Fidel Castro and Ho Chi minh
Video: Cuban Missile Crisis
The video to the right describes the Cuban Missile Crisis that occurred between the U.S. and USSR in the dictator run Cuba. Starting from the suspicions that the United States had about the USSR setting up missile launching sites, the clip takes you through all of the major events that happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis, until the eventual end.
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Video: Vietnam WarThe video to the right of this talks about the causes, what happened during, and the effects of the Vietnam War. Not only does it talk about the war, but it discusses how America reacted to them joining getting involved, as well as other events that happened during this time period.
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Fidel Castro in Cuba
In 1959 a revolutionary movement headed by Fidel Castro Ruz overthrew the autocratic Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar. Amid a flurry of rhetorical outbursts against Yankee imperialism, Castro reneged on promises of elections, expropriated foreign properties, most of which were U.S. owned, and killed or exiled thousands of political opponents. The U.S. government promptly retaliated by cutting off Cuban sugar imports to the U.S. market and imposing a severe export embargo of U.S. goods on Cuba. The severing of ties between Cuba and the United States gave the Soviet Union an unprecedented opportunity to contest the dominant position of the United States in its own hemisphere.
Castro’s regime gladly accepted a Soviet offer of massive economic aid, including an agreement to purchase half of Cuba’s sugar production and arms shipments. In return for the Soviet generosity, Castro declared his support for the USSR’s foreign policy. In December 1961 Castro confirmed the U.S. government’s worst suspicions when he publicly announced: “I have been a Marxist-Leninist all along, and will remain one until I die.”
Castro’s regime gladly accepted a Soviet offer of massive economic aid, including an agreement to purchase half of Cuba’s sugar production and arms shipments. In return for the Soviet generosity, Castro declared his support for the USSR’s foreign policy. In December 1961 Castro confirmed the U.S. government’s worst suspicions when he publicly announced: “I have been a Marxist-Leninist all along, and will remain one until I die.”
Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam
Vietnam later became deeply involved in the Cold War contest between capitalism and communism, but immediately after World War II, it engaged in a struggle to free itself from French colonial control. Vietnamese nationalist communist leader, Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), had exploited wartime conditions to advance the cause of
Vietnamese independence. After the Japanese conquest of Vietnam, which effectively ended French rule, Ho helped expel the Japanese from Vietnam at the end of World War II.
Feeling humiliated because of their country’s easy defeat and occupation of Nazi’s, the French sought to reclaim their world power status. Armed with British and U.S. weapons, the French recaptured Saigon and much of southern Vietnam in 1945. By 1947, the French appeared to have secured their power, especially in the cities.
The Vietnamese resistance forces, led by Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap, took to countryside and mounted a campaign of guerrilla warfare. When communist China sent aid and arms to Viet Minh (the organization that was formed to seek independence from French rule), the Vietnamese defeated the French in 1954. The peace conference, held in Geneva in 1954, determined that Vietnam should be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel; North Vietnam being controlled by Ho Chi Minh and the communist forces while South Vietnam remained in the hands of non-communists.
Vietnamese independence. After the Japanese conquest of Vietnam, which effectively ended French rule, Ho helped expel the Japanese from Vietnam at the end of World War II.
Feeling humiliated because of their country’s easy defeat and occupation of Nazi’s, the French sought to reclaim their world power status. Armed with British and U.S. weapons, the French recaptured Saigon and much of southern Vietnam in 1945. By 1947, the French appeared to have secured their power, especially in the cities.
The Vietnamese resistance forces, led by Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap, took to countryside and mounted a campaign of guerrilla warfare. When communist China sent aid and arms to Viet Minh (the organization that was formed to seek independence from French rule), the Vietnamese defeated the French in 1954. The peace conference, held in Geneva in 1954, determined that Vietnam should be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel; North Vietnam being controlled by Ho Chi Minh and the communist forces while South Vietnam remained in the hands of non-communists.