The Cold WarPart 2

1963 – 1991

Vietnam War• 1961 – Green Berets enter Vietnam as

“advisors”• 1963 – US involvement increases• 1965 – 150,000 US troops sent to fight• 1970 – Nixon extends fighting into

Cambodia• 1973 – US—North Vietnam cease-fire• 1975 – Fall of Saigon; Vietnam is

united under a Communist regime

Six Days War (1967)

Six Days War (1967)• Overview• War fought in 1967 between Israel on one

side and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria on the other side

• From its beginning to the end, the war lasted 132 hours and 30 minutes (less than 6 days)

• The war left Israel with the largest territorial gains from any of the wars the country had been involved in: – Sinai and Gaza Strip were captured from Egypt– East Jerusalem and West Bank from Jordan– Golan Heights from Syria

Apollo 11 (1969)

• First manned mission to the moon

• Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969

• America had now reached further into space than any other nation!

Yom Kippur War (1973)

Yom Kippur War (1973)

• Egyptian President Anwar Sadat tried to negotiate peace, but Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir refused to accept

• Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in October on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s most holy day

• After receiving massive US and UN help, Israel succeeded in pushing back the Arab troops and a cease-fire was reached

Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-81)

Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-81)

• Background:– After WWII, the US backed Shah

Mohammed Reza Pahlevi of Iran, who opposed the USSR

– In 1953, American and British intelligence organized a coup d’état to overthrow the prime minister & put Shah in power

– The Shah was overthrown anyway in the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79

– Carter allowed the Shah to come to the US for medical treatment – this angered Iranians

Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-81)

• Events– Led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a

group of revolutionary students seized the American Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979• Called America “The Great Satan”

– 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days

– Released on January 20, 1981, just minutes after the Inauguration of Ronald Reagan

Olympic Boycott (1980)

• Following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the US and 61 other nations decided to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympic Games because they were held in Moscow

Strategic Defense Initiative (1983- “Star Wars”)

Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)

Iran-Iraq War (1980-88)• Iraq invaded Iran after many border disputes• US was angry at Iran, so they chose support

Iraq• The US-supported leader of Iraq at the time

was none other than Saddam Hussein!• US sent Iraq technological aid, intelligence

reports, sold them military equipment, and provided direct involvement in warfare against the Soviet-backed Iranians

• War ended with a UN-sponsored cease-fire agreement

Central America (1980s)• The Sandinistas, a revolutionary group in

Nicaragua, took power in 1979 – Opposed by the US because the Sandinista

supported FMLN rebels in El Salvador– Funded by Cuba and the Soviet Union

• US sent aid to the contras, a counter-revolutionary group in Honduras– Wanted to impose a US-friendly government– Led to Iran-Contra scandal

• Daniel Ortega was elected president of Nicaragua in 1984– Led to the largest emigration from the area

ever seen

Mikhail Gorbachev• Gains power in USSR

1985• Reagan and Gorbachev

agree to remove missiles from Europe (1986)

• Implemented policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (reconstruction)

• First elections held in March 1990

• Blamed for the economic collapse of USSR

Emerging Nationalism

• Glasnost allowed Soviet-controlled nations to begin voicing dissension

• Nationalism among Warsaw Pact countries began to grow

• Riots broke out between 1986-1989 and the USSR became increasing chaotic

1989… Beginning of the End

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

Afghanistan• Soviets invaded the country in 1979 to

expand their influence in Asia• During the 1980s, the mujahideen in

Afghanistan fought against the Soviet occupation– Praised as “freedom fighters” by President Reagan

• This group was significantly financed, armed, and trained by the American CIA– An early leader of the mujahideen was a young,

wealthy, Saudi man named Osama bin Laden• Mujahideen forced the Soviets out in 1989• With a lack of united leadership, the radical

Taliban formed a new government in 1996

Afghanistan under the Taliban

• Soon after taking power, the government created the “Ministry for Ordering What Is Right and Forbidding What Is Wrong”– Imposed fundamental Islamist rules

• Rules were especially harsh on women– Forced to wear burkas– Forbidden from going to school or working– Publicly beaten if improperly dressed or

un-escorted by a male relative

Poland and Hungary

• Poland gains independence from the USSR in June

• Hungary follows in September

Berlin Wall• Reagan called for

Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”

• November 9, 1989 is considered the day the wall fell

• On June 13, 1990, the official dismantling of the Wall by the East German military began

• Germany was reunified October 3, 1990

Collapse of the USSR

• Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania

• Economically, the Soviets are crumbling– Basically, the USSR ran out of money

before the USA

End of the Cold War (1991)

• In December 1989, Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush declared the Cold War officially over at a summit meeting in Malta – But by then, the Soviet alliance system was on

the brink of collapse

• By February 1990, the Communist Party was forced to surrender its 73-year old monopoly on state power

• By December of the next year, the union-state also dissolved, breaking the USSR up into fifteen separate independent states