Chapter 33 Review Notes

A successful economic stimulus from the US post-World War II to aid Western European countries.
Reasons for US involvement:
- Prevent the spread of communism into Western and Central Europe.
- Rebuild infrastructure destroyed during the war (bridges, etc.).
Followed Truman's Truman Doctrine, pledging military aid to countries resisting communism (e.g., Greece, Turkey).
Successes:
- Stopped the spread of communism.
- Rebuilt Europe financially and economically.

The United States and Canada, along with Western European countries, formed an alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The Soviet Union and Eastern European countries formed their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact in response.
Yugoslavia did not join the Warsaw Pact.
The Cold War was not just about communism versus democracy, but also about economic systems:
- Communism (state control) versus capitalism (free markets).

Communist leader Kim Il-sung of North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950.
A UN police action, led by the United States, pushed the North Koreans back.
The Korean Peninsula remains divided between communist North Korea and democratic, capitalistic South Korea.

A failed coup attempt in Cuba to overthrow Castro.
Carried out by anti-Castro Cubans trained by the US CIA.
President Kennedy refused to provide air support.
Consequences:
- Strengthened Castro's position.
- Led to Castro's greater commitment to communism.
- Increased alignment with the Soviet Union and Nikita Khrushchev.

Took place in 1955 with 29 countries attending.
Pushed for a nonalignment movement, not aligned with the United States or the Soviet Union.
Aimed to ease tensions between the United States and communist China.
Led by Indonesia and India.

In 1917, Great Britain pledged to help Jewish people create a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which is now Israel.
The country was established after World War II with British help after the Holocaust.

Kwame Nkrumah led Ghana to become the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from the British.
Jomo Kenyatta helped Kenya gain independence from the British and later became president of Kenya.

In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini led an Islamic revolution against the secular Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The Shah was supported by the United States but faced corruption issues.
Iranian students stormed the US embassy and held 50+ Americans hostage for 444 days after the US refused to send the Shah back to Iran.

Founded in 1949 after a communist revolution led by Mao Zedong, who overthrew Chiang Kai-shek's government.
Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, which remains independent.
The People's Republic of China has been communist and authoritarian since 1949.

President Richard Nixon recognized communist China, easing Cold War tensions.
Nixon was the first US president to visit communist China.
Led to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and a nuclear arms reduction deal with the Soviet Union.
Cold War tensions eased until the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1980.

The leader of the Soviet Union initiated reforms due to the weakening financial and political situation in the mid-1980s.
Implemented Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (economic restructuring).
The Soviet Union collapsed between 1989 and 1991.

The Solidarity movement in Poland, a trade union and nationalist movement, opposed communism.
The fall of communism began in Poland and had a domino effect in Eastern Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and other countries.
The Solidarity movement helped kickstart the fall of communism.