1. Chapter 27

2.   West Berlin was a “Western Island” of prosperity in the midst of a relatively poor East Germany  People wanted to escape the Communist repression and poor economic conditions  West Berlin was the main escape route  By August 1961, over 10,000 East Germans had fled in a single week  East German government had to take action as the population loss was causing economic problems Berlin Wall

3.   On Aug 13, 1961, East German leaders ordered streets torn up and temporary road blocks built.  They halted all road and train traffic between East and West Berlin  Work began at once on a permanent concrete block wall 15 ft high topped with barbed wire, flood lights, machine gun towers, minefields and vicious dog patrols  Wall stretched 28 miles through the city and another 75 mile stretch around West Berlin to separate  To reach the Wall, East Berliners had to cross a wide open area called the “death strip”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7YE-N448fg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7YE-N448fg

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7.   In 1959, Fidel Castro comes into power in Cuba and sets up a Soviet supported totalitarian regime.  A socialist regime with communist contacts so close to mainland U.S. was considered a threat to the security of the U.S.  President Kennedy finally decided on a CIA plan to have exiled Cuban fighters to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.  Purpose of the invasion was to cause a revolt against Castro. Bay of Pigs

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9.   The invasion was a disaster, started on Sunday April 16 and by that Wednesday, the exiled fighters were surrendering.  After the failed invasion, Soviet Union sent advisors to Cuba  In 1962, the Soviets began to place nuclear missiles in Cuba  Missiles were an answer to the nuclear missiles the U.S. put in Turkey. (a border state to Soviet Union)

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11.   The U.S. was not willing to allow nuclear weapons within such close distance to the mainland.  In October 1962, Kennedy got word that Soviet ships were delivering missiles to Cuba  Kennedy quickly set up a blockade to prevent the ships from reaching Cuba.  Soviets agreed to remove nuclear missiles from Cuba if U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba. Kennedy agreed  A hotline between U.S. and Soviet was set up so the superpowers could communicate easily in times of crisis  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnQBep5VsxY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnQBep5VsxY Cuban Missile Crisis

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13.   Vietnam was a French colony  Communist leader Ho Chi Minh seized power in most of Vietnam in August 1945.  France seized the southern part of Vietnam  For years they fought without much success against the communist forces. In 1954, France agreed to a peace treaty that divided Vietnam into two parts. Communist North and non-Communist South.  Both sides agreed to hold elections in two years to form a single government. Vietnam

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15.   The U.S. aided South Vietnam and the spread of Communism  The VietCong( South Vietnamese Communist guerrillas supported by the North) were on the verge of capturing the entire country in early 1965.  President Lyndon Johnson sent increasing numbers of troops to Vietnam starting in 1964.  U.S. policy makers believed in the Domino Theory- if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, then they all would like dominoes

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17.   Despite the massive superiority in equipment and firepower of the U.S., the U.S. couldn’t defeat the North Vietnamese.  In 1973, Nixon reached a peace agreement with North Vietnam that allowed the U.S. to withdraw its troops.  Within two years, Vietnam was unified by Communist armies from the North

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20.   The domino theory was proved unfounded.  A split between communist China and the Soviet Union put an end to the Western idea that there was one form of government that was led by Moscow  Under Nixon, U.S. resumed relations with China, New nations in Southeast Asia managed to avoid Communism.  By the end of the Vietnam war, a new era in American-Soviet relations had begun to emerge.

21.   Cuban Missile Crisis  http://youtu.be/W50RNAbmy3M http://youtu.be/W50RNAbmy3M  Vietnam  http://youtu.be/URIHiUsKxVs http://youtu.be/URIHiUsKxVs  Berlin Wall  http://youtu.be/-pUmfKX3C04 http://youtu.be/-pUmfKX3C04