The Cold War denotes the period from 1945 to 1991 when two superpowers: the USA and the Soviet Union were in permanent antagonism in their desire to control the situation in different regions of the world. More generally, this period can be called the conflict between the East and the West. The first reason was distrust. The Western world was afraid of the spread of communist ideas that became very popular after the SWW with the Soviet Union having the image of the liberator of Europe. In 1918 the US supported the intervention against Soviet Russia in the civil war. The USA recognized the USSR only 1933. The event that is considered to be the symbolic beginning of the Cold war was Winston Churchill's speech, where he said the iron curtain has descended across the continent. The western world should keep away from the Communism.
1947 George Marshall the US State Secretary proposed a massive aid to help rebuild European economies. According to it within 10 years more than 12 billion dollars were invested in to the restoration of the economic capacities of Germany, France, Britain and other European countries. After the SWW the USSR's reputation was very high, and to prevent communist ideas spreading to the west the US invested a huge sum of money into European economies. The Marshall plan was also proposed to the Soviet Union. In 1949 to protect the Western world from the possible aggression from the East the US and 11 countries formed the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation NATO with headquarters in Brussels. In response in 1955 the Soviet Union and its Eastern-European allies signed the Warsaw Treaty of Collective Security ( ) also know as the Warsaw pact. The next several decades all the main political processes in the word were characterized between these two blocks, or more generally the East and the West.
In 1949 the conflict between the Nationalists headed by Chang Key-Shek. And the Communists led by Mao Tsedong reached its climax. As a result the communists won, and in that same year the People's Republic of China was formed. The victory of communists in China provoked another conflict in Korea. 1950-1952 Civil war in Korea. As a result, the Korean peninsula was divided in to two state The Republic of Korea (Seul) and communist Korean People's Democratic Republic () which today remains one of the few radically communist states in the world.
In the 1950s in the US despite an economic boom and prosperity there was a suspicion. The witch hunt was initiated by senator Joseph McCarthy who claimed progressive intellectuals and politicians to be communist conspirators. Hundreds and thousands of careers were ruined. However, McCarthy was soon exposed as a cheat and dismissed. In 1960 John Kennedy won the presidential elections and immediately began to implement new frontier policy, and the first movement was towards Cuba, where in 1959 Fidel Castro took the power and established a communist regime in Cuba. Hundreds of Cuban emigrants were trained by the CIA and sent to Cuba where at the Bay of Pigs, where they were crushed by Castro's people. After this provocation, Fidel asked the Soviet Union to protect Cuba from the possible aggression. Soviet nuclear missiles were installed in Cuba and Kennedy demanded the immediate removal of the missiles from the Cuba (1962) the Caribbean Crisis. In 1962 the so-called Test-Ban Treaty was signed, which prohibited all the nuclear tests in the atmosphere. Khrushchev removed nuclear weapon from Cuba under the promise of Kennedy that the USA won't invade the island.
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The 1960s became a crucial decade for the solution of old problems concerning racial inequality, the role of women and Native Americans question. In 1955 in Alabama the supporters of racial equality led by Martin Luther King boycotted public transportation in the state, which ended the segregation on buses in Alabama. The beginning of 1960 were famous for rallies, the most famous of which the 'March on Washington in 1962 led by Martin Luther King. 200 000 thousand people where Martin Luther King pronounced his notable speech I have a dream (p244-246). After this a number of changes took place in the legislation concerning African-Americans, the most important of which was the right to vote that was give to all the African-Americans. In 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated. Several months later Senator Robert Kennedy followed the same destiny.
In 1966 28 progressive women led by Betty Freiden formed the National Organization for Women.
In 1968 the American Indian Movement was created that took the responsibility of solving connected with Native-Americans.
After the failure of French colonies in Indo-China in 1954 the USA got gradually involved into the controversies in Vietnam. South Vietnam was supported by the USA, North was supported by the Soviet Union. In 1954 president Johnson employed a policy of escalation and sent almost half a million of American soldiers to the country. The conflict lasted for about 10 years. The American soldiers were often accused of atrocities against civilians in Vietnam. 58000 of American soldiers were killed.
The year 1972 was the year of presidential elections and R Nixon wanted to be re-elected for the second term. During the electoral campaign 5 men were caught in the headquarters of the Democratic party at the Watergate hotel in Washington. Nixon was re-elected but in 1973 the scandal continued, when the comity demanded the recordings that Nixon made during his conversations and which vividly showed direct involvement of Nixon into this break-in to the Watergate hotel. The congress started the procedure of impeachment, but Nixon preferred to resign voluntary.
The 1980s were marked by the presidency of R Reagan and George Bush the senior. The following events were important:
Star Wars - launching satellites.
The collapse of the USSR in 1991.
Q12 The US foreign policy today (11 sept 2001 until the day of examination).
