May 4 - Took notes.
May 5 - Took notes.
May 6 - Took notes.
May 7 - Took notes.
May 8 - Took notes.
Why did we win?
- We had close ties with our Allies and the USSR didn't
- China started siding with us after 1972
- The Soviet economy was in shambles whereas the US's was flourishing
- USSR had huge deficit
- High inflation
- Corruption
- Social problems
- Shortage of basic needs
- Strong anti-communist presidency of Reagan
- Gorbachev's willingness for change and reform
- Glasnost and perestroika
- Admitted Soviet mistakes
- Took blame for the Cold War
- Communist system had failed
- **Allowed Eastern Europe to do what they wanted**
- Arms Reduction Talks
- Soviet mistakes
- Invasion of Afghanistan
- Ignoring social concerns
- Spent everything on the military
What impact did the Fall of the Soviet Union and Communism have on Europe and the World?
- New countries broke out of the USSR
- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan
- East and West Germany reunified in 1990
- Rise of democracy and capitalism throughout Europe
- Wars and Ethnic Cleansings - Yugoslavia (Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia)
- The world became more unified and more interdependent
- The rise of radical Islamic groups - Taliban and al Qaeda
- The United States emerged as the singular major power in the world
Russia Vs. Ukraine - 2014-2015
- Ukraine wanted to join the European Union but leader did not want to as he was Pro-Russia
- Ukrainian leader is forced out
- Russia moves troops in the Crimean Peninsula and annexes it after Crimean voters vote to approve annexation
- The United Nations declares this act by Russia as illegal
Remembering 9-11
- September 11, 2001
- New York - Arlington/D.C. - Shanksville, PA
- New York
- Early morning hours, for commercial airlines were hijacked
- 8:46 am - AA flight 11 was the first to crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center
- Approximately seventeen minutes later the second crash occurred
- Structural damage caused both towers to collapse
- South Tower collapsed at 9:59
- North Tower 29 minutes later
- 2,606 were killed including:
- 343 firefighters
- 23 police officers
- 37 port authority police officers
- Arlington, Virginia
- 9:37 am - AA flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon
- The western side of the building was engulfed in flames
- Part of the building collapsed
- 189 people were killed
- 64 aboard Flight 77
- 125 inside the Pentagon building
- Shanksville, Pennsylvania
- The fourth plane, United Airlines flight 93 was expected to head toward the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
- Passengers in that plane however, prevented that from happening
- Unfortunately at 10:03 am, the plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, PA, killing everyone (44 people) on board
- Rescue and Recovery Efforts
- It took months to complete the rescue and recovery efforts
- Some survivors were found and rescued from under the rubble, but not many
- The fires beneath the rubble burned for weeks and the cleanup was not fully complete until May 2002
- Relief funds were established to help the victims and their families
- Lives Lost
- In all, 2,996 people died that day, including the 19 hijackers
- More than 6,000 were injured
- Effects
- Sporting events were postponed
- National parks and landmarks closed for a while
- Late night comedians took some time off
- Movies, TV shows, video games were delayed and changed or even cancelled
- Airports were closed for a few days and became much more secure leading to longer waiting times
- The Department of Homeland Security was set up
- The Patriot Act was passed
- Led to water boarding by the CIA at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
- War in Afghanistan - October 2011
- Patriotism increased
- Bush Doctrine
- US had the right to secure itself against the countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups
- United States should depose foreign governments that represented a potential threat to the security of the United States
- Encourage democracy around the world, especially in the Middle East as a strategy for combating terrorism
Watergate Scandal
- What was it?
- In May 1972 Nixon's reelection committee broke into the Democratic headquarters
- Stole top secret documents
- Bugged office phones
- The Cover-up
- Burglars were caught the second attempt
- Nixon tried paying people off
- 5 pleaded guilty
- Other two convicted in January 1973
- The Story
- When the Pentagon Papers were released to the public about the Vietnam war, Nixon was losing popularity
- Nixon knew in order to win the election of 1972 he had to get dirt on the Democrats in order to win
- Nixon hired 5 men to wiretap two phones in the Democrats headquarter one of which was Robert Oliver who was the executive director of Association of State Democrats
- The 5 men were caught on June 17, 1972 by a security guard
- Tried and convicted of burglary, conspiracy and violation of wiretapping federal law
- Alexander Butterfield who was deputy assistant to Nixon testified about Nixon having the films of Watergate
- The films were subpoena but Nixon refused to give them up due to executive order
- Resign or face impeachment
- Nixon had to either resign or face impeached
- Eventually Nixon resigned on the night of August 8, 1974
- Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in the next day
- Spiro Agnew
- He was the first vice president under Nixon
- Spiro resigned and then pleaded no contest to the criminal charges of tax evasion
- Accused of accepting $100,000 in bribes
Why did bin Laden turn his attention to attacking the US?
- In November 2002, bin Laden wrote his "Letter to America" outlining motives:
US in Somalia
- December 4, 1992, George H.W. Bush sends 28,000 American troops to Somalia
- Bush wanted to help the Somali people since all attempts to send food to them were intercepted by war lords
Black Hawk Down
- In 1993, 18 Americans died when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down
Attacks
- Embassy attacks
- USS Cole Attack - October 2000
- 9/11 - Khalid Sheikh Mohammad
Iraq
- New constitution was approved by vote and a new government of Iraq was elected
- Foreign troops remained in Iraq after the establishment of a new government due to an insurgency/civil war that developed shortly after the invasion
- In August 2010, the US became the last member of the coalition to cease combat operations in Iraq
- In December 2011, the last US troops left the country
- US military advisers sent back in late 2014 to assist Iraq against ISIS
Persian Gulf War
- August 2, 1990 - 1991
Consequences on Iraq
- Economic sanctions remained
- Weapons inspectors
- No fly zone
Iraq War - 2003-2011
- Operation Iraqi Freedom
- The US and the UK claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which was a threat to our security
- In 2002, the United Nations Security Council called for Iraq to completely cooperate with UN weapon inspectors to verify that Iraq was not in possession of WMD
- The UN found no evidence of WMD but believed that Hussein was trying to get WMD from Africa
- Due to the above intelligence we invaded on March 20, 2003
- After the Iraqi invasion, it was concluded that Iraq had ended its WMD program in 1991 and had no active programs at the time of invasion
Bush's Policies
- Started the war in 2003
- War was supported at first but no WMD found led to the war becoming very unpopular
- Abu Ghraib
- Accused of not having an "exit strategy"
- Helped establish a new democratic government in Iraq
- "The surge" took place in 2007. It helped get the violence under control in Iraq
- Started troop reduction in 2008
Obama's Policies
- Opposed to war at the outset as a Senator
- After being elected President, Obama switched the focus to the war in Afghanistan
- Pulled out all US combat troops in August 2010
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