Monday -
The Cold War (1945 - 1990)
Definition
- A political, strategic and ideological struggle between the US and the Soviet Union from 1945 - 1990
- Spread throughout the world - Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America
Communism vs Democracy
- Democracy - A type of government that is run by the people.
- Communism - A communist dictatorship. Government is run by the leader of the country.
Causes of the Cold War
- Different Political Systems - US is based on democracy, capitalism and freedom. USSR is based on dictatorship, communism and control
- The Red Scare (1919) - Fearful that communism would come over and take over the United States
- Both thought their system was better and distrusted the others intentions
- Stalin despised Capitalism
- Distrust during WWII
- Stalin breaking his promise to allow free elections at the Yalta conference
- American fear of a communist attack(Red Scare) and USSR's fear of a US attack
- USSR's fear of the atomic bomb
- USSR's actions in their German Zone
- USSR's goal to spread communism around the world
Tuesday -
Post WWII / Cold War Goals for US
- Wanted to promote open markets for US goods to prevent another depression
- Promote democracy throughout the world, especially in Asia and Africa
- Stop the spread of Communism (Policy of Containment)
Post WWII / Cold War Goals for the USSR
- Wanted to create greater security for itself. Lost tens of millions of people in WWII and Stalin's purges
- Establish defensible borders
- Encourage friendly governments on its borders
- Spread communism around the world
Domino Effect
- If we don't stop communism, more countries will join and the "domino's" will continue to fall
Truman Doctrine
- Greece and Turkey were being taken over by communist Gorilla troops. US would give a bunch of money and military supplies to ensure that they wouldn't become communist.
Brinkmanship
- The US will have to be able to talk about using nuclear war to get the USSR to back down
NATO
- Defensive Alliance with Western Europe (America, Canada, Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, and Italy)
Warsaw Pact
- Basically it was the USSR's version of NATO
Wednesday -
The First Berlin Crisis - Berlin Blockade / Airlift
- After WWII
- The US, British, and French got a piece of Berlin (which was inside of the Russian sector)
- Stalin blockaded the entire city (which is a war like move)
- We airlifted food over the blockade
- Stalin did nothing to stop the airlifting (eventually blockade ended and then 45 years of being able to deliver to West Germany)
Second Red Scare (1947-1957)
Causes:
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Trial - Found guilty of being government spies for the Soviets.
- The Iron Curtain surrounding Eastern Europe
- The USSR detonating their atomic bomb
- China becoming communist
- Korean War starting in 1950 - Domino Effect
- Stalin's actions in Germany - Berlin Blockade
Thursday
Bay of Pigs
- Anti Castro Cuban invasion of Cuba trying to take down Castro's government
- Hurt President Kennedy because he said he would provide air support, but didn't
Cuban Missile Crisis
- U2 spy plane captured pictures of a missile launch site in Cuba
The Compromise
- The Soviets would remove their missiles from Cuba
- The US would promise never to invade Cuba
- The US wold secretly remove our nuclear missiles from Turkey within six months
Friday -
Vietnam and the Korean War
Korean War
- UN pulled out of South Korea, North Korea then attack South Korea and almost took them completely over
- The UN declared that they would send troops to South Korea, the UN then took almost all of North Korea
- China then attacked which stalemated in the middle of North and South Korea
- Eventually there was a treaty signed, but South Korea and North Korea are still in bad tensions today
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