What’s Happening?

March 26, 2012

Timeline

June 24, 1948

Berlin Blockade begins (ends May 12, 1949)

Berlin Blockade was the decision to split Berlin into east and west regions. On the west was the US aid and more of a capitalism government, and on the east were the Soviets aid and a communism government.

March 12, 1947

Truman Doctrine.

The US government set up a deal with the world saying that they would aid any countries that are against

communism. The US did not want the spread of communism and they used their power to bribe countries.

August 29, 1949

Soviet Union test atomic bomb.

Russia testing and succeeding in their first atomic bomb struck fear in all of the US and it took away so

me of their power they had over the Soviet Union.

June 24, 1950

Korean War begins (ends in July, 1953)

Korea split at the 38^th parallel with communism in the North and democratic in the South, they never elected an official government and a war began. The North was beating the South until the US got involved and the South started beating the North. The Chinese started to help the North and pushed the war to ceasefire at the 38^th parallel without the North and South reconnecting.

July, 1954

Vietnam split at 17^th parallel

Vietnam split into two different governments: communist and democratic. There was never an election because of France’s invasion, which leads to US involvement and the Vietnam War.

1959

Vietnam War begins (ends April 30, 1975)

The French wanted to take over Vietnam because the communist government was beginning to take over. The US aided the dictator Ngo Dinh Diem in the south. People do not like the dictator of the south and the US looked bad for aiding him. Eventually the US agree to overthrow Diem as long as another capitalist leader was named and not communist.

November, 1960

JFK elected US president

During tough times in the US, there was a new young president elected who gave hope to the citizens.

April, 1961

Bay of Pigs invasion

The US planned to use Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The US CIA trained the Cuban soldiers and sent the exiles in with US weapons. The US’s plan was an unsuccessful attempt and made the US look bad.

August 17, 1961

Berlin Wall construction starts

The Berlin wall was established because of the Berlin Blockade. The wall was a “visible symbol of the cold war.” (textbook) The east was communism aided by the Soviet Union, and the west was democracy aided by the US.

October, 1962

Cuban missile crisis

The US found out that the Soviet Union had atomic bombs in Cuba. If the atomic bombs were launched it would immediately blow up most of the United States. The Soviet Union never confessed to the bombs and the US had to decide what they were going to do about the bombs. Eventually with evidence and the involvement of the United Nations, the Soviets agreed to take their bombs out of Cuba publicly if the US promises not to invade Cuba and to privately take their atomic bombs out of Turkey. It was the closest the world has been to a nuclear war.

November, 1961

JFK assassinated in Dallas, Texas

Fear was struck through the US when the resident, JKF, was shot while making an appearance. Having a trusted president shot in front of a huge crowd of people creates even more tension throughout the nation. When the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald was made, the citizens found out that an old Soviet Union follower shot JFK, which lead to more hatred towards the Soviet Union andstress throughout the country.