Communist Ascendance: The 1950’s and Early 60’s EQ: How did the Communists gain the Upper-Hand in the Cold War during the 1950’s and Early 1960’s???

The People’s Republic of China In 1945, after the Japanese were expelled from China, the Civil War resumed The Communists, led by their charismatic leader, Mao Zedong triumphed in 1949 A pro-Soviet communist regime was established with Mao as the dictator

Formation of NATO: 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization USA, Canada, and Western European Democracies Mutual defense against Soviet and communist aggression Dominated by the USA

Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier: 1953 Began “Destalinization” which allowed more freedom of speech and press and allowed some freedom within the economy Cut drastically back on the gulags within the Soviet Union Publicly criticized the brutality of Stalin and his minions Much more charismatic and likeable than Stalin.

The Warsaw Pact: 1955 The Warsaw Pact was formed with member states East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. Countered the formation of NATO Dominated by the Soviet Union

Hungarian Revolution: 1956 Began as a Hungarian protest against Communist rule in Budapest. On 24th October Soviet tanks entered Budapest The tanks withdrew on 28th October and a new government was formed which quickly moved to introduce democracy and freedom. The Soviet tanks returned on 4th November encircling Budapest. Prime Minister Imre Nagy made a World broadcast that Hungary was under attack from the Soviet Union and calling for aid. Hungary fell to Russia on 10th November 1956.

Space Race: 1957 The Space Race begins when the Soviets launched Sputnik in to space This showed that the United States was far behind the Soviets in terms of rocket technology The Soviets might be able to attack us!!!

Fall of Cuba: 1959 Fidel Castro, a Cuban lawyer led the revolution that ousted the corrupt president Fulgencio Batista He initially reached out to the USA for support, but when that failed, he created a Communist dictatorship He repatriated land owned by foreign interests and booted out American businesses His rule was fairly harsh and he would support Latin American revolutions throughout the Cold War

U-2 Incident: 1960 On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union The pilot, Francis Gary Powers was taken prisoner This severely strained US-Soviet relations, because days before this President Eisenhower had told Nikita Khrushchev that we were not spying on the Soviet Union It also showed that Soviet missile technology was ahead of ours

The First Man in Space: 1961 On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space He went around the Earth several times before he landed safely in the ocean This further showed how far ahead of the United States Soviet technology was Shortly afterwards, NASA announced the plan to send a man to the Moon

Bay of Pigs Invasion: 1961 On April 17, 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion was launched The plan called for Cuban immigrants to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro The plan failed due to the Cubans being tipped off President Kennedy also refused to use the American Airforce to assist in the plan

Berlin Wall: 1961 In August, the Soviet and East German military began the construction of “The Wall” This would cut off the last method for East Germans and other Eastern Europeans to leave the Soviet Bloc The Berlin Wall became the physical manifestation of the “Iron Curtain” that was described by Churchill