2+The+Cold+War

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Causes


 * After World War 2 Soviet and Western (U.S., British, and French) troops were located along a line in the center of Europe.
 * This war was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, and it was called the "Cold War" because each side was afraid of fighting each other directly.
 * They each used words as weapons and their goal was to make the other look foolish.
 * From July17 to August 2, 1945, allies agreed on the fate of postwar Europe which called for the division of the defeated Germany into **four “occupation” zones** and the similar division of Berlin into four pieces.
 * In 1945 and 1946 the Berlin blockade was very well balanced, while the Four Power Allied Control Council announced the reunification of Germany was impossible.
 * The Soviets aspire to create a united but demilitarized Germany, under their guidance.
 * Joseph Stalin debated whether or not it is essential to "destroy Germany's capacity" for another war. If he decided on destroying it would conflict with the U.S. desire to rebuild Germany as the economic center of a stable Europe.
 * The United States stressed that the postwar rebuilding and reconstruction of the war was dependent on German economic and industry recovery.
 * The U.S. standpoint was that if the solution could not fix and make up Germany WITH Soviet cooperation, the West could develop industrial portions of postwar Germany (controlled by France, Britain, and the United States) and reform those areas into a new European side.
 * The three Western former Allied Powers agreed on this approach by setting up meetings in London in which they held those meetings without informing the Soviet Union.
 * On March 7, 1948 the London Conference announced support for fusing the three Western areas of Germany into an independent and federal form of government.
 * This created a crisis in Soviet foreign policy.
 * The Western powers were working on a financial repair for the three German zones.

Major Players
 * Soviet Union
 * United States

Major Events
 * Berlin Blockade/Airlift - After World War II, Germany was split into four parts. The Soviet Union had the eastern half while the Allies (United States, France, and United Kingdom) split the western half. The capital city, Berlin, which was located in the eastern side, was split in half as well; with the western side belonging to the Allies while the eastern half was the Soviets. In March of 1948 the Allies started uniting Western Germany. They made a single currency for the western side. This threatened the Soviets and in June of 1948 they started blocking all traffic (railways, roadways, and waterways) from Eastern Germany into West Berlin. The Berlin Blockade went on from June of 1948 to May 1949. In response, the British and United States airlifted supplies into Berlin. Once the Soviets ended the blockade the airlift continued until September of 1949.
 * U-2 incident - Throughout the Cold War, nuclear weapons were on the rise and the United States wanted to monitor what the Soviets were making. However, the Soviets did not agree. In 1955, President Eisenhower proposed an "open skies" policy, which would allow both sides to watch the other. The Russian premier Khrushchev refused the offer. The United States still wanted information so they created the U-2 spy plane. The plane would be able to fly over the Soviet Union and be undetected by their surveillance. Pilot Francis Gary Powers would fly over two major missile test sites in the Soviet Union. Around both sites there was a large amount of missiles that guarded the sites. While Pilot Powers was flying the reaction from a shot missile caused the U-2 aircraft to fall apart. Powers parachuted to safety put was captured when he landed. Powers was held prisoner for 21 months until the United States traded Soviet spy Rudolph Ivanovich Abel to the Russians for Powers. On February 10, 1962 the men were traded back and after returning they were questioned and it was found that neither man gave away valuable information.
 * Sputnik - On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik I into space. It was the world's first satellite in space and it started a race between the United States and the USSR for space achievements. The Sputnik was a surprise and caused fear to spread wonder to what else the Soviets knew how to do. On November 3, 1957, Sputnik II was launched. It had a heavier payload and a dog on board. The United States Department of Defense approved funding for the US to work on a satellite project. On January 31, 1958 the United States launched the Explorer I. On July 1958, the Space Act was passed and allowed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to be created. NASA was created in October 1, 1958.
 * <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">Bay of Pigs Invasion - On April 17, 1961, the Bay of Pigs Invasion was attempted. President Kennedy was wary of the Cuban government and the dictator, Fidel Castro, and Kennedy wanted to overthrow it. He had a group of 1300 Cuban exiles join together and land at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with American weapons. The plan was that the local population would join with the rebel group and they would cross Cuba to Havana, the capital of Cuba. President Kennedy decided against using the United States Air Force and the exiles were to fight the Cuban Army. In the first hours of fighting, the exiles were doomed to lose. Fighting ended on April 19. Of all the exiles, 90 were killed and the remaining were taken prisoner. The Kennedy administration was under heavy criticism for the Bay of Pigs incident. Private groups in the United States later ransomed the exiles that were taken prisoner. After this incident, the Cuban government was afraid the United States government would invade again and it built tension between the two countries. n
 * Cuban Missile Crisis - At this point in the Cold War, the Soviet Union was behind the United States. The Soviet had missiles that could reach Europe but the United States' missiles could reach the entire Soviet Union. In April of 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had the idea of putting Soviet Union missiles in Cuba to put a threat of the United States. Fidel Castro was still worried that the United States would have a second attack on Cuba since the Bay of Pigs incident. Since he was afraid of the attack, he approved the Soviet's plan and during the summer of 1962, the Soviet Union but missiles in Cuba. On October 15, 1962, The United States first saw pictures of the Soviet missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy assembled a group of advisers to help him deal with eh crisis. Seven days later, Kennedy decided to imposed a naval quarantine around Cuba and made this announcement to the public on October 22. He also said the attack would not be treated as if it was from Cuba, but as if it was from the Soviets. He demanded the Soviets remove all their missiles from Cuba. Throughout the crisis, both sides had tension building. On October 26th the Untied States received a letter from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The letter said that the Soviet missiles and people would be removed from Cuba if the United States would offer their guarantee that they would not invade Cuba. On the 27th of October a U-2 was shot down over Cuba and a second letter was received. It demanded that the United States remove missiles from Turkey for the Soviet missiles in Cuba. The United States ignored the second letter and agreed with the first. On October 28th, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev removed the missiles and took them back to the Soviet Union. He trusted that the United States would not invade Cuba. Negotiations were held after the 28th, furthering the agreement of Soviet missiles being removed with assurance that the United States would not invade Cuba.
 * Berlin Wall
 * Building- The Berlin wall was put up on August 13, 1961. It was a solid wall built between East and West Berlin.It was put up bu the Soviet controlled Germany. It started as a barricade with obstacles like barbed wire and tanks. The subways and railways were stopped to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the other part of the city. The following day the building of the actual wall took place. A border patrol was put in place and they shot anyone who tried to cross the wall into Western Berlin. Over the course of the wall being up 100 people died from attempting to cross the wall. The wall was concrete and around 4 meters tall. There was a lit up control area where anyone trying to cross was shot.
 * Fall - The wall started coming apart in 1989, almost 30 years later. On November 9, 1989, it was announced by Eastern Berlin that the wall would open for "private trips abroad." On November 10th, the demolition of the wall began in order to open some areas. The wall continued to be taken apart throughout the year. On July 1, 1990, Eastern and Western Germany united and the wall was left open. By 1991 nearly the entire wall was down and the two sides of Berlin were together.

__**End of War**__
 * The Cold War was a long and slow moving process, which is ultimately why it is called The Cold War. It did not end until the Communist form of government in the Soviet Union crumbled.
 * Late 1890's: Nearing the official end of the war many of the satellite nations under the Soviet Union's basic control were beginning to protest. Their economies and prosperity were decaying more and more as the years went on. The Soviet Union promised living with a Communist government is the best thing a country could do but when the satellite countries took notice of the successes in the Western democracy nations, tensions broke. One by one each country's Communism was ousted by popular uprisings and officially held free elections in which to pick a new President to be in control of a Democracy nation.
 * In the Soviet Union, civilians were beginning to become more angry as nations around them started making the switches over to a free form of government. On November 10, 1989 the Berlin Wall in Germany, which separated Western Germany from Eastern Germany finally came down. Gates were opened and in response the crowds tore down the wall. This is significant because the wall is one of the most famous symbols of the Cold War. The Soviets built it to restrict the civilians under Communist rule from communicating with the Democracy in Western Germany.
 * By now the Soviets were slowly giving up. There were no responses made by them when their republics tore down separation walls and fences. There were several attempts to overthrow the Soviet leader, Gorbachev, in the next few years. On December 8, 1991 President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Republic formed the Commonwealth of Independent Nations. Thus, the Cold War was officially ended.

Outcome and Effects


 * Both the United States of America and the Soviet Union accumulated huge arsenals of atomic weapons and ballistic missiles.
 * The military blocs NATO and The Warsaw Pact were formed
 * Led to destructive conflicts such as the Vietnam War and the Korean War.
 * The Soviet Union collapsed from a weak economic system.
 * The Berlin Wall was demolished and the two German nations were unified.
 * The Warsaw Pact disintegrated.
 * The Baltic States and some former Soviet republics achieved independence.
 * America became the sole superpower of the world.
 * Communism collapsed worldwide.

Cold War Podcast: media type="file" key="try again.m4a" width="300" height="50" Korean War Podcast: media type="file" key="Korean war.m4a" width="300" height="50"

Sources:
 * http://www.nebraskastudies.org/1000/frameset_reset.html
 * @http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page22.shtml
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0024195.html
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">http://www.u-s history.com/pages/h1872.html
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/sputnik.asp
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/bay_of_pigs.html
 * http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html
 * http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/BIW/wall.html