Events of the Cold War
by Rit NosotroChange Over Time essay
Describe the events of the cold war. Was detente an effective deterrent to escalation?
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Summary:
The central reason the Cold War was started was over an ideological power struggle between atheistic communism and democratic capitalism. The principle players were the former Soviet Union (Communism) and the United States (Capitalism). The Cold War began in 1948 after Germany was divided between the western allies and the Soviets. In trying to take over West Berlin, Stalin blockaded the roads of East Germany that led to Berlin so as to starve the people into submission. The allies broke the blockade by airlifting hundreds of tons of food and supplies to the people in West Berlin. Since no actual fighting occurred, this became known as a "cold war". The Soviets and Americans would continue to fight many cold battles in Africa and Latin America in an effort to influence the politics of these regions. The cold war turned hot in the Koreas, Vietnam, and Cuba.
In August 1949 the Soviets tested their first atomic bomb. In doing so they showed that their weaponry was on par with the United States. In June 1950, North Korea (who was supplied heavily by the Soviets) launched a massive attack on South Korea. The reason behind this attack was that North Korea wanted to unite the whole of Korea under communism. The United Nations responded to this attack by amassing a great army, led by General Douglas MacArthur of the U.S., to defend South Korea. China threatened that if the United Nations invaded North Korea they would help North Korea fight against the United Nations. When the United Nations ignored the threats and invaded North Korea, the massive Chinese army attacked the UN troops (which were mostly Americans). In April, 1951 the United Nations' armed forces were able to push back the Chinese. On July 27, 1953 an armistice was signed, ending the war.
Stalin died in 1953 and Nikita Khrushchev came to power. Khrushchev desired to expand communism to the island of Cuba, only 60 miles off the coast of Florida, within easy missile range of the US capitol. After talks with Khrushchev, Fidel Castro allied Cuba with the Soviets. The US sponsored an invasion force of Cuban dissidents in an attempt to overthrow Castro. These American trained forces landed in Cuba's "Bay of Pigs" but were immediately defeated. Americans were expelled in 1962 and then Soviet missile launchers were brought to Cuba. On October 14, 1962, after an American U2 spy plane discovered forty-two missile sites, President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent the arming of these missiles. During a couple weeks of intense brinkmanship, negotiations concluded with the Soviets agreeing to pull out if the United States would not invade Cuba. On October 27 the Soviets took their missiles and left. In 1964 Khrushchev resigned and Leonid Brezhnev became the next leader.
After the defeat of colonial France in 1954 the North Vietnamese tried to do something similar to the North Koreans by wanting to unite all of Vietnam under communism. With a theory that SE Asia might fall like dominos, US military advisors were sent to South Vietnam to help contain the spread of communism. The containment policy became actual fighting in 1965. By 1969, more than a million U.S. soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. Limited conventional jungle warfare could not halt the North Vietnamese. In 1975 all American troops were evacuated out of Vietnam, leaving it to communist rule.
There were many incidents during the Cold War that could have escalated. Some examples are when the USSR shot down a USA spy plane, or when North Korea shot down a passenger airliner. Partly due to "détente", or determent, nuclear weapons were not used during the cold war because the enemy also had access to nuclear weapons. This caused an arms race that eventually bankrupted the USSR during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The "evil empire" was well on its way to collapse following the "perestroika" (openness) policies of soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. His resignation in 1991 signaled the end of the Cold War, causing many to proclaim the victory of American Capitalism.
Bibliography:
http://www.sd83.bc.ca/stu/9701/w3tce4.htm
http://members.aol.com/sniper43/coldwar.html
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/991018/timeline.htm
QuickQuiz:
1. How many men were in the Cuban army that defeated La Brigada at the Bay
of Pigs?
(a) 40,000 (b) 10,000
(c) 100,000 (d) 20,000
2. During what years was the Vietnam War?
(a) 1960-1965 (b) 1954-1975
(c) 1950-1960 (d) 1970-1980
3. When were the Americans evacuated out of Vietnam?
(a) 1975 (b) 1960
(c) 1980 (c) 1965
4. When did the Soviet Union break up?
(a) 1991 (b) 1989
(c) 1990 (d) 1950
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