Download Superpowers Face Off in the Cold War

Superpowers Face Off in the Cold War
I€&) The alliances of the Cold War were led by
two superpowers: the democratic United States
and the Communist Soviet Union, an
outgrowth of Russia.
tea.! Democratic alliances included
NATO in Europe and North America
and CENTO in Asia.
'€&) Communist nations joined the Warsaw Pact
in Eastern Europe. After 1949, China was
also a Communist country.
€&) In the most perilous moment of the Cold War,
the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the two
superpowers to the brink of nuclear war.
During the 1950s, Americans were so worried about the possibility of
nuclear war that schoolchildren regularly practiced atomic bomb drills.
THREAT OF THE ATOMIC
BOMB
Both the United States and the Soviet Union stockpiled nuclear weapons. Each reasoned
that fear of retaliation would keep the other from firing the first missile. This policy was
known as MAD-Mutual
Assured Destruction.
Military Alliances
U.S.
D
NATO and CENTO
D
Warsaw Pact
Soviet
c::)
e e
•
•
Potential
nuclear attack
Missile site
Air base
Political boundaries
of 1970
1000
2000 miles
~===T==='~,----~'
2000 kilometers
102
UNITED STATES AFTER WORLD WAR II
1 945 toE a r I y 1 9 7~~O_s,~
D
D
D
D
Era,
9
••..•
Warsaw Pact member
Other Communist
nation
NATO member
Neutral nation
r:::zI'I' Iron Curtain
<D
Divided city
Political boundaries
250
of 1989
500 miles
~:;:==o:' :::;------"
The Communist countries
of Eastern Europe and the
NATO democracies of the West
were isolated from one another
for decades after World War II.
The term "Iron Curtain"
symbolized this rigid and
hostile division.
When the Soviet Union installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, the United States used a
naval quarantine to force their removal. The world watched, expecting nuclear war.
After several tense days, the Soviets finally backed down and removed the missiles,
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
CUBAN
MISSILE CRISIS
1962
D
Cuba
D
United States and
u.s. territory
~
~
~
~
Extent of U.s. quarantine
Soviet arms shipment
U.S. military base
Soviet missile site
200
~====;:,='':::::::;-,
Gulf
200
400 miles
_-----'I
400 kilometers
of
Mexico
Oct. 1962 Ships carrying
Soviet armaments honor
U.S. quarantine.
"" Is.
Cayman
(Br.)
103
'The Vietnam War Ends an Era
e&"
In 1957 U.S. military advisers went to assist
capitalist South Vietnam, which faced a
growing Communist rebellion.
~
In 1965 the United States committed t~oops
to fight against both the Viet Cong rebels
and Communist North Vietnam, which
supported them.
e&"
As the war went on, Americans at home became
dissatisfied. Lack of support for the war eventually
led 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 defeat
French; a divided Vietnam gains
independence from France.
Helicopters were the workhorses of the Vietnam War. They were used to
spot the enemy, defend ground troops, transport soldiers and supplies,
and evacuate the dead and wounded.
CHINA
f'eak troop level
543,300
600V1
LAOS
-0
(
c
rn 500V1
:::J
0
.s:
~
400-
Qj
c
c
0
•..
300-
VI
C1)
a..
Vl
200-
::::j
1000U.S. MILITARY IN VIETNAM
Millions of Americans served in Vietnam between
1965 and 1973. Before and after that, most
Americans in Vietnam were military advisers.
U.S. INVOLVEMENT
GROWS
1957-1964
Areas of Control,
Gulfof
Thailand
108
Vietnam had been divided in 1954. North Vietnam sent weapons
to the Viet Cong rebels in the South via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
U.S. advisers trained South Vietnamese forces to fight the rebels
and cut their supply lines.
D
1960
North Vietnam
and Viet Cong
Battles
Jll Ll.S. ground,
air, naval forces
~
u.S. advisers or air support
D
South Vietnam
~
u.s. air strike
•••
DMZ, 1954
•
No U.S. involvement
••••.
Supply route
.......J......
(See also maps on page 109.)
Highway
u.s. 7th fleet
75,
i
(until 1973)
75
150, miles
i
1SO kilometers
UNITED
STATES
AFTER
WORLD
WAR II
Era
9
1945 to Ea rly 19705
u.s.
TROOPS
CARRY THE LOAD
1965-1968
In 1965, the u.s. role in Vietnam switched from advising to
fighting. u.s. bombers struck targets in the North. Ground
troops faced Communist forces who used guerrilla tactics
such as ambushes and mines.
Areas of Control, 1966
D North
Vietnam
and Viet Cong
o South Vietnam
See legend on page 108.
LAOS
CHINA
(
Gulfof
Tonkin
\)
Gulfof
Thailand
Carn Ranh Bay
.........J.....
South
China
Sea
Apr. 1975 North Vietnamese
troops capture Saigon, war ends.
u.s. TROOPS
WITHDRAW,
THE WAR ENDS
1969-1975
I
o North Vietnam and Viet Cong)
o South Vietnam
Areas of Control, 1973
Many Americans opposed the Vietnam War-some due to its unclear
aims and its high cost in money and lives, others to avoid personal
harm. Antiwar feelings eventually ended political support for the war.
•
u.s. ground troops played a
diminishing role in the war
after 1969. More of the
fighting fell to the army of
South Vietnam. Two years
after the last U.S. troops left,
North Vietnam won the war.
Major advance
See legend on page 108.
109