THE COLD WAR

YALTA CONFERENCE At the end of WWII,

the Big Three met to decide what to do with Europe once the war was over.

They agreed to divide Germany in to four occupied zones

They agreed to create the United Nations

They agree to try Nazi war criminals

IRON CURTAIN: INVISIBLE BOUNDARY BETWEEN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES AND COMMUNIST COUNTRIES

Truman Doctrine: America will support ANY nation that struggles against Communism. This policy is also known as containment. The first two countries that are assisted are Turkey and Greece!

This idea is laid out in a letter from George Kennan, also called “The Long Note”.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way

MARSHALL PLAN America gives money so that European

nations can rebuild. We offer money to the Soviet Union and they

reject it

NATO: NORTHERN ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION

NATO is an organization of “collective defense” against Communism.

Stalin’s response was the “Warsaw Pact” made up of the USSR and various satellite nations.

BERLIN WALL

BERLIN AIRLIFT Stalin built a

blockade around West Berlin, cutting off supplies.

The US sent supplies in to Western Germany using aircraft from WWII

KOREAN CONFLICT: 1950-1953

Korea was divided along the 38th parallel

North Korea began to antagonize South Korea and the UN agreed to send peace keeping forces led by American troops.

MACARTHUR FIRED!

EISENHOWER BECOMES PRESIDENT!

OVERTHROW OF IRAN! CIA overthrows Iran and

places the Shah in power, believing that he will fight against Communism

EISENHOWER DOCTRINE AND THE SUEZ CRISIS! The Eisenhower Doctrine stated that the US would help

any Middle Eastern nation threatened by Communism Egyptian leader Nasser attempted to create a giant

Arab state and nationalized the Suez Canal England and France, concerned about loss of the canal,

encouraged Israel to attack Egypt American troops responded quickly

CUBA FALLS TO CASTRO

U-2 INCIDENT After Stalin’s death,

there seemed to be home for reconciliation between the Soviets and the Americans under the new leadership of Nikita Khruschev.

Nikita Khruschev and Eisenhower agreed to “clear skies”

A US spy plane was shot down over USSR, proving that the US was spying

This chilled relations between the Soviet Union an the US

KENNEDY WINS!

PEACE CORPS Created by Kennedy to bring sanitations and

education to “third world” nations that might fall to Communism

SPACE RACE

BAY OF PIGS: AMERICA BACKED CUBAN EXILES’ INVASION OF CUBA

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS Americans spy planes found evidence that Soviet

missiles were present in Cuba John F. Kennedy created a military quarantine around

Cuba until the missiles were removed. This was interpreted as an act of war by Khruschev

For nine days, the world stood at the brink of nuclear war and were concerned, for the first time, about MAD (mutually assured destruction)

Khruschev eventually removed the missiles in return for the removal of American missiles in Turkey

VIETNAM Originally owned by France,

also called Indochina Divided along the 19th Parallel United States sets up a

democracy-friendly government in the South and promises aid

American beings policy of “escalation”

HO CHI MINH TRAIL America is fighting the VietCong and North

Vietnamese in a guerilla war

LBJ IS PRESIDENT!

GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION: PRESIDENT CAN MOVE TROOPS WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION An American tanker was sunk in the Gulf of

Tonkin LBJ calls this “communist aggression”

MY LAI MASSACRE

NIXON BECOMES PRESIDENT!

TET OFFENSIVE American troops are

attacked during the Vietnamese New Year, known as Tet

The battle is incredibly bloody but Americans are able to remove the North Vietnamese from Saigon

ANTI WAR PROTESTS BEGIN! Sit its Teach ins Marches

VIETNAMIZATION Nixon’s policy to

expand, equip and prepare the South Vietnamese to fight for themselves

NIXON BEGINS SECRET BOMBINGS OF LAOS AND CAMBODIA (OPERATION MENU)

KENT STATE Four college students are shot at Kent State

University during an anti war protest

DÉTENTE: DECREASING TENSIONS BETWEEN THE SOVIET UNION AND THE US

KISSINGER AND PING PONG DIPLOMACY

VIETNAM ENDS!- PARIS PEACE ACCORDS

FORD BECOMES PRESIDENT!

FALL OF SAIGON- 1975!

JIMMY CARTER BECOMES PRESIDENT!

SALT I AND SALT II Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties- attempts

to limit the amount of arms and nuclear weaponry held by each country (first is under Ford)

AFGHANISTAN INVADED BY SOVIET UNION

RONALD REAGAN BECOMES PRESIDENT!

GLASNOST: POLICY OF OPENNESS AND HONESTY BETWEEN USSR AND US

STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE: STAR WARS PROGRAM!

1989: THE BERLIN WALL FALLS! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!