The Cold War was a geopolitical conflict between the United States and Soviet Union that began after World War 2 and ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Though no direct military battles occurred between the two superpowers, they engaged in espionage, propaganda, arms buildups, and proxy wars around the world. Key events included the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the arms race that financially drained the Soviet economy. The Cold War ended as communism fell in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union collapsed under its own economic troubles.

1. Cold War By: Will Hulsey, Kaitlyn Morgan, Claire Post, & Madison Rice

2. The Cold War was different than any other war that had taken place in history. The cold war did not involve any physical battles. The first major event of the Cold War was the effort of British and American pilots to keep supplies going into West Berlin after the Soviet government closed all outside traffic. The US brought in 2,000,000 tons of coal into Berlin with 277,000 flights. Winston Churchill said an “Iron Curtain” had fallen on the opportunity for power on the Soviet Union as early as 1946. Iron Curtain was said throughout the entire war. Introduction

3. Who? Although the Cold War was primarily fought between the United Sates and the Soviet Union there were also many countries along the way who did not want communism to spread to their nations. Many of the allies on the side of the Soviet Union were communist countries or countries controlled by the Soviet Union.

4. The cold war was fought between the soviet union and the united states and their allies. The cold war came directly after world war 2. it was given the name cold war because it did not involve any open front battles between the united states and the Soviet Union and nuclear weapons, otherwise known as a “hot war.” the cold war was an indirect war through verbal threats and propaganda rather than fighting in open front battles. What?

5. The Cold War took place in February 4-11, 1945 where the Yalta Conference was held. This was a wartime meeting with the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. Overall, the meeting was intended to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of a destructed Europe from the war.The leaders who attended disagreed on much, and as a result in the spring the Cold War began. It is thought that the Cold War then ended in August 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, but there are many opposing view points. When?

6. Where? The cold war mostly used propaganda, threats, and economic pressure because of the enormous scare of the war turning into a world wide nuclear war. Because of this scare there was never a direct area the cold war took place, the only thing that took place were proxy wars, were two strong nations fight indirectly. Although the cold war did not take place anywhere because it was not considered an actual war, they did provide aid for other wars taking place. For example, in the Vietnam and Korean wars the united states would give weapons and financial support to the anti- communism country fighting. The soviet union would do the same for the communist countries. Also after the Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba, to stop another attempted invasion by the United States, the United States set up a naval blockade along the Cuba border to stop the Soviet Union for sending in nuclear missiles.

7. Why? The cold war began over the united states believing that capital democracy was the preferred government. Where the soviet union preferred communism. Also after world war 2 Russia's leader Joseph Stalin feared another invasion. Therefore, he was determined to use his red army and communism to control Poland and to keep Germany from ever regaining his strength. The united states and many other western powers saw the expansion of the soviet union as a threat. In the same way, the soviet union feared the western capitalist nations would overthrow their capitalist governments.

8. The Soviet Union vs. the United States This chart was found on: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/what%20was%20the%20cold%20war.htm

9. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world had ever came to being in a nuclear war. When it came to the arms race, the U.S. was drastically ahead of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union decided to come up with the idea of placing missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and really help a potential U.S. attack on the Soviet Union. For the United States, President John Kennedy was informed of the missile installations in Cuba. Immediately, the EX-COMM, a group of Kennedy’s twelve most important advisors to handle the crisis. Kennedy said that if the nuclear missiles would be launched from Cuba and attacked the United States, they would say the attack came from the Soviet Union. The U.S. and Cuba finally came to an ease when Khrushchev announced that he would take out the missile installations from Cuba and return the missiles to the Soviet Union. Was there ever a moment where the cold war almost became a “real” war?

10. The Soviet economy was far behind the United States economy. So when both countries were sending financial aid to other countries fighting in anti-communists wars, the Soviet Union was falling more and more in debt. America had a lot more money than the Soviet Union did, so this caused their economy to fall drastically. Ronald Reagan also had an impact on the end of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!“ The Berlin Wall fell and signified the end of the Cold War. What caused the cold war to end?

11. During the war everyone ,every second of the day had scares about the atomic bomb. A positive thing that resulted at the end of the Cold War was that the people didn't have to worry every minute of the day about Atomic Bombs. “We all, for the most part, expected it, but didn't let it ruin or run our lives. We lived our daily lives routinely...if it happened...it happened...there was nothing we could do about it. With the end of the cold war...we don't even think about it anymore...it's over.”(quote from a civilian during the war). What was a positive effect of the cold war?

12. At the end of the war the US was scared that since one Asian country fell into the hands of communism that all of them would, so the US was involved enormously in Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. This made some European countries mad, because they were having to pay the US war debts, and they felt that was just paying for the US to go to Asia to fight off the communists. How did communism play a role in the Cold War?

13. The cold war was a very interesting time in history. The cold war was where two nations gathered arms for defense; however, they never participated in an actual battle. The cold war never consisted of any open front battles or fighting of any kind. The cold war was more verbal threats then actual physical harm. Conclusion

14. Alvin and the Chipmunks Music Video on the Cold War to follow

15. Database: Carson, Thomas, and Mary Bonk, eds. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale , 1999. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/ infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=DC&docId=EJ1667500130&source=gale&srcprod=DISC&userGroupName=cant48040&version=1.0>. Book: Gregory, Ross. Cold War America 1946-1990. Ed. Richard Balkin. New York: Facts on File, 2003. Print. Website: "What was the Cold War." History Learning Cite. N.p., 2000-2010. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ what%20was%20the%20cold%20war.htm>. WorksCited