Name: ________________________________________________ Period: ________ Date:

___________

Unit XVIII: A New World Order

The Cold War

I. The Iron Curtain

A. After World War II, the United States and Great Britain wanted the Eastern
European nations to determine their own governments.
B. Stalin feared that the Eastern European nations would be anti-Soviet if they
were allowed _______________ _______________.
C. The “______________________________” dividing Western Europe and Soviet-
controlled Eastern Europe was the beginning of the
______________________________.
D. For forty years, no missiles flew or guns fired but the world was fiercely divided
between two military and economic ______________________________.
1. The Soviet Union feared the ______________________________.
2. The United States feared the ______________________________.
3. After the “Iron Curtain” split Europe, the superpowers struggled for influence
over the ______________________________: _______________,_______________, and
______________________________.
E. The US and USSR competed intensely over everything:
• Who had more nuclear weapons?
• … had the most advanced _______________?
• … would be the first in _______________?
• … would be the first to the _______________?
• … had the biggest _______________?
• … had the fastest _______________?
• … won more ______________________________ medals?
• … had better _______________?
• … had more _______________?

1
II. Containment
A. In 1947, the United States adopted the policy of _______________ to keep
communism within its existing boundaries and prevent further Soviet aggressive
moves.
1. The United States was concerned that communism would _______________
throughout the free world if left unchecked.
2. The Cold War led to widespread fear that Communists had infiltrated the
United States government.
a. Senator ______________________________ charged that hundreds of
communists were in high government positions. This created a massive
“______________________________.”
B. In early 1947 President Harry S Truman issued the
______________________________, which stated that the United States would give
money to countries threatened by Communist expansion.
C. In June 1947, the US started the ______________________________ to rebuild war-
torn Europe.
1. The ______________________________ and its economically and politically
dependent Eastern European satellite states refused to participate in the
Marshall Plan.
2. In 1949, the Soviet Union set up the Council for Mutual Assistance
(_______________) as a response to the Marshall Plan.
3. COMECON was established to help the economies of Eastern European
states.
D. By 1948, Britain, the US, and France worked to unify the three western sections
of Germany and Berlin and create a ______________________________ government.
1. The Soviets opposed the creation of a West German state, so they tried to
prevent it by setting up a _______________ of West Berlin.
2. The United States and Great Britain used the ______________________________
to fly in supplies to West Berlin.
3. The Soviets ended the blockade in May 1949.

III. Communism Spreads

A. Soviet Recovery

2
 1. The _______________ of the Soviet Union was devastated by World War II.
2. By 1950, the Soviet Union had built new power plants, canals, and giant
factories. ______________________________ had recovered.
B. Eastern Europe
1. The Soviet Union tightened its grip on Eastern Europe.
2. After World War II, Soviet-controlled _______________ governments took control
of these _______________ states.
3. Between 1948 and 1953, Soviet-type five-year plans were introduced there
with emphasis on heavy industry.
4. They began to collectivize agriculture.
5. They set up ______________________________ and military forces.

3
C. China
1. By 1945, China had ______________________________.
2. The United States supported the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek,
based in southern and central China.
3. The Communist government led by ______________________________ was based
in northern China.
4. In 1945, war between the Nationalists and Communists broke out.
5. Millions of peasants joined Mao’s
_____________________________________________ because they were promised
land.
6. Mao’s Communist army defeated the Nationalist army.
7. Chiang Kai-shek and his followers fled mainland China and established the
capital of the Republic of China at Taipei, _______________.
8. American military forces protected Chiang’s government.
9. Chinese _______________ took control of the government of China in 1949.
D. Korea
1. In August 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to divide
Korea into two zones at the ______________________________.
2. The ______________________________ began in 1950 when the Communist
government of North Korea, supported by the Soviet Union, tried to take over
South Korea.
3. In 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea.
4. President Truman, with the support of the ______________________________, sent
US troops to repel the invaders.
5. In 1951, the _______________ sent troops into North Korea and pushed the UN
forces back, south of the 38th parallel.
6. An armistice was signed in 1953.
7. The ______________________________ remains the border between North and
South Korea today.

IV. The Arms Race

A. Nuclear Arms
1. In 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first ______________________________.

4
 2. Both superpowers developed far more powerful
______________________________ by the 1950s.
3. After the fall of China, North Korea, and Eastern Europe, the US and USSR
began an ______________________________.
4. Each country built enough nuclear weapons to kill 500,000,000 people in the
event of war, destroying all civilization and laying waste to the
______________________________.
5. The policy was called _____________________________________________.
B. Alliances
1. In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (_______________) was
formed.
2. This military alliance, which included ______________________________,
_______________, other Western European nations, and the
______________________________ and Canada, agreed to provide mutual help if
any one of them was attacked.
3. In 1955, the ______________________________ and Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, ______________________________, Hungary, Poland, and
Romania formed the military alliance called the
______________________________.
4. After World War II, Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz _______________, was an
_______________ Communist state until his death in 1980.
5. The United States then extended its military alliances around the world.
6. By the mid-1950s, the United States was in military alliances with
_______________ nations.

V. De-Stalinization
A. Stalin died in _______________.
B. After Stalin’s death, Nikita _______________ became the chief policy maker in the
Soviet Union.
1. Under his leadership, ______________________________, or the process of
eliminating some of Stalin’s most ruthless policies, was put in place.
2. With Stalin gone, many Eastern European states tried to make reforms.

5
 3. The Soviet Union, however, made it clear that it would not allow its Eastern
European satellites to become _______________.
C. Revolts against communism in Poland, Hungary, and
______________________________ were brutally crushed.
D. In August 1961, on the order of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, the East
German government began to build the ______________________________.
1. It was built to stop the flood of East Germans escaping to the greater
freedom and _______________ of West Berlin.

VI. The Cuban Missile Crisis

A. The “Missile Gap”
1. In 1957, the Soviets sent _______________, the first man-made space satellite,
to orbit the earth.
2. In 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut, ______________________________, became the
______________________________ to orbit the Earth in space.
3. Americans feared there was a “______________________________” between the
Soviet Union and the United States.
B. The Cuban Revolution
1. In the 1950s, a movement in _______________ led by
______________________________ aimed to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio
_______________.
2. Castro’s revolutionaries captured _______________ in 1959.
a. Many Cubans who disagreed with Castro fled to the _______________.
b. The Argentinean ______________________________, who had aided Castro
during the Cuban Revolution, then tried to spark Communist revolutions
elsewhere in ______________________________.
3. Relations between the US and Cuba quickly deteriorated as Castro began to
receive aid and arms from the ______________________________.
a. In October 1960, the US declared a trade _______________ prohibiting trade
with Cuba.
b. In January 1961, the US broke diplomatic relations with Cuba.
4. The Bay of Pigs

6
 a. In April 1961, US President John F. Kennedy supported an attempt to
overthrow Castro’s government.
b. The attempted invasion at the ______________________________ failed.
C. Missile Sites
1. In 1962, Khrushchev began to place ______________________________ in Cuba to
counteract U.S. nuclear weapons placed in _______________, near the Soviet
Union.
2. In October 1962, President Kennedy ordered a _______________ of Cuba to
stop Soviet ships carrying more nuclear missiles from reaching Cuba.
3. Khrushchev agreed to send the ships back and remove nuclear missiles in
Cuba if Kennedy agreed not to _______________ Cuba.
4. Kennedy agreed. Six months later, the US _______________ its missiles from
Turkey.
5. The _____________________________________________ brought the world to very
brink of nuclear war.
D. American Advancements
1. The American _______________ program succeeded in sending
______________________________ to space in 1962.
2. On July 20, 1969, the _______________ project allowed American
______________________________ to become the first man to walk on the surface
of the Moon.

VII. Post-war Western Europe

A. EEC
1. After World War II, many Europeans wanted ______________________________.
2. Nationalism, however, was too strong for European nations to give up their
sovereignty. Instead the countries focused on economic unity.
3. In 1957, France, West Germany, the Benelux countries, and Italy created the
European Economic Community (_______________), also known as the
______________________________.
B. France

7
 1. For almost 25 years after World War II, France was led by
______________________________, leader of the French Resistance during the
war.
2. During this time, France recovered economically and became a major
industrial producer and exporter.
C. Great Britain
1. At the end of World War II, Great Britain had major economic problems.
2. The ______________________________, promising far-reaching _______________,
defeated Winston Churchill’s Conservative Party which had led through the
war.
3. The Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Clement _______________ created a
______________________________ state - a state in which the government takes
_______________ for providing citizens with services and a minimal standard of
living.
4. The British welfare state became the norm for most European states after
the war.

VIII. Vietnam
A. Independence
1. The cost of building a welfare state caused Great Britain to dismantle the
______________________________. Many British colonies gained their
independence.
2. Great Britain granted independence to _______________ and _______________ in
1947, Burma in 1948, and Malaya in 1957.
3. In 1946, the United States granted total independence to the _______________.
4. In 1949, the US pressured the Netherlands into granting independence to
_______________.
B. Vietminh
1. After World War II, Communists in Vietnam under leadership of
______________________________ fought for independence from France.
2. In 1945, _______________ rebels took control of most of Vietnam.
3. The French, however, refused to accept the new government and fought for
control of the _______________ part of the country.

8
 4. In 1954, France agreed to a peace settlement.
5. Vietnam was divided – the Communist north based in _______________ and the
anti-Communist south based in _______________.
C. Viet Cong
1. But by early 1965, South Vietnamese Communist guerrillas known as the
______________________________ were ready to seize control of the entire
country.
2. In 1964, Nikita Khrushchev was removed from office.
a. Leonid _______________ became the main Soviet leader until 1982.
b. He issued the ______________________________ which asserted that the
Soviet Union had the right to intervene if communism was threatened in
another Communist state.
3. U.S. policy makers applied the ______________________________ to Vietnam.
a. According to this theory, if South Vietnam fell to communism, then other
countries in Asia would fall like dominoes to communism.
4. In March 1965, US President ______________________________ decided to send
American troops to South Vietnam to prevent a Communist victory.
D. The Anti-war Movement
1. By the end of the 1960s, the Vietnam War reached a _______________ – neither
side was able to make significant gains.
2. The atrocities of the war were broadcast nightly on _______________.
3. A massive _______________ movement grew in the US as more American
troops were sent to Vietnam.
4. President Johnson decided not to run for re-election because of
______________________________ against his handling of the war.
5. Former Republican vice-president ______________________________ won the
election with the promise to end the war and reunite the American people.
6. In 1973, Nixon reached an agreement with North Vietnam that allowed the
US to _______________ its forces.
E. Communist Victory
1. Within two years, Vietnam was forcibly _______________ by Communist armies.
2. By the end of 1975, _______________ and Cambodia also had Communist
regimes.

9
 a. The dictator _______________, leader of the ______________________________,
established a brutal revolutionary regime in _______________.

10
IX. A Brief Détente
A. China
1. In Communist China, Mao believed that only ______________________________,
an atmosphere on constant revolutionary fervor, could produce the final
stage of communism, a _______________ society.
a. In 1966, Mao started the Great Proletarian ______________________________
to create a working class culture.
b. The ______________________________, a collection of Mao’s thoughts,
provided knowledge in all areas.
c. The Red Guards were formed to eliminate the “Four Olds” – old
_______________, old _______________, old _______________, and old
_______________.
2. In 1972, President Richard _______________ became the first US President to
visit the People’s Republic of China.
3. In 1979, China and the US established ______________________________.
B. Afghanistan
1. By the 1970s, United States-Soviet relations had reached _______________ - a
relaxation of tension and improved relations.
2. By 1979, however, a new period of East-West confrontation began when the
Soviets invaded _______________. They wanted to restore a pro-Soviet regime.
3. The United States viewed this as an act of expansion.
C. Reagan
1. In 1980, US President ______________________________ began a new military
buildup and arms race with the USSR.
a. Reagan even proposed a Strategic Defense Initiative dubbed
“______________________________” which would blast incoming missiles with
lasers from space.
2. His plan was to outspend and _______________ the USSR.
a. Reagan gave military aid to the ______________________________ to fight the
Soviets.
b. Reagan’s battle against Communism shocked America during the
_____________________________________________.

11
 • Members of Reagan’s administration, led by Lt. Col.
______________________________, orchestrated the sale of weapons to
_______________, an enemy of the United States.
• The profits from those sales were used to fund the _______________, a
right-wing rebel force attempting to overthrow the
_____________________________________________ left-wing government of
Nicaragua.

X. Perestroika
A. By the 1970s, the Communist ruling class of the Soviet Union had become
_______________.
1. The Soviet economy was _______________ by the government’s bureaucracy
that discouraged efficiency and encouraged indifference.
2. Farmers and workers lacked _______________ to work hard.
3. By 1980, the Soviet economy was seriously _______________.
B. Gorbachev
1. In 1985, the reformer Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to lead the Soviet
Union.
2. Gorbachev’s basis of reform was _______________, or restructuring, of the
Soviet economy and government.
3. His willingness to rethink Soviet domestic and foreign policy led to a
dramatic _______________ to the Cold War.
a. In 1987 Gorbachev made an agreement with the United States - the
Intermediate-range Nuclear Force (_______________) Treaty – to eliminate
intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
b. Gorbachev changed Soviet policy by stopping
______________________________ to Communist governments in Eastern
Europe.
c. This led to the _______________ of Communist regimes in these countries.
C. Poland
1. Workers’ protests led to demands for change in _______________.
2. In 1980, Lech Walesa organized a national trade union in Poland known as
_______________.

12
 3. In 1988, the Polish regime agreed to free parliamentary elections - the first
free election in Eastern Europe in forty years.
4. Walesa was elected _______________ of Poland in 1990.
D. Germany
1. In 1988 unrest led many East Germans to flee their Communist country.
2. In 1989, ______________________________ against the Communist regime broke
out.
3. On November 9, 1989, the East German government removed travel
restrictions to the West and the ______________________________ fell.
4. Germany was _______________ in 1990 – signaling the _______________ of the
Cold War.

13
XI. The Collapse
A. Czechoslovakia
1. In 1988 and 1989, mass demonstrations throughout Czechoslovakia led to
the collapse of the Communist government.
2. In 1993, conflicts between Czechs and Slovaks led to the peaceful division of
Czechoslovakia into the ______________________________ and _______________.
B. The Soviet Union
1. As the Soviet government eased its control, _______________ tensions
emerged throughout the Soviet republics.
2. During 1990 and 1991, several of these republics called for _______________
from Soviet control.
3. In 1991, conservative leaders arrested Gorbachev and tried to seize power.
a. ______________________________ and others defeated their attempt.
4. Gorbachev _______________ on December 25, 1991.
5. The next day, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus declared the Soviet
Union _______________.
C. The New Russia
1. _______________ became president of the new Russia.
2. He worked to introduce a ______________________________ economy to Russia.
3. Chechens tried to secede from Russia and form their own republic. Yeltsin
used brutal force in _______________.
4. In 1999 Yeltsin resigned and ______________________________ was elected
president.
5. Fighting in Chechnya continues.
D. Yugoslavia
1. At the end of the 1980s, _______________ was also caught up in the reform
movements of Eastern Europe.
2. By 1990, new political parties had emerged and the Communist Party had
collapsed.
3. In 1990, the Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and
Macedonia worked for _______________.
a. ______________________________, leader of Serbia, rejected independence.
b. In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence.

14
 c. In September 1991, the Yugoslavian army attacked Croatia.
d. In 1992, the Serbs attacked Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• Many Bosnians were _______________.
• The Serbs followed a policy of ______________________________ against
them.
e. In 1995, air strikes by NATO ______________________________ were launched
in retaliation for Serb attacks on civilians.
f. On December 14, Serbia signed a formal peace.
4. In 1998, Serbs began to massacre ethnic Albanians during the
______________________________.
a. The United States and NATO intervened again.
b. In 2000, Milosevic was ousted from power in a
______________________________.
c. The United Nations placed him on trial for crimes against humanity. He
died in prison March 11, 2006.
E. European Union
1. In 1992, the EEC became the ______________________________ (_______________).
2. By 2007, there will be _______________ member states and growing.
F. Cuba
1. The Cuban economy relied on ______________________________ and the
purchase of Cuban sugar by Soviet bloc countries.
2. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba lost its support.
3. Cuba’s economy has continued to _______________ in recent years.

XII. Present-day East Asia

A. Japan
1. From 1945-1952, Japan was an occupied country. Its lands were held and
controlled by Allied military forces.
a. US general ______________________________ was commander of the
occupation administration, which instituted vast _______________ in Japan.
2. Following World War II, Japan rapidly emerged as an
______________________________.
3. Today, Japan is the greatest _______________ in the world.

15
B. The Asian Tigers
1. Besides Japan, the Asian countries of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and
Hong Kong have been economic powerhouses referred to as the
“______________________________.”
2. In 1997, Great Britain returned control of ______________________________ to
mainland China.
C. China
1. The Communist People’s Republic of China is determined to unite
_______________ with mainland China.
2. In 1989, student protesters in China also called for an end to corruption and
demanded the resignation of Communist Party leaders.
3. Thousands of demonstrators for democracy in ______________________________,
Beijing were crushed by Chinese tanks and troops.
4. China’s continued ______________________________ violations, and its growing
_______________ and _______________ power have created strained relations
with the West.
5. However, US _______________ with China is, and will continue to be, one of the
most important economic relationships in the 21st century.

Presidents of the United States since the Cold War

Harry S Truman (1945-1953)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
Lydon B. Johnson (1963-1969)
Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
Gerald Ford, Jr. (1974-1977)
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
George W. Bush (2001-present)

General Secretaries of the Communist Party

of the Soviet Union
Joseph Stalin (1922-1953)
Georgy Malenkov (1953)
Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964)
Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982)
Yuri Andropov (1982-1984)
Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985)

16
 Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991)

Presidents of Russia
Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999)
Vladimir Putin (1999-present)

17
Name: ________________________________________________ Period: ________ Date:
___________

Unit XVIII: A New World Order

The Cold War

I. The Iron Curtain

F. After World War II, the United States and Great Britain wanted the Eastern
European nations to determine their own governments.
G. Stalin feared that the Eastern European nations would be anti-Soviet if they
were allowed free elections.
H. The “Iron Curtain” dividing Western Europe and Soviet-controlled Eastern
Europe was the beginning of the Cold War.
I. For forty years, no missiles flew or guns fired but the world was fiercely divided
between two military and economic superpowers.
1. The Soviet Union feared the capitalist West.
2. The United States feared the communist East.
3. After the “Iron Curtain” split Europe, the superpowers struggled for influence
over the Third World: Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
J. The US and USSR competed intensely over everything:
• Who had more nuclear weapons?
• … had the most advanced technology?
• … would be the first in space?
• … would be the first to the moon?
• … had the biggest tanks?
• … had the fastest airplanes?
• … won more Olympic gold medals?
• … had better spies?
• … had more allies?

II. Containment
E. In 1947, the United States adopted the policy of containment to keep
communism within its existing boundaries and prevent further Soviet aggressive
moves.

18
 1. The United States was concerned that communism would spread throughout
the free world if left unchecked.
2. The Cold War led to widespread fear that Communists had infiltrated the
United States government.
a. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy charged that hundreds of communists were
in high government positions. This created a massive “Red Scare.”
F. In early 1947 President Harry S Truman issued the Truman Doctrine, which
stated that the United States would give money to countries threatened by
Communist expansion.
G. In June 1947, the US started the Marshall Plan to rebuild war-torn Europe.
1. The Soviet Union and its economically and politically dependent Eastern
European satellite states refused to participate in the Marshall Plan.
2. In 1949, the Soviet Union set up the Council for Mutual Assistance
(COMECON) as a response to the Marshall Plan.
3. COMECON was established to help the economies of Eastern European
states.
H. By 1948, Britain, the US, and France worked to unify the three western sections
of Germany and Berlin and create a West German government.
1. The Soviets opposed the creation of a West German state, so they tried to
prevent it by setting up a blockade of West Berlin.
2. The United States and Great Britain used the Berlin Air Lift to fly in supplies
to West Berlin.
3. The Soviets ended the blockade in May 1949.

III. Communism Spreads

E. Soviet Recovery
1. The economy of the Soviet Union was devastated by World War II.
2. By 1950, the Soviet Union had built new power plants, canals, and giant
factories. Heavy industry had recovered.
F. Eastern Europe
1. The Soviet Union tightened its grip on Eastern Europe.
2. After World War II, Soviet-controlled Communist governments took control
of these satellite states.

19
 3. Between 1948 and 1953, Soviet-type five-year plans were introduced there
with emphasis on heavy industry.
4. They began to collectivize agriculture.
5. They set up secret police and military forces.
G. China
1. By 1945, China had two governments.
2. The United States supported the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek,
based in southern and central China.
3. The Communist government led by Mao Zedong was based in northern
China.
4. In 1945, war between the Nationalists and Communists broke out.
5. Millions of peasants joined Mao’s People’s Liberation Army because they
were promised land.
6. Mao’s Communist army defeated the Nationalist army.
7. Chiang Kai-shek and his followers fled mainland China and established the
capital of the Republic of China at Taipei, Taiwan.
8. American military forces protected Chiang’s government.
9. Chinese Communists took control of the government of China in 1949.
H. Korea
1. In August 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to divide
Korea into two zones at the 38th parallel.
2. The Korean War began in 1950 when the Communist government of North
Korea, supported by the Soviet Union, tried to take over South Korea.
3. In 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea.
4. President Truman, with the support of the United Nations, sent US troops to
repel the invaders.
5. In 1951, the Chinese sent troops into North Korea and pushed the UN forces
back, south of the 38th parallel.
6. An armistice was signed in 1953.
7. The 38th parallel remains the border between North and South Korea today.

III. The Arms Race

C. Nuclear Arms

20
 1. In 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb.
2. Both superpowers developed far more powerful hydrogen bombs by the
1950s.
3. After the fall of China, North Korea, and Eastern Europe, the US and USSR
began an arms race.
4. Each country built enough nuclear weapons to kill 500,000,000 people in the
event of war, destroying all civilization and laying waste to the entire
planet.
5. The policy was called mutually assured destruction.
D. Alliances
1. In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed.
2. This military alliance, which included Great Britain, France, other Western
European nations, and the United States and Canada, agreed to provide
mutual help if any one of them was attacked.
3. In 1955, the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East
Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania formed the military alliance called
the Warsaw Pact.
4. After World War II, Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz Tito, was an independent
Communist state until his death in 1980.
5. The United States then extended its military alliances around the world.
6. By the mid-1950s, the United States was in military alliances with 42
nations.

III. De-Stalinization
E. Stalin died in 1953.
F. After Stalin’s death, Nikita Khrushchev became the chief policy maker in the
Soviet Union.
1. Under his leadership, de-Stalinization, or the process of eliminating some
of Stalin’s most ruthless policies, was put in place.
2. With Stalin gone, many Eastern European states tried to make reforms.
3. The Soviet Union, however, made it clear that it would not allow its Eastern
European satellites to become independent.

21
G. Revolts against communism in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia were
brutally crushed.
H. In August 1961, on the order of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, the East
German government began to build the Berlin Wall.
1. It was built to stop the flood of East Germans escaping to the greater
freedom and prosperity of West Berlin.

IV. The Cuban Missile Crisis

E. The “Missile Gap”
1. In 1957, the Soviets sent Sputnik I, the first man-made space satellite, to
orbit the earth.
2. In 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first man to orbit
the Earth in space.
3. Americans feared there was a “missile gap” between the Soviet Union and
the United States.
F. The Cuban Revolution
1. In the 1950s, a movement in Cuba led by Fidel Castro aimed to overthrow
the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
2. Castro’s revolutionaries captured Havana in 1959.
a. Many Cubans who disagreed with Castro fled to the US.
b. The Argentinean Che Guevara, who had aided Castro during the Cuban
Revolution, then tried to spark Communist revolutions elsewhere in Latin
America.
3. Relations between the US and Cuba quickly deteriorated as Castro began to
receive aid and arms from the Soviet Union.
a. In October 1960, the US declared a trade embargo prohibiting trade with
Cuba.
b. In January 1961, the US broke diplomatic relations with Cuba.
4. The Bay of Pigs
a. In April 1961, US President John F. Kennedy supported an attempt to
overthrow Castro’s government.
b. The attempted invasion at the Bay of Pigs failed.
G. Missile Sites

22
 1. In 1962, Khrushchev began to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to counteract
U.S. nuclear weapons placed in Turkey, near the Soviet Union.
2. In October 1962, President Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba to stop
Soviet ships carrying more nuclear missiles from reaching Cuba.
3. Khrushchev agreed to send the ships back and remove nuclear missiles in
Cuba if Kennedy agreed not to invade Cuba.
4. Kennedy agreed. Six months later, the US removed its missiles from Turkey.
5. The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to very brink of nuclear war.
H. American Advancements
1. The American Mercury program succeeded in sending John Glenn to space
in 1962.
2. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo project allowed American Neil Armstrong to
become the first man to walk on the surface of the Moon.

V. Post-war Western Europe

D. EEC
1. After World War II, many Europeans wanted European unity.
2. Nationalism, however, was too strong for European nations to give up their
sovereignty. Instead the countries focused on economic unity.
3. In 1957, France, West Germany, the Benelux countries, and Italy created the
European Economic Community (EEC), also known as the Common Market.
E. France
1. For almost 25 years after World War II, France was led by Charles de
Gaulle, leader of the French Resistance during the war.
2. During this time, France recovered economically and became a major
industrial producer and exporter.
F. Great Britain
1. At the end of World War II, Great Britain had major economic problems.
2. The Labour Party, promising far-reaching reforms, defeated Winston
Churchill’s Conservative Party which had led through the war.
3. The Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Clement Attlee created a modern
welfare state - a state in which the government takes responsibility for
providing citizens with services and a minimal standard of living.

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 4. The British welfare state became the norm for most European states after
the war.

VI. Vietnam
F. Independence
1. The cost of building a welfare state caused Great Britain to dismantle the
British Empire. Many British colonies gained their independence.
2. Great Britain granted independence to India and Pakistan in 1947, Burma
in 1948, and Malaya in 1957.
3. In 1946, the United States granted total independence to the Philippines.
4. In 1949, the US pressured the Netherlands into granting independence to
Indonesia.
G. Vietminh
1. After World War II, Communists in Vietnam under leadership of Ho Chi Minh
fought for independence from France.
2. In 1945, Vietminh rebels took control of most of Vietnam.
3. The French, however, refused to accept the new government and fought for
control of the southern part of the country.
4. In 1954, France agreed to a peace settlement.
5. Vietnam was divided – the Communist north based in Hanoi and the anti-
Communist south based in Saigon.
H. Viet Cong
1. But by early 1965, South Vietnamese Communist guerrillas known as the
Viet Cong were ready to seize control of the entire country.
2. In 1964, Nikita Khrushchev was removed from office.
a. Leonid Brezhnev became the main Soviet leader until 1982.
b. He issued the Brezhnev Doctrine which asserted that the Soviet Union
had the right to intervene if communism was threatened in another
Communist state.
3. U.S. policy makers applied the domino theory to Vietnam.
a. According to this theory, if South Vietnam fell to communism, then other
countries in Asia would fall like dominoes to communism.

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 4. In March 1965, US President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to send American
troops to South Vietnam to prevent a Communist victory.
I. The Anti-war Movement
1. By the end of the 1960s, the Vietnam War reached a stalemate – neither
side was able to make significant gains.
2. The atrocities of the war were broadcast nightly on television.
3. A massive anti-war movement grew in the US as more American troops
were sent to Vietnam.
4. President Johnson decided not to run for re-election because of public
opinion against his handling of the war.
5. Former Republican vice-president Richard M. Nixon won the election with
the promise to end the war and reunite the American people.
6. In 1973, Nixon reached an agreement with North Vietnam that allowed the
US to withdraw its forces.
J. Communist Victory
1. Within two years, Vietnam was forcibly reunited by Communist armies.
2. By the end of 1975, Laos and Cambodia also had Communist regimes.
a. The dictator Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, established a brutal
revolutionary regime in Cambodia.

VII. A Short Détente

D. China
1. In Communist China, Mao believed that only permanent revolution, an
atmosphere on constant revolutionary fervor, could produce the final stage
of communism, a classless society.
a. In 1966, Mao started the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution to create
a working class culture.
b. The Little Red Book, a collection of Mao’s thoughts, provided knowledge
in all areas.
c. The Red Guards were formed to eliminate the “Four Olds” – old ideas, old
culture, old customs, and old habits.
2. In 1972, President Richard Nixon became the first US President to visit the
People’s Republic of China.

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 3. In 1979, China and the US established diplomatic ties.
E. Afghanistan
1. By the 1970s, United States-Soviet relations had reached détente - a
relaxation of tension and improved relations.
2. By 1979, however, a new period of East-West confrontation began when the
Soviets invaded Afghanistan. They wanted to restore a pro-Soviet regime.
3. The United States viewed this as an act of expansion.
F. Reagan
1. In 1980, US President Ronald Reagan began a new military buildup and
arms race with the USSR.
a. Reagan even proposed a Strategic Defense Initiative dubbed “Star Wars”
which would blast incoming missiles with lasers from space.
2. His plan was to outspend and bankrupt the USSR.
a. Reagan gave military aid to the Afghan rebels to fight the Soviets.
b. Reagan’s battle against Communism shocked America during the Iran-
Contra Affair.
• Members of Reagan’s administration, led by Lt. Col. Oliver North,
orchestrated the sale of weapons to Iran, an enemy of the United
States.
• The profits from those sales were used to fund the Contras, a right-
wing rebel force attempting to overthrow the democratically-elected
left-wing government of Nicaragua.

VIII. Perestroika
E. By the 1970s, the Communist ruling class of the Soviet Union had become
corrupt.
1. The Soviet economy was weakened by the government’s bureaucracy that
discouraged efficiency and encouraged indifference.
2. Farmers and workers lacked incentive to work hard.
3. By 1980, the Soviet economy was seriously declining.
F. Gorbachev
1. In 1985, the reformer Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to lead the Soviet
Union.

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 2. Gorbachev’s basis of reform was perestroika, or restructuring, of the Soviet
economy and government.
3. His willingness to rethink Soviet domestic and foreign policy led to a
dramatic end to the Cold War.
4. In 1987 Gorbachev made an agreement with the United States - the
Intermediate-range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty – to eliminate intermediate-
range nuclear missiles.
5. Gorbachev changed Soviet policy by stopping military support to
Communist governments in Eastern Europe.
6. This led to the overthrow of Communist regimes in these countries.
G. Poland
1. Workers’ protests led to demands for change in Poland.
2. In 1980, Lech Walesa organized a national trade union in Poland known as
Solidarity.
3. In 1988, the Polish regime agreed to free parliamentary elections - the first
free election in Eastern Europe in forty years.
4. Walesa was elected president of Poland in 1990.
H. Germany
1. In 1988 unrest led many East Germans to flee their Communist country.
2. In 1989, mass demonstrations against the Communist regime broke out.
3. On November 9, 1989, the East German government removed travel
restrictions to the West and the Berlin Wall fell.
4. Germany was reunified in 1990 – signaling the end of the Cold War.

IX. The Collapse

G. Czechoslovakia
1. In 1988 and 1989, mass demonstrations throughout Czechoslovakia led to
the collapse of the Communist government.
2. In 1993, conflicts between Czechs and Slovaks led to the peaceful division of
Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
H. The Soviet Union
1. As the Soviet government eased its control, ethnic tensions emerged
throughout the Soviet republics.

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 2. During 1990 and 1991, several of these republics called for independence
from Soviet control.
3. In 1991, conservative leaders arrested Gorbachev and tried to seize power.
a. Boris Yeltsin and others defeated their attempt.
4. Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991.
5. The next day, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus declared the Soviet
Union dissolved.
I. The New Russia
1. Yeltsin became president of the new Russia.
2. He worked to introduce a free market economy to Russia.
3. Chechens tried to secede from Russia and form their own republic. Yeltsin
used brutal force in Chechnya.
4. In 1999 Yeltsin resigned and Vladimir Putin was elected president.
5. Fighting in Chechnya continues.
J. Yugoslavia
1. At the end of the 1980s, Yugoslavia was also caught up in the reform
movements of Eastern Europe.
2. By 1990, new political parties had emerged and the Communist Party had
collapsed.
3. In 1990, the Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and
Macedonia worked for independence.
a. Slobodan Milosevic, leader of Serbia, rejected independence.
b. In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence.
c. In September 1991, the Yugoslavian army attacked Croatia.
d. In 1992, the Serbs attacked Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• Many Bosnians were Muslims.
• The Serbs followed a policy of ethnic cleansing against them.
e. In 1995, air strikes by NATO air strikes were launched in retaliation for
Serb attacks on civilians.
f. On December 14, Serbia signed a formal peace.
4. In 1998, Serbs began to massacre ethnic Albanians during the Kosovo War.
a. The United States and NATO intervened again.
b. In 2000, Milosevic was ousted from power in a popular uprising.

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 c. The United Nations placed him on trial for crimes against humanity. He
died in prison March 11, 2006.
K. European Union
1. In 1992, the EEC became the European Union (EU).
2. By 2007, there will be 25 member states and growing.
L. Cuba
1. The Cuban economy relied on Soviet aid and the purchase of Cuban sugar
by Soviet bloc countries.
2. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba lost its support.
3. Cuba’s economy has continued to decline in recent years.

X. East Asia
D. Japan
1. From 1945-1952, Japan was an occupied country. Its lands were held and
controlled by Allied military forces.
a. US general Douglas MacArthur was commander of the occupation
administration, which instituted vast reforms in Japan.
2. Following World War II, Japan rapidly emerged as an economic giant.
3. Today, Japan is the greatest exporter in the world.
E. The Asian Tigers
1. Besides Japan, the Asian countries of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and
Hong Kong have been economic powerhouses referred to as the “Asian
Tigers.”
2. In 1997, Great Britain returned control of Hong Kong to mainland China.
F. China
1. The Communist People’s Republic of China is determined to unite Taiwan
with mainland China.
2. In 1989, student protesters in China also called for an end to corruption and
demanded the resignation of Communist Party leaders.
3. Thousands of demonstrators for democracy in Tiananmen Square, Beijing
were crushed by Chinese tanks and troops.
4. China’s continued human rights violations, and its growing military and
economic power have created strained relations with the West.

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 5. However, US trade with China is, and will continue to be, one of the most
important economic relationships in the 21st century.

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