COLD WAR

The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in
the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Unionand its satellite states) and powers in the Western
Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others). Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a
common timeframe is the period (the second half of the 20th century) between 1947, the year
the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. foreign policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet
expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year theSoviet Union collapsed.

The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides,
although there were major regional wars, known as proxy wars, supported by the two sides. The
Cold War split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the Soviet Union and
the United States as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences. The USSR
was a MarxistLeninist state ruled by its Communist Party and secret police, who in turn were ruled
by a dictator (Stalin) or a small committee ("Politburo"). The Party controlled the press, the military,
the economy and all organizations. It also controlled the other states in the Eastern Bloc, and funded
Communist parties around the world, sometimes in competition with Communist China, particularly
following the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s. In opposition stood the West, dominantly democratic and
capitalist with a free press and independent organizations. A small neutral bloc arose with the Non-
Aligned Movement; it sought good relations with both sides. The two superpowers never engaged
directly in full-scale armed combat, but they were heavily armed in preparation for a possible all-
out nuclear world war. Each side had a nuclear strategy that discouraged an attack by the other
side, on the basis that such an attack would lead to the total destruction of the attacker: the doctrine
of mutually assured destruction (MAD). Aside from thedevelopment of the two sides' nuclear
arsenals, and their deployment of conventional military forces, the struggle for dominance was
expressed via proxy wars around the globe, psychological warfare, massive propaganda campaigns
and espionage, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.

The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in
1945. The USSR consolidated its control over the states of the Eastern Bloc, while the United States
began a strategy of global containment to challenge Soviet power, extending military and financial
aid to the countries of Western Europe (for example, supporting the anti-communist side in theGreek
Civil War) and creating the NATO alliance. The Berlin Blockade (194849) was the first major crisis
of the Cold War. With the victory of the communist side in the Chinese Civil War and the outbreak of
the Korean War (195053), the conflict expanded. The USSR and USA competed for influence
in Latin America, and the decolonizing states of Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, the Hungarian
Revolution of 1956 was stopped by the Soviets. The expansion and escalation sparked more crises,
such as the Suez Crisis (1956), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, a new phase began that saw theSino-Soviet split complicate
relations within the communist sphere, while US allies, particularly France, demonstrated greater
independence of action. The USSR crushed the 1968 Prague Spring liberalization program
in Czechoslovakia, and the Vietnam War(195575) ended with the defeat of the US-backed Republic
of Vietnam, prompting further adjustments.
By the 1970s, both sides had become interested in making accommodations in order to create a
more stable and predictable international system, inaugurating a period of dtente that saw Strategic
Arms Limitation Talks and the US opening relations with the People's Republic of China as a
strategic counterweight to the Soviet Union. Dtente collapsed at the end of the decade with the
beginning of the SovietAfghan War in 1979. The early 1980s were another period of elevated
tension, with the Soviet downing ofKorean Air Lines Flight 007 (1983), and the "Able Archer" NATO
military exercises (1983). The United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic
pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when the communist state was already suffering
from economic stagnation. In the mid-1980s, the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced
the liberalizing reforms of perestroika("reorganization", 1987) and glasnost ("openness", c. 1985)
and ended Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. Pressures for national independence grew stronger
in Eastern Europe, especially Poland. Gorbachev meanwhile refused to use Soviet troops to bolster
the faltering Warsaw Pact regimes as had occurred in the past. The result in 1989 was a wave of
revolutions that peacefully (with the exception of the Romanian Revolution) overthrew all of the
communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union itself
lost control and was banned following an abortive coup attempt in August 1991. This in turn led
to the formal dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse of communist regimes in
other countries such as Mongolia, Cambodiaand South Yemen. The United States remained as the
world's only superpower.

The Cold War and its events have left a significant legacy. It is often referred to in popular culture,
especially in media featuring themes of espionage (e.g. the internationally successful James
Bond movie franchise) and the threat of nuclear warfare.

KOREAN WAR
The Korean War (in South Korean Hangul: ; Hanja: ; RR: Hanguk Jeonjaeng,
"Korean War"; in North Korean Chosn'gl: ; Hancha: ; MR: Choguk
haebang chnjaeng, "Fatherland Liberation War"; 25 June 1950 27 July 1953) [35][a][37] began
when North Korea invaded South Korea.[38][39] The United Nations, with the United States as the
principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the
Soviet Union gave some assistance.

Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the closing days of World War II. In August 1945, the
Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as a result of an agreement with the United States, and
liberated Korea north of the 38th parallel. U.S. forces subsequently moved into the south. By 1948,
as a product of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Korea was split into
two regions, with separate governments. Both governments claimed to be the legitimate government
of all of Korea, and neither side accepted the border as permanent. The conflict escalated into open
warfare when North Korean forcessupported by the Soviet Union and Chinamoved into the
south on 25 June 1950.[40] On that day, theUnited Nations Security Council recognized this North
Korean act as invasion and called for an immediate ceasefire. [41] On 27 June, the Security Council
adopted S/RES/83: Complaint of aggression upon the Republic of Korea and decided the formation
and dispatch of the UN Forces in Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually
contributed to the UN force, with the United States providing 88% of the UN's military personnel.

After the first two months of the conflict, South Korean forces were on the point of defeat, forced
back to the Pusan Perimeter. In September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was
launched at Inchon, and cut off many of the North Korean troops. Those that escaped envelopment
and capture were rapidly forced back north all the way to the border with China at the Yalu River, or
into the mountainous interior. At this point, in October 1950, Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and
entered the war.[40] Chinese intervention triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-
1951.

After these reversals of fortune, which saw Seoul change hands four times, the last two years of
conflict became a war of attrition, with the front line close to the 38th parallel. The war in the air,
however, was never a stalemate. North Korea was subject to a massive bombing campaign. Jet
fighters confronted each other in air-to-air combat for the first time in history, and Soviet pilots
covertly flew in defense of their communist allies.

The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed. The agreement created
the Korean Demilitarized Zoneto separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of
prisoners. However, no peace treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war.
[42][43]
Periodic clashes, many of which are deadly, have continued to the present

VEITNAM WAR
The Vietnam War (Vietnamese: Chin tranh Vit Nam), also known as the Second Indochina War,
[54]
and known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America (Vietnamese: Khng chin chng
M) or simply the American War, was a war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1
November 1955[A 1] to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina
Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The
North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and
the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand
and other anti-communist allies.[55] The war is therefore considered a Cold War-era proxy war.[56]

The Viet Cong (also known as the National Liberation Front, or NLF), a South Vietnamese
communist common front aided by the North, fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in
the region, while the People's Army of Vietnam, also known as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA),
engaged in more conventional warfare, at times committing large units to battle. As the war
continued, the military actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role and engagement of the NVA
grew. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to
conduct search and destroy operations, involvingground forces, artillery, and airstrikes. In the course
of the war, the U.S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam. They viewed
the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from
France and later on the United States. The U.S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a
way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. This was part thedomino theory of a
wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism.[57]

Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina.[58][A 3] U.S.
involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. [59] U.S.
involvement escalated further following the 1964Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which a U.S. destroyer
clashed with North Vietnamese fast attack craft, which was followed by theGulf of Tonkin Resolution,
which gave the U.S. president authorization to increase U.S. military presence. Regular U.S.combat
units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations crossed international borders: bordering areas of
Laos and Cambodia were heavily bombed by U.S. forces as American involvement in the war
peaked in 1968, the same year that the communist side launched the Tet Offensive. The Tet
Offensive failed in its goal of overthrowing the South Vietnamese government, but became the
turning point in the war, as it persuaded a large segment of the U.S. population that its government's
claims of progress toward winning the war were illusory despite many years of massive U.S. military
aid to South Vietnam.

Gradual withdrawal of U.S. ground forces began as part of "Vietnamization", which aimed to end
American involvement in the war while transferring the task of fighting the communists to the South
Vietnamese themselves. Despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January
1973, the fighting continued. In the U.S. and the Western world, a largeanti-Vietnam War
movement developed as part of a larger counterculture. The war changed the dynamics between
theEastern and Western Blocs, and altered NorthSouth relations.[60]

Direct U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973.[61] The capture of Saigon by the North
Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were
reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (see Vietnam
War casualties). Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from
966,000[29] to 3.8 million.[50] Some 240,000300,000 Cambodians,[51][52][53] 20,00062,000 Laotians,
[50]
and 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict, with a further 1,626 missing in action
 DESCRIBE MONSOON

a seasonal prevailing wind in the region of South and Southeast Asia, blowing from the
southwest between May and September and bringing rain (the wet monsoon ), or from
the northeast between October and April (the dry monsoon ).
the rainy season accompanying the wet monsoon.