Cold War Crash Course

No direct fighting between US and Soviet Union

CONTAINMENT- US policy of not letting Communism spread
o Domino Theory

George Kennan
o Invents CONTAINMENT
o Advises President
Truman Doctrine- US will give money to part of Europe ($400 million to Greece and
Turkey)
o US gets military bases
o US puts nuclear weapons in Turkey to attack Russia
Marshall Plan
o Expansion of Truman Doctrine extended to ALL of Europe
NATO
o North Atlantic Treaty Organization
o Forms defensive military alliance
o TURNING POINT FOR AMERICA
o DECISIVE BREAK FROM AMERICAS POLICY OF ISOLATIONISM
Warsaw Pact
o Communist countries of Eastern Europe joining together
Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism
Berlin Airlift
o Soviet Union cut off western land access to West Berlin
o Truman orders massive airlift of food, fuel, and other supplies to citizens of West
Berlin
o Marked crucial and successful test of containment
Fall of China
o Mao Zedong
o Chinese Communists defeat Chinese Nationalists and declared the Peoples
Republic of China
o Collapse of Nationalist China viewed as devastating defeat for America and its
Cold War allies
o US refused to recognize the new govt in Beijing
o US interpreted Chinese Revolution as part of menacing Communist monolith
o Contributed to Anti-Communist hysteria in US
Korean War
o NK invades SK on June 25, 1950
o Truman obtains unanimous condemnation of NK as aggressor
o FIRST COLLECTIVE MILITARY ACTION BY UNITED NATIONS
o Fought under U.N. auspices
Limited War
o Limited war that extended containment policy to Asia
38
th
Parallel
o Armistice signed in July 1953
o Border b/w NK and SK set at the 38
th
Parallel apx. at prewar boundary
Truman Integrates Military
o Truman orders racial desegregation of armed forces
o KOREAN WAR WAS THE FIRST TIME AFRICAN AMERICANS HAD
FOUGHT IN INTEGRATED UNITS
Vietnam War
o French continue to exercise influence and control over Indochina
o Led by Ho Chi Minh, Viet Minh defeat French at battle of Dienbienphu
o French withdraw from Vietnam in 1954
o US refused to sign Geneva Accords and soon replaced France as dominant
Western power in Indochina
o First televised war
Domino Effect
o If one nation fell under Communist control, all surrounding nations would soon
fall under Communist control
Sputnik
o Launched by Soviet Union in 1957
o First Earth-orbiting satellite
o Eisenhower establishes NASA
o Congress passes National Defense Education Act
Expanded federal aid to education by funding programs in mathematics,
foreign languages, and sciences
Joseph McCarthy (McCarthyism)
o Led witch hunt for Communists in State Department
o Played on American fear of Communists
o Blacklist
o 2
nd
Red Scare
o McCarthy accuses US Army of being Communist sympathizers
o Army-McCarthy Hearings
o Senate condemns him
o ALCOHOLIC