The+Cold+War

= __The Cold War__ = By: Jordan Clark

In my wiki I will cover The Cold War Era and the many wars and crises that were involved within it, all of which involve the United States and the U.S.S.R. There are more topics within The Cold War than I can cover so I have decided to cover the five following topics:


 * Overview of The Cold War
 * The Berlin Blockade
 * The Cuban Missile Crisis
 * The Korean War
 * The Vietnam War

__**The Overview of The Cold War**__ The Cold War was a long-lasting struggle, which was mainly between the United States of America and The U.S.S.R, The Union of Soviet Socialist Rebupublics. The Soviets had a large amount of "Satellite States", which are countries that are being influenced or totally controlled by another country, that were on there side of the war and supported them. The United States had the help of Great Britain and France along with many other anti-communist nations. Most historians say that the Cold War began immediately following the end of World War II while some debate it was prior to this. The Soviets, who were Socialists, believed that they were basically "surrounded" by capitalist countries like the United States and the other Western Powers. The Soviets did not like the fact they were "surrounded" so they decided to do something about, although in the end their plan did not work out as well as they thought it would.

__ **The Berlin Blockade** __ The Berlin Blockade took place between June 24, 1948 and May 12, 1949. The Berlin Blockade was one of (if not) the first crisis of The Cold War. After World War II Germany's territory was occupied by many nations, which were mainly the countries that make up the Western Powers. The Soviets blockaded the railroad in which the Western powers sent supplies into Germany and they also blockaded the roadways which were the only ways on ground to get into Berlin. The Soviets hoped that since they blockaded the supplies from getting into Berlin the Western Powers would ask of the Soviets to supply Berlin with necessary supplies thus practically giving them complete control of the area. The Western Powers did not want this to happen so they started the Berlin Airlift, which was a process of flying in the goods that were needed. There was one problem however and this was the problem the Soviets was hoping for, if the Western Powers could not organize the supplies and get them flown into Berlin fast enough then The Soviets would be needed to send in supplies to prevent the Berliners from starvation. However the Western powers were very adamant about not wanting the Soviets to have to supply Berlin which led to the Berlin Airlift. On June 26, 1948 the first planes of the airlift lifted off and flew to Berlin to deliver supplies. In the following days the number of supplies that were flown in decoupled. The Russians were furious with the success of this airlift, so they tried several things to stop it. The Soviets started offering free food in east Berlin to gain Berlin's trust so they could come in and take over, but the Berliners ignored this offer and continued to accept the supplies from the Western Powers. The Soviets then started to harass the pilots that were flying the planes, one of the most popular ways was to shine bright searchlights at the planes during the night to blind them, although none of their ways were successful in deterring the planes. The Soviets, having been terribly humiliated, lifted the blockade of Berlin on May 12, 1949 which opened the roadways and railways, which allowed ground supplies, from the Western Power, to get into Berlin.

More information on the Berlin Blockade

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 * __The Cuban Missile Crisis__** [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/U2_Image_of_Cuban_Missile_Crisis.jpg width="375" height="302" align="left" caption="This U-2 reconnaissance photo showed concrete evidence of missile assembly in Cuba. Shown here are missile transporters and missile-ready tents where fueling and maintenance took place." link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U2_Image_of_Cuban_Missile_Crisis.jpg"]]In 1962 the Soviets and Cuba made an agreement and they secretly began to build nuclear missiles and nuclear missile bases in Cuba.The reason for doing so was because from Cuba all the missiles could reach most of the continental United States but if they were to put them in Russia the missiles would not be able to reach as much land. Many historians think that it was the United States who provoked this action because in 1958 the U.S. deployed nuclear warheads in Turkey and the surrounding areas where they could hit Moscow, which is the capital of Russia. In October 1962 a U.S. U2 plane captured photos that provided proof that the Russians were in fact deploying nuclear missiles in Cuba. Whenever these missiles were discovered the U.S. had to figure out the best way to go about getting rid of these missiles. Many politicians voted for a full scale invasion while others recommended just to blockade Cuba. President Kennedy met with Andrei Gromyko from Russia, who said that the missiles were only there for defensive purposes and not for the offensive. The U.S. refused to believe this so they ordered the military to blockade Cuba and the military was put on high alert to invade at a moments notice. The U.S. then told the Russians and Cubans that if they were to remove their nuclear missiles from Cuba then the U.S. would in turn remove their nuclear missile bases in Turkey. Cuba denied this offer continuing to reiterate the fact that they had the right to defend their lands every way necessary. This speech was not well perceived around the world, one of the more popular newspapers in China declared that 650,000,000 Chinese people were standing behind the Cuban people. The crisis quickly stalemated due to negotiations making no headway. Later, after contemplating every option, Kennedy secretly ordered the dismantling of the United States missiles in Turkey and Italy hoping that this would provoke the removal of the missiles in Cuba. When this action was completed the Russian leader ordered the dismantling of their own missiles in Cuba. This was considered to be a big step in the way of making peace.

More information on the the Cuban Missile Crisis


 * __The Korean War__ **[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Korean_War_Montage.jpg width="306" height="374" align="left" caption="Collaboration of images from The Korean War" link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Korean_War_Montage.jpg"]]The Korean War was a war that was between The Republic of Korea(south Korea), who was supported by the United Nations (particularly the United States), and the Peoples Republic of China who sided with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(north Korea), both of which had air support by the Soviets After WWII Korea had been divided by the 38th parallel where north of that was occupied by the Soviets' troops and south of that was where the United States troops were. The war was started by North Korea's action of invading South Korea on June 25, 1950. The president was alerted of this action and ordered the U.S. troops, that were currently in Japan during post-[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/KoreanWarRefugeeWithBaby.jpg/736px-KoreanWarRefugeeWithBaby.jpg width="186" height="174" align="right" caption="Korean civilians walk past a tank" link="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/KoreanWarRefugeeWithBaby.jpg"]]WWII, to go into South Korea and push the North Koreans back into their own territory. The Battle of Osan was the first battle and the North Koreans were victorious due to the south Koreans lack of anti-tank weapons at the time. This battle was before the U.S. troops had to time to get into south Korea. By November 1920 the south Koreans along with the United States pushed the north Koreans well north of the 38th parallel. A final armistice agreement was eventually met and they created the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission, who were set up to handle the matter.

[|More information on the Korean War] More information on the split of Korea and the 38th parallel

__ **The Vietnam War** __ The Vietnam War took place between November 1, 1955 and July 2, 1976. The war was fought between north Vietnam, who were communist and supported by other communist nations the Soviets being the main one, and south Vietnam, who were supported by the United States and other anti-communist countries. The United States' main reason for entering the war was to prevent the Communists of north Vietnam from taking over the government of south Vietnam. The Soviets were an extremely valuable ally to north Korea in this war, because they supplied the necessary amount of air-support. As U.S. support continued to flow into south Vietnam, north Vietnam fired directly on two U.S. ships. This action by north Vietnam infuriated the U.S. and congress gave the president at the time, who was Lyndon B. Johnson, the right to step-up action against north Vietnam and send in ground troops. President Johnson's goal was not to win the war but get South Vietnam to the point where they could take over and then push the northern Vietnamese back. In 1969 the new president Richard Nixon took power and he had his own plan of ending the Vietnam War. He came up with the plan "Vietnamization", which was to remove all U.S. troops from Vietnam and hand the war back over to the southern Vietnamese. In July 1969 U.S. troops started to withdraw from Vietnam and began the process of ending the war, at least for the Americans. In 1972, after most of the U.S. troops had been withdrawn the north Vietnamese attacked and the north came south past the 17th parallel and gained a large amount of ground. In 1975 all U.S. troops had been withdrawn and north Vietnam continued their journey south and on July 2, 1976 Vietnam was again united as one communist country, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

More Information on the Vietnam War More in-depth information on the Cold War

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**Works Cited** "Berlin Blockade." //Wikipedia.org//. N.p., 7/6/2010. Web. 7 Jun 2010. .

"Cold War." //Wikipedia.org//. N.p., 3 6 2010. Web. 7 Jun 2010. .

"Cuban Missile Crisis." //Wikipedia//.org. N.p., 7 6 2010. Web. 7 Jun 2010. .

Jennifer, Rosenberg. "Vietnam War." //About.com//. N.p., 2010. Web. 7 Jun 2010. .

"Korean War." //Wikipedia//.org. N.p., 7 6 2010. Web. 7 Jun 2010. .

"Vietnam War." //Wikipedia.org//. N.p., 7 6 2010. Web. 7 Jun 2010. .