The Korean War

"The most important thing in our war preparations is to teach all our people to hate U.S. imperialism. Otherwise, we will not be able to defeat the U.S. imperialists who boast of their technological superiority." - Kim Il Sung

Korea was divided at the 30th parallel in 1945, after Russian and American troops liberated Korea. The U.S.S.R. administered the North by promoting communism and putting a communist leader in charge. The U.S. administered the South by putting an anti-communist and pro-American leader in charge. The Korean War started due to the communism and was the first major conflict of the Cold war. To this day, both Koreas are divided, with North Korea still being ruled by a communist regime.

"Let us not talk about what would have happened if the imperialist had won. There is no sadder picture than a defeated revolution" - Fidel Castro

The Bay of Pigs

In 1961, the U.S. sent Cuban exiles to Cuba, in hope that locals would follow along and end up overthrowing Fidel Castro's government. The U.S. did this in order to put a stop to the communism in Cuba. This invasion failed miserably due to the fact that Cuba found out about the planned secret invasion. This resulted in Cuba sinking the invaders ships and Fidel Castro looking to the Soviet Union as a military ally.

"We Shall Stay, period." - Harry Truman

Berlin Airlifts

The Soviets wanted full control over Berlin and felt that if they cut off their external supplies, Berlin would fall under their control. Soon the only way to leave or get into Berlin, was by plane. The only option the western countries had was to fly in all needed supplies. Over the next 10 months the U.S. flew around 277,000 flights into Berlin, continuously providing supplies. On May 12, 1949 the Soveiet Union stopped the blockade and the airlift was over.

"Any fool can start a war, and once he's done so, even the wisest of men are helpless to stop it - especially if it's a nuclear war." -Nikita Khrushchev 

After the Soviet Union began to install nuclear missiles in Cuba, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in 1962. The Soviet Union ended up removing the missiles from Cuba, the United States agree to never invade Cuba and agrees to remove missiles from Turkey and Italy. This event is the closest the U.S. and the Soviet Union have come to a nuclear war during the Cold War.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Berlin Wall

"Tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan

The Berlin Wall was built by the communist government to separate West and East Berlin. The wall separated the communist and democratic countries of Eastern Europe throughout the Cold War. Around the time the Soveit Union started to collapse, President Reagan asked the leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev, to tear the wall down.The Oberders were later opened in 1989 and the people of Eastern and Western Germany were allowed on either side. On October 3, 1990 Germany was officially reunified into a single country.