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Cold War Digital Map

Eastern Bloc

Formation of the Eastern Bloc

The Soviet Union oversaw the formation of Communist governments throughout Central and Eastern Europe in the last months of World War II and the second half of the 1940s. These governments became known as the Eastern bloc throughout the following four decades. Its primary goal was to combat Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union established the Eastern Bloc by invading and then annexing various nations as Soviet Socialist Republics as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary were all members of the Eastern Bloc, which spanned eastern and central Europe. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, implemented democratic and economic reform, which resulted in the Eastern Bloc's demise. The Berlin Wall was down in October 1990, and East and West Germany were reunited; the Soviet Union dissolved into separate republics in 1991. 

Western & Eastern Bloc Map

During the cold war, NATO nations were considered the Western Bloc, while nations under USSR control were considered the Eastern Bloc. There were nations that did remain neutral, in fear of involving themselves in a possible war outbreak.

Postwar Occupation & Division of Germany

Postwar Occupation & Division of Germany

Following World War II, Germany was deprived of its achievements, and more than a quarter of its pre-war territory was taken by Poland and the Soviet Union. Their German residents were forcibly relocated to the West. Both East and West Germany's occupying powers replaced their military governors with civilian leaders. In 1949, and the occupations formally ended in the mid-1950s. Throughout the Cold War, both sides had a significant interest in Germany, and the nation and its capital remained split. Germany was split into four occupied zones following the Potsdam Conference: Great Britain in the northwest, France in the southwest, the United States in the south, and the Soviet Union in the east. Berlin, the capital of the Soviet Union, was divided into four occupied zones as well. On August 1, 1945, the main World War II victors signed the Potsdam Agreement, which divided Germany into areas of influence throughout the Cold War between the Western and Eastern Blocs. A series of East German demonstrations led to the GDR's first free elections on March 18, 1990, and to discussions between the GDR and the FRG that resulted in the Unification Treaty. With Germany's reunification on 3 October 1990, Berlin was restored as the reunited country's capital, and the former German Democratic Republic's Länder joined the Federal Republic of Germany's NATO membership.

Germany was split into four occupied zones following the Potsdam Conference: Great Britain in the northwest, France in the southwest, the United States in the south, and the Soviet Union in the east. Here, you can see the territories marked down on a map for a better visual representation.

Here, you can see the division of Germany during the 20th century. The Purple is what was West Germany, while the yellow was East Germany.

Berlin Blockade/Berlin Airlift

Berlin Blockade/Berlin Airlift

The crisis began on June 24, 1948, when Soviet soldiers blocked access to Allied-controlled portions of Berlin by train, road, and water. In response to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin's land routes, the US initiates a huge airlift of food, water, and medication to the beleaguered city's residents. Supplies from American planes kept the approximately 2 million civilians in West Berlin alive for over a year. On May 12, 1949, Soviet forces removed the siege on land access to western Berlin, bringing the situation to a conclusion. The crisis arose as a result of Western nations differing occupation practices and escalating tensions with the Soviet Union. The Berlin Airlift was a huge Cold War success for the Americans.

Here, you can see civilians from the West watching a U.S. aircraft arriving to deliver supplies.

Chinese Revolution

Chinese Revolution

The Chinese Revolution began in 1948. Popular support for the Communists grew throughout World War II. In Nationalist-controlled parts of China, US diplomats described a totalitarian repression of opposition. The Republic of China's government became vulnerable to the Communist threat as a result of these undemocratic policies, which were compounded by wartime corruption. In 1949, the Communists took control of mainland China and founded the People's Republic of China (PRC), forcing the Republic of China's leadership to flee to Taiwan. The West fought any reform in the UN Security Council that would allow the Communist People's Republic of China to replace the Nationalist Republic of China as the permanent veto-wielding member for more than two decades following the Communist Revolution.

In this image, the first flag of the People's Republic of China is raised.

Marshall Plan

Marshall Plan

President Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948 on April 3, 1948. It was dubbed the Marshall Plan after Secretary of State George Marshall, who suggested in 1947 that the US offer economic help to rebuild postwar Europe's economic infrastructure. The Marshall Plan was a US-sponsored initiative aimed at rehabilitating the economies of 17 western and southern European nations in order to establish stable conditions in which democratic institutions might thrive after WWII. The Marshall Plan involved Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and western Germany. The Marshall Plan was a big success. During this time, the western European countries engaged had a 15 to 25% increase in their gross domestic output. The plan had a significant role in the fast regeneration of the chemical, engineering, and steel sectors in Western Europe.

Here, you can see all the countries that received economic assistance from the United States during he Marshall Plan period. Nations like France and Italy received a major amount of support compared to other nations.

Cuban Revolution

Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution was an armed uprising led by Fidel Castro and his fellow revolutionaries against President Fulgencio Batista's military regime. The revolution began in July 1953 and lasted in fits and starts until the rebels overthrew Batista's regime on December 31, 1958. Following the revolution, Castro's administration embarked on a nationalization and political consolidation program that changed Cuba's economy and civic society. On January 1, 1959, the revolution came to an end with the toppling of Fulgencio Batista and the establishment of a communist government.

Here you can see victorious rebels in the Havana Hilton in January 1959.

Korean War

Korean War

On July 26, 1953, the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and attacked non-communist South Korea, starting the Korean War. The United States rushed to South Korea's help as Kim Il-sung's North Korean army, backed with Soviet tanks, soon overran the country. On June 27, 1950, Truman authorizes air and naval help for South Korea and urges for UN action. The Korean Battle served as a Cold War proxy war. The United Kingdom and the United States, with the help of the United Nations, backed South Korea, while communist China and the Soviet Union backed North Korea. North Korea, China, and the United States signed an armistice agreement on July 27, 1953.

This image shows South Korean soldiers on war grounds during the Korean War.

Vietnam War

Vietnam War

On November 1, 1955, the Vietnam War began. The Vietnam War was sparked by America's simplistic notion that communism was on the verge of spreading throughout Southeast Asia. North Vietnam, on the other hand, received moral, logistical, and military backing from the Soviet Union and China. They intended to establish and spread communism across Asia. In January 1973, delegates from the US, North and South Vietnam, and the Vietcong signed a peace accord in Paris, thereby ending direct US military involvement in the Vietnam War. North Vietnamese forces launched a strong onslaught in the Central Highlands in March 1975, after rebuilding their soldiers and upgrading their supply infrastructure. NVA tanks pushed through the gates of Saigon's Presidential Palace on April 30, 1975, essentially ending the conflict.

This image shows an injured marine soldier during the United States involvement in the Vietnam War.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis

During the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and hazardous confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union, and it was the closest the two superpowers got to nuclear war. An American U-2 spy plane surreptitiously spotted nuclear missile sites being developed by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba, which started the whole thing. Fidel Castro was a big impact on the communist party in Cuba at the time. On October 28, Khrushchev said that Soviet missiles will be decommissioned and evacuated from Cuba. The crisis was settled, but the naval blockade remained in place until the Soviets decided to evacuate its IL–28 bombers from Cuba, and the US withdrew the quarantine on November 20, 1962.

This image shows a map of targets of the Cuban missiles if Cuba had gone through with their plan.

Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall

Rise & Fall of the Berlin Wall

After the four-power rule was agreed at Potsdam, the ideological differences between them led to the erection of the Berlin Wall, a barrier that divided families and friends, as the two sides formed the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, respectively. It was built on the 13th of August, 1961. East German soldiers built more than 30 miles of barbed wire barrier across the center of Berlin during the night of August 12-13, 1961. East Berliners were not allowed to cross the border into West Berlin, and the number of checkpoints where Westerners could cross the border was dramatically limited. The Berlin Wall between communist East Germany and West Germany fell on November 9, 1989, five days after half a million people assembled in East Berlin in a major protest. East German officials had sought to quell increasing demonstrations by relaxing the borders, allowing East Germans to travel more freely. Not just in the Cold War, but also in the history of contemporary Europe, the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a watershed moment. Political developments inside the Soviet bloc triggered it, as did mounting public pressure from eastern Europeans and, eventually, uncertainty about an East German command to open the border.

This image shows one of the many protests that helped lead to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Bay of Pigs Invasion

On April 17, 1961, 1,400 Cuban exiles attempted a disastrous assault of Cuba's south coast in the Bay of Pigs. Fidel Castro ascended to power in 1959 after an armed uprising toppled Cuban tyrant Fulgencio Batista. The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a group of Cuban refugees, funded and trained by the CIA, invade in Cuba and attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro's communist government. The attack was a complete flop. Brigade 2506, a Cuban exile invasion force, arrived on beaches along the Bay of Pigs and was met with heavy fire right away. Cuban jets attacked the intruders, sinking two escort ships and wiping out half of the exile's air force. The attack, which was launched from Guatemala, went horribly wrong almost right away. They were defeated in less than two days by Cuban armed forces under Castro's orders.

In this image you can see the captured intruders after their failed attempt of an attack.

Soviet War in Afghanistan

Soviet War in Afghanistan

On December 7, 1979, Soviet informants to the Afghan Armed Forces provided information that their tanks and other critical equipment needed to be serviced. As the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorated, huge numbers of Soviet airborne forces joined stationed ground troops and began landing in Kabul on December 25. In Kabul, 700 Soviet forces wearing in Afghan clothes took significant government, military, and media institutions, including the Presidential Palace, their main aim. The original Soviet force consisted of around 1,800 tanks, 80,000 infantry, and 2,000 AFVs. In the second week alone, Soviet planes flew into Kabul on a total of 4,000 trips. The overall Soviet force increased to over 100,000 with the arrival of the two later divisions. It came to an end February 15, 1989.

In this image, you can see a Soviet soldier-internationalist guard the Afghan roads.

Tienanmen Square Massacre

Tienanmen Square Massacre

The Tienanmen Square Massacre occurred in 1989 in the People's Republic of China (PRC) in response to a protest. O often known as the June 4th Incident, arose when many waves of demonstrations over the period of a few months culminated. The PRC leadership debated whether to try to calm the situation through dialogue, but ultimately opted to militarily repress it. The number of pupils slain is estimated to be in the hundreds to thousands. This prompted widespread condemnation and penalties across the world, and it has remained a contentious issue far into the twenty-first century. The party formally agreed to send the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to clear Tienanmen Square on June 2nd, and soldiers began arriving in Beijing the next day. Protesters struggled with them brutally, with many Beijing citizens flooding the streets to prevent them from reaching the square. Only a few thousand demonstrators remained when the troops arrived in Tienanmen Square about 1:00 a.m. Soldiers marched into the area and began shooting into the gathering and assaulting students after they turned down a last offer of amnesty. By 5:40 a.m., the square had been cleaned completely.

This image became very popular, which shows a man who stood directly in front of a tank during the protest. Fortunately, he was not run over.

Fall of the Soviet Union

Fall of the Soviet Union

The leaders of three of the Union's founding and greatest republics proclaimed the union to be defunct in late 1991. On December 8, President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian SFSR, President Kravchuk of Ukraine, and Chairman Shushkevich of Belarus signed the Belovezh Accords arbitrarily. For the last time, the Soviet red banner was lowered from the Kremlin and replaced with the Russian tricolor flag. The end of the Cold War was marked by the 1989 Eastern Bloc revolutions and the breakup of the Soviet Union.

With the adoption of the Russian tricolor and the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was legally disbanded on December 25, 1991. The process began with rising dissent in the several component national republics, which quickly escalated into a never-ending political and legislative battle with the central authority. Several former Soviet countries maintained strong ties with Russia and founded multilateral organizations for economic and military cooperation, such as the CSTO, the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Community, and the Union State. Others joined the European Union and NATO, while others have shown a desire in following in their footsteps.

This image shows the Soviet flag being lowered from the Kremlin and replaced with the flag of Russia on 25 December 1991, after Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation

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