Cold War

After World War II the United States and the Soviet Union went from being allies to adversaries. The Soviets took control of eastern European countries, while the US established military and economic alliances with western Europe. In eastern Europe the Soviet Union ruled with an iron fist. Germany was divided between east and west, and in 1961 Berlin was cut in two by the Berlin Wall. The Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in 1949 and during the 50’s and 60’s, the US and Soviets competed in the nuclear arms race. In 1962 the US and the Soviet Union came dangerously close to nuclear controntation with the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, the Soviets agreed to take their missiles out of Cuba. Communism was triumphant in China in 1949, with the sucess of the Chinese Revolution. Communists also held sway in North Korea and North Vietnam. The US fought communism in both the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam War (1965-1975). Communist expansion declined in the 1980’s as the Soviet Union faced economic problems in competing with the West. In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, uniting east and west Germany into one  democratic country. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed, ending communist rule and the USSR’s domination of eastern Europe. The Cold War was over.

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© Dave Forrest 2014