Topic 5 | Life and Death in Medieval Times

26.6

The Korean War, 1950–1953

> Japan controlled Korea up until the end of

World War 2. > After World War 2, Korea was taken from

Japan, and North Korea became communist, while the south was backed by America. > In 1949, China became communist, which worried America. > In June 1950, North Korea invaded South

Korea. > Truman, as part of his containment policy, did not want to let the North take over the

South. > Truman got support from the United

Nations, which sent troops over to push the

North Koreans back. > The leader of the UN troops was a man named General Douglas McArthur, who had been a hero in World War 2. > The border between north and south was at a line called the 38th parallel.

Outcomes of the Korean War > It was called the forgotten war, but 2.5 million people died, including 33,000 Americans, and it cost $20 billion. > North and South Korea were now split forever. > America felt like this was a victory for their policy of containment. However, the Cold War had now moved to Asia. > America signed treaties with Japan and the Philippines and in 1954 would begin their involvement in Vietnam.

> McArthur and his troops drove the North Koreans back over the border and started to head towards the Chinese border. > The Chinese felt threatened by this move towards their border and moved 500,000 troops as a warning to McArthur not to cross their border. > At this point, McArthur went public, saying China should be invaded, with atomic weapons used if necessary. > Truman was left with no option but to sack McArthur, which would cost Truman in terms of popularity. > In 1951, the North Koreans, backed by the Chinese, pushed the UN troops back over the border between North and South Korea. > The fighting would continue for two more years, after which it was agreed that the border would remain at the 38th parallel, just where it had been when the war started.SAMPLE

Korean War Memorial

Topic 26 26.7 Sample Question B: Cuba

Between 1945 and 1989, many important events took place in the Cold War. Choose one of these events and write an account of it.

Event: The Cuban missile crisis, 1962 Up until 1959, Cuba was controlled by an American-backed government, called the Batista government. However, in 1959, Fidel Castro led a communist revolution in Cuba. America was not happy about this as they felt it was bringing communism too close to their borders. In 1961, the CIA were involved in a plot to overthrow Castro. It became known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion and was a disaster for America and for President John F. Kennedy. The plan had been to send 1,500 Cuban exiles to start a revolution to overthrow Castro. Kennedy, however, refused to send planes or troops to back them, and they were easily defeated. Kennedy then looked weak and inexperienced in the eyes of the world. In October 1962, an American U2 spy plane flying over Cuba took pictures of Russian nuclear missile sites on Cuba. Khrushchev (the Russian leader) had wanted weapons closer to America because America had nuclear weapons in Turkey. When the Americans saw the weapons sites, it was a massive problem, as from Cuba the Russians could pick off any city in America. President Kennedy was left with three options: to invade Cuba (which could lead to war); to blow up the missile sites, which many army leaders wanted (but would also lead to war); or to create a blockade with American ships along the coast of Cuba as Russian ships with nuclear missile parts approached Cuba. Kennedy went with the blockade option. The Russians said openly that the ships would not stop or turn back for the Americans. SAMPLE Kennedy set up a special group called Excomm to try and deal with the crisis. For 13 days in October 1962, the world came as close as it ever would to nuclear war. As the whole world watched, eventually the Russian ships stopped and allowed the Americans to check them or turned back. This was seen as a massive victory for President Kennedy and America. An agreement was reached between the two countries: 1. Russia would remove the sites from Cuba, and in return, America would privately remove their sites from Turkey. 2. A nuclear test ban was signed between the two countries to limit nuclear testing. 3. A hotline (a direct phone line between the White House and Kremlin) was set up. The Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War was the closest the world would come to nuclear war.

26.8

The Vietnam War

> Vietnam had been part of Indochina (which was under French control up until 1954). > France was driven out, and the communists called the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, took control of the North. > Because of their policy of containment,

America got involved and backed the government of the South. > They put a leader named Diem in charge of south Vietnam against the people’s wishes. > Under Eisenhower, America began to send military aid and advisors to Vietnam. > When President Kennedy took power in 1961, there were 1,500 US advisors in

Vietnam. When he died in 1963, there were 23,000 US advisers in Vietnam. > When Lyndon Johnson replaced him, he had two options: to pull out or to send in the troops. > In 1965, the first American soldiers arrived in

Vietnam. > By 1968, America had 550,000 soldiers in

Vietnam. > America found it impossible to defeat the North Vietnamese, who used the countryside to their advantage and carried out guerrilla warfare against the Americans. > The countryside suited this, and they had the support of the people living in the country in

Vietnam. > The Americans began using tactics such as fire-free zones; they used chemical weapons, and success was based on the body count. > In the eyes of the world, America looked terrible. > At home in America, a group called the anti-war movement was protesting all over America against the war.

> Up until 1968, Americans believed they were winning the war because their government told them so; however, this changed after the Tet offensive of 1968. > The American people no longer believed their own government, and a credibility gap was created. > When Nixon came to power, he realised America had to get out of the war. > 58,000 Americans died, and the war cost $30 billion a year from 1968 onward. > In 1973, the Paris Peace Agreement ended the war. Outcomes of the Vietnam War President Lyndon JohnsonSAMPLE > In 1975, North Vietnam invaded the South, and the South became communist. > Containment had failed in Vietnam due to America getting involved where it should not have. > Divisions were caused in America that would last for years. > This was the first war America had not won.

Topic 26 26.9 Russia and the Eastern Bloc Countries

> The group of countries under Russian control during the Cold War was known as the Eastern Bloc. > Russia set up various different groups, but the aim was always the same: to keep total control of these countries. > In 1949, they set up Comecon, which meant to give economic help, but in reality it was just to maintain control of these countries. > In 1955, they set up the Warsaw Pact, which was a military alliance of all the Eastern Bloc countries to oppose NATO. > They also set up Cominform, to ensure that all the communist parties in different countries were following Moscow’s lead. > In general, Russia did not get involved too much with these countries unless they tried to break free from communism; they would then send the army to deal ruthlessly with it.

> For example, in 1956, the Hungarian uprising took place. There were huge protests against Russia and communism, but Russian troops crushed them within 13 days. > In 1961, the Russians built the Berlin Wall to prevent people leaving East Berlin. For the next 28 years, they would have Russian soldiers on the wall. > In 1968 in Czechoslovakia, the Prague Spring took place; when the government tried to give more freedom to the people, the Russians sent in the tanks and crushed it. The same would happen in Poland in 1981. > Russia created the USSR and kept it in place for over 40 years through the use of terror, but once it started to collapse, it collapsed very quickly. SAMPLE

Stamp commemorating the Fall of the Berlin Wall

26.10 Mikhail Gorbachev and the End of Communism > Gorbachev was born in 1931. > He was a member of the Communist party from a young age. > He had always been in favour of change. > By the early 1980s, Russia was struggling to keep up with America’s military spending, which was now at $550 billion a year. > In 1985, Gorbachev became leader in Russia. > He wanted to ease the harshness of the old communism. > He had two plans: i) Glasnost, which meant openness – freeing some political prisoners, reducing censorship, and making the USSR more open; and ii) Perestroika, which meant allowing the people to own land and businesses

and have more control over their lives. > Gorbachev had a good relationship with the US president Ronald Reagan, and together they introduced treaties to reduce nuclear weapons. > In 1988, Gorbachev stopped using the Russian army to control and coerce the countries in the USSR. President of the USSR Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev at extraordinary session of Supreme Soviet of People's Deputies of the USSRSAMPLE > Almost immediately, all of the countries in the USSR moved away from communism, with the Berlin Wall coming down in 1989. > Communism in Russia was gone by 1991. > Gorbachev would later be overthrown, but his actions brought an end to communism and an end to the Cold War.

1945

> Harry Truman becomes

American

President > America drops

Atomic bombs 1950

> Start of Korean

War

> Marshall plan introduced > August – Beginning of the Berlin blockade > Truman Doctrine introduced > May – End of Berlin Blockade > NATO set up > Warsaw pact set up

1948 1953 > Stalin dies – replaced by Khruschev > End of Korean War > USA sends first military advisers to Vietnam 1947

> Cuba becomes communist 1949 under Castro

1954

1955 SAMPLE

> Eisenhower becomes President 1959

1952