Cold War Events
Berlin, Korea, Vietnam & Cuba
Troy High School
World Studies
Partition of Germany
•
Suggested at Potsdam and ratified at
Yalta
• Four Zones
1. Russia
2. Britain
3. US
4. France
• Berlin would also be sliced up into four
parts with Western access across the
Russian zone.
Germany Cont…
• Economy directed to
agriculture and
peaceful industries
• Was to be thoroughly
disarmed
• Schools were set up
to encourage
democratic ideas
• Denazification
Berlin Blockade
• Stalin wanted
Western forces out of
Berlin
• He blocked all surface
routes
• Only way he could
prevent the airlift was
by shooting the
aircraft down
– Stalin feared all-out
war and eventually
gave up on the
blockade
Berlin Wall
• Construction began on Sunday, August 13,
1961
• Became the bold symbol of the Cold War
and the Iron Curtain
Korea 1945
• Japanese colony since 1910
• Then in 1945 it was divided at the 38th
parallel
– Russia in the North & America in the South
• Russia defied the UN attempt to hold free
elections
• North = Communist Kim Il-Sung
• South = Anti-Communist Syngman Rhee
Aggression in Korea
• June 1950 North Korean Communist
forces crossed the 38th parallel
• UN reacted with American and South
Korean forces – Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Major Points of the War
• June 28th Seoul
captured
• Pusan Perimeter
• Inchon Landing
• Back to Seoul
• Back across the 38th
to the Yalu River
• Chinese assistance
back across the 38th
to Seoul yet again
• Then back the 38th for
a stalemate
Korea Since the War
• Still divided today
• US interest and
troops remain to this
day
• 1993 Korea
withdraws from the
Nuclear
Nonproliferation
Treaty
• 1972 & 2000 talks of
unification failed
Vietnam
Vietnam Background
• Mid 1800’s became a French colony
• During WWII Japan occupied the region
and after the war and the Japanese
withdraw the French tried to regain their
territory and failed
• The Geneva Conference of 1954 divided
Vietnam at the 17th Parallel pending
monitored elections to unite the nation by
1956
Vietnam Cont…
• Communist North led by Ho Chi Minh
began to increase military strength,
eliminate free enterprise, and receive aid
from Soviets and China
• Anti-Communist South rejected plans for a
unified nation
• In response the North began guerrilla
warfare throughout the South
Vietnam Cont…
US Military
Advisors
• Saigon requests American aid so the US
begins to send military advisors in 1954
fearing that other nations would fall to
Communism. (Domino Theory)
Escalation of US Troops
’65-25,000
’68-536,000
Vietnam Cont…
• Paris Peace Agreement (1973)
– US withdraws troops & receives POW’s
– All foreign troops withdrawn form Laos and
Cambodia
– Reunification of Vietnam by peaceful means
Current Day Vietnam
• Officially united as a
communist state on July
2, 1976
• Vietnam has experienced
very little economic
growth
• Headed by Tran Duc
Luong
• Buddhism, Christianity
(Mainly Roman Catholic)
Cuba
Background
• Spanish colony until 1898 then the US
occupied Cuba
• Independence was granted to Cuba in
1902 but limited due to the Platt
Amendment
The Overthrow
• The 26th of July
Movement in 1959 Fidel
Castro overthrew the
corrupt dictator Fulgencio
Batista
• Once in power Fidel
forbade elections, civil
liberties, cut relations with
the US and made
agreements with
Communist nations
Major Events
• Bay of Pigs (1961) –
The US trained Cuban
exiles to launch an
invasion into Cuba to
overthrow Castro
– Was modeled after a
similar event in
Guatemala
Major Events Cont…
• Cuban Missile Crisis
(1962) – Pres. Kennedy
revealed that the Soviets
were installing missile
and bomber bases in
Cuba
– Kennedy issued quarantine
and demanded the Soviets
to withdraw missiles
– After and few days of
tension Khrushchev
removed the missiles
Cuba Today
• Cuba’s economy was hurt in the 80’s due
to the fall of Communism. The country
relied on aid from the Soviet Union
• Cuba was worsened when the US
imposed further trade sanctions in 1992
and again in 1996
• To this day civil liberties are suppressed in
Cuba
THE END!!!