Cold War Flashcards
Germany Divided
East Berlin went to the Soviets
West Berlin went to NATO
Soviets blockade
The Berlin Airlift - the US and British planes flew in tons of supplies for just under a year
12 years later…
Soviets put up berlin wall separating east and west Germany, went down 1989
Capitalism vs. Communism
Capitalism was democratic and NATO’s nations fell under it, whereas most all communist government were dictatorships and fell under Soviet control
Korean War
North Korea invades South Korea
UN pushes north to the Chinese border and China counterattacks forcing the UN down to the 38th Parallel
UN was able to invade because Russia didn’t attend the UN Security council meeting
U 2 Incident
U2 Plane was a secret high altitude spy plane used to take pictures of missile sites and anywhere they wanted
Spied on the soviets mostly
Soviets detect U2 and shot it down
Russia tells the world they found a US plane and we claim its weather craft, then Russia reveals it’s a spy plane and concludes they have our pilot
Bay of Pigs
Eisenhower plans it but Kennedy gets elected and goes threw with it
Embarrassment to the US
CIA trains Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro
Fails miserably
Cuban Missile Crisis
Closest the world has ever come to MAD
Showed Kennedy had good resolve in bad situations
Even with the threat of nuclear war US and Russia could negotiate
Strengthened the ties between Russia and the US
Arms Race
US developed first h bomb, ICBM, MAD Rosenberg trial, even playing field, SDI
Space Race
Sputnik goes into orbit as first man made object in space
Russia gets the first man in Space
US gets the first man on the moon
US wins!
Nicaragua
Iran-Contra Scandal (yet another embarrassment)
Contra’s were brutal
Passed by congress
No dealing with Iranians
No dealing with contras
People under Reagan took $ from weapons sold to Iranians and gave it to the Sandinistas breaking both congressional laws
Reagan claims he didn’t know
Angola
Communist VS non-communist war begins
Money came from Russian and US contributions
Angola turned to natural resources to keep war going
Communist side wins Angolan war
Afghanistan
We support mujahidin to kick out Russians
Russians attempt to put communist control over Afghanistan
Vietnam
My Lae Massacre, Gulf of Tronken (fake attack), excuse to bomb North Korea, Kent State Riots, Nixon involved Cambodia, agent oragne, we bailed on the “war”
McCarthyism
The method of premature accusation of communist activities to instigate fear in the public of communism itself
Had lasting effects on the trust between neighbors in the US
HUAC
House of Un-American activities committee
Went from phone to phone to get people to tell on each other’
SALT
(Strategic Arms Limiting Treaty – limited nuclear war heads in countries)
Détente
(cooling off, lessening of tension between US and Russia)
