COLD WAR CONTAINMENT CONFLICTS

The Truman Doctrine and Containment

• 1947: British help Greek government fight communist guerrillas.

• They appealed to America for aid, and the response was the Truman Doctrine.

• America promised it would support free countries to help fight communism.

• Greece received large amounts of arms and supplies and by 1949 had defeated the communists.

• The Truman Doctrine was significant because it showed that America, the most powerful democratic country, was prepared to resist the spread of communism throughout the world.

• Containment- U.S. will fight to contain communism

STOP AND WRITE: What is containment?

War in Korea

• When World War II ended Korea was divided at the 38th parallel

• The north was the communist industrial half supported by the Soviet Union

• The south was the non-Communist rural area supported by the U.S.

From Rising Tensions to War Between the North and South• 1949 troops on both sides withdraw• June 1950 North Korea crosses the 38th parallel• By Sept. North Korea controlled entire peninsula• United Nations organizes international force under the

leadership of Douglas MacArthur and they push back the North Koreans

• China felt threatened and the war turned into a war between China and the U.S.

• War lasts until 1953• New border drawn but pretty much at the 38th parallel

Aftermath of Korea• North Korea continued its path toward a communist

economy and dictatorship and they develop nuclear weapons under Kim Jong Il

• South Korea got aid from the U.S. and has since prospered economically despite periods of undemocratic rule

• Demilitarized zone between the two Koreas

STOP AND EXPLAIN: What happened in Korea?

Vietnam Divided• Vietnam was a French colony• Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese nationalist, turned to the

communists for help in fighting French rule• Vietminh = Independence League• 1954 French give up the colony• President Eisenhower worried about the threat of

communism spreading and countries falling like dominoes = domino theory and intervened

• Like Korea, Vietnam was divided between a communist North (run by Ho Chi Minh) and an anti-communist south (run by Ngo Dinh Diem- set up by the U.S. and France)

War in Vietnam• Ho Chi Minh became popular among the people, while Diem

ruled as a dictator• Opposition to Diem’s rule in the south sparked the creation of

the Vietcong (communist guerillas), who began to take over most of the south

• U.S. intervened unsuccessfully at first and then in 1964 President Johnson got Congress to authorize troops after he said two American destroyers were sunk in the Gulf of Tonkin

• By late 1960s Vietnam war in standstill and was very unpopular with the U.S. public, so Nixon began slowly withdrawing troops in 1969

• Last forces leave in 1973• North takes over the south and renames Saigon, the capital of

the south, Ho Chi Minh city

Vietnam Today

• Though Vietnam is still a Communist country we have restored relations with it since we lifted the trade embargo in 1994

STOP AND DISCUSS: Was U.S. intervention in Vietnam justified?What is similar and different about US involvement in Vietnam and Korea?

U.S. Intervenes in Latin America• American businesses dominated Latin American politics

even if it was bad for the people of Latin America• U.S. feared the expansion of communism in Latin America

and repeatedly intervened• 1954 overthrow of Guatemalan leader Jacobo Arbenz• 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile• 1980s helped contra revolutionaries in Nicaragua defeat

communist Sandanista government

Cuba• U.S. supported Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista• Fidel Castro overthrows him in 1954 (with the advice of

Che Guevara) and sets up a communist dictatorship• 1961 U.S. fails at invasion of Bay of Pigs, which is a huge

fail for the U.S.• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

• Soviet leader Krushchev puts missiles on Cuba• Kennedy threats nuclear war if he doesn’t remove weapons• Krushchev backs down• Soviets help Cuban economy with aid after U.S. embargoes Cuba

• Restored relations with Cuba • Just recently we ended the embargo with Cuba

STOP AND WRITE: DESCIBE THE REVOLUTION IN CUBA

Iran• 1950s Iranians support Muhammad Mossaddeq, who

wanted to nationalize the oil industries• The United States and Great Britain get rid of Mossaddeq

and support Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who undergoes a program of westernization

• 1979 – Revolution in Iran ousts the Shah Pahlavi and Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini comes to power

• Khomeini Makes Drastic changes• repression of constitutional parties• moderates replaced by radical religious leaders• foreign influences ousted• Islamic legal codes put in place• veiling for women became obligatory

Afganistan• 1950s Soviet influence in Afghanistan increases but in the

late 1970s a Muslim revolt threatened Soviet influence• 1979- Soviets invaded • U.S. supports the Mujahadeen, the rebels, with weapons

because U.S. worried about oil supplies in the Middle East• U.S. also boycotts the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow• 1989 Soviets withdrawal

LEFT PAGE ASSIGNMENT: You have learned about many times the U.S. got involved in conflicts all over the world because of the Cold War. Were these conflicts justified? Why? Why not? Discuss what is similar and different about them using examples as you write.