SSUSH20:
The student will analyze the domestic and international impact of the Cold War on the United States.
This standard measures your knowledge of the causes and effects of the Cold War. Following World War II, the United States and the other Allies divided Germany into four occupation zones. When the Soviet Union refused to join its zone with the French, British, and American zones and allow the German people to assume control of their government, the Cold War began. Over four decades, competition between the United States and the USSR involved many other countries aligned with one of the two superpowers.
A. Describe the creation of the Marshall Plan, U.S. commitment to Europe, the Truman Doctrine, and the origins and implications of the containment policy.
B. Explain the impact of the new communist regime in China and the outbreak of the Korean War and how these events contributed to the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Korean War
In 1950, the United States and the democratic government of South Korea went to war against the communist government of North Korea. North Korea was being aided by the new Chinese communist government that had recently won the Chinese Civil War. Combat began when communist troops invaded South Korea. Concerned over the spread of communism beyond the Soviet Union and China, the United States sent its troops to force the communists back to North Korea. The U.S. decision to enter the conflict was part of its larger strategy of geographically containing communism in order to isolate and eventually defeat it. Driving North Korean forces across the border, U.S. troops then followed the enemy into North Korea in an effort to entirely eliminate communism from the Korean peninsula. However, when the Americans reached the border between North Korea and China, the Chinese attacked, forcing the Americans back to South Korea.
C. Describe the Cuban Revolution, the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban missile crisis.
Cuba
In 1956, Fidel Castro led the Cuban Revolution. Castro became prime minister of Cuba early in 1957 and, at first, had American support. However, when he allied himself with the Soviet Union, suspended all elections, and named himself president for life, the United States turned against Castro. The existence of a communist nation allied with the Soviet Union 90 miles off the coast of the United States jeopardized the U.S. containment strategy. In 1961, 1,500 Cuban exiles, armed and trained by the CIA, tried to stage an invasion at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs. The small force was crushed by Castro after President Kennedy refused to involve the U.S. armed forces. Twelve hundred of the invaders were captured, and the United States was forced to give $53 million worth of food and supplies to Cuba for release of the captives.
The Soviets believed that, because Kennedy refused to involve the American military in Cuban affairs, he would not interfere if the Soviets built military missile launch sites in Cuba, so they installed missiles. The Soviet plan was for Cuba to use these missiles to prevent another U.S.-planned invasion. When an American spy plane took photos of a Soviet nuclear missile site being built in Cuba, Kennedy immediately began planning a response. Enemy missiles positioned so close to America’s coastline posed a serious threat to U.S. national security. Kennedy completely blockaded Cuba and threatened to invade unless the Soviets promised to withdraw from Cuba. Finally, the Soviets agreed to remove their missiles if the United States would remove its nuclear missiles installed near the Soviet Union in Turkey. The two nations removed their missiles in what is nowknown as the Cuban missile crisis.
The Soviets believed that, because Kennedy refused to involve the American military in Cuban affairs, he would not interfere if the Soviets built military missile launch sites in Cuba, so they installed missiles. The Soviet plan was for Cuba to use these missiles to prevent another U.S.-planned invasion. When an American spy plane took photos of a Soviet nuclear missile site being built in Cuba, Kennedy immediately began planning a response. Enemy missiles positioned so close to America’s coastline posed a serious threat to U.S. national security. Kennedy completely blockaded Cuba and threatened to invade unless the Soviets promised to withdraw from Cuba. Finally, the Soviets agreed to remove their missiles if the United States would remove its nuclear missiles installed near the Soviet Union in Turkey. The two nations removed their missiles in what is nowknown as the Cuban missile crisis.
D. Describe the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive, and growing opposition to the war.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a struggle for control of Vietnam. While the conflict originally began during the French colonial rule in the region, the United States became involved in the 1950s by providing economic and limited military aid. Following French withdrawal in 1954, Vietnam was divided, with communist forces in the North and a pro-Western regime in control of the South. Then, in the early 1960s, U.S. involvement began to increase; it lasted until the early 1970s. The democratic overnment of South Vietnam, supported by the United States, battled communist North Vietnam and a military
organization called the Vietcong. U.S. policymakers believed that if Vietnam came to be ruled by a communist government, communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and perhaps beyond. The Vietcong continually frustrated U.S. forces with its ability to use the region’s thick jungles to conduct guerrilla warfare. In 1968, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese army started the eight-month-long Tet Offensive. It was the Vietcong’s largest and most damaging campaign of the entire war.
Ultimately, the Tet Offensive failed to achieve its goal of driving the Americans out of Vietnam, but it did lead many people in the United States to question why Johnson had told them America was winning the war. This led some Americans who had been quiet up until then to raise their voices in protest against the war. Many college campuses were home to groups formed to protest American involvement in Vietnam. The goals of these groups differed, but most favored ending the draft and removing all American troops from Vietnam.
organization called the Vietcong. U.S. policymakers believed that if Vietnam came to be ruled by a communist government, communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and perhaps beyond. The Vietcong continually frustrated U.S. forces with its ability to use the region’s thick jungles to conduct guerrilla warfare. In 1968, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese army started the eight-month-long Tet Offensive. It was the Vietcong’s largest and most damaging campaign of the entire war.
Ultimately, the Tet Offensive failed to achieve its goal of driving the Americans out of Vietnam, but it did lead many people in the United States to question why Johnson had told them America was winning the war. This led some Americans who had been quiet up until then to raise their voices in protest against the war. Many college campuses were home to groups formed to protest American involvement in Vietnam. The goals of these groups differed, but most favored ending the draft and removing all American troops from Vietnam.