COLD WAR

• At the end of the second world war the cold war had begun
• The world lay divided between two great superpowers the united states and the soviet union
• The cold war would not be a conventional war with the two sides never directly fighting
• Instead it would be an ideological battle between communism and capitalism
• Both sides would stockpile nuclear weapons with questions over how to use control and eliminate them becoming central to the conflict
• After the second world war europe lay divided between two camps
• The soviet union the world's leading communist power would rule over what would become known as the eastern bloc
• The united states the world's leading capitalist power would also emerge as a post-war superpower
• Hostilities began when stalin delayed the removal of soviet troops from iran and pressured turkey into giving him control over the turkish straits
• Truman doctrine


  A policy aimed at containing the soviet union and would become the basis of american cold war strategy for years to come
• The marshall plan provided almost 13 billion dollars of financial aid encouraging economic integration and the promotion of free markets
• Germany was split in half after the war with the soviets occupying the east and britain france and america occupying the west
• In june 1948 stalin would begin the berlin blockade stopping all ground access to the city
• In response to soviet expansion and influence nato the north atlantic treaty organization was created in 1949
• The cia would be established in september 1947 with the organization growing in size and strength over the coming years
• In 1953 and 54 the cia would overthrow the leaders of iran and guatemala installing highly unpopular dictators in their place
• In 1950 communist north korea invaded south korea
• The korean war would drag on for three years with the armistice of july 1953 leaving it so there was no clear victory for either side
• After stalin's death in 1953 nikita khrushchev had become leader soon creating the warsaw pact to counter the growing power of nato
• In november 1956 khrushchev would threaten britain and france with rocket weapons after they invaded egypt
• In 1961 khrushchev authorized the construction of the berlin wall creating a physical barrier between east and west berlin
• In the bay of pigs invasion kennedy attempted to topple castro from power using a group of cia-trained cuban exiles but it would turn out to be a disaster
• In 1962 khrushchev sent nuclear missiles to cuba causing kennedy to begin a naval blockade of cuba
• A confrontation in the atlantic almost ended in disaster with a soviet submarine captain ordered to launch nuclear torpedoes but one officer refused to go through with it
• After kennedy's assassination in 1963 his vice president lyndon b johnson was left to deal with vietnam
• The vietnam war was deeply unpopular and in 1968 protests would break out across the western world
• By 1964 the soviet union had been going through several internal difficulties with khrushchev having been deposed and replaced by leonid brezhnev
• In late 1969 nixon began talks with brezhnev about a strategic arms limitation treaty or salt which would freeze the existing number of intercontinental ballistic missiles on both sides
• When ronald reagan assumed the presidency in 1981 the conventional wisdom of how to deal with the soviet union was falling apart
• Reagan's policy was called peace through strength with the cornerstone being the strategic defense initiative or sdi nicknamed star wars
• Gorbachev would introduce perestroika or restructuring to reform the economy and glasnost or transparency to address corruption and political unrest
• In december 1988 gorbachev would make a speech to the united nations vowing to cut the soviet ground force commitment in eastern europe by half a million men
• In 1989 a string of democratic revolutions would see nearly every communist government ousted from power
• On november 9th the berlin wall would come down and germany itself would be reunited
• In 1991 the soviet union would collapse dissolving into 15 independent states