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Chinese Communist leader. He led the Communist party in the Chinese civil war. Ruled the communist government from 1949 to 1976. He established the People's Republic of China and he also led the Great Leap Forward and the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

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- Mao Zedong started the "Great Leap Forward" in 1958
- Combined 700,000 collective farms into 26,000 communes
- Women and men worked in the fields
- Zedong hoped it would grow the economy and help China reach the "final stage of Communism" (classless society)
- Total failure
- Economy dropped even lower
- Bad weather; droughts and floods
- Food production decreased
- 15 million people died of starvation
- Government broke up the communes and returned to collective farms
- Great Leap Forward ended in 1962

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Close to China and where Chiang Kai-Shek and his exiled Nationalist government (Kuomintang) fled to. The Kuomintang continued to operate from Taiwan and represented China in the U.N. Ties between the U.S. and Taiwan were established, ensuring Taiwan's protection. But the ties were severed when the connections between the People's Republic of China and the U.S. grew, and Chiang Kai-Shek died.

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- Began in 1966 by Mao Zedong who wanted to reassert his authority in the government.
- He felt that the current government was taking China in the wrong direction and that the people needed to bring back the revolutionary China.
- He shut down schools and asked youths to take action against the government.
- They created groups called the Red Guards and targeted China's elderly population.
- Zedong wanted to completely wipe out the old traditions and cultures in China.
- Different Red Guard Groups butted heads for power and Zedong had to send the army to restore order
- Economy and production dropped
- Zhou Enlai (helped Zedong), China’s premier, took greater control of the government
- Zedong died 1976
- Deng Xiaoping gained power 1977
- 1.5 million people were killed.

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The 17th Parallel was the dividing line between North and South Vietnam. It was established by the Geneva accords in 1954. for 3 miles on either side of the line, a DMZ (remilitarized zone) existed. After the Vietnam war ended, North and South were reunited as one country again, so the 17th parallel was no longer a divider.

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Cause(s) of the event
- Caused by a difference in ideologies and the build up of tension between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party. Both wanted to be the legitimate government of China.

Description- It was a fight between the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-Shek and the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong.

Date(s) of the event
- 1927-1949

Key individuals/groups involved
- The Chinese Nationalist Party/Kuomintang/KMT led by Chiang Kai-Shek
- The Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong

Was the event a victory for Democracy or Communism?
- It was a Communist victory. After winning the civil war, Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China. China then went into the "Great Leap Forward".

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Facing intense pressure from a war-weary public and widespread Vietnam War protests, American president Richard Nixon sought a way to disengage American combat forces without appearing to abandon South Vietnam to the Communists. He rejected calls from the anti-war movement to order an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops and publicly expressed a desire to achieve “peace with honor” in Vietnam. What he cam up with was Vietnamization.  Vietnamization was a policy to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Its goal was to allow the Southern Vietnamese troops to be self sufficient without U.S. troops fighting alongside them. This would allow the U.S. to gradually withdraw their troops from Vietnam, without surrendering. They wanted to prepare south Vietnamese troops to defend themselves against the North by themselves, and still win the war. Additionally, this program offered support to the South Vietnamese government by organizing local elections and implementing social reforms.

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The Vietcong were a group of Communist rebels that fought against the South Vietnamese and Americans in the Vietnam war. The Vietcong were a group of rebels mainly in Southern Vietnam, who asked Northern Vietnam for help, and received assistance from them. They mainly used guerilla warfare, and their end goal was to create a unified Vietnam under Communism.

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Ho Chi Minh was the founder of North Vietnam, and their leader from 1945 to 1969. He was born in Vietnam, but eventually found himself living in France. While in France, he was inspired by Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik revolution. He joined the new French Communist Party. After Germany defeated France in WW2, he saw this as an opportunity for Vietnamese independence. He returned to Vietnam in 1941 and created the Viet Minh. After the Allies won WW2, Japan withdrew from Vietnam, leaving Emperor Bao Dai in control of an independent Vietnam. The Viet Minh successfully overthrew his government, and established the country of North Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh as the leader. The Viet Cong appealed to North Vietnam for support against the South, and they agreed to help. The Ho Chi Minh trail was also named after him, which was a military supply route used by the Viet Minh to send supplies from North Vietnam  to supporters in South Vietnam. The trail was the target of U.S. bombing regularly. Ho Chi Minh gave up his position of secretary-general in 1965, to take a more behind the scenes role. In July 1966, Ho sent a message to the country’s people that “nothing is as dear to the heart of the Vietnamese as independence and liberation.” This became the motto of the North Vietnamese. Ho Chi Minh would die of natural causes at the age of 79 in 1969.

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Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese military and political leader. He became the leader of the KMT or Kuomintang in 1925, and removed all communists from the party. He made efforts to battle communism in China, but in 1946, a civil war broke out and Mao Zedong took over and created the People's Republic of China. After his defeat in mainland China, Chiang took his government to Taiwan where he began to modernize. He signed an agreement with the U.S. in 1955 guaranteeing Taiwan's defense. Many still saw Chiang's government to be the legitimate Chinese government, and it still represented China in the U.N.

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Causes - before WW2, Vietnam was a French colony, along with Cambodia and Laos. In 1946, Communists in North Vietnam began fighting the French for their independence. In 1949, France established South Vietnam as a country. In 1951, Ho Chi Minh became the leader of the Vietnam Workers Party in North Vietnam. At this time, North Vietnam was Communist, and South Vietnam was a Democratic country. A group known as the Viet Cong, who were south Korean Communist rebels wanted to overthrow the government of South Vietnam and reunite both countries as one Communist state. In 1954, North Korean soldiers started helping the South Korean rebels fight, this began the Vietnam War. The United States joined the war after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, where an American destroyer was attacked once, but president Lyndon B. Johnson falsely claimed that there had been a second attack. This led to Congress passing the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which allowed the U.S. to fully participate in the war. As payback for the Gulf of Tonkin, president Johnson authorized the bombing of North Vietnam. Part of the reason the U.S. were even involved in this conflict was because of the Domino Theory, by Dwight D. Eisenhower, Which stated that if one country became influenced by Communism, so would all of the surrounding countries.

Description - The Vietnam War was one of the most famous proxy wars during the Cold War, mainly because it was the first war to be broadcast on national television in the U.S. During the war, over 2 million Vietnamese civilians died, and 58,000 U.S soldiers died, along with over 1 million Vietnamese soldiers. The United states exited the Vietnam war before it was over because of a rising anti-war movement in the U.S. After the U.S. pulled out their troops in 1973, the war continued for two more years until 1975, when South Vietnam surrendered to to North. Vietnam was reunited as one country under Communism, which is the way it has been ever since.

Dates - 1954 until 1975

Key People - Ho Chi Minh, John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, Lyndon B. Johnson, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Who Won - The Vietnam War was a win for Communism, as the Democratic south surrendered to the Communist north. ever since the end of the war, Vietnam has been a Communist country.

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38th Parallel Beach, 38th Parallel Beach Gisamun Harbor, Yangyang-gun, South Korea

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The 38th parallel is the line that roughly divides North and South Korea. It was chosen by U.S. Military planners at the Potsdam conference at the end of WW2. The Soviet Union would have control of the Northern part, and the U.S. would have control of the Southern part. This was the line that North Korean soldiers crossed that started the Korean War. The DMZ was created roughly on the 38th parallel, and that line still stands between North and South Korea today.

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The United Nations participated in the Korean war by assisting South Korea in its efforts to resist communist advances from North Korea. The United Nations made the decision to send an international force to aid South Korea. This included troops from Britain, America, and 13 other nations. The troops were commanded by U.S. general, Douglas MacArthur. Both sides, North Korea and South Korea, traded blows. Each pushing each other back. Finally July 1953, the UN and North Korean forces signed a cease-fire agreement and a border was drawn between North and South Korea near the 38th parallel.

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Douglas MacArthur was a U.S. military general.

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Douglas MacArthur was a U.S. general in WWI, WWII, and who led the U.N. force sent to help South Korea in the Korean war. He was appointed supreme commander of the U.N. forces and he orchestrated a risky landing at Inch'ŏn in 1950 which succeeded. He also pushed back the North Korean forces across the 38th parallel.

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Causes - After the end of WW2, Korea was divided into 2 sections at the 38th parallel, North Korea being controlled by the Soviet Union and South Korea being controlled by the U.S. until 1948. In 1947, the United Nations approved elections in Korea to create a provisional government. North Korea resented this and refused to take part. On June 25th, 1950, North Korean soldiers invaded the south. That is how the Korean War started.

Description - The Korean war was a war between North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union, and South Korea, backed by the U.S. During the war, over 2.5 million people died. China was also involved in some of the fighting.  Even though both sides negotiated for two years, a peace treaty was never signed, so technically, the Korean war never ended. Now both sides stay on either side of the DMZ, a demilitarized zone than runs across Korea near the 38th parallel. Both sides are heavily guarded.

Dates - July 25th, 1950 until July 27th, 1953, when fighting ended.

Important People - Harry Truman, Mao Zedong, Douglas MacArthur, Kim Il Sung, Joseph Stalin

Who Won - Neither side won, and the war has never actually ended. These days, there is no longer fighting between both sides, but a peace treaty still hasn't been signed. This was kind of a victory for Democracy, as they stopped the spread of Communism into South Korea, and south Korea is still a Democratic country to this day.

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The Marshall plan (also known as the European Recovery Program) was a U.S. program that provided aid to Western Europe after they had been devastated by WW2. It was named after its creator, Secretary of State George C. Marshall. In the end, the plan would provide $15 million in total to reconstruct cities and infrastructure heavily damaged by the war. Another goal of the program was to stop the spread of Communism by giving money to countries threatened by the outside influence of Communism. Essentially, the U.S. was trying to buy allies by giving them money, so that they would become Democratic instead of Communist.

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The Iron Curtain was a term Winston Churchill used to describe the vast empire of the Soviet Union after the end of WW2. This famous speech in 1946 ushered in the Cold War, and said the the U.S. and Great Britain had to protect Democracy against the menace of Soviet Communism. The Iron Curtain was how Churchill described the Soviet Union spreading Communism to all of the countries around it.

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Built in August 1961, the Berlin Wall separated East Germany from West Germany, and was a symbol of the Cold War and the divide between Democracy and Communism. The Soviets hated that a capitalist city was located deep inside Communist East Germany. The Soviet Union said that the purpose of the wall was to keep the "Western Fascists" from entering East Berlin, when in fact it was actually to stop the masses of people defecting from East to West Berlin. During the time before the wall was built, over 3 million people fled East Berlin. The wall would stand for almost 30 years, separating the people of Berlin from each other until it finally fell in 1989. The falling of the wall also marked the falling of the Iron Curtain that had descended on Eastern Europe after WWII.

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The Berlin Airlift started in July of 1948, when the Soviets withdrew from the Kommandatura and began a blockade of West Berlin. Their goal was to starve the West out of Berlin, and claim all of the capital city for themselves. Firstly, they closed the Autobahn for "repairs," Then stopped all car and rail traffic from being able to enter West Berlin. The West could not allow this to happen, because of they withdrew, Communism would run rampant across Eastern Europe. They decided a solution to the blockade would be a massive airlift of supplies to West Berlin. the operation was codenamed Operation VITTLES. It was supposed to be a short term measure, but the Soviets refused to lift their blockade. For over one year, allied planes brought supplies every day. In total, they brought over 2.3 million tons of supplies. On May 12th, 1949, the Soviet blockade was finally lifted.

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Causes - After the end of WWII, Stalin still feared the Capitalist West, and Western leaders still had a great fear  of Communism. Because of its need to feel secure on its western border, the Soviet Union was not prepared to give up its control of Eastern Europe after Germany’s defeat. Nor were American leaders willing to give up the power and prestige the United States had gained throughout the world. Eastern Europe was the first area of disagreement. The United States believed that the liberated counties should be allowed to choose their own governments. Stalin was fearful of this, because he thought they would be anti-Soviet, and he couldn't allow that to happen. He wanted a buffer of Communist countries between the west and the Soviet Union. The division of Germany was just the start of the Cold War.

Description - After the end of WWII, Germany was divided into 4 pieces, with each of the Allies getting a piece. This was decided after the Potsdam conference between The Big Three (Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Harry Truman.) Berlin was also divided in the same way. Germany would remain divided until 1990, when it was reunified.

Dates - Divided in 1949, Unified in 1990.

Important People - Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Who Won - I would say that neither side really won. Both Capitalism and Communism were a part of Germany until it was unified in 1990. After that point, Democracy won because the Soviet Union didn't exist anymore.

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Nikita Khrushchev was the Premier (leader) of the Soviet Union from 1953-1964. He placed missiles in Cuba in 1962 as a response to the American missiles in Turkey. After the U.S. placed a quarantine around the island, Khrushchev and Kennedy reached an agreement where the missiles in Cuba would be removes as long as the U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba. They also secretly agreed that the U.S. would remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey. In the end, the world avoided a nuclear conflict because of the negotiations of both Kennedy and Khrushchev.

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John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States (1961-1963), and was in office during the Cuban Missile Crisis . He was the president who decided to place a naval blockade around Cuba to stop the Soviet missiles from arriving. He is best known for resolving the Crisis peacefully through negotiations, and refusing to attack the Soviet Union. He also authorized the Bay of Pigs invasion that failed.

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Fidel Castro was a Communist Dictator who rose to power in Cuba in 1959 and stayed in power until 2008. He is best known for transforming Cuba into a Communist state after he led a communist revolution against the Cuban government in 1959. In 1960, Castro began acquiring weapons from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would become his biggest supporter in the years to come. In 1962, the Soviet Union secretly put missiles on the island of Cuba, which caused the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the missiles were removed, Castro was angry at the Soviet government.

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The Bay of Pigs invasion was planned by John F. Kennedy and was launched in 1961. Exiled Cubans were military trained to form a small army in order to carry out the invasion. Kennedy wanted the U.S. support in the invasion to be disguised so that  Castro wouldn't know that the U.S. orchestrated the invasion. When the first air strike was launched, word got out about the U.S. involvement and everything just fell apart from there. In the end, the invasion was a total failure.

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Causes - The Communist overthrow of the Cuban government in 1959 caused the rise of Fidel Castro, who the Soviet Union helped to support. The Soviet Union saw that putting their nuclear missiles in Cuba would balance the power between them and the U.S. because at the time, the Soviet Union did not have reliable ICBM's, and having missiles only 90 miles away from the American mainland would guarantee a strike. It was also done as a response to America putting their nuclear missiles in Turkey.

Description - The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever got to a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It happened when the Soviet Union deployed nuclear missiles in the newly Communist nation of Cuba. The U.S found out about this, and decided to blockade Cuba to stop the shipment of Soviet Missiles from reaching Cuba.
On of the most dangerous moments of the crisis was when U.S. ships forced a Soviet submarine to surface using depth charges. The submarine didn't know about the American blockade, and might have thought a war had started. Ultimately, the submarine surfaced without incident, and the crisis was averted. The Soviet Union agreed to remove their missiles as long as the U.S. agreed to not invade Cuba and allowed Fidel Castro to stay in power. What the world didn't know about at the time was that the U.S. also agreed to remove their nuclear missiles from Turkey in 1963.

Dates - October 16th - October 28th 1962.

Important People - Fidel Castro, Nikita Khrushchev, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower,

Who Won - I think that neither side really "won." I think the rest of the world won because an all out nuclear was was avoided. Even though the Soviet Union removed their missiles from Cuba, their new ICBM's were much more reliable, and could reach the continental United States.

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Ronald Reagan was president of the United Stated near the end of the Cold War from 1981 to 1989. He called for Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin wall with his famous quote "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" in his Berlin wall speech. He made the speech two years before the wall officially fell.

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Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Union and was in power during the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev was told by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to take down the wall along with many restless German People. Eventually the citizens of Germany tore down the wall that divided Berlin into East and West. Gorbachev called it "a shift in the world balance of forces".

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- Perestroika was a policy that was developed by Mikhail Gorbachev to try and reform and rebuilt the Soviet economy. It included reforms such as the Law on State Enterprise, the Law of Cooperatives, the opening of the Soviet economy to foreign investment. The work literally means "restructuring" in Russian. In the end, the policy of Perestroika ultimately failed.

- Glasnost was a policy created by Mikhail Gorbachev that basically granted the people more rights and freedoms, including the freedoms of speech and the press. He also opened up the government and political decisions to the people. He hoped that by making things more open and transparent that people would support him.

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Causes - East Germany was rapidly changing in its political views, and the boarder to Czechoslovakia was opened in November 1989. after that, the East German government allowed citizens to travel abroad  having to apply for special permission. They also allowed refugees to cross the Berlin Wall into West Germany. On the night of November 9th, a government spokesperson was misinformed of this information, and said that citizens could permanently emigrate at any border crossing, even into West Berlin. when asked when this law took effect, he said immediately. After this press conference, the news was spread that people in East Berlin could cross the boarder into West Berlin immediately. this news that the boarders were open to anybody led to a mass of people at the boarder gates. the guards were overwhelmed, and eventually gave in to the crowds and opened the boarders. After this day, removal of the wall began, with a ton of civilians taking part.

Description - Built in August 1961, the Berlin Wall separated East Germany from West Germany, and was a symbol of the Cold War and the divide between Democracy and Communism. It would stand for almost 30 years, separating the people of Berlin from each other until it finally fell in 1989. The falling of the wall also marked the falling of the Iron Curtain that had descended on Eastern Europe after WWII.

Dates - November 9th, 1989.

Key People - Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronal Reagan,  Walter Ulbricht, Nikita Krushchev.

Who Won - This was a win for Democracy, as Communist East Berlin was no longer separated from Democratic West Berlin, and people were no longer stuck in East Berlin. The fall of the wall also marked the fall of Communism in Europe.

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On March 23, 1983, President Reagan announced that he wanted to create a Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) that used machines that used x-ray lasers to deflect any missiles away from the United States. Many scientists and government members believed this to be an outrageous idea that was something out of a fantasy story. They referred to Reagan's SDI as something only feasible in "Star Wars" and mocked it but still ended up putting $30 billion dollars into the project. It was eventually scrapped by President Clinton in 1993.

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Causes - Mikhail Gorbachev's loosening of Soviet influence on other Eastern European countries led to many Democratic movements, including the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. Overall, this led to the loosening of Communist control. In the Soviet Union, Gorbachev allowed for free elections with a multi-party system that had never been seen before in the USSR. Everything he did was leading the Soviet Union closer to being a Democratic country with a free market. Many Soviet satellite states wanted their freedom, and there were many protests across the Soviet Union. President Bush originally supported Gorbachev, but then switched to supporting Boris Yeltsin, who wanted a Democracy in the USSR. Eventually after a failed coup, Gorbachev resigned and Yeltsin took power. The Central Committee was dissolved, and Ukraine and Belarus declared their independence from the USSR.

Description - On December 25, 1991 the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the Soviet Union was dissolved. This led to many Eastern European countries declaring their independence and the establishment of many new Democratic countries.

Dates - December 26th, 1991.

Key People - Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, George H.W. Bush.

Who Won - This was a win for Democracy, because the communist Soviet Union collapsed, and many of its satellite states became Democratic countries. Communism in Eastern Europe no longer existed.

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Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I and SALT II)

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Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I and SALT II)

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SALT 1 - Talks between the U.S. and the Soviet Union between 1969-1972 in order to limit the manufacturing of missiles that could carry nuclear weapons. First suggested by president Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, they were intended to stop the ongoing arms race between the U.S and the USSR. As a result of SALT 1, both countries were restricted in the number of ICBM's they could have for 5 years, pending negotiation that would later happen in SALT 2. Signed by Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev in 1972.

SALT 2 - negotiations from 1972-1979 that followed up SALT 1. These negotiations also limited how many ICBM's the countries could have, but was also much more thorough in describing the types of missiles to avoid confusion. Signed by Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev in 1979.

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Brinkmanship - In the Cold War's arms race, both sides used a policy of brinkmanship where they built up their military and threatened the other, to try and get them to back down.

Deterrence - The strategy of deterrence was used in the Cold War mainly by the U.S. It was a threat that the U.S. would step up if the Soviet Union tried to expand its communist influence. It was aimed to try and stop communist aggression.

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Dates - March 12, 1947 to December 26, 1991.

Cause - After WWII the U.S. and the USSR were suspicious of each other so they built up their nuclear arsenals to one up the other as tension rose.

Description - The Arms Race was a race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to try and develop more and better weapons than each other. Both sides were extremely paranoid of each other, and feared that the other was trying to achieve world domination.

Key individuals - United States: Harry Truman(1945-1952), Dwight D Eisenhower(1952-1960), John F. Kennedy(1960-1963), Lyndon B. Johnson(1963-1968), Richard M. Nixon(1968-1974), Gerald Ford(1974-1976), Jimmy Carter(1976-1980), Ronald Reagan(1980-1988), George Bush Sr.(1988-1992).
Soviet Union: Joseph Stalin(1922-1952), Nikita Khrushchev(1953-1964), Leonid Brezhnev(1964-1982), Yuri Andropov(1982-1984), Konstantin Chernenko(1984-1985), Mikhail Gorbachev(1985-1991).

Who Won - Neither side really won, as they never had to use any of their weapons against each other. In the end they both agreed to limit their armaments in order to avoid world destruction.