Cold War Map by CARTER STRICKLAND

Yalta Conference Drafts Post-War Plan (Feb 1945)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-27 13:55:02 UTC

The Yalta Conference was a meeting in Russia between the leaders of the Big 3, the United States, Great Britain, and Russia. It was aimed at trying to make important decisions about the end of the war and what would happen after the war is over. They talked about trying to get Russia involved in the Pacific theater to bring down the Japanese Empire, as the war in Europe was practically over. They also discussed reparations for Germany and what would be done with the land. Additionally discussing the creation of the United Nations and other peace organizations. However, when Roosevelt died, the new President clashed views with the Russians and disputes arose.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings (Aug. 1945)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-27 14:07:36 UTC

During the war, Japan was showing no signs of surrender on the Pacific theater, continuing to kill American soldiers and others. President Truman put together the Manhattan Project to set up a program to develop a nuclear weapon that could be used against the Japanese to end the war. Though many advised against the actual use of this weapon, President Truman wanted this war to end soon and the only way to do that was to inflict mass damage to Japan. In August of 1945, the United States dropped 2 bombs on Japanese manufacturing cities, killing thousands of civilians and forcing the Japanese to surrender to the United States, and ending the war in the Pacific.

Truman Doctrine first applied in Greek Civil War (Mar 1947)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-27 14:09:08 UTC

The United States effort to find the non-communist people in Greece, and give them weapons to win the Greek Civil War and not become a communist country. It successfully stops the communist movement in Greece and keeps them non-communist. This was an exercise of the Truman Doctrine because it gave the United States the power to aid countries in order to prevent the spread of communism. The United States fought Communist Soviets without having to have direct confrontation.

Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech in Fulton, MO (Mar 5, 1946)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-27 14:15:17 UTC

A speech where British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a message to the American people that the United States and Great Britain must work together to ensure peace in the world, and bring an end to the communist Soviet regime. He used the metaphor "iron curtain" to illustrate the barrier between the Soviet Union and Western Europe, like the Soviet puppet countries in between the two. He gave this speech in Missouri to signify that the common man can have a large impact on the outcome of this situation and they will need the help from everyone if the goal will be achieved.

Marshall Plan is announced to rebuild Europe (June 1947)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-27 14:23:22 UTC

Europe is leveled and in ruin due to world war 2, people are starving, dead, no infrastructure. Which is a good place for communism to spread. The Marshall Plan gives the US the ability to give aid to countries that are in ruin. If these countries are able to rebuild themselves, then they will not want to become communist at all. This is an effort to contain communism from spread. The Marshall Plan is the vaccine that prevents the disease of communism to take root in the first place. The one thing attached to this, is countries that receive aid from the United States have to buy American made products, which stimulate the US economy.

Berlin Blockade and Airlift Begins (June 1948)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-28 17:12:46 UTC

After WWll, Germany was divided into different sections that would be occupied by different powers of the world. The Allies divided up the west and the Soviets took the East. Berlin was also divided into East and West. As the alliance between the Allies and the Russians decreased, there was more tension over the land occupied. In June 1948, the Soviets blockaded Western Berlin, which prevented all supplies from entering into the area and kept the Allies down. So in response, Allied forces sent planes filled with goods for the people in the area to have, dropping their supplies from out of planes. This forced the Soviets to lift the blockade.

NATO Alliance Formed (April 4, 1949)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-28 17:14:16 UTC

Founded after WWll, NATO was formed to keep peace in Europe, promote cooperation among Europe, and guard their freedom. It emphasizes collective defense, which means if one ally is attacked, then that countries Allies are responsible for providing aid and whatever means to help them. NATO emphasizes democracy and the rule of law. For the first 40 years of the group, the main goal was that containment of the Soviet Union and communism. Since the Cold War has ended, NATO has shifted its focus to promote peace and cooperation throughout the world, whether countries are part of the alliance or not.

Russia Tests its First Atomic Bomb (Aug. 20, 1949)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-28 17:15:26 UTC

The USSR detonates its first atomic bomb. They tried to measure the effects of the blast by destructing buildings, as well as seeing the effects that the radiation would have on animals. The results of the blast was more than they thought, approximately equal to the Trinity test in America. The US figured out that the USSR had the bomb, and prompted them to look for spies, they found one who had been giving US secrets to the Russians. This led the US to be forced to keep up with the Russians and the arms race had begun.

Mao Zedong wins Chinese Civil War and creates the People's Republic of China (Oct. 1, 1949)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-28 17:17:23 UTC

At the end of the Qing dynasty, they are weak and China is basically ran by warlords. After WWl, China is trying to modernize and industrialize, and become more western (Nationalists). Within the Nationalists, there are communists and non-communists. So when the leader dies, the communists and the non-communists fight each other, starting the Chinese civil war. Mao Zadong leads the communists, who are losing the war. Then the Japanese invade China. Through WWll, millions of Chinese are murdered by the Japanese, the civil war is put on pause during this to fight the Japanese out. After Japan is defeated by WWll, they restart the civil war, the US backs the non-communists, so the US helps them. Zadong is supplied by the USSR, where he manages to win due to Russian support and support from the people. The non-communists flee to a small island off the coast of China, both wanting to have total control of the government. Today there is still disputes over power and Taiwan is called the Republic of China. While the mainland communist China is called the People's Republic of China. Everyone agrees Taiwan is part of China, but we don't talk about who should have total control over the government.

McCarthyism and the Red Scare takes hold in the US (Feb. 1950)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-28 17:19:15 UTC

From 1945-1950, the goal of the US was to contain communisism without starting WWlll, by using the Truman doctrine and the marshall plan. By 1949, the US feels like it is losing the Cold War. Communism is taking over Asia, this leads to a panic in America. We are paranoid about communist uprising in America, concern about spies about every single person. Joseph McCarthy is a no-name senator, he claims to have a list of all the communist spies who have infiltrated the American government. He doesn't let other people see the "list", so he is accusing random people of being communist spies. This makes the country get even more paranoid over the situation. He is finally discredited after accusing WWll heros of being communist. Essence of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution; paranoia to ruin peoples careers over false accusations.

Korean War (1950-1953)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-28 17:20:38 UTC

Just 5 years after WWll, the US is back in a war that required a draft. After Japanese forces are kicked out of Korea, they surrender to the US in the south, and the Japanese surrender to the USSR in the north. So the north is communist and the south is non-communist/democratic. In 1950, the USSR is very strong, North Korea asks permission of USSR to invade, launches a suprise invasion of South Korea, rapidly taking over the whole pininsula, except the Pussan perimeter. This turns into a major war when the US and UN join the war against North Korea. General Douglas McCarther plans to launch a massive amphibious invasion behind enemy lines, at Inchan, very similar to D-Day. Huge surprise to North Korea and is a huge military success, they cut the North Korean army in half and annihilate it, liberating South Korea. Then invade the North and race them back to the border with the Soviet Union, quickly turning the tide of the war. Then China brings in troops, which forces the south back down the pininsula. Then it is a stalemate until 1953, at about the border before the war. The US signs a seice fire that ended the fighting, though it did not end the war. There is no fighting in the de-militarized zone, separating the two countries.

H-Bomb tested on Bikini Atoll (Mar. 1, 1954)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-28 17:21:29 UTC

H-bombs are thousands of times more powerful than the atom bombs dropped on Japan by the US. The difference between these two is nuclear fission and fusion. H-bombs use nuclear fusion. In 1954 the United States tested one of their h-bombs on the island of bikini atoll. This created and fed an arms race between the US and USSR. Who has the most nukes? Who has the best nukes? Further contributing to the Cold War.

KGB established (Mar. 1954)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-03-28 17:22:59 UTC

The KGB was the primary security and intelligence agency of the Soviet Union. It served a role both within and out of the country. Keeping the country safe from threats and terror. It is compared to the Department of Homeland Security. The KGB is famous for crushing the Hungarian Rebellion in Budapest against the Soviet Union.

CIA helps overthrow unfriendly governments in Iran and Guatemala (March 1954)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-09 14:14:10 UTC

Since the Spanish American war, the dictatorship in Guatemala was happy to go along with American economic interests in return for US support. Through the UFC, they could make a monopoly over the banana industry in Guatemala. In addition to a revolution against the dictator, guatemala became a democratic country and tried to strike down communists. The new President tried to improve economy with land reforms, but this made the UFC mad, so the CIA called it was the encroachment of communism, so they planned to operate a coup and overthrow the supposed communists in the government. They also did this in Iran to get rid of supposed communist leaders and create a democratic government. So in Guatemala, they invaded the country and the capital to make the supposed communist president resign. They did these things to intervene on behalf of American democratic interests to keep the world safe from communism.

Warsaw Pact formed (May 1955)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-09 14:15:21 UTC

In response to the formation of NATO, the USSR formed the Warsaw Pact. Through the puppet governments that the Soviets had formed they needed a way to have an alliance with them through the Warsaw pact to combat NATO. They made their own alliance upon Western Germany making its own alliance. It established firm military command to keep the USSR in charge of them. It also gave them the ability to keep revolts in puppet countries at a minimum. This would be this way until the USSR collapsed in 1991.

The Transfermium Wars Begin (1955)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-09 14:17:29 UTC

At the time, people were just figuring out how to use new elements like Plutonium and uranium to build nukes and other weapons. This created competition to expand the periodic table and find elements that might have military use for battle, contributing to the arms race between US and USSR. There becomes a competition to name American found elements about America, and vise versa. This rivalry between US research facilities and Russian research facilities contributes to the race to discover and name new elements that could help the country defeat the other.

Rebellion put down in Hungary (Nov 1956)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-09 14:18:35 UTC

In Nov 1956, Hungarians revolted against their communist rule, which was the first uprising among USSR puppet countries. Students compiled demands which required the Soviet troops to leave and for a democratic government to come in. Security opened fire against the protestors, it was now a revolution, and protestors took up arms. Soviet troops came to support and put down the uprising, which angered the civilians more. After 5 days, Soviet troops still couldn't put the protestors down and a sease fire was called. This rebellion caused the Russians to admit there were flaws in their Warsaw Pact policy. Hungary declared they were leaving the Warsaw pact, after, Russia decided they would put down the revolt with force. This put an end to the Hungarians hope for democracy and a Russian rule in the country for the next 30 years.

USSR launches first ICBM (Aug 1957)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-11 12:59:18 UTC

Russia announced that it has developed an intercontinental ballistic missile that can be used to destroy something in any part of the world. This caused a lot of American concern as Russian was seemingly winning the arms race between the two countries with the development of this weapon. This Russian launch that claimed to be successful and landing within the target area was only launched months after America's version of an ICBM failed massively, creating lots of concern that Russia is pulling away, especially with their next launch of Sputnik into orbit.

Sputnik launched into orbit (Oct 4, 1957)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-11 13:00:12 UTC

Sputnik was the first man-made satellite to enter Earth orbit, and it was launched by the Russians. the main goal of the mission was to see what would happen by putting a man made satellite in to space. By doing this it also created concern among the americans as they were surely behind in the race to space; that the Russians now processed rockets and nukes that could be transmitted over long distances. This forced the US to have to respond quickly if they wanted to stay up with the USSR.

Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba (Jan 1959)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-11 13:00:46 UTC

Before he was in power, Castro was the leader of a resistance movement against the current dictator, helping him to gain popularity among the people. Castro also played a key role in the Cuban Revolution by conducting a guerilla warfare style type of fighting against the dictator, Batista's, forces. Through the revolution, the civilians won and Batista was overthrown. He eventually came to power as the prime minister of Cuba and took control of the military as well. Castro quickly got rid of the rest of the rulers that were from Batista's reign and consolidated power, taking full control over Cuba.

U2 spy plane shot down over the USSR (May 1960)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-11 13:01:52 UTC

Gary Powers is the pilot of the U2 spy plane that was spying in the Soviet Union. It flies in the stratosphere, so it is hard to be detected by radar, it's so high that surface air missiles can't get up there to shoot it down. The plane constantly takes pictures of what is below, used to take pictures of strategic military target for the US. The Russians manage to get a missile at altitude to shoot the plane down, Gary Powers survives the blast, where he is captured and publicly put on trial as a spy, he is convicted of espionage and put in prison. The United States was very embarrassed and got caught with their hands in "the cookie jar", contributing to the Soviet Union having an advantage in the Cold War.

Failed Bay of Pigs invasion (April 1961)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-11 13:10:07 UTC

After Fidel Castro becomes the communist dictator over Cuba, America realizes they need to do something about it with a communist country being that close to the mainland US, makes the US look like they are failing to contain communism. So the CIA gets a lot of anti communist cuban exiles, and are secretly trained by the CIA in Guatemala, to equip them to overthrow Castro. We send them to the Bay of Pigs, so it's a revolution of the people to overthrow Castro, not America trying to defeat Castro. We chose not to provide air support so it wouldn't look like the US was involved. The invasion did not get off the beach and Cuba captured the exiles to interrogate them and it becomes public that the US was involved, and it makes the US look really bad. This makes Cuba even more anti-american, so this prompts Castro to go to the Soviet Union for help to possibly form an attack on the US. So the USSR sends "defensive" missiles to Cuba to defend them, but the US thinks they're "offensive" missiles to form an attack against them.

Construction of the Berlin Wall Begins (Aug 17, 1961)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 12:58:44 UTC

After originally building a barbed wire fence to seperate East and West Berlin, the government decided to build a permanant wall to serperate the two regions, which gave the ultimate symbol of the Cold War, a literal iron curtain between the world of communism and democracy. Before the wall was built, about 2.5 million east Germans escaped to go to west Germany and live a free life in democracy. The wall was heavily fortified and a deep symbol of communist oppression, every time someone tried to cross the wall they were fired upon and often injured or killed in trying to get to the West.

Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct. 1962)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 12:59:34 UTC

The point in the Cold War when it was the closest to being a hot war, both countries were getting ready to launching a thermonuclear war and WW3. After Cuba went communist after Bay of Pigs, the USSR sent lots of nuclear weapons to be kept in Cuba (close to US for potential attack). Through the US U2 planes and surveillance, the US was made aware of the potential missiles that Cuba had, and was preparing to launch and airstrike and invasion to neutralize these nuclear weapons that are in Cuba. At the last second, President Kennedy pauses and the US puts a blockade in place. So they are stopping and inspecting every ship that is coming into Cuba from Russia, but there was no way that the Russians were going to allow the US to search their ships. The cuban Missile Crisis is avoided by non-government and public negotiations. If Russia takes their missiles out of Cuba, the US will stop harassing Cuba, and the US will take their nukes out of Greece and Turkey. Both countries went back home peacefully and the Cold War continued. Kennedy is seen in good light here as avoiding a full thermonuclear war and keeping world peace. This also established direct communication between the US and USSR to avoid backchannelling communication.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified (July 1963)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 13:10:52 UTC

As the nuclear age was beginning after the events of WW2, all of the world powers continued to test nuclear weapons on their home soil. In america, there was nuclear deposits found in the milk and wheat products, turning the public opinion to not want nuclear testing to happen anymore so the food won't be contaminated. Conflicts arose over the idea of underground nuclear testing. The USSR feared that this could be used by other countries to spy during inspections. Kennedy had been a supporter of not testing on American soil since the beginning of his presidency, however there was a greater pressure to begin testing as the Cold War heated up. After the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, there was a observation that we needed to stop testing for the safety of the world. So all of the world powers signed a treaty that banned the testing of nuclear weapons in the ocean, the atmosphere, or outer space, and allowed underground test as long as nuclear deposits were minimized.

Gulf of Tonkin incident and resolution (Aug. 1964)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 13:29:39 UTC

After Vietnam gain independence from France, leader Ho Chi Minh, is communist and this makes the US fear that Vietnam will become communist. So the US sets up a anti-communist leader in south Vietnam. the election to figure out who the real leader will be never happened, so a civil war starts out between communism and anti-communism. So the US suppliments the south and the USSR suppliments the USSR. In the gulf of Tonkin, US destroyers are attacked by north Vietnam torpedos. Some beleive that this attack never even happened, they believe the US fabricated this to get more intervention in the war. The consensus is that there is 2 attacks, the first one with the torpedo through the water did not happen. A day later there is another torpedo attack, and they think that one was actually real. So president Johnson goes to Congress and says that he needs to go to war with Vietnam and deploy direct US combat troops to fight Vietnam. So the Congress writes a resolution to declare emergency forces to protect Vietnam from communism without a declaration of war. So intervention keeps building and building until the US declares a draft to send troops to Vietnam to fight.

US Marines sent to Dominican Republic to fight Communism (April 1965)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 13:30:51 UTC

After the assassination of the Domincan leader, the country was in complete termoil. Similarly to other countries, a devastated country is more likely to turn to communism than a healthy one. So this made the US fear that the DR could turn to communism, so they had to intervene to protect the world from the spread of communism. In reaction to the situation in the DR, president Johnson ordered that all US nationals in the country should be evacuated. The situation continued to worsen, and the US embassy was fired upon. The US was forced to bring in more troops to force the loyalists to stop the actions against the Americans in the DR and talk peace with them.

US announcement to dispatch 200,000 US troops to Vietnam (July 1965)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 13:31:53 UTC

With the gulf of tonkin resolution in place, president Johnson now had the power to do pretty much whatever he wanted to do to try and contain the spread of communism and fight back against northern vietnam. He ordered to increase the US troops in Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000. He also raised the monthly draft calls to fill increased manpower needs. This was a major turning point in the Vietnam war, it basically gave military leaders the power to go full into the war and win it through military means, rather than just supplimenting the south Vietnamese. Seems pretty close to direct war between the US and USSR.

B-52s Bomb N. Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder (1966)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 13:56:51 UTC

B-52s are massive bomber planes and that can drop a lot of bombs. Operation Rolling Thunder is a massive bombing campaign against North vietnam. We drop more bombs on Vietnam than we did the entirety of WW2. Nixon is trying to bomb North Vietnam into submission so they will come to the negotiating table and keep south Vietnam from becoming communist. Vietnam suffers huge casualties and destruction and has minimal success of bringing North Vietnam to the negotiations, but does not end the war.

Red Army crush Czechoslovakian revolt (Aug 1968)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 14:13:54 UTC

After WW2, the USSR is sweeping across Eastern Europe to "liberate" them from Nazi Germany, so Russia then props up communist "puppet" governments in those countries, so they are loyal to the USSR. By 1968, some of the puppet countries are tired of being dominated by the USSR, so there are protests and revolts to try and bring democracy into the country. When protests arise in Czechoslovakia, the red Army comes in with tanks and shuts down the protest in an instant.

Apollo 11 lands on the moon (July 20, 1969)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 14:22:58 UTC

After Kennedy become president, he promised that he would put a man on the moon and return him. This was important to establish the ultimate victory between the US and the USSR and to one up the launch of Sputnik, since people felt the USSR was ahead after this. So the US created NASA to make a strong effort at competing in the Space Race. The US needed a big win in the space race as the USSR had put the first man in space. So we needed to put a man on the surface of the moon. Kennedy predicted that if the US could put a man on the moon would show the world that they should support US's freedom ideals and democracy. Kennedy wanted them to work together on the mission together, but the USSR refused. After Kennedy's assassination, this was put to death. In 1969, the US was finally able to get a win in the space race, this set the stage for the future of space exploration.

Publication of the Pentagon Papers (1971)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-24 14:25:08 UTC

The NYT published this report, a military analyst that worked for the government gave out top secret information about the Vietnam war. The release of the papers were not a good look for the US government. There were lots of miscalculations and bad lookings things that were exposed about the US in the publishing of the Pentagon Papers. While working on his assignment, Ellsberg turned to not liking the war effort, so he leaked info from his assignment to the NYT and other people. After it was released, Nixon stopped it from being released b/c it "stopped the US from fighting an effective war". However, newspapers kept on publihsing, but they were tooken to court and ultimately said that they were okay under their 1st amendment rights. Though Ellisberg was still charged with espionage. The Pentagon Papers made the United States look very bad and set them back in the Cold War.

President Nixon visits China (Feb 1972)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-29 13:08:39 UTC

During the Cold War, President Nixon tries a detente with China, trying to lessen the tensions between the US and USSR, and sort of thaw out of the Cold War. Nixon has a reputation for being a hard anti-communist, so he doesn't get criticized internally for trying to do this. So Nixon goes and meets with the leader of China, and starts the process of reestablishing US and world relations with China since they've sort of went dark. Through this, Nixon sort of drives a wedge between China and the USSR, keeping communism from gaining a lot of ground. This was the start of China's rise into the economic and manufacturing superpower that it is today.

SALT l signed (July 1972)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-29 13:17:48 UTC

Both the US and the USSR sign this treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) to limit the amount of nuclear weapons that both the countries can have. A mutual agreement to try and reign in the arms race over nukes. Like if the US would not make as many nukes, then so would the USSR. This is another example of a detente to try and lessen the tension of the Cold War. However the treaty did not detail how many warheads could be delivered per nuke, which led to the creation of SALT ll, which enabled future administrations to abide by the same rules until President Bush withdrew the US from the treaty. Nevertheless, SALT keeps the US and USSR in check where the Cold War was progressing.

US supported coup overthrows Chilean government (Sept. 1973)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-29 13:31:36 UTC

Due to the rising concerns of the US to keep communism and soviet ties out of the western hemisphere (previously seen in Cuba) the US went to great lengths to try and keep Marxist president Salvador Allende from coming to power. The US government tried everything from trying to convince the Chilean people from voting for him through propaganda, and when the election came to a tie and the decision was for Congress to make, the US tried very hard to get the Chilean Congress to not pick him. Ultimately, he was the one who was selected to be president of Chile. But when Allende was selected, Congress was split in 3 due to there being a tie. So they couldn't make any decisions, and Chile was put economically in termoil, inflation rose, among many other problems that came about in Chile. So there was a military coup to overthrow Allende. Though the US denied any involvement in making this happen, they did say that they certainly wouldn't be aposed to a military coup against Allende. But through this conflict, the eye was turned to the US on how the US deals with human rights and if they were getting themselves too involved in other countries eyes.

Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid (Oct 1973)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-29 13:38:35 UTC

In 1973, Egypt and Syria launch simultaneous attacks on Israel on the day of yom kappur, which is the holiest day of the Jewish faith, and during ramadan. Syria attacked from the north and Egypt from the south, where they established a strong hold. Israel suffered many deaths and destruction. But as time went on, Israel was able to fight back against both armies. However, the US felt that the area was corrupt and that the USSR could come to aid Egypt if Israel continued to fight back successfully, so the US sent an aid package to Israel to help them and the US pressured all parties in the fight to stop fighting so the Soviet Union would not get involved.

South Vietnam falls to communist N. Vietnam (April 17, 1975)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-29 13:43:59 UTC

By 1974, North Vietnam had violated the treaties and resumed fighting on the south, and defeat was inevitable for the south. So the US demanded that all US troops be evacuated from Vietnam. The US troops were evacuated just as the north was closing in on Saigon. However, when some US troops that would not so they brought some Vietnamese citizens home. This was embarrassing for the United States to have to leave an area they had come to defend, as they could no longer defend the area with the resources that the US was commiting to South Vietnam.

Soviet and Cuban forces help to install Communist government in Angola (Feb 1976)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-29 13:50:37 UTC

During the 1970s, there was a lot of tensions surrounding Angola. They were engaged in a civil war and to end it they made peace with eachother and agreed to let the 3 powers fighting be at peace and all have some form of power. However this did not work and they were sent back into a civil war. The US and USSR were involved because the US supported some of the parties in Angola and the USSR and communist Cuba supported some of the other parties at war in Angola. So this is a way that the US and USSR were indirectly involved in a war with eachther by providing aid to countries and parties that are at war with eachother. However, the parties the US supported did not win the civil war and tensions were shifted to what superpower would gain support in the third world countries.

US and China officially establish diplomatic relations and trade & Panda diplomacy (Jan 1979)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-04-29 14:02:58 UTC

Another example of a detente or lessening of tensions between the US and Soviet Union. This was the formal process of establishing full diplomatic relations and trade with China, we talk to them like full-legitamite countries, contributing to their rise to power. This is often called Panda diplomacy because they give out power, those who recognize the Chinese government as a legitimate countries, gets to loan out pandas from China to bring to their countries zoos. But after China violently put down a student revolt, the US ended relations with China. But when China joined the world trade organization, so the US begins to buy a lot of goods made in China, which created a large trade deficit between the two countries. So essentially the two most powerful countries were economically dependant on each other. the panda was used as a diplomatic tool, and some were sent to to countries as a symbol of friendship between China and the US. China accuses the US of abusing pandas from China, while pandas in the Soviet Union are seen to treat their pandas well.

Sino-Vietnamese War (Feb 1979)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-01 13:38:13 UTC

Since the US has left the war in Vietnam for south Vietnam to fight by themselves, where they eventually lose, making it full communist Vietnam. Then communist Vietnam fights a war with communist China. It is basically a war over where the border should be, but between two communist countries. The Chinese think they will win, but it didn't go as planned, and ends in basically a draw where both countries draw away back to their homes. It is one of the instances where a war happened that wasn't about communist or non-communism. This was ironic because during the Vietnam war China had been giving resources to Vietnam, and now they were fighting eachother.

Shah of Iran overthrown; Iran Hostage Crisis begins (Nov 1979)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-01 13:48:26 UTC

During the Cold War, the US is a big ally with Iran and vise versa, for their oil, and the fact that if we ally, we are able to keep communism from spreading by propping up a monarchy in Iran. To keep communism from taking over oil supplies and the middle east, we make sure the shah does not get overthrown. The shah is very western and modern and wants to modernize Iran and implement capitalist reforms and help out women. In 1979, the shah is overthrown, beginning with college protests, and builds until they overthrow him. The new government of Iran is a theocracy, ruled by religious rulers. Instead of trying to become democratic and modernize under the Shah, they go toward fundamentalist and start implementing super conservative Islamic law, sort of back to the way they were before. However, the new government of Iran wants the shah back to put on trial, but the US won't send him back to get trialed, so a bunch of iranians storm the US embassy in Iran and take a bunch of Americans hostages until the US gives the Shah back. President Carter rondevous in the desert to try and rescue these hostages, but a helicopter crashes into a planes, so they can't get to the hostages to rescue them. This was a huge embarassment for the US because we couldn't even get to out hostages. Since then, the US and Iran have not had good relations, and Iran has not been a fan of the US and become anti-democracy and so on.

Soviet forces invade Afghanistan (Dec 1979)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-01 13:57:20 UTC

Since the Marxists took power in Afghanistan until the Soviet invaded, the Marxists tried to make reforms and make the country better, but the public was opposed to Marxism, so there was a lot of uprisings and protests against the government. So in order to not lose the valuable puppet country, the Soviets had to do something and step in to keep the country from turning on itself, and the Soviet union. So they invaded the country to stop the reforms and protests, bringing Afghanistan back to ground in the Soviet empire.

US Hockey defeats USSR at Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY (Feb 22, 1980)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-01 14:03:21 UTC

fully determined to win gold again, the Russian Olympic hockey team was confident to win the games again. It was the peak of the gold war, so tensions in the war were high as Russia just invaded Afghanistan. So the games were very intense, if you won the game, you were winning in the war. The US ultimately won the gold over the USSR, showing that the US was dominant over the USSR. One of the single greatest moments in sports, it wasn't just a game that day, it was a battle of a war, a rebirth of national pride that sparked the US to keep on in the cold war.

US Boycotts Summer Olympics in Moscow (June-Aug 1980)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-01 14:07:43 UTC

The US olympics committee voted to boycott US participation in the 1980 Olympics. after the Soviets invasion of Afghanistan, the Americans would not participate in sending teams to the Olympics. This was the least participated in Olympics ever. This was a sad thing because Olympics should transcend politics, but during the Cold war the olympics were entirely politics. Additionally, the next summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles, which the Russians boycotted participating in as well, as troops were still in Afghanistan. This showed the indirect fighting and tensions that were there between the US and the Russians.

Reagan proposes SDI or "Star Wars" (1983)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-02 13:06:04 UTC

In order to increase the publics understanding of the things that the US needs to do in order to defend America, despite the economic decreases that it causes. The ultimate goal is to create peace in the world. President Reagan authorizes a longstanding program to research weapons and how to use weapons and how to oppose weapons. Over the last decades, the US's defense system has been based off of having the same amount as the opponent, but this isn't permanent because if you have the same as the opponent, the war will always be a tie. Reagan wants to move away from an offensive method of weapons to a defensive one, it could be one of the most difficult technilogical projects ever. The impimentation of the SDI could be the modern crusade for peace. President Reagan asks the American people to support him in his new strategy of defending the United States.

US troops invade and overthrow regime in Grenada (Oct 1983)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-02 13:12:39 UTC

Before the invasion, communist Cuba had control over the country, thus making it a target for the US to invade in order to keep Grenada from becoming a communist country as well. So US troops were invading the coast and making repeated airstrikes, but the Cubans were not going away and withstanding the fight. They Americans had taken over the capitol, and turned their full attention to the south. The Americans captured about 600 Cubans and thousands of others, and the Marines found lots of Russian and Cuban ammunition in Grenada, which could be used to transform it into a full scale military base to execute terror on the western hemisphere. Many Americans in Grenada feared that there would be another event of the hostage situation like in Afghanistan, but this did not happen. Luckily, the US was able to put a stop to the communist influences in Grenada.

Eastern Bloc Boycotts LA Summer Olympics (July-Aug 1984)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-02 13:18:14 UTC

Before 1952, the Soviets thought the Olympics was a capitalist event, and refused to attend. But as the Cold war began, the US and USSR saw the Olympics as an event to show their strength and how powerful they are. However, at the height of the Cold war, the US boycotted the summer Olympics in Moscow, in order to protest their non belief for what they were doing and how they were using communism to do harm. Additionally, the USSR boycotted joining the LA Summer Olympics in response to the US's boycott and the heights of the Cold war. Along with the USSR, many other communist countries under russia's influence also did not participate. This heightened the stress between the two countries during the Cold War.

Gorbachev begins "glasnost" and "perestroika" in efforts to reform the USSR (1985)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-02 13:27:16 UTC

Gorbachev knew his economy was in trouble, his supporters hoped he would improve quality of life in russia upon his election. He sought out lots of reforms and the need for more openness in Congress, this was referred to as "glasnost". The economy also needed to be updated to compete with growing economies in the west, this was referred to as "perestroika", in order to make their economy like the west. He pulled back from the arms race among other things, and western leaders thought of him as a potential friend because he seemed to understand the western way of living. As rebellions and problems in the country became evident, the need for a glasnost and perestroika became clear that it needed to happen in order to keep up in the cold war. However, Gorbachev almost seems to be a little more moral and wanting to run a country the correct way, with more freedom as fewer communist leaders were getting elected in government, forshadowing the fall of the Soviet Union.

Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan (Jan 1989)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-02 13:36:44 UTC

After 8 years of occupation, the Soviet troops finally begin to withdraw from Afghanistan, signalling the end of a long, harsh conflict of Soviet occupation in the region. The soviets initially entered the country to spring up communist, pro Soviet government in Afghanistan, but the afghan muslim rebels were not in favor of this, which led to a long, 8 year conflict, which neither side gaining ground or any sign of victory. The Russians suffered heavy casualties in the conflict, as well as terrible effects on the economic state of the USSR, from all the resources poured into the conflict. So the USSR was forced to withdraw their troops to keep the union alive.

Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania oust Communist governments (1989)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-02 13:45:10 UTC

Throughout 1989, many Soviet puppet countries took to the streets and demanded democratic reforms in their countries. A chain reaction started, worker strikes, protests, among other things happened to overthrow rulers, break borders, and take the iron curtain away and transition to democracy in the countries previously ruled by the Soviet Union. People demanded civil rights in East germany, thousands of people demanding to be fled. Crowds of germans climbed the wall and made their way with fellow germans in the west. These strikes and anti-communist revolutions ultimately would lead to the fall of the Berlin wall, and the end of the Soviet union empire and the Soviet union.

Tiananmen Square Massacre (June 1989)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-02 13:57:03 UTC

To put an end to democratic protests in China, the Chinese government sent military troops into tiananment square to put down the protests and many people were killed and injured during this. Students are calling for an awaken and reform for freedom in China. With all of the puppet countries leaving, people and China try to do the same thing to become democratic, as the country is already advancing in other ways that the western countries act. The students were not protesting to overthrow the communist government, they just seemed to want some form of say in the decisions that the government was making. 200,000 Chinese soldiers move into the square, shooting at students and residents, putting down the protests, and killing many people while doing so.

Berlin Wall falls (Nov 1989)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-13 12:59:34 UTC

At this point in the Cold war, the Soviet union is underwater in dept and economically begins to collapse. They start to lose control of all of their puppet countries in eastern union, and lose their influence on those countries. Communist East Germany begins to revolt and spontaneously starts tearing down the berlin wall. The Berlin wall was a big symbol of soviet and communist oppression. To see just one day it fall down due to East Germans is a great example of democracy and freedom winning the Cold war. when the wall falls, the plan is for Germany to reunite, people did question this decision though after the events of the world wars, however, in hindsight this has worked out in germany's favor.

Boris Yeltsin elected as President of Russia (May 1990)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-13 13:24:38 UTC

After Gorbechev's attempts at glasnost and perestroika do not work, the Soviet union begins to fall as they continue to economically decrease. So Yeltsin is elected president of Russia, so he is primarily concerned with Russia and not the countries under Soviet influence. So the puppet countries start declaring indepenedence, and the Russian Republic claims independence from the Soviet union. there was a coup d'etat to keep the Soviet union from falling apart, this did not work. People who like communism see Yeltsin as a weak leader and not very good and responsible for letting the Soviet union die.

Germany Reunited (Oct. 3, 1990)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-13 13:34:15 UTC

After the Berlin wall falls, the government of East belin and East Germany seize to exist and become one with west berlin in a short amount of time.

USSR dissolved - 15 Republics gain independence, including Russia (Aug 1991)

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-13 13:44:13 UTC

Beginning with the baltiks, the Soviet countries all start declaring independence and gain it without any resistance or fight from the Soviet union. The Soviet union seizes to exist due to economic crisis and ends politically. The United States never had to fire a shot or drop a bomb directly on the soviet union.

link here

cwstrickland25 — 2024-05-22 14:10:09 UTC