The Cold War

After World War II, the alliance between the United States and the U.S.S.R. began to
break apart and turn to hostility towards each other. The U.S.S.R. did not abandon the Soviet
goal of communizing the world, and the United States saw this as a threat to not only the states
but the whole world. The United States started with cutting off all aid to the U.S.S.R. in 1945,
and a few years later the Cold War began. Germany was divided into four sections (American,
British, French, and Soviet) after the World War II. The city of Berlin was divided the same way.
The Democracies wanted to rebuild and turn Germany into a democracy while the Soviet was
hoping to keep their enemy weak and divided. This was apparent when Stalin put a blockade
from the other three sections of Berlin when a new currency was introduced by the United States
and Britain. This was continued for almost a year, but the Democracies responded with the
Berlin airlift, supplying the blockaded section of Berlin. The Democracy feared that if Berlin
were to fall to communism, then all of Western Germany would fall. Later that year, Germany
was divided into the capitalist West and the communist East. In the years prior, President Truman
created the Truman Doctrine which offered military support and economic aid to countries
threatened by communist wanting to take control. Trumans main focus was to surround the
Soviet and its satellite states with democratic countries. That same year the Marshall Plan was
introduced to aid European countries, designed to strengthen the country and the American
alliance with that country. The Soviet Union responded quickly with a version of aid called the
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, and warned the European governments from accepting
the Marshall Plan. In 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created for military
alliance between the United States, Canada, and most of the nations of Western Europe all aimed
against the Soviet Union. Six years later the Soviet Union introduced the Warsaw Pact, a military

alliance in Eastern Europe. Europe was divided into two sections with troops on both sides ready
to fight, both backed by superpowers. The war didnt break out into actual military war but
instead through other means such as spies, political debates, and even the Olympics and space
exploration. The Cold War spread worldwide as the two superpowers continued to look for allies
and spread their message. While doing so, some countries ended up splitting the government and
creating civil wars. Japan turned allies with the United States while China turned to communism.
This eventually spread to the nearby Korea where the Chinese communism met the United
States. Tensions rose when the Soviet backed North Korea and invaded South Korea who was
backed by the United States. The Americans decided to intervene with support from the UN.
These forces were able to push back the North Korean forces almost to the Chinese border until
the Chinese stepped in supporting the North forces. By the end of this battle (which ended in
stalemate) much of Korea was left in ruins, and the borders remained the same. The U.S. feared
the spread of communism to other small countries nearby like Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. If
one of these fell to communism the rest would fall like dominoes. Vietnam was divided by North
being communist and the South being aristocratic. The South was dependent on the support of its
allies to survive. The war dragged on for years raising costs, and criticism of the United States.
In 1973 The U.S. withdrew its forces, but the civil war continued. Two years later the United
States fears came true when Vietnam fell to communism and so followed Laos and Cambodia.
China on the other hand was patching up its relations with the United States at this time. In 1960
the Soviet Union was begging to turn from China and slowed the promised aid China was to
receive. In 1959 a dictator named Fidel Castro used programs of social and economic reforms to
seize property of Americans or American businesses in Cuba. The U.S. immediately stopped all
aid to the country leaving Castro to turn to the Soviets for help. This put fear into the Americans

for this island is close enough to launch missiles at the United States homeland. The U.S.
government supported an attempt to overthrow Castro by Cuban refugees called the Bay of Pigs.
In 1962, a spy plane discovered that Soviet missiles were being placed in Cuba. The world was
bracing for nuclear war with Americans threatening to U.S.S.R. and attempting to stop shipments
of missiles to Cuba. With this threat of attacking Cuba, the Soviets finally came to an agreement
that ended the Cuban Missile Crisis.