The Cold War began with the division of Germany after WWII, with East Germany controlled by the Soviet Union and West Germany free and democratic. The US launched the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe and prevent the spread of Communism by spending over $13 billion. Winston Churchill referred to the division between democratic Western Europe and communist Eastern Europe as the "Iron Curtain". The Berlin Wall was later built in 1961 by the USSR to stop defectors from leaving East Berlin for the West. The Cold War also involved conflicts in Korea, with North Korea invading South Korea in 1950, and Cuba, where the Cuban Missile Crisis nearly led to nuclear war in 1962.

1. Cold War

2. Beginnings
• Cold War will start with the division of Germany after WWII
o East Germany- ruled by the Soviet Union and Communist
o West Germany- free and democratic
o This will happen in 1949
Blue- West Germany
Red- East Germany

3. Marshall Plan
• Plan by the United States to help rebuild Europe
• US was afraid Communism would spread
• Spent over $13 billion
• Started in July 1947
• the USSR (Soviet Union) refused to participate at a meeting on July 15,
1947

4. Iron Curtain
• British Prime Minister Winston Churchill will call this division the Iron
Curtain
• Called this in 1945
• It is an imaginary line separating Democratic Western Europe with
Communist controlled Eastern Europe

5. The Berlin Wall
• the Soviets blockaded entry into East Germany (to prevent supplies from
getting to citizens in West Berlin)- started in March of 1948
o The US and its allied had to fly supplies to citizens in West Berlin
o This is known as the Berlin Airlift
o This started in June of 1948
• Blockade
o In 1958 and 1961 there was a naval blockade of Eastern Germany
• In 1961 the USSR begins to build a wall that divides Berlin
o The Berlin Wall will be built to stop defectors from going west

6. Korea
• Korea was divided at the 39th parallel- on August 10, 1945
o North Korea was Communist
o South Korea was democratic
• June 27, 1950
o North Korea invades South Korea
o Violates the agreement with the United Nations Security Council and
the US gets involved

7. USSR
• Soviet Union (USSR) put down rebellions in Hungary and Poland in 1950

8. Cuba
• Cuban Missile Crisis
o Begin in May 1962 when Soviet leader Kruschev hid nuclear missiles
in Cuba
• On October 14, 1962- US sent U-2 bombers to find satellite pictures of the
nuclear missiles
• October 13, 1962- US begins a naval blockade of Cuba
• October 27, 1962- negotiations end and crisis is avoided

9. Vietnam Detente
• Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh will fight the French for control of Vietnam
in September of 1945
• the United States will take over the fighting in Vietnam starting in 1956 by
training South Vietnamese troops
• US sent military advisers in 1959
• Due to pictures seen on television, the American people will start to protest
the war. First pictures appeared in 1960
• One valuable lesson the US will learn from this war is to always Support
Our Troops- start in 1972
• President Richard Nixon will officially end the war in 1973