WHII: SOL 13 a, b

The Cold War

Beginning of the Cold War (1945–1948)

• The Yalta Conference and the Soviet control of Eastern Europe

• Rivalry between the United States and the U.S.S.R.

• Democracy and the free enterprise system vs. dictatorship and communism

• President Truman and the Policy of Containment• Allow communism to continue but not expand into

new nations• Eastern Europe: Soviet satellite nations, the Iron

Curtain

Characteristics of the Cold War (1948–1989)

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) vs. Warsaw Pact

• Korean War• Vietnam War• Berlin and significance of Berlin Wall• Cuban Missile Crisis• Nuclear weapons and the theory of deterrence

Korean War• Korea was divided by U.S. and U.S.S.R at the

38th parallel (temporarily)• Communist North Korea led by Kim Il Sung

attacked dictatorial (noncommunist) South Korea led by Syngman Rhee

• U.N. and China get involved• Ends in a stalemate with a DMZ (demilitarized

zone) along the 38th parallel

Vietnam War• Vietnam was also divided between communist

North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and democratic South Vietnam led by Ngo Dinh Diem

• Domino Theory- the view that a communist victory in S. Vietnam would cause other gov’ts. across SE Asia would fall to communism

• U.S. fighting communist forces in the North and Southern communists forces trying to overthrow the democratic gov’t.

Vietnam War• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution- gave president

permission to use any force necessary to prevent further aggression in SE Asia

• Guerilla Warfare-small groups of loosely organized soldiers making surprise attacks

• Tet offensive-communist attacks on Vietnamese New Year(very bloody), turned American opinion of the war

• U.S. pulls out of the war 1973, two years later the communists took over the entire peninsula

Berlin Wall

• 1961• Massive concrete barrier, topped with barbed

wire and patrolled by guards• The wall showed that far from enjoying a

communist paradise, people had to forcibly kept from fleeing

Cuban Missile Crisis

• 1962- Soviet Union sent missiles to Cuba• U.S. set-up a naval blockade• U.S. demanded the missiles be removed• 13 days-tense due to threat of nuclear war• Missiles were removed, war was averted

Collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

• Soviet economic collapse• Nationalism in Warsaw Pact countries• Tearing down of Berlin Wall• Breakup of the Soviet Union• Expansion of NATO

Breakup of the Soviet Union

• Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) break away in 1989

• 1991-12 independent nations emerged from former U.S.S.R

• Communism began to fail• Affects China, Cuba, Vietnam, and Korea• Russia encourages political and economic

changes to communist nations