https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e en-us 2022-05-19 12:40:08 UTC 2025-10-08 03:40:05 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f602.png 17230331 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2193487001 After WWII, Germany was divided into 4 sectors and each one was given to the Allied powers and France. Even though Berlin was inside the Soviet territory it was also split up into 4 sectors and divided between the 4 countries. The border along the Soviet territory and the rest of the other territories was called the iron curtain. ]]> 2022-05-20 20:28:13 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2193487001 17230331 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2196221027 In an effort to keep Berlin citizens from crossing the border from the Soviet territory to other parts of Berlin, the German Democratic Republic or East Germany constructed a wall made of concrete and barbed wire known as the Berlin Wall. 5,000 people were successful in crossing over or around the wall, but 171 weren't successful and lost their lives. On November 9th, 1989, an announcement was made by the East Berlin Communist Party that read GDR citizens were free to cross the country's borders. Berliners flocked to the wall and started to tear it down.  ]]> 2022-05-23 16:59:37 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2196221027 17230331 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2196222316 In an effort to drive out the other nations from Berlin, the Soviet Union closed roads, railways, and canals to cut off the supply of food coming into Berlin. Instead of letting their citizens leave Berlin, the other countries began flying supplies in by plane. This supply line was called the Berlin Airlift and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into Berlin.]]> 2022-05-23 17:00:33 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2196222316 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2196247166
Causes of the events - Though the US and the USSR were allied throughout world war 2 after Germany surrendered a sense of distrust began to spread within the US and USSR. After the US bombed Hiroshima and didn't tell the Soviet Union that was the start of the Cold War Arms Race.

Key individuals involved - The United States, The Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union during the arms race. Harry S. Truman and Eisenhower were the presidents during the Arms Race.

Win for Democracy or Communist? - Though The Cold War Arms Race ended with a treaty the US won. Overall the US became more powerful then the Soviet Union.
An Arms Race is a race between two or more countries where they try and increase the size of their military power and gain political and military power over the other country. The Soviet Union and The United States were allies throughout World War 2 but after Germany surrendered the U.S. and the USSR alliance soured. After World War 2 the US kept a eye on the USSR as their plan for world domination was expanding onto Eastern Europe. Further growing the distrust between the US and the USSR, America didn't tell the Soviet Union that they planned to drop a Atomic Bomb onto Hiroshima although they did tell the Soviet Union that they had created one. The US to further discourage the Soviet Union communist expansion built more atomic weapons, though in 1949 the Soviet Union made and tested their own atomic weaponry and on that point on the Nuclear Arms race started. The US responded by creating their own "superbomb" and the Soviets did the same in 1953, four years later both countries tested their first intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Soviet Union surprised the world and the US by launching the first satellite into space called Sputnik. After many failures the US launched their first satellite into space after president Eisenhower streamed federal funds into their space program. The cold war ended in 1991 but the US and the USSR signed a treaty to for intermediate range nuclear forces which limited the reach and scope for every missile. ]]> 2022-05-23 17:17:53 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2196247166 17230331 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2196247997 The Marshall Plan was a form of containment that helped fund countries with a low GDP, which were targets of communism ]]> 2022-05-23 17:18:27 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2196247997 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2203090551

In late 1960, the US found out that the Soviet Union was creating an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile designed to reach the US. So President Lyndon Johnson called for a Strategic Arms Limitations Talk, and later in 1967 he and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin met in New Jersey at the Glassboro state college to talk about the "ABM race". The secretary of defense Robert McNamara argued that "the more each reacted to the other man's escalation, the more insane road they were following". They agreed to the abomination of nuclear warfare is impossible but they agreed with limiting the development of both offensive and defensive strategic systems would smooth out the US and Soviet Union relationship. On November 16th, 1969, the first formal SALT talk began in Helsinki, Finland, for over 2 years. The two sides argued over which nation should complete their plans for the ABMS (The verification of a treaty). At the same time, the US was concerned that the Soviets were building more Submarines. On May 26th, 1972 in Moscow, President Nixon, and the Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM treaty and the interim SALT agreement. For the first time in the cold war, the United States and The Soviet Union agreed on limiting the number of nuclear missiles in their arsenals. The ABM treaty limited strategic missile defenses to 200 interceptors each and only allowed two missile defense sites. New negotiations for SALT 2 started in late 1972, SALT 1 didn't prevent each side from enlarging their forces through MIRVs.   Though SALT 2 originally focused on limiting but then switched to reducing. There were also negotiations to prevent both sides from making qualitative breakthroughs that could destabilize the strategic relationship. This negotiation went through Nixon, Ford, and Jimmy Carter. 1974 at the November Vladivostok Summit, Brezhnev and Ford agreed on the basics for SALT 2 which mainly talked about the limitations of military and bombs/bombers. Even after all the agreements for SALT 2, they couldn't resolve the issues with SALT 1. On June 19th, 1979 Carter and Brezhnev signed the agreement for SALT 2 in Vienna. The SALT 2 treaty limited the nations to 2,250 nuclear delivery services and placed strategic nuclear forces which included MIRVs. A board coalition of Republicans and Democrats became weary of the soviet union's crackdown on internal dissent. But then on December 25th, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and on January 3rd, 1980 Carter asked Senate to not consider SALT 2 for its advice and consent and it was never ratified. ]]> 2022-05-28 19:04:26 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2203090551 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2208114642

Deterrence
Deterrence was a strategy that was used against The Soviet Union. It was used to prevent aggression by the hostile communist power centers. This strategy was used to prevent nuclear attacks by the USSR and China.

Brinkmanship 
During the cold war, the Dulles orchestrated a strategy known as "Brinkmanship" which is the practice of forcing confrontation in order to achieve the desired outcome. An example would be brinkmanship was used in nuclear weapons as a deterrent to communist expansion around the world. 

]]> 2022-06-01 23:35:20 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2208114642 17230331 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2208177502 The Korean War stemmed from a conflict between the Chinese communists in the north and the anti-communists Korea in the south, both sides separated by the 38th parallel. On June 25, 1950, the Chinese led troops across the 38th parallel into Korea, the U.S. stepped in, with the approval of the United Nations, and sent U.S. troops to Korea. President Harry S Truman appointed Gen. Douglas McArthur to head all military operations in Korea. Besides some back and forth combat between the two sides, combat was stalled and soldiers died without any progress to show for it. In an effort to try to end the war, U.S. officials worked to try and create an armistice, because if the fighting were to continue, the U.S. feared that war would break out with China and Russia. In July 1953, the Korean War came to an end, and north and south Korea are still divided to this day]]> 2022-06-02 00:45:36 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2208177502 17230331 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209028688 Vietnamese communist Ho Chi Minh, was fed up with how Vietnam had been treated under the French. He decided to go to Russia and created the Indochinese communist party to help free Vietnam from France. The U.S. joined the war under the notion that north Vietnam was trying to spread communism, when in actuality, north Vietnam just wanted to liberate the country from France. The 17th parallel was the dividing line between north and south Vietnam and the line was surrounded by demilitarized zone. The Vietcong was a guerilla military group that assisted north Vietnam by attacking areas under south Vietnam or U.S. control. The U.S. eventually had to start recalling it's troops from Vietnam after steep criticism from it's citizens. The U.S. used Vietnamization or the act of slowly pulling troops out of Vietnam in order to let south Vietnam stabilize it's forces and takeover in the war effort. The Vietnam War was seen as a loss to the U.S. since Vietnam eventually fell to communism.]]> 2022-06-02 14:12:58 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209028688 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209798169 Star wars is a proposed US strategic defense against potential nuclear attacks. The SDI was first proposed by Ronald Reagan in a nationwide tv ad on March 23rd, 1983. Reagan also advertised that it would be based in space, hence getting its nickname from the popular movie at the time "Star Wars". The SDI was originally intended to defend against an attack from the soviet union's intercontinental ballistic missiles by intercepting the missiles mid-flight. This technique back then would have been very technologically advanced. ]]> 2022-06-03 04:53:43 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209798169 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209803211 Between 1981 to 1991 there was a huge dramatic transformation in the relationship between the soviet union and the United States. During this time the nuclear war between the US and USSR ended swiftly and very peacefully and on the US terms. In an attempt to roll back communism in South Reagan wrote to many soviet leaders including Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko. He wrote them asking to negotiate arms reductions and alleviate cold war tensions. Reagan labeled the soviet union as an evil empire and declared the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars). Soviet leaders did not like this Initiative and found it threatening. The March 1985 appointment of Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Communist Party provided Reagan with a viable negotiating partner. In December 1987 they signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which eliminated an entire class of missiles. More into the future George bush worked with the Soviet Union to allow a peaceful reunification of Germany within NATO. In 1991 Gorbachev's economic and political stance was crumbling and it seemed the fall of the Soviet Union was coming. On December 25th Bush announced after speaking to Gorbachev on the phone that the soviet union had ceased to exist. ]]> 2022-06-03 05:00:11 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209803211 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209865092 Glasnost was a Soviet policy of open discussion of political and social issues, this policy was instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s. This was the beginning of the Democratization of the Soviet Union, this policy changed the political structure of The Soviet Union greatly. Due to this policy, the power of the Communist Party was reduced. The Glasnost Policy also allowed criticism of government officials and allowed the media to freely post information. ]]> 2022-06-03 06:20:31 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209865092 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209871859 Perestroika refers to a series of political and economic reforms which was meant to kick-start the stagnant 1980s economy of the soviet union. Mikhail Gorbachev solely oversaw Perestroika and its changes to the nation's economic and political state. Due to Perestroika, The Soviet Union went under rapid political change and economic restructuring. ]]> 2022-06-03 06:28:53 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209871859 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209887976 The Cold War is one of the most interesting wars because the US and USSR never fought directly and only in proxy wars. Fighting directly caused mass fear as they thought it would be mutually assured destruction for each nation so the US and Ussr never fought head on head. Nikita Khrushchev’s decision to put the USSR missiles on Cuba was up for two reasons. 1 - The huge rise of Cuban Communist movements which eventually overthrew the president (Fulgencio Batista) and brought Fidel Castro into the presidency. US President Eisenhower decided to take over the island and prepped the CIA to overthrow Castro, the result of this invasion was the "Bay of pigs invasion" which was ordered by John F Kennedy in April of 1961. The Bay of Pigs Invasion saw the defeat of 1,500 American-trained Cuban exiles. The Bay of Pigs invasion was a huge embarrassment for the US during the Cold War Arms Race. After this US embarrassment in capturing Cuba Nikita Khrushchev made a secret agreement with Fidel Castro to place secret Soviet Union nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter future invasions. The Cuban Missile Crisis came to an end when the USSR came to the US and made an agreement if the Soviet Union got read of their missiles in Cuba the US would promise to not invade the island. ]]> 2022-06-03 06:49:01 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209887976 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209900725 The Chinese Civil War was a cultural revolution and was launched in 1966 by Mao Zedong to show his dominance over the Chinese Government. Mao's government position had weakened because of the failure of the "Great Leap Forward". (1958-1960). During the beginning of the cultural revolution (1966-1968), President Liu Shaoqi and other Communist leaders were removed from power (imprisoned and beaten). Many Chinese cities reached the brink of anarchy by September of 1967. Mao had Lin send Army troopers to the cities to help and restore order. Though help is the opposite happened and the Chinese economy plummeted with industrial production for 1968 dropping 12 percent. ]]> 2022-06-03 07:03:56 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209900725 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209900874 Kai was a Military and Political leader and was part of the Nationalist party. Led a successful unification of China and expelled Chinese Communists. Kai's main focus was to beat communism out of China.]]> 2022-06-03 07:04:07 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209900874 1569474 https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209924278 Communist forces steadily was taking ground from the forces of Mae Zedong so Chinese Nationalist leaders fled to Taiwan and declared it their new capital. This was the beginning of the "Two China's". With Nationalist leaders fleeing to Taiwan China was under Communist control for the next 30 years.]]> 2022-06-03 07:30:14 UTC https://padlet.com/1569474/n0v4h9yu2uif7q4e/wish/2209924278