During the Cold War, the United States adopted a containment policy aimed at halting the spread of communism by forming strategic alliances globally through trade and military means.
Causes of the Cold War in 1945
* American fear of communist attack
* Truman’s dislike of Stalin
* USSR’s fear of the American's atomic bomb
* USSR’s dislike of capitalism
* USSR’s actions in the Soviet zone of Germany
* America’s refusal to share nuclear secrets
* USSR’s expansion west into Eastern Europe + broken election promises
* USSR’s fear of American attack
* USSR’s need for a secure western border
* USSR’s aim of spreading world communism
brinkmanship: international behavior or foreign policy that takes a country to the brink of war: pushing ones demands to the point of threatening military action (for example, the slow down between the united states and the soviet union over Cuba in october 1962
Containment: the US Cold War forign policy of stopping the spread of communism by establishing strategic allies around the world through trade and military alliances
Spheres of influence: the countries and territories over which a more powerful country dominates, such as those that the United State and the Soviet Union each influenced politically during the Cold War
The soviet war in Afghanistan
-Like the United States the Soviet union became involved in proxy wars related to conflicting ideologies. The American government gave afghan fighters rifles from the First World War and other arms in a secret operation. This costed the U.S. Mullins of dollars each year. The soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 resulted in a boycott of the 1980 Moscow summer Olympics by the United States and its allies and superpowers. There was many reasons that made it difficult for the soviet and pro-communist government in Afghanistan to win the war. Such as the help from the US and support from other Arab countries , the loyalty of the afghan people to there groups, and a lack of support from rural populations for the communist country. The proxy war in Afghanistan caused a strong reaction from the world and it resulted in many deaths of the soviets and afghan people. The soviet soldiers retreated in 1989. The end of the soviet war in Afghanistan left behind a weaker government for the soviet and a well armed afghan military.
Berlin blockade pg.200
in 1961, the Berlin wall was built by the east German government at the request of the soviet union. it was to keep the Germans from escaping to the west, the wall was political, economic, and cultural iron curtain between the communist and the democratic west. the wall represented a barrier between east and west. in 1989, a wave of pro-democracy goventment were spread accross easten europe. October 198, East germanys communist leaders were forsed out of parlement and east and west germany including the berlin wall were opened up. the end of the berlin wall signified the end of the cold war.
The war of Vietnam
- the Vietnam war was similar to the Korean War because it was a battleground of opposing ideologies, a proxy war and a carry over from the Second World War and prewars. The french were a colonial ruling power in indochina in the 1800s. When the Japanese were defeated in the Second World War the French took control. The leader who was against both Japanese and the French was Ho Chi Minh. He became very popular in Vietnam. He was a communist and fought against French domination and defeated the French in 1954. There was a conference in 1954 held in Geneva Switzerland and that was where Vietnam was to be divided at the 17th parallel. There was said to be an election very two years, but they never took place. By 1966 there was nearly half a million troops in vent am fighting against the North Vietnamese. Almost half a million Vietnamese civilians died and 58000 US soldiers m. The war resorted in communist North so weapons were received from the Soviet Union and China, they than took control of all Vietnam in 1975. Saigon, the capital of south Vietnam fell to the north in 1975. The country was united 1976 and is a single party communist country
Korean war:
Containment
-Domino effect was a strategy used to turn North Korea Communist.
-Influenced by soviet union
-UN and Police war, wasn't a actual war
-UN decided to protect South Korea
-North attacks South, The US gets involved
-lots of people dead
-Communist dictatorship
Pg 200 the cuban missle crisis:
-the most famous example of brinkmanship is possibly the cuban missile crisis. the soviet union and the united states became superpowers. in some cases the countries made theirs choices in the move to liberate themselves
Salt treaty
- there was negotiations to limit nuclear stockpiling by the Soviet Union. But the U.S. started in Finland in 1969 and it ended in a historic visit by U.S. President Nixion. He visited Moscow and that is where he signed the strategic arms limitation treaty otherwise known as salt 1, in 1972. Salt 1 limited anti-ballistic missiles and froze the number of missiles the U.S. Had at 1054. In 1972 the Anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty between the Soviet Union and US was signed. It had to stop because if one country was able to build a ABM system, a nuclear war could be winnable. After the invasion by the Soviets on the afghans in 1979 the world seemed once again at risk of a nuclear war. The American voters elected republican Ronald Reagan. He was a vocal and outspoken person about communism, to the White House. He concept of detente was however practised by the Soviets and US diplomats.
Subtopic
M.A.D: Mutally, Assured, Destruction
The Cold War had many effects on society, both today and in the past. In Russia, military spending was cut dramatically. The effects of this were very large, seeing as the military-industrial sector had previously employed one of every five Soviet adults and its dismantling left hundreds of millions throughout the former Soviet Union unemployed.
After Russia embarked on capitalist economic reforms in the 1990s, it suffered a financial crisis and a recession more severe than the United States and Germany had experienced during the Great Depression. Russian living standards have worsened overall in the post–Cold War years, although the economy has resumed growth since 1999.
The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the post–Cold War world is widely considered as unipolar, with the United States the sole remaining superpower. The Cold War defined the political role of the United States in the post–World War II world: by 1989 the United States held military alliances with 50 countries, and had 1.5 million troops posted abroad in 117 countries. The Cold War also institutionalized a global commitment to huge, permanent peacetime military-industrial complexes and large-scale military funding of science.
the cold war never actually made it to being a "hot war" meaning there was no physical war being fought between the soviets and the US but was fought more through technological advancements and threats of nuclear war
cold war puzzle assignment
Main topic
Cold War: a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular an example being the rise of the "Iron Curtain" Berlin wall .
The state of political hostility existed between the Soviet Union and the United States of America from the years 1947 to 1991
