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In the postwar period, clear differences between the United States and the Soviet Union soon emerged. Communist ideology and the creation of Soviet-backed states in Eastern Europe alarmed the U.S. government. The United States responded with efforts to su
Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
At Yalta, the Allied leaders met to shape postwar Europe. They divided Germany and Berlin into four occupation zones each and declared their support for self-government and free elections in Eastern Europe. At Potsdam, the leaders finalized their postwar
Iron Curtain
In a 1946 speech, Winston Churchill accused the Soviet Union of dividing Europe into East and West and drawing an "iron curtain," or barrier, across the continent.
UN Atomic Energy Commission
At the United Nations, the United States offered a plan to limit the development of atomic weapons. The Soviet Union, working on its own atomic bomb, rejected U.S. efforts to retain a monopoly on atomic energy.
Truman Doctrine
President Truman adopted a policy of containment as part of the Truman Doctrine. The doctrine aimed to limit the spread of communism and support democracy.
Marshall Plan
This aid program reflected the Truman Doctrine's goals. It provided aid to European nations to help them recover from the war, promote stability, and limit the appeal of communism. The Soviets responded with the Molotov Plan for Eastern Europe.
Cold War
The postwar struggle for power between the United States and the Soviet Union became known as the Cold War. Although this was largely a war of words and influence, it threatened to heat up and produce armed conflict between the superpowers.
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During the Cold War, the superpower conflict that began in Europe expanded to China and other parts of the world. The nuclear arms race added to Cold War tensions.
Berlin Blockade
In 1948, the Soviet Union set up a blockade around Berlin to force the Allies to either abandon the city or cancel plans for the creation of West Germany. The Allies launched an airlift to bring supplies into Berlin and break the blockade. In the end, Ger
NATO and the Warsaw Pact
In 1949, the Western powers formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a military alliance to counter Soviet aggression. The Soviets responded by forming their own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, with Eastern European countries.
Korean War
After the fall of China to communism, Cold War tensions flared up in Korea. In 1950, North Korean communists invaded South Korea, prompting a war with U.S. and UN forces. The Korean War ended in 1953, but Korea remained divided.
Third World
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union tried to win friends and allies in the Third World�the developing nations of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. This battle for "hearts and minds" involved propaganda, aid, covert action, and milit
Mutual Assured Destruction
The invention of the H-bomb fueled a deadly arms race. In response, the United States developed various policies, including brinkmanship and deterrence, to manage the nuclear threat. In the end, it relied on the policy of Mutual Assured Destruction to lim
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Like earlier wars, the Cold War created fright and anxiety on the home front. Fearful of attacks from within, the government sought to root out communist subversion. Faced with the threat of nuclear attack from the Soviet Union, it promoted civil defense
House Un-American Activities Committee
HUAC investigated the loyalty of people in many areas of life. Its probe of the movie industry led movie studio heads to blacklist anyone thought to be a communist or communist sympathizer.
Spy trials
Fears of subversion deepened with the Alger Hiss case and the Rosenberg trial. Hiss served a prison term, and the Rosenbergs were executed for selling atomic secrets to the USSR.
McCarthyism
Senator Joseph McCarthy launched a well-publicized crusade against subversives in government. The term McCarthyism came to refer to personal attacks against innocent people with little or no evidence to support the charges.
Atomic Age
Americans greeted the Atomic Age with a mixture of fear and excitement. Many people had high hopes for peaceful uses of atomic power.
Federal Civil Defense Administration
Congress established the FCDA to help Americans survive a nuclear attack. The FCDA published civil defense manuals and promoted drills and other measures to protect Americans from harm. As the power of nuclear weapons increased, however, the usefulness of
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After World War II, nationalist and communist rebels in the French colony of Vietnam fought for their independence. A 1954 agreement ending this colonial war split the country into communist North Vietnam and democratic South Vietnam. When France pulled o
First Indochina War
In this first phase of fighting, which lasted from 1946 to 1954, Ho Chi Minh led Viet Minh insurgents in the struggle to end French rule in Vietnam.
Geneva Accords
The First Indochina War ended with a 1954 agreement known as the Geneva Accords. The accords split Vietnam into north and south but called for elections to reunify the country. The United States backed South Vietnam financially and militarily.
Viet Cong
Insurgents in the south, known as the Viet Cong, worked to overthrow the nominally democratic but corrupt government of South Vietnam. The Viet Cong received aid from communist North Vietnam.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
An alleged attack on U.S. ships off the coast of North Vietnam led Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave President Johnson broad powers to expand the U.S. role in Vietnam. Massive air strikes against North Vietnam followed.
Ho Chi Minh Trail
By 1965, North Vietnamese Army troops were moving south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to help the Viet Cong. The United States feared that South Vietnam would fall without more direct support.
Americanization
In March 1965, the United States began sending ground troops to fight the Vietnam War. The war quickly became an American conflict.
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The United States decided to wage a limited war in Vietnam, with limited troop strength. Fighting an elusive enemy on unfamiliar terrain frustrated U.S. soldiers. The South Vietnamese people themselves were unsure whom to support: the Saigon government or
War of attrition
The U.S. military waged a war of attrition, hoping to wear down the enemy by inflicting heavy losses. Increasing the enemy body count became a key military goal.
Opposing Vietnamese armies
Regular troops of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) joined forces with Viet Cong insurgents. The United States trained the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) to defend South Vietnam.
New weapons of war
The United States sprayed the herbicide Agent Orange to clear forest vegetation and expose the enemy. It dropped napalm firebombs that burned forests and buildings and caused widespread destruction. Both weapons had devastating effects on the Vietnamese p
Credibility gap
The Johnson administration's optimistic public assessments of the war did not match reality. This created a credibility gap, and many Americans lost faith in the president.
Protest movement
Antiwar protesters on college campuses and elsewhere held demonstrations and carried out acts of civil disobedience. The protesters called for peace negotiations and an end to the war.
Tet Offensive
Some 45,000 Viet Cong and NVA soldiers died after launching a major offensive in 1968. But the Tet Offensive also boosted U.S. opposition to the war and undermined the Johnson presidency, helping to pave the way for Richard Nixon's election in 1968.
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In 1969, President Nixon began withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam, but the war continued throughout his time in office. He carried on peace talks with the North Vietnamese but also ordered massive bombing of North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. He faced o
Vietnamization
Nixon's Vietnamization of the war allowed for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and prepared South Vietnam to take over responsibility for the war.
My Lai massacre
In 1968, U.S. soldiers slaughtered hundreds of Vietnamese civilians in the village of My Lai. Reports of the massacre shocked Americans and increased antiwar protests.
Kent State shootings
The invasion of Cambodia in April 1970 sparked an increase in antiwar protests. The most violent one occurred the following month at Kent State University in Ohio, where National Guard troops fired into an angry crowd, killing four students.
War Powers Resolution
Congress reacted to Nixon's activities in Cambodia by passing the War Powers Resolution. This resolution limits a president's ability to send armed forces into combat.
Pentagon Papers
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg leaked to the press a top-secret study of the U.S. role in Indochina. This study, the Pentagon Papers, revealed secrecy and deceit on the part of U.S. presidents.
Boat people
The North Vietnamese defeated South Vietnam and took control in 1975. This prompted an exodus of refugees from Indochina, many of whom fled by boat.
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Reagan's foreign policy emphasized anticommunism and support for democracy and freedom. His efforts to undermine Soviet power, along with changes in the Soviet Union itself, helped end the Cold War. The winding down of the Cold War allowed Reagan's succes
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
Reagan increased military spending to counter the Soviet threat. One program, the Strategic Defense Initiative, was designed to create a "missile shield" to defend the United States from nuclear attack.
Reagan Doctrine
The president backed anticommunist movements around the world as part of the Reagan Doctrine. He gave aid to rebels like the Contras, who were fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
Middle East policy
Reagan sent U.S. peacekeeping forces to Lebanon. These troops helped secure the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization. But terrorist attacks later forced Reagan to pull the soldiers out.
Iran-Contra Affair
The Reagan administration faced a scandal over arms sales to Iran and the diversion of funds to the Contras. Several top officials were convicted of illegal actions in the Iran-Contra Affair.
Nuclear freeze movement
Rising tensions with the Soviet Union increased fears of nuclear war. The nuclear freeze movement called for an end to the spread of nuclear weapons.
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, reducing nuclear missiles in Europe. U.S. pressure, along with economic and political problems at home, eventually caused the collapse of the Soviet Union and
Persian Gulf War
The United States fought alongside other nations to force Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.