Untitled

Connections

 

Yalta X

 

United Nations: The UN was created as a means of establishing the new world order after the fall of Hitler. The UN had all of the Big Three on the powerful Security Council.

 

Truman Doctrine: Following the Yalta conference, the USSR was in an advantageous position in East Europe, leading Truman to focus on containing the Communist threat in East Europe.

 

Marshall Plan: With Germany divided, East Germany did not receive any of the reparation funds, as it was Communist.

 

Berlin Airlift: The split Germany decided during the Yalta conference ensured the later tensions over the capital, Berlin, leading to the Berlin airlift.

 

Establishment of UN X

 

Korean War: The Korean War was passed with a UN resolution; the USSR did not participate in the vote, so UN forces entered the war against North Korea.

 

Chinese Revolution: The revolution in China forced Chiang Kai Shek to flee to Taiwan, the nations of the Security Council, excluding Russia, determined that the legitimate government of China was still the Nationalists, so Taiwan remained on the Security Council rather than Mao.

 

China Visit: Nixon paved the path for friendlier relations with China, and this later resulted in Communist China joining the Security Council.

 

Truman Doctrine  X

 

Communist Pressure Greece/ Turkey: The Communist pressure on those two key Communist battlegrounds combined with the Truman Doctrine motivated the US to provide aid in hopes of containing the spread of Communism.

 

Marshall Plan: The Marshall Plan was the weapon of the Truman Doctrine. By providing aid to European countries, Communist expansion was contained.

 

Berlin Airlift: The Berlin Airlift was a successful attempt to halt the advance of Communism, an attempt a containment, essentially. The success underscored the validity of the Doctrine.

 

NSC-68: NSC-68 strengthened the Truman Doctrine by encouraging further use of doctrine ideals to combat Communism.

 

Korean War: The Korean war was an effort to prevent the Communists from spreading elsewhere in Asia, especially Japan.

 

Firing MacArthur: MacArthur was fired as he wanted to go beyond containment by invading China.

 

Communist Pressure Greece/ Turkey X

 

Marshall Plan: The Marshall Plan provided enormous amounts of aid to Greece and Turkey, both enormously important battlegrounds against Communism. As a result, Greece and Turkey remained capitalist.

 

National Security Act: The mounting Soviet influence in East Europe motivated Congress to provide more powers to the President to counter USSR hostilities.

 

Marshall Plan  X

 

Berlin Airlift: In a precedent established by the Marshall Plan, an active program of economic support kept West Berlin capitalist.

 

National Security Act  X

 

NSC-68: Later Presidents combined the NSC-68 with the NSA to greatly increase spending in the war on Communism.

 

Tonkin Resolution: The increase of Presidential powers paralleled that of the NSA’s.

 

Iranian Coup: The CIA, formed by this act, carried out a successful coup in Iran which put the Shah in power.

 

Berlin Airlift  X

 

NSC-68: The success of the airlift reflected the report’s conclusion that more funds would be needed to fight Communism.

 

NATO  X

 

NSC-68: The NSC-68 advocated for a larger American role in fighting Communism, of which NATO served the purpose.

 

Chinese Revolution  X

 

NSC-68: The results of the Chinese Revolution led experts to conclude that America had to play a more proactive role in combating Communism.

 

Korean War: The newly established Communist government of China deployed troops to assist the North Koreans in the war.

 

Firing of MacArthur: MacArthur desperately wanted to invade China to repel the Chinese forces massing North of the Korean border, his uncompromising stance led to dismissal.

 

End of Korean War: With Chinese support, the Korean war became a stalemate, eventually leading to a compromise.

 

NSC-68  X

 

Korean War: As NSC-68 asserted that the US needed to play a larger role in anti-Communism, the US became involved in the Korean War.

 

Korean War X

 

Firing of MacArthur: MacArthur was released due to his insubordination during the war effort, and his radical views of using nukes.

 

End of Korean War: Korean war ended after a multi-year stalemate, finally establishing a DMZ and a peace in 1953.

 

Eisenhower Doctrine: The costly Korean War had an impact in Eisenhower’s decision to use less conventional military force in bloody wars against Communism influence.

 

Firing of MacArthur  X

 

End of Korean War: MacArthur was perhaps America’s most capable commander at the time, and as he was fired, the Korean war resulted in more of a stalemate ending rather than a victory.

 

Dien Bien Phu  X

 

Geneva Convention: The Geneva Convention resulted from the disastrous French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. In the convention, France ceded its colony.

 

Launch of Sputnik  X

 

NASA Created: NASA was created to combat the USSR in the space race. The launch of Sputnik shocked America so the creation of an agency to handle space development, NASA, was created.

 

National Defense and Education Act: The government placed more emphasis on courses which would improve scientific output, and thus, speed the route into space.

 

Apollo Program: The launch of Sputnik motivated America to give its best to the space race, and with that, the Apollo program was created to match the successes of Sputnik.

 

Man on the moon: Sputnik was the wake-up call for American space development. With the threat of the Soviets keeping a lead in the space race, development resulted in an American victory: putting a man on the moon.

 

NASA Created  X

 

National Defense/ Education Act: NASA was created in par with this act, both of which reflected the desire of America to defeat the Soviets in the space race.

 

Apollo Program: The Apollo program was a product of NASA.

 

Man on the moon: NASA’s largest feat was the delivery of the first man onto the moon; this represented the largest achievement in NASA history.

 

Suez Canal Crisis  X

 

Eisenhower Doctrine: The peacekeeping role which America played during the crisis reflected Eisenhower’s doctrine of minimal involvement.

 

Eisenhower Doctrine  X

 

Cuban Revolution: Eisenhower played a minimal role in the Cuban Revolution, in part due to the doctrine he penned.

 

Hungarian Revolution: As America had invested so much into its nuclear arsenal, as dictated by the doctrine, America could do little to help the Hungary Revolution, which quickly collapsed.

 

Bay of Pigs: Eisenhower started the planning for this invasion. Even then, he chose not to use American forces in the planned invasion, rather using “disposable” Cuban exiles.

 

Eisenhower Farewell: Even as Eisenhower left office, he advocated for non-involvement in Vietnam and asked that the American military establishment remain minimal.

 

Escalation of Vietnam War: The escalation of Vietnam repudiated all that Eisenhower had worked for, and it overturned the doctrine.

 

Nixon Doctrine: Both doctrines had the same underlying advocacy for less military support and more economic support instead.

 

Cuban Revolution  X

 

Bay of Pigs: The Bay of Pigs was an invasion meant to prevent Castro’s regime from gaining full power. It quickly became an embarrassing debacle for the Kennedy administration.

 

Cuban Missile Crisis: The Castro regime was Communist, and allowed the USSR to place missiles on its territory, sparking the missile crisis.

 

U2 Crisis  X

 

Eisenhower’s Farewell: The U2 Crisis proved that the Eisenhower administration actually accomplished little as talks between the USSR and America broke down.

 

Bay of Pigs  X

 

Cuban Missile Crisis: The Bay of Pigs invasion only worsened relations between Castro and the US, leading Castro to side with the Soviets, who then stationed nuclear warheads in Cuba.

 

Berlin Wall  X

 

Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Berlin Wall finally came down, almost three decades after its erection.

 

Assassination of Diem  X

 

Escalation: The assassination marked an increasing American concern in Vietnam, which paralleled the growing troop numbers in Vietnam as well.

 

Escalation  X

 

Gulf of Tonkin Incident: The Gulf of Tonkin Incident provided an excuse to increase the speed of troop deployment into Vietnam. Escalation was greatly boosted by the incident.

 

Tonkin Resolution: As part of the escalation process, the Tonkin resolution assured that LBJ would have power to increase the war effort as necessary.

 

Vietnamization: The halt of escalation and a rollback of the escalation policies began under Nixon with Vietnamization, or handing over responsibility to the Vietnamese.

 

Bombing Cambodia: Once again escalated the war as Cambodia was dragged into a former Vietnam- only war.

 

Gulf of Tonkin Incident  X

 

Tonkin Resolution: The Tonkin Resolution was a direct result of the incident, the supposed attack on US Navy ships motivated Congress to provide LBJ with more war making powers.

 

Tet Offensive: The Tet Offensive dampened some of the initial optimism for the war created during the Tonkin incident. Troop morale was permanently damaged.

 

Tonkin Resolution  X

 

Johnson Retirement: The Tonkin Resolution, though granting Johnson enormous war making powers, eventually led to his downfall as the war dragged on into a nasty, brutal grind.

 

Tet Offensive  X

 

Johnson Retirement: Johnson’s popularity took a permanent hit from the Tet Offensive as the truly brutality of the war was shown on television. The lowering morale of American forces helped Johnson decide on retirement.

 

My Lai Massacre: The My Lai Massacre, like the Tet Offensive, demoralized the American public and lowered support for the war. Both events created enormous frustration in the American public towards the war.

 

Vietnamization: As the popularity of the war decreased, Nixon implemented the Vietnamization policy, which would hand over more responsibility to the Vietnamese. The brutal Tet offensive helped increase support for Vietnamization.

 

Easter Offensive: The Easter Offensive, like the Tet Offensive, were both large scale Communist attacks on American and S. Vietnam forces. Both did lasting damage to troop and public morale.

 

Bombing Cambodia: The offensive highlighted the strength of the Viet Cong, and motivated Nixon to stamp out the supply routes to the Viet Cong.

 

Apollo Program  X

 

Man on the moon: The Apollo program was the program which placed the first man on the moon. The crowning success of the Apollo program.

 

Vietnamization  X

 

My Lai Massacre: The My Lai massacre highlighted the demoralized state of American forces and further enraged the American public. Vietnamization became the tool that Nixon needed to stay afloat politically.

 

Easter Offensive: The ferocity of the Easter offensive further magnified the need for America to minimize its involvement in Vietnam.

 

Cambodia Bombings: The Cambodia bombings were a reverse of the policies of Vietnamization. This resulted in enormous protests, which considerably damaged Nixon’s popularity.

 

Peace with Honor: Vietnamization was the first step to peace with honor. Nixon essentially used Vietnamization to tone down the situation before going for peace.

 

Nixon Doctrine: The Nixon Doctrine reflected the ideas of Vietnamization: minimal military involvement to prevent bloody local conflicts.

 

My Lai Massacre  X

 

Easter Offensive: The Easter offensive and the massacre both significantly lowered public opinion of the war.

 

Peace with Honor: The massacre strengthened the public’s desire for peace in Vietnam and an end to the bloody conflict.

 

Easter Offensive  X

 

Bombing Cambodia: The bombing attacks took place simultaneously with the Easter offensive, and was a retaliatory effort on the part of Nixon.

 

Bombing Cambodia  X

 

Peace with Honor: The bombings were meant to be a show of force, which in the public’s eyes, motivated the Vietnamese to accept the terms of the peace.

 

Peace with Honor  X

 

Visit to USSR: The visit to USSR strengthened relations, and lowered USSR support for Vietnam. Without the war materials, Vietnam was more motivated to conduct peace talks.

 

 Visit to China: The Chinese, now that they were closer to America, decreased support to Vietnam, leading Vietnam to the negotiations table.

 

Visit to USSR  X

 

China Visit: Both occurred at around the same time period, and both resulted in the lowering of weapons to the North Vietnamese.

 

SALT I: The SALT I talks occurred as a result of the visit to the Soviet Union. The initial visit essentially set the stage for the later SALT I negotiations.

 

SALT I  X

 

SALT II: SALT I talks set the stage for SALT II talks. These earlier talks were the first step towards a longer trend of nuclear arms reduction, essentially de-escalating the Cold War.

 

Glasnost  X

 

Perestroika: This new, baffling policy was part of the reforms that Gorbachev was implementing. The USSR never allowed anything close to open speech prior to glasnost.

 

Collapse of USSR: Some military hardliners did not agree with this policy, and attempted to topple the government. This failed coup rendered Gorbachev and the Communist party powerless.

 

Perestroika  X

 

Fall of Berlin Wall: The reforms included allowing a small portion of East Germans to immigrate to West Berlin. This led to a swarm of people and the subsequent destruction of the wall as people stormed it.

 

Soviet War in Afghanistan: As part of his reforms, Gorbachev ended the long and frustrating engagement in Afghanistan. The war had cost over ten thousand Russian lives.

 

Fall of the Berlin Wall  X

 

Fall of USSR: The collapse of the Berlin wall marked the waning influence of the USSR, which itself fell months after.