2. Key Events of Cold War Era 1949-1975

3. The Independence & Partition of India and Pakistan 1947 “On 3 June 1947, Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of British India into India and Pakistan. With the speedy passage through the British Parliament of the Indian Independence Act 1947 on 14-15 August 1947 India and Pakistan were declared a separate and independent nations.” “Violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims followed. Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel invited Mountbatten to continue as Governor General of India for another year in order to help bring India under control.” The US kept close tabs on these events, to ensure that communism did not spread.

4. Communist Revolution in China 1949 On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920's.

5. The Korean War 1950-1953  The Korean War was the time when the Cold War became a global conflict. In 1945, Korea was freed from the Japanese. US troops stayed in South Korea and Soviet troops remained in North Korea until 1946. The country was split in half at the 38 th parallel:  North Korea (led by Kim II Sung) was Communist.  South Korea (led by Syngman Rhee) was capitalist.

6. The Space Race 1957-1975 Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for "traveler"), the world's first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth's orbit. Sputnik's launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans. In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile--seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. air space--made gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities particularly urgent

7. Berlin Wall Crisis 1961 The international political situation between NATO and Warsaw Pact nations continued to intensify. On November 27, 1958, the Soviets under Khrushchev delivered the Berlin Ultimatum in an attempt to stem the tide of refugees. The ultimatum demanded that the western allies withdraw their troops from West Berlin and that it should become a "free city" within six months. The threat of a separate peace treaty between the Soviet Union and East Germany loomed on February 17, 1959. A meeting in Vienna between President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev on June 3 and 4, 1961, failed to end the impasse. The ultimatum was a fiasco, and the situation was even worse than before. Continued tension during the six-month period had only increased the flow of refugees who feared that time was running short. When the ultimatum ran out, there was a brief respite. But as the effects of the "Seven-Year Plan" began to be felt, the flow of refugees rose again. The Berlin Wall was erected on August 13, 1961. Early on that Sunday morning the GDR began, under Secretary General Erich Honecker, to block off East Berlin and the GDR from West Berlin by means of barbed wire and antitank obstacles.

8. Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 In October 1962, an American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. President Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles. He met in secret with his advisors for several days to discuss the problem. After many long and difficult meetings, Kennedy decided to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba. The aim of this "quarantine," as he called it, was to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites. On October 22, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis in a televised address. No one was sure how Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev would respond to the naval blockade and U.S. demands. But the leaders of both superpowers recognized the devastating possibility of a nuclear war and publicly agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would dismantle the weapon sites in exchange for a pledge from the United States not to invade Cuba. In a separate deal, which remained secret for more than twenty-five years, the United States also agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey. Although the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba, they escalated the building of their military arsenal; the missile crisis was over, the arms race was not.

9. U.S. Combat in Vietnam 1965-1973 Overview: In 1954, Vietnam was divided into two states: communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam. When Vietnamese communists began attacking South Vietnam, the U.S. sent troops to help. At one point, over 500,000 U.S. troops were fighting in support of South Vietnam. Eventually, many Americans came to believe that U.S. troops should be withdrawn. The war became one of the most divisive and unpopular causes in U.S. history. In 1973, a cease-fire agreement with North Vietnam was signed and U.S. forces withdrew. Two years later, Vietnam was reunited under communist rule.

10. Prague Spring 1968 The Prague Spring of 1968 is the term used for the brief period of time when the government of Czechoslovakia led by Alexander Dubček seemingly wanted to democratize the nation and lessen the stranglehold Moscow had on the nation’s affairs. The Prague Spring ended with a Soviet invasion, the removal of Alexander Dubček as party leader and an end to reform within Czechoslovakia.

11. Détente 1971 Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1971, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War. The period was characterized by the signing of treaties such as SALT I.

12. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_independence_movement http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/prague_spring_1968.htm http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/ChineseRev http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9tente http://www.history.com/topics/space-race http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1867.html http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Cuban-Missile-Crisis.aspx