The Cold War Gets Hot The Cold War Gets Hot
The Korean War: A “Police Action” ( ) Syngman Rhee – South Korea Kim Il-Sung – North Korea “Domino Theory” North Korea invades South Korea. – N.K. supported by USSR & China. S.K. supported by USA & United Nations
The Suez Crisis: Egypt Closes Suez Canal. Great Britain, France, and Israel attack to reopen it.
The Hungarian Uprising: 1956 Imre Nagy, Hungarian Prime Minister }Promised free elections. }This could lead to the end of communist rule in Hungary. Violently put down by Soviet troops
U-2 Spy Incident (1960) Col. Francis Gary Powers’ plane was shot down over Soviet airspace.
The Berlin Wall Goes Up (1961) Checkpoint Charlie Separated East & West Berlin
“ Ich bin ein Berliner!” (1963) President Kennedy tells Berliners that the West is with them!
Khruschev Embraces Castro, 1961
Bay of Pigs Debacle (1961) American supported invasion of Cuba failed.
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
USSR tried to put nuclear missiles in Cuba. USA navy blockade caused USSR to back down. World came close to nuclear war.
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the Russians, and the other man blinked!
Vietnam War:
“Prague Spring” (1968) Former Czech President, Alexander Dubček Communism with a human face!
“Prague Spring” Dashed! Dissidents/playwrights arrested [like Vaclav Havel—future president of a free Czech Republic ].