We Didn't Start the Fire!
Tayler Metcalf
What is the Cold War?
President Truman was the 1st US president to be considered a Cold War president, he introduced the policy of containment, which was to stop the spread of communism and promote democracy. Some of the other parties involved were US Presidents Eisenhour, Johnson, Kennedy, Carter, and Reagan. Communist leaders were Stalin, Khrushchev, Castro, and Gorbachev. During president Kennnedy's time in office the world came very close to WWIII during the Cuban Missle Crisis, when the USSR staged nuclear Missles in Cuba. Other major world events during this time include the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Berlin crisis, and the Suez crisis. Presidents Nixon and Carter tried to easy tensions by making treaties with the Russians to reduce the size of the Nuclear arsenal. President Reagan was in office when the Berlin Wall came down reuniting Democratic West Berlin, with communist East Berlin. This would eventually lead to collapse of the Soviet Union and was the End of the Cold War.
Events of the Cold War
Joseph Stalin:
Joseph stalin was the dictator of the Soviet union. He had many of his people executed or sent to labor camps in Siberia. After world war II ended he had the task to rebuild Europe. Stalin wanted stability. He had no choice but to conquer during the war. Stalin claimed the territory. The communist party took control and cut off all communication with the west. His main goal was to stop democracy. Stalin wanted to protect them from the Soviet Union from the West. Stalin wanted to push them west and take over Europe.Moon Shot:
On July 20th, 1969, the people all over the world gathered for one of the biggest historical events, the very first time a human would land on the moon. As Neil Armstrong was exiting the Lunar module he said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." This was a small step to the start of the space race. They did it before USSR. The space race was the battle between the USSR and the United States. The purpose of this was to compete to prove who had the superiority of the technology. It was military firepower and its political system. The threat of nuclear weapon usage between the two countries led to war in Korea. The tensions continued throughout the space race. The Berlin Wall was being built because of the tension between the two powers. Finally, the sputnik was first to land on the moon by Americans.
Ho Chi-Minh:
Ho Chi-Minh was the leader of the Communist North Vietnamese, who first fought the French and then the Americans. He organized the "Vietnam Revolutionary League." Ho created the Vietminh, they took part in the guerrilla warfare against the Japanese. The guerrilla warfare was when the military would fight a weaker military, this was also known as a little war. Ho Chi-Minh was forced to seek, aid for China. He was imprisoned for 18 months by the anti-communist government. In 1930 he helped find the Indochinese party and the League for the independence of Vietnam, also known as Viet Minh, in 1941.
Berlin-
In 1961, the Soviet Union leader, which was Krushchev wanted to divide Berlin. At the time one part of Berlin was democratic and The other part of Berlin was Communist. Krushchev decides to put up a wall. The Berlin wall was an actual wall that divided Berlin so that both parts of Berlin would be happy. Once the Berlin wall was made the Soviet Union hated the wall so they would stop sending aid, food, and supplies. This did not stop the U.S. from sending food and supplies. The U.S. came up with the idea of airlifting the supplies to the democratic side of Berlin.
Around The USA and World:
On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the U.S. atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Many of the people in the city are killed and injured. The atomic bomb, "little boy" was dropped because President Truman wanted to prevent war. He thought this would be a much greater loss and it would help the Americans invade in Japanese.
Nagasaki:
On August 8, 1945, the U.S decides to drop the second atomic bomb. The second bomb was also known as the "Fat man." The bomb that was dropped in Nagasaki was not where they targeted to drop the bomb. The Three potential targets for a second bomb were Kokura, Kyoto, ans Niigata. Nagasaki was only added to the list of potential targets when Kyoto was removed because of religous association.
Tiananmen Square:
June 4, 1989, the anti-communists protest in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. China was crushed by the government. The protests were started by students and eventually the
city gave support. The protest were triggered in April of 1989, when the former communist party secretary, Hu Yaobang was stopped after losing power over political and economic reforms.
December 25th, 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as the president of the Soviet Union.
Before he resigns they create the CIS. Which was created to get rid of the USSR. Before the CIS was even created he had lost much of his power and prestige in the Soviet Union. No one seemed to like Gorbachev and his policies. Eventually, Yeltsin took over the Soviet government because Gorbachev didn't have any power left. Yeltsin replaced the flag with the Russian flag, and the Cold War ends.