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The Cold War was characterized by mutual distrust, suspicion, and misunderstandings by the United States and the Soviet Union. At times, these conditions increased the likelihood of a third world war. Elementary and Middle School books tell about the cold war being the struggle of the evil east against the democratic west. This leads students to believe that the cold war was one major battle, but really the cold war was made up of many smaller events. The United States accused the Soviet Union of seeking to expand Communism throughout the world. The Soviets, meanwhile, charged the United States with practicing imperialism and attempting to stop revolutionary activity in other countries.
Each blocs vision of the world also contributed to East-West tension. The United States wanted a world of independent nations based on democratic principles. The Soviet Union, attempted to tightly control areas it considered vital to its national interest, which included much of Eastern Europe. The many battles fought between the Soviets and United States led to what we now call The Cold War.
Some of the major events that took place include; The Berlin Blockade and Airlift, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, and The Fall of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Blockade and airlift was the first actual conflict between the powers of the west and the Soviets. On June 18, 1948 the western powers decided to remedy the increase of war torn Germany, disregarding Soviet opinion. A new Germany currency called the Deutschmark was established, which enraged the Soviets.
On June 23 the Soviets created their own currency. They cut off all shipments of supplies to West Berlin, including coal, food, milk, and then declared West Berlin off limits to the Western powers. To prevent violence, the US and Britain decided to supply Berlin with aircrafts. The Berlin airlifts began on June 28 and on June 30. George C. Marshall declared that the maximum use of air transport would be made to supply the civilian population.
However Stalin remained adamant and continued the blockade. By November, 4, 000 tons of supplies were being airlifted each day, using larger and larger cargo planes. In addition, West Germany became considered an ally and West Berlin was able to maintain hope. On May 12, 1949, eleven months and 2. 5 million tons of supplies later, the Soviets and Western powers reached an agreement to end Western countermeasures, and the blockade was lifted.
By the end of World War II the United States and Soviets had liberated Korea. The peninsula became divided along the 38 th parallel into two nations, the Soviet Supported North, led by Kim II Sung, and the US Supported South, led by Syngman Rhee. Many believe that in response to the increases US aid to South Korea, Kim devised plans to attack South Korea and was backed by Stalin, assuming that the US and other powers would not interfere. On June 25, 1950 North Korean troops and Soviet-made tanks invaded South Korea, inciting the Korean War. Due to a soviet boycott of the United Nations the US called upon a condemnation of North Korean actions and a UN military force to assist the South Korean army. Up to sixteen nations participated in the UN military force, including Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Turkey, and the United States.
Chinese troops were involved by November 1950 in support of Kim, and the UN force was soon pushed to the southeast tip of the Korean peninsula, near the city of Pusan. However US General Douglas MacArthur staged a surprise attack from the western port city of Inchon, which helped push the North Korean troops northward. A deadlock at the 38 th parallel was reached, thus forcing armistice discussions to begin during the summer of 1951, which lasted for two years. In 1954 the Vietnamese nationalists, led by Ho Chi Minh, defeated the French at the fort in Dien Bein Phu, in spite of US financial support to the French.
A cease-fire was resolved through the Geneva Accords, and Vietnam was divided into a communist North, led by Ho Chi Ming, and a non-communist South, led by Ngo Dinh Diem. By 1960 the communists founded the National front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, also known as the National Liberation Front or the Vietcong. Sensing friction, Kennedy sent military advisers to support South Vietnam. However many South Vietnamese began to dislike the extreme actions of Diem, and on November 1, 1964 the government was overthrown and Diem was murdered. In August 1964, the US destroyer USS Maddox was allegedly under fire in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Golf of Tonkin Resolution was passed in congress to allow President Lyndon B.
Johnson to fight. In March 1965 American soldiers arrived at Da Nang. The Vietnam War had begun, the body count for Vietnamese and Americans alike rose steeply. With little progress being made Johnson decided to bomb North Vietnam, particularly the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which was the main supply line for Vietcong. The bombing however was ineffective and many Americans became disenchanted with the seemingly pointless war. In 1968 North Vietnam launched a massive attack on South Vietnamese cities called the Tet Offensive, which eventually forced the US to negotiate.
In January 1973 US President Nixon along with Henry Kissinger settled hostiles with North Vietnamese representatives. The war in Vietnam ended on April 30, 1975 with the Vietcong takeover of the Southern Vietnam capital of Saigon. Communism began to crumble in Eastern Europe. Around 1989, Hungary began to experience democratic reforms and even went as far as to remove its barbed wire fence that separated it from the West.
The Soviets did not respond. At the same time, Poland asserted solidarity, and an anti-communist was elected as leader. In the summer of 1989, East Germans began to flee to Hungary, and blockades of these escapees were met with great protest. A peaceful demonstration of 70, 000 people instigated new leadership and democratic changes. On November 9, huge crowds gathered at the Berlin Wall and began to dismantle the wall without retaliation. By 1990 the Berlin Wall was removed, and Germans were reunited.
The Berlin wall was built in 1961 to partition the city, and it stood as a symbol to the Cold War. When the Berlin Wall was finally taken down, the Iron Curtain had been at long last raised. Beginning in 1989, Communist rule came to an end in a number of Eastern European countries, including Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Germany was reunified in 1990, when East Germany united with West Germany.
In 1991, the Soviet Communist Party lost control of the Soviet government. Later that year, Gorbachev resigned, the Soviet Union dissolved, and the republics that made up the nation became independent states. In 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and U. S. President George Bush formally declared that their countries did not regard each other as potential enemies.
These events marked the end of the Cold War.
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Research essay sample on Ho Chi Minh 38 Th Parallel
