Cold War - Soviet Aggression, Nuclear Proliferation, and Proxy Wars

The Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact as a counter-alliance to NATO.
- It served the same purpose for communist nations in Eastern Europe as NATO did for Western nations.

A fierce arms race occurred between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1945: The United States developed the first atomic bomb.
1949: The Soviet Union tested their first atomic bomb due to infiltration and espionage.
1950s: Truman ordered the development of a more powerful hydrogen bomb.
1952: The United States completed and tested its first hydrogen bomb.
1953: The Soviets tested their first hydrogen bomb.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union stockpiled increasing amounts of increasingly powerful nuclear bombs.
The possibility of global nuclear annihilation became very real.
Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD): Both sides understood that using nuclear weapons would result in their own destruction, deterring their use.

The Cold War was not just an ideological battle; many proxy wars occurred.
Proxy War Definition: A war where opposing sides use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly.
These wars involved real fighting, but not directly between the United States and the Soviet Union, who backed the opposing sides.

The United Nations, mainly American troops, supported South Korea.
General Douglas MacArthur led UN troops, pushing North Koreans near the Chinese border.
China intervened, sending troops to push UN forces back below the 38th parallel.
The war ended with Korea divided at the 38th parallel, with communists in the North and US allies in the South.
Illustrates two key points:
- It was a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
- It was a direct result of Truman's containment policy.