1950’s The Cold War

1. 1950’s The Cold War Undeclared war between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.

2. The Iron Curtain • Term coined by Winston Churchill to describe the extent of Communist domination across Europe • Countries “behind the curtain” included East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, etc…. • NATO Vs. Warsaw Pact (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

3. The Creation of Israel • Zionist: Movement in Jewish community to gain a homeland • After WW2, Jewish Holocaust survivors poured into Palestine • In 1947, the UN voted to partition Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. • May 14, 1948: The state of Israel was created • Immediately, the area was plunged into warfare

4. Containment/The Marshall Plan • Truman doctrine: Believed that the most effective way of combating communism was to contain it by confronting the U.S.S.R. whenever & wherever it sought to expand • Marshall Plan: Plan to contain communism by giving money to devastated European countries

5. China goes “RED” • China had been involved in a civil war prior to WW2, but hostilities ceased when japan invaded • War resumed after Japan’s defeat • October 1949: Mao Tse Tung and his Communist forces defeated forces of Western – allied Chaing Kai Shek and renamed China the People’s Republic of China • Nationalists fled to Taiwan

6. McCarthyism & the “RED” Scare • 1950: Wisconsin senator named Joseph McCarthy claimed that he had a list of Communists who were working in the US State Department • “Witch Hunts” (1950 – 1954): targeted celebrities • 1954: McCarthy accused the US Army of being infested with communists who were censured by the Senate