https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nP_sRoCFSKHbA93NpiRI86hdXwbjsdMKLgffU42ZQKI/edit?usp=sharing en-us 2022-05-20 14:13:29 UTC 2022-06-02 00:06:43 UTC hello@padlet.com 1559655 https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193080560 The cause of the arms race was the tension between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Each country attempted to be more superior in their Military's, leading to an arms race. Although they were allies in WWI, the US did not inform the Soviet Union that they were dropping the bomb on Japan, as both the countries were already very suspicious of each others motives. The Soviet Union
wanted to spread communism, while the United States wanted to spread democracy, causing each country to believe the other was attempting World Domination.
The arms race was a combination of different efforts from each side to increase their Military. A "starting point" is when the Soviets built their first Atomic bomb and successfully tested it. The arms race eventually lead to a space race. The soviets were the ones to first launch a satellite into space on oct. 4 1957 which really scared the US. However, a couple months later the US released one too on Jan 31. 1958. Over the next couple decades, both military's increased tremendously. There was a lot of brinkmanship in that time and both were pushing each other to the brink. In 1987, both signed the INF Treaty (intermediate nuclear range forces). From the 60's to the 80's there were 2 SALT meetings ( Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) to limit various weapons and introduce treaty's from the ABM defense system, to weapon delivery vehicles. The meetings limited nuclear forces and enforced deterrence. Star Wars was a strategic defense initiative proposed by President Reagan in 1983 to protect the US from potential threats (missiles). But many thought it to be too expensive or a bluff. 
I consider the arms race to be a win for neither communism or democracy, because each succeeded in something different, like the first satellite or a treaty.  

]]> 2022-05-20 14:22:00 UTC https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193080560 1559655 https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193081793 The soviet union was originally meant to be a peaceful democratic society, but soon became communist, especially under the rule of Joseph Stalin. But in march of 1985 everything changed. A man named Mikhail Gorbachev came into power and reformed the Soviet Union. He introduced Glasnost which opened up the USSR to things like the newspaper, and real elections. The second was perestroika which was a way to economically change. Unfortunately, his reforms were unsuccessful which made many of the citizen's very unhappy. Gorbachev also believed that he should form a more positive relationship with the US and left the arms race. The soviet union began to collapse because of Gorbachev's failed reforms and he was kind of uninvolved in a lot of issues and took a step backward. Countries slowly started dropping out until eventually in 1991, the chair of parliament Boris Yeltsin ended the cold war and announced the official disband of the USSR. This was a win for democracy, because it signaled the end of the cold war when the USSR disbanded and failed. ]]> 2022-05-20 14:22:52 UTC https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193081793 1559655 https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193088073 There was a internal civil war between two main parties in 1949; the nationalists and the communists. Mao Zedong was thought of as the father of communist china during this time.  Chiang Kai-Shek was also a very important leader in the revolution he lead the KMT (Kuomintang). This war was separated into two parts. The main cause was political differences between the two parties. In the 60's there was a cultural revolution and Mao wanted to purge the nation and go back to old culture and values. He had a plan for a "great leap forward" that failed. It was a plan to turn agricultural  China into industrial China. Eventually the communist party won but there were a lot of deaths, especially from citizens. The Chinese war was most definitely a win for communists, as their party won the war. ]]> 2022-05-20 14:27:25 UTC https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193088073 1559655 https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193090258 The Cuban Missile Crisis was a standoff between the Soviet Union lead by Nikita Khrushchev, and the US lead by John Kennedy. This crisis was in October of 1962, lasting about 13 days. A man named Fidel Castro (on the side of the Soviet Union) seized Cuba. America found out through a spy plane that the soviets were building a missile. This was very terrifying because Cuba is so close to the US, officials were scared that the US would become a target. The soviets targeted cuba especially because of the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion attempt. They knew that there was tension between the Cuba and the US because of the US's attempted overthrow of Fidel Castro. Political tension was high between Cuba, US, and The Soviet Union. President Kennedy decided to blockade Cuba to avoid more weapons being sent and informed the US public about the potential threat. Right before a big breakout of fighting, a letter was exchanged between Khrushchev and Kennedy stating that the Soviets would remove the missiles if the US would not invade Cuba and both sides agreed. ]]> 2022-05-20 14:28:59 UTC https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193090258 1565224 https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193227632 Following the defeat of Germany in World War II, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin. D. Roosevelt agreed at the Yalta conference in February, 1945, to partition Germany between the United States, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. In addition to Germany, it's capital, Berlin, was also divided amongst the allies. After the Yalta conference, the leaders of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain met again at the Potsdam conference to discuss Soviet involvement in Eastern European countries. The Soviet Union was afraid of invasion from Western countries, and wanted to establish a buffer between them. Harry Truman, who replaced FDR after his death on April 12th, 1945, wanted Stalin to allow free elections in Eastern European countries. Stalin refused, leading to the emergence of the "iron curtain," a term coined by Winston Churchill to describe the separation between communism in the East and democracy in the West. In order to prevent more countries from falling to communism, the United States created the Marshall Plan, which gave monetary aid to countries hurt by World War II in order to help them rebuild. After rebuilding efforts in Germany, the allies withdrew their forces to allow it to form its own nation. However, the Soviet Union wanted to keep Germany weak and divided so that they could not attack. In order to stop the reunification of Germany, the Soviets decided to create a blockade so that supplies could not be delivered to West Berlin. In order to provide resources to the people of West Berlin, the allies had to airlift supplies such as food, fuel, and medicine starting in June, 1948, until the Soviets lifted the blockade in May, 1949. After a period of relative calm in Berlin, the Berlin Wall was erected on August 13th, 1961 to stop the flood of East German citizens moving to West Berlin. Overall, the division of Germany was a win for Communism because it gave the Soviet Union a new ally, East Germany, which did not exist prior to Germany being partitioned. However, it was not a complete loss for democracy either, as West Germany was established as an independent state. ]]> 2022-05-20 16:12:14 UTC https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2193227632 1565224 https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2206848410 The Berlin Wall was a barrier in Berlin, Germany, that was intended to stop the flood of immigrants moving from Soviet controlled East Berlin to West Berlin. Prior to the wall's construction, thousands of East German citizens were able to cross into West Berlin. In response to this, on August 12th, 1961, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gave East Germany permission to close its borders. The earliest forms of the wall were built that very night, and from then on, citizens were prohibited from traveling from one side to the other. Despite this, over 5,000 East Germans managed to cross to West Berlin during the thirty year period before the wall was torn down. In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan famously stood in front of the Berlin wall and said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Only two years later, the wall would be torn down, in part due to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev went to East Germany in October, 1989, where he met with East German leadership and spoke to them about the need for reform. He had the East German leader Erich Honecker replaced with Egon Krenz.  On November 9th, 1989, Krenz gave an order that opened the Berlin Wall and allowed people to travel freely to West Berlin. Citizens from East and West Berlin flocked through the checkpoints and used hammers and pickaxes to tear down the wall. Overall, the fall of the Berlin Wall was a win for democracy because it marked the beginning of reunification between East and West Germany and the fall of communism in Germany.]]> 2022-06-01 01:53:32 UTC https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2206848410 1565224 https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2207074531 At the end of World War II, Korea was divided into two parts, North Korea and South Korea. North Korea was a communist state set up by the Soviet Union, and South Korea was an independent state supported by Western countries. The two nations were divided at the 38th parallel, a line of latitude that crosses Korea. On June 1st, 1950, the North Koreans, supplied by the Soviets, invaded South Korea. The United States and the United Nations sent troops led by General Douglas MacArthur to help South Korea resist communism. The combined forces of the South Korean and UN troops were able to push the North Koreans back almost to the Chinese border. However, the troops' proximity to the border caused the Chinese to join the war because they felt threatened. The Chinese outnumbered the UN forces and were able to push them back into South Korea. General MacArthur tried to persuade US President Harry Truman to use nuclear weapons against China. When Truman refused, MacArthur tried to go to Congress and the press instead, for which Truman fired him. UN troops continued to push the Chinese and North Koreans back, until July, 1953, when a ceasefire was signed and a new border, close to the 38th parallel, was drawn. Overall the Korean War was neither a win nor a loss for anybody because the end result saw North Korea and South Korea still divided, with the border very close to how it was before the conflict.]]> 2022-06-01 06:28:36 UTC https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2207074531 1565224 https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2207977241 In World War II, Japan took control of Vietnam from the French. After WWII ended, the French wanted to reestablish control, but the Vietnamese wanted independence. Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh joined forces with the communists in the battle for independence, and in 1954, his forces defeated the French. Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel, a line of longitude running through the country. The north became communist under Ho Chi Minh, while the south was established as an anti-communist state backed by Western countries. The leader of South Vietnam, Ngo Din Diem, was widely hated within his nation. Communists in South Vietnam who took action against his government were known as Vietcong. The Vietcong took over parts of South Vietnam, making it clear that Communism was going to spread. Because of the United States' policy of containment, the US increased its presence in Vietnam, and began to send troops to fight in August, 1964. The US troops, faced with guerilla warfare and jungle terrain, were unable to make much progress on the ground despite their training and weaponry. Because of this, the US turned to the use of the air force instead, and bombed farmland in an effort to destroy enemy strongholds. This turned public opinion even more against South Vietnam than it already was. In the US, protesters spoke out against the war in Vietnam, and public pressure forced US President Richard Nixon to remove troops from the war. Nixon created a policy called Vietnamization to remove troops from the war. This policy meant that the US would remove its troops slowly, and the South Vietnamese would increase their fighting. The last of the US' troops left in 1973, and two years later, in 1975, North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam, reunifying Vietnam under communism. Overall, the Vietnam war was a win for communism because it established a new communist country that still stands to this day.]]> 2022-06-01 19:57:40 UTC https://padlet.com/1559655/iqodl9vkdhm5o51g/wish/2207977241