World History Mr. Meester Cold War Conflicts 1950-1965 World History Mr. Meester

Vocabulary Korean War 38th Parallel Cuban Missile Crisis John F. Kennedy Fidel Castro

The Korean Conflict After WWII, Korea was divided in 2 by the USSR and United States The North was communist and the South was democratic The countries were divided by the 38th Parallel June 25th, 1950 Communist North Korean forces invaded South Korea They wanted a unified Communist Korea

Korean War The U.N. sent in troops to stop the invasion. (Most were from the US) By fall, the U.S. had invaded the North wanting a unified democratic Korea Chinese forces helped push the U.S. back Truman refused to invade China After 2 more years of fighting the war ended in 1953 where it began

Korean War

The Space Race In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first man-made space satellite “Sputnik I” America was frightened due to a perceived Soviet technological advantage The U.S. believed the Soviets could deliver nuclear weapons to America America is forced to develop a space program of its own

Sputnik I

Standoff in Berlin In the late 50’s Khrushchev tried to take advantage of America’s fear Tried again to take over West Berlin He threatened to once again set up a blockage of West Berlin. Eisenhower sent in more troops and the Soviets backed down In response Khrushchev had the Berlin Wall built

The Berlin Wall

CIA vs. KGB CIA was the US foreign intelligence agency KGB was the Soviet version of the CIA. Espionage became highly important during the Cold War. The Nations needed to know what the other one had and if it was better try to attain this superior technology.

Espionage and Distrust The American U-2 Spy Plane had the ability to fly at high altitudes & take photos over the Soviet Union. In 1960 the Soviets were able to shoot down a U-2 spy plane. Francis Gary Powers, the pilot, was captured. This made American-Soviet relations even worse

The U-2

Communists in Cuba Fidel Castro lead a communist takeover of the island of Cuba. CIA tried to train and equip exiled Cubans to retake their country. These attempts failed miserably at the Bay of Pigs. Tensions continued to increase.

Fidel Castro

The Cuban Missile Crisis In October, 1962 the Soviet Union began installing nuclear missiles in Cuba Would allow the Soviets to strike before we could counter-attack President Kennedy debated 2 responses 1st was an air strike that could have escalated into WWIII

U.S. Blockade Kennedy eventually decided on a naval blockade of Cuba This would stop more weapons entering Cuba For several days Kennedy and the world waited as ships headed towards Cuba At the last moment the ships turned around

Khrushchev Backs Down Khrushchev & Kennedy decide to negotiate Khrushchev promised to remove the missiles from Cuba Kennedy pledged not to invade Cuba This ended the most dangerous crisis of the Cold War Relations between the U.S. & Soviet Union were at an all time low