developed into the single most important tenet of American foreign policy through the Cold War until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The crisis that occurred when Cuban leader **Fidel Castro** sought economic and military assistance from the Soviet Union after the United States’ failed 1961 **Bay of Pigs invasion**. The Soviet premier, **Nikita Khrushchev**, capitalized on the failed invasion, allied with Castro, and secured from Castro the right to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. Upon learning of the missiles, President **John F. Kennedy** ordered a **naval blockade** of the island in 1962 and demanded that Khrushchev remove them. Nuclear war seemed imminent until Khrushchev finally backed down, promising to remove the missiles if Kennedy ended the blockade. The United States complied and also agreed to remove from Turkey nuclear missiles aimed at the USSR. The Communist Party leadership in the USSR removed Khrushchev from power in 1964 for having backed down in the standoff. The belief that if the United States allowed one country to fall to Communism, then many more would follow suit, like a row of dominoes. Many foreign policy thinkers subscribed to this theory at the height of the Cold War, and this led the United States to support anti-Communist regimes throughout the world, whether or not they upheld democratic ideals. The domino theory also provided the primary rationale behind Lyndon Johnson’s massive escalation of the conflict in **Vietnam** to full-scale war. A doctrine of **containment** that provided for a variety of military and political strategies that the president could use to stem the spread of Communism. The flexible response plan was developed by Defense and State Department officials in the Kennedy administration who felt that Eisenhower’s **“massive retaliation”** doctrine restricted the president’s options too much. A committee established in 1938 by the House of Representatives to investigate individual Americans or organizations who might be linked to the Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan. After World War II, as fear of the Soviet Union spread, HUAC was used to investigate those suspected of having ties to **Communism** or of being Soviet agents. Congressman **Richard M. Nixon** played a key role on the committee and used his power to prosecute many, including federal employee **Alger Hiss** in 1950. A plan devised by President **Harry S Truman** and Secretary of State **George C. Marshall** that committed over $ 10 billion to rebuilding **Western Europe** after World War II. Although the Soviet Union fiercely opposed the plan, Truman knew that rebuilding the region would provide stability and prevent another world war. The Marshall Plan was highly successful and enabled British, French, Italian, and German factories to exceed prewar production levels within just a few years. The wrongful persecutions of thousands of Americans for being Communists or Soviet spies that took place in the 1940 s and 1950 s and were led by the **Loyalty Review Board** and the **House Un-American Activities Committee**. Congressman **Richard Nixon**, Senator **Joseph McCarthy**, and others led these Communist “witch hunts,” often without any shred of evidence. Liberal playwright **Arthur Miller**, himself among the accused Communists, criticized the Red hunts and McCarthyism in his critically acclaimed play //The Crucible//, which dealt with the Salem witch trials in seventeenth-century New England. The Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for primacy in the exploration of outer space. The space race was prompted by the USSR’s launch of the first orbiting space satellite, **//Sputnik I//**, in 1957. The //Sputnik// launch prompted President Eisenhower to form **NASA** and Kennedy to push for a **lunar landing** by the end ofthe 1960 s. A doctrine articulated by President **Harry S Truman** that pledged American support for all “free peoples” fighting Communist aggression from foreign or domestic sources. Truman announced the doctrine in 1947, then convinced Congress to grant Greece and Turkey $ 400 million to help fight pro-Soviet insurgents. Besides committing the United States to the policy of containment, the language of the Truman Doctrine itself help characterize the Cold War as a conflict between good and evil.
 * Bay of Pigs Invasion
 * =====Berlin Airlift=====
 * =====Containment=====
 * =====Cuban Missile Crisis=====
 * =====Domino Theory=====
 * =====Flexible Response=====
 * =====House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)=====
 * =====Marshall Plan=====
 * =====Red Hunts=====
 * =====Space Race=====
 * =====Truman Doctrine=====

=Tension, Tension, Tension!=

[[image:Cold_War_Map.gif]]
A pact signed by the USSR and Eastern European countries under Soviet influence in 1955. By signing the pact, they pledged mutual defense in response to the formation of **NATO**.
 * ===== Warsaw Pact =====

VERSUS

> ===== ===== > Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) An organization formed in 1949 that bound the United States, Canada, most of Western Europe, and later Greece and Turkey together in a mutual pact of defense against the USSR and Eastern bloc countries. The treaty had the additional effect of permanently tying American interests to political and economic stability in Europe.
 * ===== North =====

=Get ready for some TIMELINE time!= 1945 Feb. Yalta Conference May World War II ends in Europe. Aug. U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Potsdam Conference - Truman - Stalin and British divide up Europe 1946 Jan. First East European Communist government set up in Albania. 1947 Jan. Communists seize power in Poland. March Truman Doctrine announced. 1948 June Berlin Airlift begins (ends May 19, 1949) 1949 April North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established. Aug. Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb. Oct. Communists win Chinese Civil War. 1950 June U.S. and other U.N. members fight North Korean forces. (the Korean War ends July 27, 1953) 1953 Aug. U.S. sponsored coup overthrows Iranian government. 1954 June U.S. sponsored coup overthrows Guatemalan government. Sept. Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed. 1955 May Warsaw Pact formed. July First Summit Meeting between President Dwight Eisenhower and Premier Nikita Khrushchev. 1956 Nov. Red Army crushes the Hungarian Revolution. 1957 Oct. Soviets launch first man‑made satellite. 1959 Feb. Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba, installs Communist government. 1961 Apr. Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Aug. East Germany builds Berlin Wall. 1962 June Sino‑Soviet Conflict begins. Oct. Cuban Missile Crisis. 1964 Oct. China explodes its first atomic bomb. 1965 April U.S. sends troops to the Dominican Republic. Aug. U.S. commits combat troops to South Vietnam. 1968 Aug. Soviet Red Army crushes Czech Uprising. 1972 Feb. President Richard Nixon visits China. 1973 Sept. U.S. supported coup overthrows Chilean government. 1975 Apr. South Vietnam falls to Communist forces. 1976 Feb. Soviet and Cuban forces help install Communist government in Angola. 1979 Jan. U.S. and China establish diplomatic relations. Dec. Soviet Red Army invades Afghanistan 1980 Aug. Polish shipyard workers strike, Solidarity Union formed. 1983 Dec. U.S. invades Grenada. 1985 Mar. Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union, the following year he declares //glasnost// and //perestroika//. 1989 May Led by university students, over one million Chinese in Tiananmen Square demand reforms by    the Chinese Communist government. Sept. Solidarity forms the first post-war non-Communist government in Poland Oct. Hungary declares a non-Communist government. Nov. East Germany allows unrestricted migration to West Germany. Dec. Berlin Wall is demolished. 1990 May George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev agree to the reunification of Germany in 1994 1991 Aug. Hard-line Communists stage unsuccessful coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. Dec. The Soviet Union is abolished. Boris Yeltsin becomes President of Russia.

=If You want to watch the Beatle's Paul McCartney sing, Back in the U.S.S.R., check out this video!= P.S. He's singing it live from Kiev! [|Paul McCartney, Back in the U.S.S.R.]

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= =For more information, just check out these fantastic links!=

The 40’s

 * [|Atomic Bomb Development Summary]
 * [|Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) - Premier 1927 - 1953]
 * [|Nike Missiles (1945)]
 * [|Potsdam Agreement (1945)]
 * [|Russian Downing of B-29 Hog Wild (August 29, 1945)]
 * [|End of World War II (September 2, 1945)]
 * [|Separation Of Berlin (1945)]
 * [|First Indochina War (1946 – 1950)]
 * [|Marshall Plan (April 3,1948)]
 * [|Czechoslovakia Coup (February, 1948)]
 * [|Berlin Blockade (June 24, 1948 - May 12.1949)]
 * [|Berlin Airlift (June 26, 1948 - May 12, 1949)]
 * [|Konrad Adenauer's Christian Democratic Union (1949)]
 * [|The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1949)]

The 50s

 * [|Walter Ulbricht (1893 – 1973) General Secretary (1950 to 1971)]
 * [|Lodge Act (1951)]
 * [|Korean War (June 25, 1950 - July 27, 1953)]
 * [|Overthrow of the Iranian Government (1953)]
 * [|Nikita Khrushchev (1894 -1971) Premier (1953 - 1964)]
 * [|Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969) - President (1953 - 1961)]
 * [|The Berlin Tunnel (December 1953 - April 1956)]
 * [|KGB -] [|Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopanosti] [| (March 1954)]
 * [|The first Indochina War/Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam (March – May 1954)]
 * [|U.S. Involvement in Guatemala (June 1954)]
 * [|The early U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union (1955 - 1960)]
 * [|Bomber Gap (1955)]
 * [|Vietnam Conflict (1955 - 1975)]
 * [|The Launching of the //USS Nautilus// (January 17, 1955)]
 * [|The Warsaw Pact (May 1955)]
 * [|Ngo Dinh Diem (1901 - 1963), President, South Vietnam 1956 - 1963)]
 * [|Hungarian Revolution (October 23 - November 4, 1956)]
 * [|Suez Crisis (October 29, 1956 - November 6, 1956)]
 * [|Sputnik (October 4, 1957)]
 * [|Missile Gap (1957 - 1960)]
 * [|The Pershing Missile System (1957 - 1991)]
 * [|Beirut (1958)]
 * [|Berlin Crisis (1958 - 1962)]
 * [|The Cuban Revolution (January 1, 1959)]
 * [|Fidel Castro (August 13, 1926 -, President, Cuba 1959 - 2007)]
 * [|1950 Links]

The 60’s

 * [|U2 Incident (May 1, 1960)]
 * [|MARIE Tragedy (June 1960)]
 * [|RB-47 Shootdown (July 1, 1960)]
 * [|CORONA and Spy Satellite (August 1960)]
 * [|Peace Corps (1960)]
 * [|Operation Pedro Plan (1960 - 1962)]
 * [|John F. Kennedy Assassination (1917 - 1963) — President (1961 - 1963)]
 * [|Berlin Wall Timeline (August 13, 1961 — November 9, 1989)]
 * [|Space Race (April 12, 1961 — July 20, 1969)]
 * [|Bay of Pigs (April 17, 1961)]
 * [|Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16 — October 28, 1962)]
 * [|Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 - 1973) — President (1963 - 1968)]
 * [|USS Thresher Submarine Sinking (April 10, 1963)]
 * [|Leonid Brezhnev (1906 - 1982) — Premier (1964 - 1982)]
 * [|Summer of Love and Woodstock (1967)]
 * [|Timothy Leary and Psychedelics in the 1960’s]
 * [|Six Day War (June 5 - 11, 1967)]
 * [|USS Liberty Incident (June 8, 1967)]
 * [|Seige of Khe Sanh during Vietnam War (January 21, 1968)]
 * [|Tet Offensive during Vietnam War (January 1968)]
 * USS Scorpion Submarine Sinking (May 22, 1968)
 * [|USS Pueblo (January 23, 1968)]
 * [|Czechoslovakia Uprising (August 20, 1968)]
 * US Navy EC-121M (VQ-1) Shootdown by N. Koreans (April 15, 1969)
 * [|Willy Brandt (1913 - 1992) — Chancellor of Germany (1969 - 1974)]
 * [|1960 Links]

The 70’s

 * [|SALT I & SALT II (May 1972 - June 1979)]
 * [|Richard M. Nixon (1913 - 1994, President, 1968 - 1974)]
 * Pentagon Papers (June 1971)
 * [|Coup d’etat in Chile (1973)]
 * [|Gerald Ford (1913 - 2006, President 1974 - 1976]
 * [|Operation Babylift (April 3, 1975)]
 * [|The Fall of Saigon (April 30, 1975)]
 * [|Khmer Rouge and Cambodia (1975)]
 * [|Jimmy Carter (1924, President 1976 - 1980)]
 * [|Somalia, Ethiopia, and The Ogaden War (1977)]
 * [|Afghan War (1978- 1992)]
 * Neutron Bomb (1979)
 * [|Iran Hostage Crisis (1979 – 1981)]
 * [|1970s Links]

The 80’s

 * [|Moscow Olympic Games (1980)]
 * [|Manuel Noriega & Panama (1980s)]
 * [|Yuri Andropov (1914 - 1984), General Secretary (1982- 1983]
 * [|The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI): Star Wars (1983)]
 * [|Iran / Contra (1983 - 1988)]
 * [|Ortega & Nicaragua (November 1984)]
 * [|Chernenko (1911 - 1985), General Secretary (1984 - 1985)]
 * [|Mikhail Gorbachev (1931), General Secretary (1985 - 1991)]
 * [|Glasnost and Perestroika (1985 - 1991)]
 * [|Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster (April 26, 1986)]
 * [|George Bush (1924), President (1988 - 1992)]
 * [|Ceausescu & Romania (1989)]
 * [|Tiananmen Square (April - June, 1989)]
 * [|Fall of The Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989)]
 * [|1980 Links]

The 90’s

 * [|Nelson Mandela & South Africa (1990s)]
 * Desert Storm / Desert Shield (August 2, 1990 - March 3, 1991)
 * [|Reunification of Germany (October 3, 1990)]
 * [|Boris Yeltsin (1931 - 2007, President of Russia 1991 - 1999)]
 * [|Fall of the Soviet Union (December 1991)]
 * [|William Jefferson Clinton (1946, President 1992 - 2000)]
 * [|1990 Links]