Arms Race and Space Race Cold War Arms Race and Space Race

Soviet Union and the Bomb The Soviet Union had set off its first atomic bomb in 1949.

Arms Race By the mid-1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union had become involved in a growing arms race, in which both countries built up their armies and increased the sizes of their weapons arsenals (Stockpiling). New military technologies, such as nuclear weapons, added an increasingly frightening element to the Cold War as each superpower raced to build deadlier bombs and farther-reaching delivery systems.

Space Race In 1957 the Soviets sent Sputnik I, the first human-made space satellite, to orbit Earth. New fears seized the American public. Was there a "missile gap" between the United States and the Soviet Union? Could the Soviet Union build a military base in outer space from which it could dominate the world? One American senator said, "It was time... for Americans to be prepared to shed blood, sweat and tears if this country and the free world are to survive."

Space Race After Sputnik I was launched, the United States began putting more money into space education. The Space race also encouraged the U.S. to increase production of weapons.

Truman Plan Put to The Test The Korean War

What was the Truman Plan? President Truman began giving help to people resisting communism . This was known as the Truman Plan. Policy of Containment- Leave communist countries alone but stop it from spreading to other countries.

Spread of Communism Communism spreads to China, Korea, and Vietnam. Korea is the first test of the Truman Plan.

Korean War Korea is a peninsula located in East Asia, extends southwards from the Asian continent. Two separate governments emerged in Korea—Communist in the north and anti-Communist in the south. In 1950, the Communist North invaded the South

North and South Korea

Truman takes a Stand President Truman and the West believed that they need to take a stand against Communism and keep it out of places it was not wanted. The United Nations sent troops and pushed back the North Koreans . In 1953, a compromise finally ended the war and continued to be divided.

Korean War

The Next Test-Vietnam Vietnam was divided into a North and South just as the Koreans were. The North was Communist and the South was more like the West (democratic). North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam in order to bring it under a single government.

Korea

Domino Theory The U.S. intervened once again into Asia to stop Communism. It felt that if Vietnam fell to Communism that all Asian countries would too. This was know as the Domino Theory.

Vietnam War U.S sent troops to Vietnam Bombed extensively and sent 500,000 troops Could not defeat the North Vietnamese and withdrew in 1973. A year later, all of Vietnam was Communist.

Communist China