Cold War
Brace yourselves: Another War Is Approaching Us
What was the Cold War?
The Cold War was the state of hostility, without direct military conflict, that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. The United States and the Soviet Union were cautionary allies. Their collaboration was the result of a mutual fear that the Nazis would gain control over Europe, not basing it off on any ideological reasoning. Consequently, after the war as over, a power struggle developed between the United States and the Soviet Union The tension eventually built, but no one wanted to go to actual war again after the mighty massacre of WWII, hence the name "Cold War".
Key Parts of the Cold War
The "Iron Curtain" was a phrase used by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe an imaginary line that separated Communist countries in the Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe from countries in Western Europe.
Truman Doctrine was a US policy, announced by President Harry S. Truman in 1947, of providing economic and military aid to the free nations threatened by internal or external opponents.
Marshall Plan was the program, proposed by Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947, under which the United States supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after World War II.
The Berlin Airlift was a 327-day operation in which US and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city in 1948.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was a defensive military alliance formed in 1949 by ten Western European countries, the United States, and Canada.
The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea, lasting from 1950-1953, in which the United States, along with other UN countries, fought on the side of the South Koreans and China fought on the side of the North Koreans.
McCarthyism were the attacks, often unsubstantiated, by Senator Joseph McCarthy and others on people suspected of being Communists in the early 1950s.
The Space Race was the competition between nations regarding achievements in the field of space exploration.
The U-2 Incident was the downing of a US spy plane and capture of its pilot by the Soviet Union in 1960.
Eisenhower Doctrine was a US commitment to defend the Middle East against attack by any communist country, announced by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957.
Brinkmanship was the practice of threatening an enemy with massive military retaliation for any aggression.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was when President Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba when it was discovered that the Soviet Union was placing nuclear missiles there; the standoff came perilously close to nuclear war, but the Soviet eventually backed down just in time.
Bay of Pigs Invasion was in 1961, when a force of 1,500 U.S. trained Cuban exiles landed in Cuba to try to overthrow the Castro regime, the invasion was a disaster as it was quickly crushed and many of the attackers held for ransom.