POST WORLD WAR II
THE COLD WAR
UNITED NATIONS
• Replaced the League of Nations
• Guaranteed the security of member
nations
• Fostered good will through equal rights
• Encouraged economic, cultural, and
humanitarian cooperation
NATIONAL POLICIES
• Western allies wanted to achieve security
by strengthening democracy
• Soviets wanted to establish pro-soviet
governments in Eastern Europe
• The “iron curtain”, a soviet-made barrier
that split Europe into communist and noncommunist countries, developed
• The U.S. implemented a policy of
“containment”
KEY EVENTS OF THE COLD WAR
The Berlin Blockade
• The soviets blocked allied supplies from
entering Berlin (West Germany) from June
1948-May 1949
Korean War
• A fight to halt the spread of communism in
Korea
• A civil war attempting to reunite Korea,
fought by opposing regimes (the North
backed by Soviet forces and the South
backed by U.S. forces)
• June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953
Bay of Pigs
• Unsuccessful attempt by
American-backed Cuban
exiles to overthrow Fidel
Castro
• April 1961 (three months
after John F. Kennedy took
office as president)
• Further strained U.S. –
Cuban relations
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Soviets placed nuclear missiles in
Cuba as a threat to the U.S. and to offset
U.S. missiles placed in Turkey.
• 1962
Vietnam War
• A fight to halt the spread of communism in Viet
Nam
• North Vietnam backed by communist allies were
opposed by the South Vietnamese rebels
backed by U.S. forces
• U.S. military advisors first arrived in 1950
• U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s
and combat units were deployed beginning in
1965
• A peace treaty was signed in 1973 by all parties
• 1975 Saigon fell to North Vietnam
Detente
• A relaxation of tensions between the U.S.
and Soviets
• 1972