He had hoped to stop Soviet imperialism by containing the Soviet Union’s threats to Greece and Turkey. Marshall, the United States Secretary of State, created the Marshall Plan, which was to aid Western Europe. The $13 billion that the United States provided was to help Europe after World War II. After the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, “the Soviet Union defined a new era of conflict between the United States and itself” (939-940). I believe this to be the turning point of conflict. In 1961, the Berlin Wall was in place, separating the West from the East. As the Soviet Union was in fear of change, they decided to split Berlin in hopes to “drive the Western powers out of Berlin” (1941). NATO held the West together, while the Warsaw Pact was with the …show more content…
The Soviet Union had become the first to launch a satellite into space, better known as the Sputnik. The United States began to spy on the Soviet’s by sending U-2 aircrafts, but it was shot down. In 1962, the Soviet Union began placing missiles in Cuba, which the United States and Kennedy didn’t like, which led to them blocking off Cuba. “The crisis thus threatened Europe directly” (949). The Cuban Missile Crisis was the Cold War’s last major war conflict. Khrushchev was forced out of office, which led to Brezhnev taking over the Soviet Union. President Nixon placed the policy of détente with the Soviet Union giving them the power to trade with one another and pull back on their