superpowers face off inthecoldwar...d warsaw pact u.s. soviet c:e:) e potential nuclear attack...
TRANSCRIPT
Superpowers Face Off in the Cold WarI€&) The alliances of the Cold War were led by
two superpowers: the democratic United Statesand the Communist Soviet Union, anoutgrowth of Russia.
tea.! Democratic alliances includedNATO in Europe and North Americaand CENTO in Asia.
'€&) Communist nations joined the Warsaw Pactin Eastern Europe. After 1949, China wasalso a Communist country.
€&) In the most perilous moment of the Cold War,the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the twosuperpowers to the brink of nuclear war.
THREAT OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
Both the United States and the Soviet Union stockpiled nuclear weapons. Each reasonedthat fear of retaliation would keep the other from firing the first missile. This policy wasknown as MAD-Mutual Assured Destruction.
Military Alliances
D NATO and CENTOD Warsaw Pact
U.S. Sovietc::) Potential nuclear attacke e Missile site
• • Air base
Political boundaries of 19701000 2000 miles~===T==='~,----~'
2000 kilometers
102
During the 1950s, Americans were so worried about the possibility ofnuclear war that schoolchildren regularly practiced atomic bomb drills.
UNITED STATES AFTER WORLD WAR II1 945 toE a r Iy 1 9 7~~O_s,~ ••..•
Era, 9
250 500 miles~:;:==o:' :::;------"
D Warsaw Pact memberD Other Communist nationD NATO memberD Neutral nationr:::zI'I' Iron Curtain
<D Divided city
Political boundaries of 1989
The Communist countriesof Eastern Europe and theNATO democracies of the Westwere isolated from one anotherfor decades after World War II.The term "Iron Curtain"symbolized this rigid andhostile division.
ATLANTICOCEAN
DD~~~~
CubaUnited States andu.s. territoryExtent of U.s. quarantine
Soviet arms shipment
U.S. military base
Soviet missile site
When the Soviet Union installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, the United States used anaval quarantine to force their removal. The world watched, expecting nuclear war.After several tense days, the Soviets finally backed down and removed the missiles,
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS1962
Gulfof
Mexico
200 400 miles~====;:,='':::::::;-, _-----'I
200 400 kilometers
Oct. 1962 Ships carryingSoviet armaments honorU.S. quarantine.
""Cayman Is.(Br.)
103
'The Vietnam War Ends an Erae&" In 1957 U.S. military advisers went to assist
capitalist South Vietnam, which faced agrowing Communist rebellion.
~ In 1965 the United States committed t~oopsto fight against both the Viet Cong rebelsand Communist North Vietnam, whichsupported them.
e&" As the war went on, Americans at home becamedissatisfied. Lack of support for the war eventuallyled to the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 1973.
~ Without the assistance of American troops,South Vietnam fell to Communist forces in 1975.
May 1954 Vietnamese rebels defeatFrench; a divided Vietnam gainsindependence from France.
CHINA
LAOS
GulfofThailand
108
Vietnam had been divided in 1954. North Vietnam sent weaponsto the Viet Cong rebels in the South via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.U.S. advisers trained South Vietnamese forces to fight the rebelsand cut their supply lines.
Helicopters were the workhorses of the Vietnam War. They were used tospot the enemy, defend ground troops, transport soldiers and supplies,and evacuate the dead and wounded.
(600-
f'eak troop level543,300
V1-0c 500-rnV1:::J0.s: 400-~Qjcc 300-0VI•..C1)a..
200-Vl::::j
100-
0-
U.S. MILITARY IN VIETNAM
U.S. INVOLVEMENT GROWS1957-1964
Areas of Control, 1960D North Vietnam
and Viet CongD South Vietnam••• DMZ, 1954
Millions of Americans served in Vietnam between1965 and 1973. Before and after that, mostAmericans in Vietnam were military advisers.
••••. Supply route
Highway.......J...... u.s. 7th fleet
(until 1973)
BattlesJll Ll.S. ground, air, naval forces~ u.S. advisers or air support~ u.s. air strike• No U.S. involvement
(See also maps on page 109.)
75 150 miles, ,i i
75 1SO kilometers
Era 9UNITED STATES AFTER WORLD WAR II1945 to Ea rly 19705
u.s. TROOPSCARRY THE LOAD
1965-1968In 1965, the u.s. role in Vietnam switched from advising tofighting. u.s. bombers struck targets in the North. Groundtroops faced Communist forces who used guerrilla tacticssuch as ambushes and mines.
Areas of Control, 1966D North Vietnam
and Viet Congo South Vietnam
See legend on page 108.
LAOS
\)GulfofThailand
Many Americans opposed the Vietnam War-some due to its unclearaims and its high cost in money and lives, others to avoid personalharm. Antiwar feelings eventually ended political support for the war.
CHINA
(
GulfofTonkin
Carn Ranh Bay.........J.....SouthChinaSea
Apr. 1975 North Vietnamesetroops capture Saigon, war ends.
u.s. ground troops played adiminishing role in the warafter 1969. More of thefighting fell to the army ofSouth Vietnam. Two yearsafter the last U.S. troops left,North Vietnam won the war.
u.s. TROOPS WITHDRAW,THE WAR ENDS
1969-1975Areas of Control, 1973 Io North Vietnam and Viet Cong)o South Vietnam
• Major advance
See legend on page 108. 109