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Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
Truman Doctrine was implemented by President Truman in order to stop the spread of communism any further particularly in Greece and Turkey. Its main difference from the Marshall Plan is that it offered military aid while the Marshall Plan offered economic aid in the hard times to help the war-torn countries that were in Europe. -
Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia was the last democracy in Eastern Europe. In 1948 the Soviet military sent to take control of the country after the communist party lost the election. The event was used to show that Stalin would use force to protect the Soviet Union -
Berlin blockade
Stalin blocked all roads in and out of West Berlin overnight by metal fencing only later to be replaced by the concrete wall, in efforts to stop Allie communications, food, medical supplies and all other resources off. Although it backfired as American and British planes would then airlift and drop the needed resources over the wall to the people. and they knew Stalin was bluffing as he would then remove the forces 11 months later -
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in order to guard against the rising threat of Stalin planning to attack the west. The premise behind it is that if any members of NATO, which was most of western Europe and North America, were attacked by Russia then all members would fight back on order to protect those attacked -
Korean War
The Soviet Union set up a communist government in the north and the U.S. set up a sphere of influence in the south. When the north crossed over the 38th parallel to reunite the peninsula. The Truman Doctrine influenced the US to get involved to stop the expansion of communism. Truman went to the UN to get international military action. China was involved because general McArthur went too far north after in attempst to take over the entire peninsula after being pushed back by the U.S. -
Coupe d’état in Guatemala
President Truman allowed the CIA to meddle in the Guatemalan government to steer them in the direction of Fascism before communism could take over. The CIA would then proceed to arm, fund and train 480 men who would be led by Carlos Castillo Armas,. They would also launch a propaganda campaign against Jacob Arbenz, Guatemalan president at the time, which in turn started a civil war. -
Polish and Hungarian Unrest
There was a revolt in Hungary which was merely just a student demonstration before gaining thousands as they would progress to march through Budapest. No opposing force stopped them which was a success in their eyes. Farmers were able to keep their land meaning that they wouldn't have to work for the government collective farms. The Poland revolt happened in June against the Soviet, outcome was the opposite as they were defeated by the communist government of Poland. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
It was created to split up the wall into the allies side and the communist side. The allies side was split into 3 ways between England, France and America to form the Federal German Republic, because the west feared the spread of communism. It was iconic because the people of Berlin were cut off from each other with the poorer side being the east, people where shot on sight if attempting to cross the wall. Occasionally the Russians would cut off the supply routes to and from the city -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuba allied with the USSR because they offered Cuba economic aid in return Khrushchev gets Soviet military installations in Cuba. Kennedy got worried after Khrushchev sent Cuba shiploads weapons, thinking that Castro may use them against America, Kennedy chose to set up the Navy blockade in order to stop the possibility of missiles coming into Cuba from Russia. There was a meeting between Kennedy and Soviet ambassador U.S. agrees to remove missiles from Turkey if the Soviets do the same in Cuba -
Vietnam War
South East Asia had very unsettled countries, and America feared that if one country fell under communist rule, then the rest of the countries would fall under the rule. Eisenhower & Kennedy sent a bunch of American money and resources to South Vietnam. By late 1956 the US had sent over 1/4 million soldiers. Protests for the return of US troops had risen and Nixon took action by partaking in Vietnamization which would gradually dismiss American troops, but equip and train South Vietnam troops. -
Prague Spring
There was a small window of freedom under communist control when Alexander Dubcek wanted socialism with a human face. Dubcek wanted to keep the communist party as the dominant party, but he wanted to tone down the totalitarian aspects. Being short lived as the USSR would soon invade Czechoslovakia with 500,000 troops, 1000 aircraft and 7500 tanks, only 80 Czechs would be killed. Brezhnev Doctrine stated that Soviets will use any means necessary, including force, to control the Eastern Bloc. -
Allende – Pinochet – and The U.S. in Chile
Salvador Allende was a Chilean politician and he was elected president because Congress chose him since neither candidate won majority vote but he won popularity vote. The US put money into the Chilean election to prevent Allende from gaining office, although he did end up winning the election -
1970’s Détente (Easing of hostility)
Easing hostility between the superpowers and increased cooperation on nuclear disarmament. There was a “hotline” that was set up between the Washington and Moscow for Kennedy to communicate with the Soviet Premier, there was also a test ban treaty which banned the testing of nuclear weapons.SALT 1&2 were the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the US and the Soviet Union that were targeted to dismiss the production of nuclear missiles after the Cuban Crisis -
The Sandinistas and Contras in Nicaragua
The Sandinistas were a socialist political and democratic group in Nicaragua that would end up overthrowing the President who held a dictatorship for 46 years. Reagan's intentions were to overthrow the Sandinistas of Nicaragua who were Marxist's. America sent over right wing rebel groups (Contras) into Nicaragua which caused chaos -
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
There was a growing revolt happening so the Soviet Union set up a communist government. They feared to lose the communist proxy there. The US had been making allies with a lot of the middle east, victorious in getting Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc on board. It's ironic since after 9/11 the US has been in a huge feud with the middle east. -
Mikhail Gorbachev from Politburo to Presidency
Perestroika was the restructuring of the government and economy, he changed central government planning and had the economy rely more on market forces. Gorbachev inforced glasnost which was the openness to change from the strict social controls that had been enforced. Gorbachev was considered a revolutionary leader because he was the only leader to advocate peace with the west. Reagan and Gorbachev were the leaders at the time and Gorbachev wanted to demilitarize Soviet foreign policy. -
U.S. Election of Ronald Reagan
America was upset with liberal/democratic government. Soon the nation was hit with high inflation and unemployment, gasoline shortages. When elected Reagan called the USSR an “evil empire” and was determined to make the US more powerful than the USSR. The "evil empire" speech was about....... US foreign policy allowed him to send out anti-communist "freedom fighters". The productions of military arms went up creating many jobs but there was a lot of military spending. -
Operation Desert Storm
Iraq invaded Kuwait which was a major oil supplier to the US, so the UN voted on the US's intervention in Saudi Arabia. Similar to the Korean war, the US deployed troops to South Korea to help them fight against North Korea, and during Operation Desert Storm the US deployed troops to Kuwait to help them fight Iraq -
U.S. Invasion of Iraq
Bush believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction even after Mass inspections done by UN officials. The UN inspection of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction found nothing, in a speech delivered at the UN by Dominique de Villepin he said: “Nobody can assert today that the route to war will be shorter than that of inspections.” If the goal was ridding Saddam Hussein of power, it was a success. If the goal was to destroy WMD's in Iraq it was an absolute failure since they didn't have any. -
ISIS/ISIL and the West
After the death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, a new leader Al-Masri announced the formation of Islamic State of Iraq in 2006. Then in 2013 ISI announced the joint of ISI with Syria (Al-Qaeda) to create ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Goals: A global caliphate(the rule or reign of a caliph or chief Muslim ruler) secured through a global war. To that end, it speaks of "remaining and expanding" its existing hold over much of Iraq and Syria. The west is primarily being fought in Iraq & Syria.
