The Vietnam War was a prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify Vietnam under a communist government and the U.S. attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Ho Chi Minh bribed them with military secrets of the Japanese, but the U.S. resisted due to their dedication to their foreign policy of containment. The U.S. believed that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, all would fall, causing a domino effect. Therefore, the U.S. decided to support France, not Ho Chi Minh, as he was a communist.

As a result, the East German government was forced to announce much greater freedom of travel for East German citizens. As part of this decision, the East German government announced that East Germans would be allowed to cross the border with West Berlin. The day the Berlin Wall fell, thousands flocked to checkpoints in Berlin Wall and the border Guards let them pass.

The war ended with an armistice between the US, China, North Korea, and South Korea. The conflict fueled US fears and led to intervention in Vietnam to prevent North Korea from regaining control, allowing them to become a world power. The US's involvement in the Korean War was driven by its desire to contain communism and prevent North Korea from gaining full control over the Korean Peninsula.

East of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to or influenced by the former Soviet Union, including Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania.

"We cannot afford, if we can help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength. If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations charter, their influence for furthering these principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them."

The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance between Communist countries in East Europe to counter the threat of Capitalism in Europe. It had a great effect as a military deterrent on any of the European nations seeking war against other nations to further the spread of the ideals it supported.

It created a joint command for armed forces set up a political committee to coordinate the foreign policies of the members increased soviet control financially damaged in the USSR troops were stationed across Europe

Original members

USSR
Poland
Hungary
Czechoslovakia
Romania
Bulgaria
Albania
East Germany

The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile systems used in defending areas against ballistic missile-delivered nuclear weapons. Missile states were only allowed at 2 sites in each country and each country should have a maximum of 100 missiles.

The Basic Principle Agreement laid down rules for the conduct of nuclear warfare. It banned the placing of nuclear warheads on the sea bed. It set out steps for avoiding a nuclear war.

The Interim Treaty was a temporary agreement only in place until 1977. It placed restrictions on the number of inter-continental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles each country should have. The Soviet Union was allowed more ICBMs, as the USA secretly developed Multiple Independently-Targetable Re-Entry Vehicles (MIRVs), but didn't admit this to the USSR and so they appeared to be making very generous concessions.

Negotiations began in Helsinki in 1969, leading to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an interim agreement. However, the treaty was not ratified by the United States Senate due to the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The agreement expired in 1985 and was not renewed.

In August 1991, hard-liners staged a coup against Gorbachev. Hard-liners were frustrated with the loss of the communist party's power, the failing economy, and the loss of control over Eastern Europe. They demanded Gorbachev's resignation and tried to solve the problems with tanks and troops. Gorbachev was placed under arrest. Boris Yeltsin mobilized support against the coup.

The coup failed and Gorbachev was reinstalled to power within 3 days. However, he knew that he had lost control of the USSR. After the failed coup, the Baltics demanded independence and many other republics followed. By December 1991, all 15 republics had declared independence. After nearly 709 years, the USSR collapsed and Gorbachev resigned. Yeltsin led the formation of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).

In Operation Paperclip, the USA smuggled German scientist Van Braun, a Nazi and SS member, into the USA. This controversial move was met with controversy and backlash. In 1967, a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module during a launch rehearsal test, resulting in the deaths of three astronauts. The hatch door, intended to secure the astronauts and atmosphere, was too tough to open under these circumstances.

On July 16, 1969, U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins set off on the Apollo 11 space mission, the first lunar landing attempt. The mission took three days, and Armstrong had to land the module manually in the Sea of Tranquility due to malfunctions.

President Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba and prevented Soviet ships from reaching Cuba. Finally, the Soviet Union removed the missiles when the U.S. promised not to attack Cuba. It is the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. The crisis was resolved with negotiations that removed Soviet missiles from Cuba and U.S. missiles from Turkey. Kennedy ordered a blockade to be formed around Cuba.

This prevented Soviet ships from coming in. Both the Soviet Union and the US realized that if they had a huge nuclear war, no one would win. They tried to relax relations and set up a hotline so they could communicate more easily. The US has missiles in Turkey, so if the Soviet Union tried to nuke the United States with their missiles in Cuba, the United States would retaliate with their missiles positioned well within the distance of the Soviet Union.

The Containment Policy, supported by Dean Acheson, General George C. Marshall, and George Kennan, was an informal declaration of cold and proxy wars against the USSR. The Marshall Plan aimed to extend economic power in Europe to halt the Soviet Union's expansion, offering extensive aid to all nations, including Russia. The USSR withdrew from the plan, while Western European countries accepted and revived their industries.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization promised US protection of Western European people as they recovered economically. Russia's land blockade of West Berlin forced Truman to keep military troops there, and airlifts of supplies were dropped by the US to West Berlin. In 1949, the Soviets gave in without violence, ending the Cold War crisis. The US focused on unifying its armed services and creating new institutions for military and diplomatic strategy after WWII.

A flight from Turkey to Siberia failed, and the US was hesitant to allow flights. The Soviets improved their missile shooting capabilities, and the CIA asked if they could send another plane. Francis Gary Powers' plane was shot down over Russian soil, and Russians claimed it was a weather balloon. The US denied this, and Russians paraded Powers around Red Square to show Americans they had known all along.

Eisenhower refused to apologize for the flight and promised the truth would eventually come out. He made a speech stating he knew all about the flights and approved everyone. In Vienna, Eisenhower, Khrushchev, DeGaulle, and Eden met to discuss the situation. Khrushchev interrupted Degaulle's speech, demanding an apology from Eisenhower. Eisenhower refused, stating that both countries were guilty of spying on the US. DeGaulle, a tall French leader, welcomed everyone to France and told Eisenhower, "We don't know what he's going to do. Whatever he does, we're with you."

President Kennedy signaled a commitment to the USSR in speaking of June 1963- arguing that both superpowers needed to focus on their common interests. It was seen as an important first step in slowing down the arms race by controlling the development of nuclear weapons. It was designed to stop radioactivity from spreading, stop nuclear weapon testing in the atmosphere, disincentivize the protection that nuclear weapons provide.