Module 8

Berlin AirliftMajor Conflict

(8.c.4)

V. Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first such crisis that resulted in casualties.

The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under their control. This meant they could get no supplies into West Berlin that the West controlled from West Germany. The Svoites wanted to force West Berlin to depend on The Soviets for food and fuel. That way THEY would control ALL of Berlin

In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin. West Berlin required over 4,000 tons per day .

The United States Air Force, Royal Air Force, and other Western nations flew over 200,000 flights providing 13,000 tons of food daily to Berlin in an operation lasting almost a year.

By the spring of 1949, the effort was clearly succeeding, and by April the airlift was delivering more cargo than had previously flowed into the city by rail.

The success of the Airlift was humiliating to the Soviets, who had repeatedly claimed it could never work. When it became clear that it did work, the blockade was lifted in May..

Planes (C-47’s) filling with supplies for delivery to BerlinFour years earlier these same planes carried U.S. Paratroopers into battle

Loading milk for delivery to West Berlin

The top row of rings used to hold a wire that paratroopers hooked their parachutes to for automatic opening when they jumped out

US Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen, who pioneered the idea of dropping candy bars and bubble gum with handmade miniature parachutes, which later became known as "Operation Little Vittles".

Part 2Korean Conflict

XIII. Korean WarXIII. Korean War(8.c.3)(8.c.3)

On August 10, 1945 with the Japanese surrender about to happen, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea along the 38th parallel. Japanese forces north of that line would surrender to the Soviet Union, and those to the south to the United States.

Thus, without consulting the Korean people, the two major powers divided the Korean peninsula into two occupation zones, thereby putting into place the foundation for the civil war.

In mid 1949, the leader on North Korea asked Soviet leader Joseph Stalin if he could attack South Korea to put ALL Korea together under Communist control.

He needed Soviet support to successfully make this attack.

Stalin as leader of the communist nations refused permission, concerned that the North Korean armed forces were not ready, and with the chance that the U.S. would get involved.

Once the N. Korean leader got a promise of help from Communist China, he went ahead

The North Korean army struck in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, June 25, 1950, crossing the 38th parallel behind a firestorm of artillery barrage. Equipped by the Soviets with 150 T-34 tanks, the North Korean military began the war with about 180 aircraft, including 40 YAK fighters and 70 attack bombers.

The North Korean army struck in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, June 25, 1950, crossing the 38th parallel behind a firestorm of artillery barrage.

Equipped by the Soviets with 150 T-34 tanks, the North Korean military began the war with about 180 aircraft, including 40 YAK fighters and 70 attack bombers.

The United States and the United Nations stepped in on the side of the South Korean Government.

After early defeats at the hands of the North Korean military, a rapid UN counter-offensive pushed the North Koreans past where the border between the two sections had been.

Chinese Entry into war:Chinese Entry into war:

They went all the way up to the Korean border with China.

This caused Communist China to come to the aid of North Korea.

China’s entry into the war, the fighting eventually stopped with an armistice (agreement to stop fighting) that restored the original border between the Koreas at the 38th Parallel and created the Korean Demilitarized Zone, a 2.5 mile wide buffer zone between the two Koreas.

No side won because it developed into what is called a STALEMATE (Tie).

Bay of Pigs

Launched from Guatemala, the invading force was defeated by the Cuban armed forces, under the command of Prime Minister Fidel Castro, within three days.

VI. Berlin WallVI. Berlin Wall

August 13, 1961

The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) [The idea of their masters - The Soviet Union.] that completely enclosed the city of West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin.

The Wall included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which surrounded a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches and other defenses.

Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans escaped Esat Germany by walkingt into West Berlin, then getting on a plane to West Germany.

The goal of the wall was to stop people escaping from Communist control in East Germany.

During its existence from 1961 to 1989, the Wall stopped almost all escapes from East Germany After it was put up, around 5,000 people attempted to escape over the wall, with estimates of the resulting death toll varying between around 100 and 200.

NVA officer Conrad Schumann defecting to West Berlin during the wall's early days in 1961.

XV. Cuban Missile Crisis(8.c.3)

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba in October 1962, during the Cold War.

In September 1962, the Cuban and Soviet governments placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. When United States military intelligence discovered the weapons, the U.S. government sought to do all it could to ensure the removal of the missiles. The crisis ranks with the Berlin Blockade as one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is generally regarded, as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to a nuclear war.

The crisis ended several weeks later on October 28, 1962, when President John F. Kennedy and the United Nations Secretary General U Thant reached an agreement with the Soviets to dismantle the missiles in exchange for a no-invasion agreement.

In his negotiations with the Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy informally proposed that the Jupiter missiles in Turkey would be removed "within a short time after this crisis was over“ .

Soviet Missles could have hit every point in Continentel U.S. except far corner of Washington State.

Distance from:Cuba to Florida = 90 MilesCuba to Washington D.C = 1,130 MilesCuba to New York City =1,309 MilesCuba to Chicago = 1,326 MilesCuba to Los Angeles = 2,299 Miles

The missiles had a 2,400 mile range

“Duck and Cover” Drills

XVI. Vietnam:XVI. Vietnam:Domino TheoryDomino Theory

Vietnam War SummaryThe Vietnam War was a war fought between 1964 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos, and in bombing runs over North Vietnam.

Fighting on one side was a coalition of forces including the United States, the Republic of Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

Fighting on the other side was a coalition of forces including the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the National Liberation Front, a communist-led South Vietnamese guerrilla movement (VC).

The USSR provided military aid to the North Vietnamese and to the NLF, but was not one of the military combatants.

The goal of the communists in the North, with support from their communist allies from outside (USSR, China) and inside S. Vietnam (Viet Cong), was to unify Vietnam under communist rule.

The U.S. got involved because of a fear that if one country in a region fell to communism, others in the area would do so as well. Thus theory is callled the Domino Theory.

Where it happenedWhere it happened

U.S. Soldiers in CombatU.S. Soldiers in Combat

Patrol Action

Wounded Medic Treating Wounded SoldierWounded Medic Treating Wounded Soldier