The Clashes of the Cold War
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a direct confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War; the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. The dramatic crisis was also characterized by the fact that it was primarily played out at the White House and the Kremlin level with relatively little input from the respective bureaucracies typically involved in the foreign policy process.
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Berlin Blockade
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The Berlin Blockade was an attempt by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of France, Great Britain and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin. Eventually, the western powers instituted an airlift that lasted nearly a year and delivered much-needed supplies and relief to West Berlin. Coming just three years after the end of World War II, the blockade was the first major clash of the Cold War and foreshadowed future conflict over the city of Berlin.
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Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a long conflict that the communist party of North Vietnam and its southern allies fought against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war, increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973 and Vietnam under Communist control two years later. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans, were killed in the conflict.
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Korean War
The Korean War began when soldiers from North Korea's Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. As far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself. Finally, in July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. Some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. The Korean peninsula is still divided today.
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Afghanistan (1979 - 1989)
Angola
The new rulers in Lisbon sought to divest the country of its costly colonial empire. The impending independence of one of those colonies, Angola, led to the Angolan civil war that grew into a Cold War competition. The Angola crisis of 1974–1975 ultimately contributed to straining relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.
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Chile
The Cold War began to affect South America, and Chile became a part of the Alliance for Progress. The alliance was meant as a way to keep socialistic from taking hold in Latin America. However, the Alliance for Progress was scorned by many of the countries that signed it, including Chile. Furthermore, the Chilean youth adopted and began to protest the government with labor unions, both leaning towards the Communist Party in Chile.
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