The Cold War

The renewed conflict and the end of Cold War

1985 BCE

The USSR could not afford the increasing militar spending
In 1985, the USSR began to change its policies. Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and brought
some changes:
• disarmament treaty was signed so the USA and the USSR agreed to remove medium-range
nuclear missiles from Europe within 3 years.
• Gorbachev announced the immediate reduction of the weapons stockpile and the number
of troops in the soviet armed forces.
The Cold War was ending and the USSR began to reform

Vietnam War

1973 BCE

President Nixon wanted to finish the war quickly. American
troops were gradually withdrawn from Vietnam. Instead the
US started training the South Vietnamese to fight the Vietcong.
As a result they began heavy bombing of North Vietnam and
Cambodia. In 1973 a ceasefire was arranged.

Vietnam War

1969 BCE

In South Vietnam there was a group called the Vietcong that wanted the South and the
communist North to join. President Johnson was determined to keep south Vietnam communist 8 free, so he increased troop numbers from 23.000 in 1964 to 500.000 in 1967. He began a
bombing campaign of North Vietnam. The offensive resulted in the loss of thousands of American
lives (14,000 in 1969), most of whom were young men. The war was very expensive and public
opinion soon turned against the war.

Vietnam War

1964 BCE

Vietnam was partitioned into the communist North and the democratic South. Laos and Cambodia
were set up as independent states.The Truman doctrine dictated that the USA would assist the
new democracy of South Vietnam. During the cold war, the USA was terrified that many other
countries might become communist and help the USSR. The domino theory of communism says
that if one country is knocked over by the communist threat, soon all the nearby countries will
become communist as well.

Cuban missile crisis 1962

1962 BCE

Cuba, which was only 100 miles away from the USA, had been ruled by a military dictator, Batista,
since 1940. He allowed American businessmen and the Mafia to make huge profits in a country
where most people lived in poverty. In 1956, a rebel named Fidel Castro attempted to overthrow
the government, but was defeated and forced into exile. In 1959, Castro began a guerrilla war and
soon marched on Cuba´s capital, Havana, and overthrew the government

Cuban missile crisis 1962

1962 BCE

Castro began to cooperate with the USSR.In 1961,
President Kennedy authorized an invasion of Cuba by rebels trained by the CIA. They landed in the Bay of Pigs, but they were defeated. After this invasion Castro decided that Cuba needed Soviet military assistance: Soviet missiles were shipped to Cuba which could be used to attack US cities. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba. All soviet ships would be stopped and
searched to prevent further missiles being transported to Cuba. .

Building of the berlin wall

1961 BCE

In Berlin, 2,5 million people left East Berlin for the West,
half of them were young people. A 30 mile barrier (wall)
was erected (13th August 1961) across the city of Berlin
dividing the Eastern sector from the West.

The USSR

1953 BCE

When Stalin died in 1953 he was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev, who began a process of DeStalinization. Khrushchev allowed some level of freedom and speech. The relations with the capitalist bloc enhanced a lot in this period. However there were some critical moments due to Cuba or Berlin.Leonid Brezhnev led the USSR between Khrushchev’s death in 1964 and 1982. He stopped all
Khrushchev’s reforms. His external policy switched from coexistence to tension with the USA

Korea 1950-1953

1950 BCE

Before the Second World War Korea was a colony of Japan. Japan was defeated and Korea was divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel. The North was communist and the South was under the influence of the USA and had an anti- communist dictatorship.Communist North Korea went to war with South Korea in order to reunite the country. The Western powers intervened on behalf of the United Nations to stop the spread of communism and sent North Koreans back North of the 38th parallel

Eastern Europe

1947 BCE

The USSR controlled Eastern Europe. By 1948,Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia,
Albania and Bulgaria had pro-soviet Communist governments controlled by USSR (Stalin). Under
this goverments big companies and banks were nationalised and heavy industry was developed.
The land was distribute among the peasents. All this People's Republics were integrated into
Comecon

The Cold War

1947 BCE

After the Second World War the peace was not stable. The USA and the USSR were now the
major superpowers in the world but they were very different, ideologically, economically and
politically and this ended in a diplomatic conflict called the Cold War. It was called the Cold War
because there was no fighting, instead both sides tried to “win” by forming alliances and making
plans. Both sides had atomic weapons and were afraid of nuclear war

The Cold War

1947 BCE

The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc and powers in the Eastern Bloc. Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common time frame is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars supported by the two sides

Western Europe

1946 BCE

The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, suggested in 1946 that Europe
could compete with the USA and the USSR as a leading nation. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Schuman, proposed on 9th May 1950 the creation of a common market of coal and steel to avoid rivalries and to be more competent.Hence, that day is commemorated as the Day of Europe since it is considered the foundations of the European Union.

The United States. Leader of capitalist world

1945 BCE

Between 1945 and 1960 there were many anti-communist measures
implemented by the Republican presidents Harry S. Truman and
Dwight Eisenhower. A blacklist was drafted with all those likely
communist sympathizers within the USA.The Democrat John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the president in 1961 and tensions with the eastern bloc were reduced. Moreover, there were mobilizations in favor of civil rights for black people led by Martin Luther King against racial segregation.