The+Cold+War

Postwar Tension
In many ways, the Cold War began even before the guns fell silent in Germany and in the Pacific in 1945. Suspicion and mistrust had defined U.S.-Soviet relations for decades and resurfaced as soon as the alliance against Adolf Hitler was no longer necessary. Stalin intended to destroy Germany’s industrial capabilities in order to prevent the country from remilitarizing and wanted Germany to pay outrageous sums in war reparations. Moreover, he wanted to erect pro-Soviet governments throughout Eastern Europe to protect the USSR from any future invasions. Truman, however, wanted exactly the opposite. He believed that only industrialization and democracy in Germany and throughout the continent would ensure postwar stability. Unable to compromise or find common ground, the world’s two remaining superpowers inevitably clashed.

Truman's Postwar Vision
Truman worked tirelessly to clean up the postwar mess and establish a new international order. He helped create the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and funded the rebuilding of Japan under General Douglas MacArthur. After prosecuting Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials, Truman in 1947 also outlined the Marshall Plan, which set aside more than $10 billion for the rebuilding and reindustrialization of Germany. The Marshall Plan was so successful that factories in Western Europe were exceeding their prewar production levels within just a few years.

Stalin's Postwar Vision
Although Stalin joined with the United States in founding the United Nations, he fought Truman on nearly every other issue. He protested the Marshall Plan as well as the formation of the World Bank and IMF. In defiance, he followed through on his plan to create a buffer between the Soviet Union and Germany by setting up pro-Communist governments in Poland and other Eastern European countries. As a result, the so-called iron curtain soon divided East from West in Europe. Stalin also tried unsuccessfully to drive French, British, and American occupation forces from the German city of Berlin by blocking highway and railway access. Determined not to let the city fall, Truman ordered the Berlin airlift to drop food and medical supplies for starving Berliners.

America and the Soviet Union
Before the war, America had depicted the Soviet Union as almost the devil-incarnate. The Soviet Union had depicted America likewise so their ‘friendship’ during the war was simply the result of having a mutual enemy - Nazi Germany. In fact, one of America’s leading generals, Patton, stated that he felt that the Allied army should unite with what was left of the Wehrmacht in 1945, utilise the military genius that existed within it (such as the V2’s etc.) and fight the oncoming Soviet Red Army. Churchill himself was furious that Eisenhower, as supreme head of Allied command, had agreed that the Red Army should be allowed to get to Berlin first ahead of the Allied army. His anger was shared by Montgomery, Britain’s senior military figure.

Causes of The Cold War

 * American fear of communist attack
 * Truman’s dislike of Stalin
 * Russia’s fear of the American's atomic bomb
 * Russia’s dislike of capitalism
 * Russia’s actions in the Soviet zone of Germany
 * America’s refusal to share nuclear secrets
 * Russia’s expansion west into Eastern Europe + broken election promises
 * Russia’s fear of American attack
 * Russia’s need for a secure western border
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Russia’s aim of spreading world communism

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Cold War Chronology

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1945 : ‘A’-Bomb dropped on Hiroshima + Nagasaki. USA ahead in the arms race.
 * 1946 ~ Chinese Civil War between the Communist and Nationalist forces. (therriault)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1947 : Marshall Aid to the west of Europe. Stalin of USSR refused it for Eastern Europe.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1948 : start of the Berlin Blockade - ended in 1949.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1949 : NATO established; USSR exploded her first ‘A’-bomb; China becomes communist.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1950 : Korean War started.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1952 : USA exploded her first hyrogen bomb.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1953 : Korean War ended. USSR exploded her first hydrogen bomb. Stalin died.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1955 : Warsaw Pact created. ‘Peaceful coexistence’ called for.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1956 : Hungary revolts against USSR. Suez Crisis.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1957 : Sputnik launched.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1959 : Cuba becomes a communist state.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1961 : Military aid sent to Vietnam by USA for the first time. Berlin Wall built.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1962 : Cuban Missile Crisis.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1963 : Huge increase of American aid to Vietnam.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1965 : USA openly involved in Vietnam.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1967 : Six-Day War in Middle East.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1968 : USSR invades Czechoslovakia.
 * 1970 ~ The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, approved by the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom, enters into force.(therriault)
 * 1971 ~ The Four Power Agreement on Berlin is signed by the Soviet Union, the US, the UK and France. (therriault)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1973 : Yom Kippur War.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1979 : USSR invaded Afghanistan.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1986 : Meeting in Iceland between USSR (Gorbachev) and USA (Reagan).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1987 : INF Treaty signed.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Politicial Map During The Cold War Era
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">(Swiger)

=**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Europe during the Cold War **= ==

=Cold War Cuban Missle Crisis= According to Nikita Khrushchev's memoirs, in May 1962 he conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba as a means of countering an emerging lead of the United States in developing and deploying strategic missiles. He also presented the scheme as a means of protecting Cuba from another United States-sponsored invasion, such as the failed attempt at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. After obtaining Fidel Castro's approval, the Soviet Union worked quickly and secretly to build missile installations in Cuba. On October 16, President John Kennedy was shown reconnaissance photographs of Soviet missile installations under construction in Cuba. After seven days of guarded and intense debate in the United States administration, during which Soviet diplomats denied that installations for offensive missiles were being built in Cuba, President Kennedy, in a televised address on October 22, announced the discovery of the installations and proclaimed that any nuclear missile attack from Cuba would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union and would be responded to accordingly. He also imposed a naval quarantine on Cuba to prevent further Soviet shipments of offensive military weapons from arriving there. During the crisis, the two sides exchanged many letters and other communications, both formal and "back channel." Khrushchev sent letters to Kennedy on October 23 and 24 indicating the deterrent nature of the missiles in Cuba and the peaceful intentions of the Soviet Union. On October 26, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a long rambling letter seemingly proposing that the missile installations would be dismantled and personnel removed in exchange for United States assurances that it or its proxies would not invade Cuba. On October 27, another letter to Kennedy arrived from Khrushchev, suggesting that missile installations in Cuba would be dismantled if the United States dismantled its missile installations in Turkey. The American administration decided to ignore this second letter and to accept the offer outlined in the letter of October 26. Khrushchev then announced on October 28 that he would dismantle the installations and return them to the Soviet Union, expressing his trust that the United States would not invade Cuba. Further negotiations were held to implement the October 28 agreement, including a United States demand that Soviet light bombers also be removed from Cuba, and to specify the exact form and conditions of United States assurances not to invade Cuba.

=The Bay of Pigs= The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by United States-backed Cuban exiles to overthrow the government of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Increasing friction between the U.S. government and Castro's leftist regime led President Dwight D. Eisenhower to break off diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961. Even before that, however, the Central Intelligence Agency had been training anti-revolutionary Cuban exiles for a possible invasion of the island. The invasion plan was approved by Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy. On April 17, 1961 about 1300 exiles, armed with U.S. weapons, landed at the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on the southern coast of Cuba. Hoping to find support from the local population, they intended to cross the island to Havana. It was evident from the first hours of fighting, however, that the exiles were likely to lose. President Kennedy had the option of using the U.S. Air Force against the Cubans but decided against it. Consequently, the invasion was stopped by Castro's army. By the time the fighting ended on April 19, 90 exiles had been killed and the rest had been taken as prisoners. The failure of the invasion seriously embarrassed the young Kennedy administration. Some critics blamed Kennedy for not giving it adequate support and others for allowing it to take place at all. The captured exiles were later ransomed by private groups in the U.S. Additionally, the invasion made Castro wary of the U.S. He was convinced that the Americans would try to take over the island again. From the Bay of Pigs on, Castro had an increased fear of a U.S. incursion on Cuban soil.

=Warsaw Pact= Warsaw Pact was a treaty that held most Eastern European nations in a military command under tight Soviet control. Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union signed the treaty in Warsaw in May 1955. They claimed they signed the treaty as a response to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a defense alliance formed by the United States and its European allies. NATO was formed in 1949. Albania withdrew from the Warsaw Pact in 1968.

Soviet control of its Warsaw Pact allies declined sharply in 1989 and 1990. This decline occurred as a result of Communist parties being driven from power in peaceful revolutions in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. In 1990, Hungary declared that it would no longer participate in military operations associated with the pact. Hungary also announced its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact by the end of 1991. Poland and Czechoslovakia announced plans to withdraw from the pact as well. In addition, East Germany's membership in the pact ended in 1990, when the country became part of a united Germany. In 1991, the leaders of the six nations remaining in the Warsaw Pact formally agreed to dissolve the pact. =**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Important People in the Cold War **= <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Joseph Stalin (1879-1953)** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Real Name (Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">After a military career he lead the October revolution by Lenins side. The name Stalin means Man of Steel and was taken to give him a more frightening appearance. He began to work high up in the Communist party and after some dirty tricks he became leader after Lenins death in 1924. He collectivised farming and heavy industries (1936-1938). He formed a non-attack pact with Hitler under WWII wich Hitler broke. At this point East-West relations were not very strained but after the USSR gained control of most of Eastern Europe the war issues increased between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. He is remembered as a tyrant, especially after the massive suffering that followed the forced collectivising in the 1930’s. Krutzhev made mild statements renouncing Stalins regime in 1956.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Nikita Sergejevitsj Krutzhev (1894-1971)** Educated metalworker. Had a long political career before he became leader after Stalin. He was first secretary in Moscow 1935-38 and member of the police council. Prime Minister of both Ukraine and Russia in different periods. He became first secretary of the communist party in 1958. He had a very harsh foreign policy that culminated in the Cuba crisis in 1962. In 1964 the party removed him from his position. He was especially criticized for his poor agricultural policy and bad relations to China.

Member of the Communist party from 1952. Became first secretary of the Stavropol area in 1970. Member of the police bureau from 1980. Became general secretary in 1985 and president of the Soviet Union in 1988. He differenced a lot from his predecessors and had a more open policy. In 1988 he imposed Glasnost, a reform that made formerly forbidden and taboo subjects open for debate. Under the name perestroika a great number of reforms were introduced in the Soviet Union. It made the union freer and in the end dissolved the Soviet Union as it was made somewhat democratic (Todays prime minister of Russia is still hostile towards democracy). He signed treaties with George Bush and began a disarmament of both Soviet and The US. He received the Nobel Peace Price in 1990 for his role in ending the Cold War.
 * Mikhail Sergejevitsj Gorbachov (1931- )**

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">U.S. Leaders **
Democrat and president of the United States during WWII. Not too important for the Cold War as he died in 1945, the year you can say the Cold War begun. Although he had some social reforms and gave the State more control than ever he was a proclaimed anti-communist.
 * Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)**

Although he was vice president for Roosevelt for a short period he scarcely saw him and he heard little of the atomic bomb before he had to decide whether to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki or not. He was the first American president to really deal with the Soviet Union in the way that distinguished the cold war. In 1947 the Soviet Union pressured both Turkey and Greece through military and diplomatical force and through guerrillas. This made Truman develop the Truman doctrine to aid the war torn west Europe. In 1950 North Korea attacked South Korea and Truman decided that the United States should enter this conflict. This would set the tone for the following fifty years as the U.S. would involve themselves in many conflicts abroad especially to face what they saw as the Communist Threat.
 * Harry Shippe Truman (1884-1972)**

Although he was only president for three years, he is one of the most well known presidents. This may have more to do with the fact that he was assassinated than his politics. He was a charismatic and popular president who wrote incredible speeches and he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1955. His economic programs launched the U.S. into their largest expansion since WWII. He tried to overthrow Fidel Castro by use of Cuban exiles trained and armed in the United States, this failed bitterly. After that the Soviet Union stressed the situation in Berlin by putting more pressure on West Berlin. This pressured was relaxed after the erection of the Berlin wall they relaxed this pressure. Instead Moscow concentrated their efforts towards Cuba, they sought to install nuclear missiles there. While the world trembled in fear of nuclear war the Soviet Union backed down. Kennedy now began his struggle two rid the world of nuclear arms and head towards permanent peace.
 * John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963)**

Before his forced retirement following the Watergate scandal in 1974 he lead a very conservative policy and cut down on welfare. He tried to patch up relations between the U.S., USSR and China. He ended one of the most demanding conflicts the U.S. had entered since WWII, the Vietnam War. Would probably be remembered as a good president if it weren’t for the Watergate scandal. President under what could be called the end of the cold war. He had been vice president under Ronald Reagan for seven years before he was elected in 1988. When Mikhail Gorbachev, who Bush supported resigned Bush was left in a world of enormous change. He took the decision to invade Panama in 1989 and he lead the “first” gulf war in 1991. In 1992 he lost the elections to Bill Clinton. He became the last American president of the cold war.
 * Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994)**
 * George Herbert Walker Bush Sr. (1924- )**

**Other Important Leaders**
After several years of guerrilla he and his accomplices overthrew the Batista regime and has since that been the leader of Cuba. He was Prime minister from 1959-1976; first secretary of the Communist Party from 1956; from 1976 he was also the head of state. Attempted assassinated several times by the U.S. In connection with the cold war he is most well known for his role in the Cuba crisis involving the USSR and the U.S. After several years of guerrilla he and his accomplices overthrew the Batista regime and has since that been the leader of Cuba. He was Prime minister from 1959-1976; first secretary of the Communist Party from 1956; from 1976 he was also the head of state. Attempted assassinated several times by the U.S. In connection with the cold war he is most well known for his role in the Cuba crisis involving the USSR and the U.S.
 * Fidel Castro (1927- )**

A.k.A. Josip Broz Yugoslav leader 1945-1980, broke with the USSR in 1948. His foreign policy was neutral and he was the most powerful leader of the alliance-free countries. Yugoslavia was at the time a buffer zone between the West and the USSR. They lead a somewhat looser communist policy than the Soviet Union and had higher living standards up to 1980. Tito lead a country with a mixed ethnicity and after 1980 the country broke out in civil war and was split up because they no longer had a strong and controlling leader.
 * Tito (1892-1980)**

He was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party in 1926. He became leader of the Party in 1935. In opposition to other communist leaders he meant that the farmers should be the driving force of the Chinese Recolution. In 1937 he made the initiative to begin a liberation war against Japan. Both before and after this he led the Communists in a civil war. The Communist seized power in 1949. He collectivised farming and what there were of industry. China was in a conflict with the USSR from 1950 up to the brake in 1963. Tried to force industrialization in 1958 but failed bitterly leaving the country in dire straits. After this Mao resigned as state leader but continued as party foreman. In 1966 he began the Cultural Revolution. Unquestioned leader of the party to his death in 1976.
 * Mao Zedong (1893-1976)**

(Therriault)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1940s <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1950s <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1960s <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1970s <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1980s
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1945: February 4-11-- Yalta Conference
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1945: August 6 -- United States first used atomic bomb in war
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1945: August 8 -- Russia enters war against Japan
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1945: August 14 -- Japanese surrender
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1946: March -- Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" Speech
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1947: March -- Truman declares active role in Greek Civil War
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1947: June -- Marshall Plan is announced
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1948: February -- Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1948: June 24 -- Berlin Blockade begins
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1949: July -- NATO ratified
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1949: May 12 -- Berlin Blockade ends
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1949: September -- Mao Zedong, a Communist, takes control of China
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1949: September -- Soviets explode first atomic bomb
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1950: February -- Joe McCarthy begins Communist witch hunt
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1950: June -- Korean War begins
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1951: January 12 -- Federal Civil Defense Administration established
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1953: June 19 -- Rosenburg executions
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1953: July -- Korean War ends
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1954: March -- KGB established
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1954 -- CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran and Guatemala
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1954: July -- Vietnam split at 17th parallel
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1955: May -- Warsaw Pact formed
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1956: October - November -- Rebellion put down in Communist Hungary. Egypt took control of Suez Canal; U.S. refused to help take it back
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1957: October 4 -- Sputnik launched into orbit
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1958: November -- Khrushchev demands withdrawal of troops from Berlin
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1959: January -- Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1959: September -- Khrushchev visits United States; denied access to Disneyland
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1960: May -- Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1960: November -- John F. Kennedy elected President
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1961: April -- Bay of Pigs invasion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1961: July -- Kennedy requests 25% spending increase for military
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1961: August 13 -- Berlin border closed
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1961: August 17 -- Construction of Berlin Wall begins
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1962: -- U.S. involvement in Vietnam increased
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1962: October -- Cuban Missile Crisis
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1963: July -- Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1963: November -- President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1964: August -- Gulf of Tonkin incident
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1965: April -- U.S. Marines sent to Dominican Republic to fight Communism
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1965: July -- Announcement of dispatching of 150,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1968: January -- North Korea captured U.S.S. Pueblo
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1968: August -- Soviet troops crush Czechoslovakian revolt
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1969: July 20 -- Apollo 11 lands on the moon
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1970: April -- President Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1972: July -- SALT I signed
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1973: January -- Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and United States
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1973: September -- United States helps overthrow Chile government
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1973: October -- Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1974: August -- President Nixon resigns
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1975: April 17 -- North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1979: July -- SALT II signed
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1979: November -- Shah of Iran overthrown; Iranian Hostage Crisis
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1983: -- President Reagan proposes Strategic Defense Initiative
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1983: October -- U.S. troops overthrow regime in Grenada
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1985: -- Iran-Contra Affair (arms sold to Iran, profits used to support contras in Nicaragua)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1985: -- Mikhail Gorbachev ascends to power in Soviet Union
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1986: -- Gorbachev ends economic aid to Soviet satellites
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1986: October -- Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1986: November -- Iran-Contra Affair revealed to public
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1987: October -- Reagan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear missiles by signing treaty
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1989: January -- Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1989: June -- China puts down protests for democracy; Poland becomes independent
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1989: September -- Hungary becomes independent
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1989: November -- Berlin Wall falls
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1989: December -- Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania; Soviet empire ends

Introduction
A cartoon by Art Wood reflects the fear of a world-wide nuclear war that developed after the Russians successfully tested an atomic weapon in 1949. Children cheer as a U.S. cargo plane with supplies for West Berlin flies overhead during the Soviet blockade of 1948–49. A Cuban refugee in Miami, Florida, watches U.S. president John F. Kennedy address the nation about the Cuban Missile Crisis. The world had never experienced anything like it. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was a half century of military build-up, political maneuvering for international support, and behind-the-scenes military assistance for allies and satellite nations that began in the late 1940s and continued into the early 1990s. Both sides of the conflict wanted to avoid direct military action because of the threat of mutual nuclear destruction. But the period was punctuated by explosive situations that threatened to bring open war, including the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949), the Korean Conflict (1950-1953), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Vietnam War (1964-1975), and the Afghan Invasion (1979-1989). In December 1989, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President George Bush officially ended the Cold War at a summit in Malta, but tensions between the two superpowers lingered for years.

Essential Facts
( added by **Courtright** )
 * 1) Winston Churchill issued warnings about the Soviet Union as early as 1946 when he claimed that an “Iron Curtain” had fallen across Eastern Europe to describe the Soviet Union’s grasp for power in the region. The term was used throughout the Cold War.
 * 2) The first major event of the Cold War involved the amazing effort of British and American pilots to keep West Berlin supplied after the Soviet government closed all outside ground traffic. Between June 1948 and September 1949, pilots made 277,000 flights into West Berlin, carrying more than two million tons of products including coal for fuel.
 * 3) The end of the Cold War also saw the fall of the Soviet Union, which had united the countries of eastern and central Europe and much of northern Asia under communist rule. The break-up of the union changed the face of Europe and kept mapmakers busy as over twenty new countries emerged or reemerged over the next several years.
 * 4) In the late 1980s, the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union occurred with the defeat of the Communist party in Poland by the Solidarity Movement, a labor union led by Lech Walesa. Walesa risked his life and spent time in prison to found the Union.
 * 5) The Cold War was incredibly expensive over its four decades, costing the U.S. eight trillion dollars in military expenditures and over 100,000 lives in Korea and Vietnam. Although the exact figures for the Soviet Union are unknown, they spent a larger percentage of their gross national product on the war, maybe as much as 60 percent.


 * [[image:http://www.vibrationdata.com/Resources/signfs.gif width="132" height="195" align="bottom"]] || ==== The Cold War & Space Race Era ====

By Tom Irvine
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Rockets have been around for hundreds of years. The Chinese used rockets as a battlefield weapon in 1232 CE. These rockets were described as "arrows of flying fire." The British fired rockets against Ft. McHenry in the War of 1812, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner" with its lyrics about "The rockets' red glare." __Konstantin Tsiolkovsky__ =====

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A Russian school teacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, developed the basic theory of rocket propulsion. In 1903, he wrote an article called "The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Reactive Propulsion Apparatuses." He developed a design for a manned, tear-drop-shaped spacecraft in later writings. His design included garden plants to replenish oxygen. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propelled the spacecraft. __Robert Goddard__ =====

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Robert Goddard (1882-1945) launched the world's first successful liquid-propelled rocket on March 16, 1926, in Massachusetts. The fuel was liquid oxygen and gasoline. The rocket reached an altitude of 41 feet. Goddard continue rocket experiments in Roswell, New Mexico. During World War II, interest in rockets increased. Goddard developed A-series rockets, which had automatic gyroscope stabilizers in the rocket nose cone to provide directional control. The gyroscope was connected by shafts to a series of movable vanes in the path of the rocket's exhaust. =====

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German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun (1912–1977) designed V-2 rockets during World War II. Liquid oxygen and an ethyl alcohol-water mixture fueled the V-2. The first operational V-2 was fired against Paris on September 6, 1944. =====

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Robert Oppenheimer led a team of researchers in Los Alamos, New Mexico that developed the first atomic bomb. The bomb used supersonic shock waves produced by high explosives to crush or implode a ball of either plutonium or uranium to a supercritical state. A nuclear explosion was thus produced. =====

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After the war, both the Soviet Union and the United States continued rocket development. Both had captured German engineers and rocket assets at the end of World War II. Wernher von Braun came to the United States to continue his work. Some of his V-2 rockets were tested at White Sands, New Mexico. =====

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The next challenge for each nation was to develop an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) which could deliver a nuclear weapon from that nation's soil to its respective enemy's cities and military bases. =====

When danger threatened him he never got hurt. He knew just what to do. He'd Duck and Cover. Duck and Cover. He did what we all must learn to do. You and you and you and you. Duck and Cover!''// ||
 * //''There was a turtle by the name of Bert. And Bert the Turtle was very alert.


 * [[image:http://www.vibrationdata.com/Resources/sputnik.gif width="259" height="186" align="bottom"]] || =====Sputnik 1 - The First Satellite - Launched October 4, 1957===== ||

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During 1957 to 1958, the Soviet Union and the United States held an International Geophysics Year to promote the study and understanding of the Earth. The Soviets responded by launching the [|Sputnik] 1 satellite on October 4, 1957. This was the first artificial satellite ever launched. The satellite, a steel sphere, weighed 184 pounds, was 23 inches in diameter. It sent out a "beep-beep" radio signal through its four antennas scientists and ham radio operators throughout the world could hear. The signal continued until the transmitter batteries ran out on October 26, 1957. Sputnik also had instrumentation to measure the density of the atmosphere while it traveled in its elliptical orbit about the Earth with a perigee of 155 miles and an apogee of 559 miles. It orbited the Earth once every 96 minutes, and remained in orbit until January 4, 1958. It burned up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Sputnik had been launched on an ICBM booster rocket called R-7 from Baikonur in Russia. Sergei Korolev led the team that developed it. They drew heavily upon German rocket technology used in World War II. The Sputnik launch was a spectacular propaganda victory for the Soviet Union and its leader Nikita Khrushchev. =====

** [|Sputnik1b.wav] **

 * [[image:http://www.vibrationdata.com/Resources/laika.gif width="122" height="77" align="bottom"]] || =====Laika===== ||

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President Eisenhower had to face the reality that the Soviet Union was winning the "space race." In 1958, President Eisenhower spent a bill to Congress to create NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Congress passed the bill. Senator Lyndon Johnson played a key role in this effort. Johnson later became president, after President Kennedy died. =====


 * [[image:http://www.vibrationdata.com/Resources/Yuj0701.jpg width="226" height="218" align="bottom"]] || ===== Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin - first man to orbit the Earth ===== ||

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The first manned space rocket was the Soviet Vostok 1, which launched cosmonaut [|Yuri A. Gagarin]. Gagarin made a single orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961. His flight lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes. The apogee was about 203 miles above sea level. The orbital speed was approximately 17,000 miles per hour. This was also a great propaganda victory for the Soviet Union. =====

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John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as president of the United States in January 1961. He faced an early embarrassment over the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba. Afterwards, he needed some tangible victory to deflect attention away from this fiasco and to also show America's superiority over the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union and the United States were competing for the political allegiance of third-world countries. On May 25, 1961, Kennedy gave a speech to congress: =====

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//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project...will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important...and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish...." //=====

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The arms race and the space race continued in parallel. President Kennedy faced the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. The Soviet Union finally agreed to remove its missiles from Cuba with the understanding that the United States would remove its missiles from Turkey. =====

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__Alan B. Shepard & John Glenn__ In response to Kennedy's challenge, America started to catch up with Soviet space rocketry. Alan B. Shepard was the first American in space. Launched on top of a Redstone missile, he made a short, suborbital flight in a Mercury capsule on May 5, 1961. John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth. His flight was on February 20, 1962. =====

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Thereafter, the Soviets and the United States competed to be the first nation to launch two and then three astronauts at a time, and to be the first to perform a space walk and achieve other feats. This competition has been called the "space race." The Soviet Union won most of the early milestones. The Soviets launched the first woman into orbit; Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova flew on Vostok 6 on June 16-19, 1963. Cosmonaut Valeri Bykovsky had been launched on Vostok 5 two days before Tereshkova's launch. The two spacecraft came within three miles of each other. Meanwhile, Wernher Von Braun led a team to develop the Saturn V booster to achieve Kennedy's goal. This booster was used to send the Apollo astronauts to the moon. __Astronaut and Cosmonaut Deaths__ =====

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Both the Soviet Union and the United States suffered a number of setbacks along the way. The first Apollo mission, Apollo 1, was to be manned by Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, but all three died in a fire inside their command module during a pre-flight test at the launch pad on January 27, 1967. In addition, in 1967, Cosmonaut Komarov died as his Soyuz 1 spacecraft made a crash landing because of control problems and parachute lines becoming tangled. =====


 * [[image:http://www.vibrationdata.com/Resources/aldrin.jpg width="313" height="305" align="bottom"]] || ===== Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon. This photo was taken by Neil Armstrong. The reflection of Armstrong and the Lunar Module are visible on Aldrin's visor. ===== ||

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The space programs of both nations recovered after these tragedies and resumed the race to the moon. America won this part; Neil Armstrong, then Buzz Aldrin, became the first two men to reach the moon on July 20, 1969. Meanwhile, Michael Collins orbited the moon in the Command Module. This mission was the [|Apollo 11 mission]. =====

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The purpose of sending astronauts to the Moon was to achieve a "political goal," namely proving to the world that the U.S. was superior to the Soviet Union. Science and engineering objectives were less important. =====

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The Soviets never put a man on the Moon, but they did send a number of unmanned, robot vehicles to the Moon. These robots were called Lunokhod as part of the Luna spacecraft series. The Lunokhod were actually roving vehicles, which could move around on the surface of the Moon. They also had television cameras and antennas to transmit pictures back to Earth. Three of these robotic probes collected lunar soil samples and returned them to Earth in 1970, 1972, and 1976. __America's Space Program after the Lunar Missions__ =====

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After winning the race, however, American lost interest in the Moon, and Apollo 17 became the last lunar mission in December 1972. America's next space project was the Skylab space station. Three crews were sent to this space station, from 1973 to 1974. The Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous mission in July 1975 was a brief break in the Cold War; President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev wanted to prove the United States and the Soviet Union could cooperate in space. The Soviet cosmonauts, Alexsei Leonov (who had been the first man to walk in space) and Valeri Kubasov docked their spacecraft with that of American astronauts, Tom Stafford, Vance Brand, and Deke Slayton. During the remainder of the 1970's, Americans were preoccupied with Watergate, the Viet Nam War, the Arab oil embargo, the Bicentennial celebration, the Iranian Hostage crisis, and other issues. Americans thus lost interest in the space program. The Saturn V booster, used for the Apollo program, was the most powerful booster ever built. After the Apollo-Soyuz mission, however, the tooling and fixtures for the Saturn V were scrapped. This effort was led, or at least encouraged, by parties who wanted a re-usable rocket with wings and wheels, namely the Space Shuttle. These parties felt that there was insufficient funding for both the Saturn V and the Space Shuttle to be in operation simultaneously. =====


 * =====** Books and Videos about the Space Race **=====

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[|The Right Stuff] - This film is based on Tom Wolfe's book. It begin's with the story of the Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier. It then gives an historical drama about the Mercury space program. =====

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[|The Dish]- Historical drama-comedy about the town of Parkes in New South Wales, Australia. A 1,000-ton radio observatory dish is built in Parkes to relay telemetry, voice, and television signals from the historic Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969. =====

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[|Apollo 13 (Video/DVD)] - Astronaut's Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise make an heroic return to Earth after an internal explosion cripples their Apollo 13 service module. -S tarring Tom Hanks. Directed by Ron Howard. =====

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[|Lost Moon : The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 (Book)]- By Jim Lovell and Jeffery Kluger [|October Sky] - Homer H. Hickam Jr. and his friends build and launch models rockets in a West Virginia coal mining town in response to the launch of Sputnik. Based on a true story. =====

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[|The Rocket Men : Vostok and Voskhod, the First Soviet Space Flights] - History of the Soviet space program. [|Spacechimp : Nasa's Ape in Space] [|Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine] ===== ||


 * =====** Books and Videos about the Cold War **=====

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[|Atomic Cafe] - Director Jayne Loader used government film clips in an expose of the madness and propaganda of the "Duck and Cover" era. =====

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[|Thirteen Days]- Historical drama about President's Kennedy's response to the Cuban missile crisis - Starring Kevin Costner. [|Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb] - Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. - Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Slim Pickins. Peter Sellers excels in three fine roles--as the Nazi braintrust Dr. Strangelove, as President Merkin Muffley, and RAF officer Lionel Mandrake. =====

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[|The Russians are Coming]- Popular comedy about a Russian submarine that lands off New England coast. Starring Alan Arkin, Eva Marie Saint, Carl Reiner, Brian Keith, and Jonathan Winters. =====

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[|The Manchurian Candidate] - Suspenseful political thriller about a Korean war hero's decoration and his mother's machinations to promote her Joseph McCarthy-like husband's career. Starring Angela Lansbury, and Frank Sinatra. =====

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[|The Iron Giant] - As Sputnik orbits the Earth, Hogarth, a young boy who lives in the Maine woods during the cold war, befriends a giant robot. =====

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[|WarGames] - Teenage computer whiz hacks into a computer system looking for games. He inadvertently causes the system to begin countdown for thermonuclear missile strikes against the Soviet Union. Starring Matthew Broderick. =====

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[|The Day the Earth Stood Still] - A flying saucer lands at Washington D.C.An alien named Klaatu and his robot Gort emerge from the saucer. Klaatu warns the people that the Earth will be destroyed if they continue nuclear warfare. The film is very suspenseful. Some critics regard it as the greatest science fiction film ever made despite its lack of special effects. ===== ||

(Josh Keenan)