Recent Event Highlights: Fall of the Berlin Wall, Voting Rights Act, Civil Rights Act , Berlin Wall Completed, and 17 more...
Created by ilovemymom on May 4, 2010
Last updated: 05/09/10 at 07:40 PM
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The fall of the Berlin Wall meant everything was over, the Cold War officially ends. Germany is all one. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side celebrating that this Cold War is over. Public and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the wall. Later on the government removed the rest. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German to be one.
This program was proposed by President Ronald Reagan which was called Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). This program was suppose to develop a missile system to prevent other countries to attack, especially from the Soviet Union. The name of "Star Wars" has been attached to the program for its ideas among the program. At the end of the program, SDI purchased thirty million dollars for the program and no mirror and laser was ever used on land or not even in space.
http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/SDI-StarWars.asp
President Nixon goes to Beijihn China, which was the first time ever a president visits China. Reason why Nixon wanted to improve relations with China because it would allow him to force more smoothly into the international environment and offset the growing power of the Soviet Union. He had to resolve the Taiwan issue. Until 1971, Nixon had been a supporter of the pro-Taiwan lobby. China and the United States issued the Shanghai Communiqué, which pledged that both countries wanted to be going toward normalizing relations. The United States also agreed that there was one China and Taiwan was part of it and that the United States would work moving forces out of Taiwan. Nixon's visit helped relations between United States and China become better between the two.
SALT 1(Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) was United States and the Soviet Union having an issue on armament control. Armament control is apparent military supremacy. This focused on limiting the two countries' stocks of nuclear weapons.Treaties led to START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). START I ( between the United States and the Soviet Union) and START II ( between the United States and Russia) which had agreements on each side's number of nuclear weapons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Arms_Limitation_Talks
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest that the world came to another nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at the highest mark of being ready for this battle. Soviet field commanders in Cuba were also ready to use nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was ever invaded. President John F. Kennedy and Preimer Nikita Khrushchev decided to not declare war. Khrushchev thought of an idea by placing missiles in Cuba. During this time Castro was trying to find a way to make sure his land is safe and he knew that there might be a second attack. khrushchev asked Castro if they could be together so they could put missiles closer to the U.S.
The Berlin Wall was made on August 13th, 1961. East German government closed the border between East and West Berlin. Concrete walls were created and the wall extended 103 miles long and 12 feet high. Many people died trying to get over the wall. East Germans tried to escape for many years. On November 9th, 1989, the wall was tore down by both sides of Germany.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=61
Bay of Pigs Fiasco was very unsucessful attempt by the U.S backed by Cuban force to defeat the Cuban government whose leader was Fidel Castro. Stress between U.S. and Fidel Castro led President Eisenhower to break off tackful relations with Cuba. Even before, the CIA has been training anti-revoultionary defeat of invasion. The failure of this invasion made Kennedy embarressed. Castro was very watchful. He thought that the U.S. would try to take over the land again.
Soviet Union developed both atomic weapons and airplanes. Soviets also developed missiles capable of delivering them any place in the world. President Eisenhower and James Killian, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, decided to make a spy plane. The airplane had a long sailplane wings and a jet engine with just enough power to get it above 70,000 feet and keep it there. Soviet Union's radar reached higher than the U.S. was expecting. The U-2’s were tracked during every minute of operation. As a result, Soviet aircraft attempted to attack the intruders but they couldn’t gain enough altitude. The Soviets try and developed SAM missiles that could reach above 65,000 feet. The missile wasn't good.
http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/stories/U2.htm
The two sides, United States and the Soviet Union would not meet face-to-face until what they called the Geneva summit of 1955. Eisenhower presented the Soviets with his Open Skies proposal. In this proposal, each side provide full descriptions of all their military facilities and allow for airplane inspections to insure the information was correct. The Soviets rejected the proposal. Eisenhower knew that they would say no. Eisenhower thought the Open Skies proposal would have the U.S. much more than the Soviets. Russians already knew the location of most American strategic defense facilities. The Americans had an advantage on gaining information.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/34_eisenhower/eisenhower_foreign.html
The French was at war with the communist Vietminh for eight years. Dien Bien Phu was located in Northwestern Vietnam. The Vietminh had four divisions totaling 50,000 troops surrounding Dien Bien Phu while the French had only 13,000 troops. In the beginning of the battle, the Vietminh dug up trenches around French strong points. Dien Bien Phu was a failure for the French.
http://www.campbell.edu/faculty/Slattery/dien_bien_phu.htm
The Korean War was military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. Korea claimed N. Korea and the United States claimed S. Korea. This war was communist vs. nationalist. This almost fell to communist. Truman refused to drop the bomb.
NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was to help the Soviet Union from further aggression. NATO was created because if the Soviet Union attacked a country that had signed it they would all go to war. NATO was formed to secure West Europe against the threat of Soviet Union and Russia. The Cold War of 1945 to 1991 had military situation between NATO on one side and the Warsaw Pact nations on the other. There wasn't military agreement, because of the threat of nuclear war. NATO agreements nuclear weapons were stationed in Europe. There were tensions within NATO itself, and in 1966 France withdrew from the military command.
The city of Berlin was divided into four sections. In June 1948, the Soviet Union tries to control all of Berlin. Soviet Union made people starve and out of job because they thought that would be a good method of gaining control. Truman administration reacted with a daily flight that would transport food and supplies to West Berlin. This lasted to September 1949. There were two runways in Berlin.
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/berlin_airlift/large/
President Truman signed the Marshall Plan in 1948. This plan was to give money to surrounding countries by the Soviet Union. The U.S. offered to the Soviet Union, but it was turned down. Marshal Stalin wanted to do things his own way.
http://bighugelabs.com/output/motivator70132923ac48995f262b8fd93f2647c49e5d9afe.jpg
The Truman Doctrine was introduced by President Truman in 1947. The Truman Doctrine was to stop communism throughout the world. Truman's main idea to do is to remove it. It was very effective.
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