During 1945 and early in 1946, the Soviet Union cut off nearly all contacts between the West and the occupied territories of Eastern Europe. In March 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warned that "an iron curtain has descended across the Continent" of Europe. He made popular the phrase Iron Curtain to refer to Soviet barriers against the West (Kennedy 1034). Behind these barriers, the U.S.S.R. steadily expanded its power. In 1946, the U.S.S.R. organized Communist governments in Bulgaria and Romania. In 1947, Communists took control of Hungary and Poland. Communists seized full power in Czechoslovakia early in 1948. These countries became Soviet satellite nations controlled by the U.S.S.R. Albania already had turned to Communism. Yugoslavia also joined the Communist bloc. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia had helped drive out the Germans near the end of the war. Communists led by Josip Broz Tito then took over the government (Cold War). East and West opposed each other in the United Nations. In 1946, the U.S.S.R. rejected a U.S. proposal for an international agency to control nuclear energy production and research. The Soviet Union believed the United States had a lead in nuclear weapons and would have a monopoly if controls were approved. The Soviet Union pictured itself as a defender of peace and accused the United States of planning a third world war.
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
American history is joined by a not insignificant rundown of adventurers who initially found and who investigated the gigantic landmass. The majority of the wayfarers affected the advancement of America. The Lewis and Clark campaign, otherwise called the Corps of Discovery, stands conspicuously at the top some portion of this rundown. The Lewis and Clark Expedition has had a huge political, social, and monetary impact on America. They were the first to guide out the west and set off westbound development. Without the accomplishment of the undertaking development of America would have taken five times as long, as anticipated by Thomas Jefferson.
Lewis and Clark wrote the story book of the Northwestern United States. The vast land was an empty wasted space until the exploration. Their descriptions of geography and wildlife gave America its historic civilization head start. Everything documented made western expansion easier to travel. Overcoming the obstacles of Native American danger, unknown climates, and the perfection of observations made the Corps of Discovery the greatest exploration inside the boundary lines of North America.
Again Germany had been thwarted in its plans of total domination. It had been a combined effort by all the Western powers and a few Eastern powers too. England was devastated, France had been literally burnt to the ground, and many small nation had suffered economic failure. To the East Russia had suffered many losses from the vain siege of the Nazi’s. But they were in better shape then Europe. They still had a military and a running, somewhat , economy. In the late 40’s through early 50’s the Soviet Union started to spread the Lenin ideological as it started moving in the Westward position. In 47 the US started funding the rebuilding of European infrastructure in a system called the Marshall Plan. Russia in turn brought forth its own funding called the Molotov Plan. Because of that, they were able to spread communism through many countries. Some of these nations were: Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Eastern Germany, and numerous countries in Southeastern Asia. But on the US side we had the support from almost the entire Western Europe. So the tension started, between Western Europe or a republic society and Eastern Europe and communism.
Although Lewis and Clark did not find a direct waterway from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, their expedition brought a wealth of knowledge about the newly purchased lands in the west. For example, the expedition provided extensive facts on the Northwest's natural resources. Lewis and Clark were able to document over 100 animal species and over 170 plants. They also brought back information on the size, minerals and the geology of the area.
Following World War II, Soviet leader Stalin initially agreed to a democratic government in Poland and to free elections in other Soviet-occupied countries, but he ignored his own promises. This caused the United States and Britain to ignore Stalin’s wish of taking a hard line with Germany in settlement talks. The Soviets formed the Socialist Unity party in East Berlin and effectively gained control of East Germany. Though this had a lot to do with the fact that the European people were increasingly tired and lacked the energy to fight a growing Socialist party line, another major factor was that there were enough citizens in this area and in “other Soviet-dominated countries who believed communism was a better social system and that it could breed a new kind of humanity” (Stranges, 193).
Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took the risk of life, limb, and liberty to bring back the precious and valuable information of the Pacific Northwest of the United States territory. Their accomplishments of surviving the trek and delivering the data to the U.S. government, have altered the course of history, but have some Historian’s and author’s stating, “It produced nothing useful.”, and having “added little to the stock of science and wealth. Lewis and Clark’s expedition is one of the most famous and most unknown adventures of America’s frontier.
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild. The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would compliment the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations Satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as ?buffer? nations, preventing invasion from the west .In its efforts to defend democracy, the U.S. created the policy of containment. In this new policy, the United States would try to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations. Winston Churchill described this strategy as an ?iron curtain?, which became and invisible line separating the communist from the capitalist countries in Europe. To help enforce the ideas of containment, President Truman create...
Without this knowledge so early on, many more explorers may have died. Without Lewis and Clark’s exploring and mapping, the United States may not have become our land, but may have continued to be the Indian’s land, or possibly the Spanish. With the Indian’s cooperation, some of the history that had been previously unrecorded was written down, as well as scientifically inspecting the wildlife in their Western habitats. In the end, this shows that Lewis and Clark mapping the new Western territory was their greatest
The Aztec’s and the Inca’s have many similarities such as religious beliefs, and views about gods. Inca’s views about training for war are different, and the Aztec’s artifacts are somewhat different to. The farm land compared to the Inca’s is differs also, because where the Aztec’s lived the land was elevated about ten thousand feet.
This is a picture book that chronicles the expedition and adventures of Captain Merriweather Lewis and William Clark. This book uses many wonderful watercolor illustrations to capture the findings and lifestyle in the very early American west. The pictures and text also capture the personalities and friendship of these two men who were hired by Thomas Jefferson to explore the United States west of the Appalachian mountains and Mississippi River.
2 Charles S. Maier, ed., The Cold War in Europe: Era of a divided Continent (New York: Markus Wiener Publishing, Inc., 1991) 27.
Worts, D. (1996). Visitors Make Their Own Meaning. In G. Durbin (Ed.), Developing Museum Exhibitions for Lifelong Learning (p123-130). London: The Stationery Office for the Group for Education in Museums.
There are different areas of study of history, e.g. geographical, military, social, cultural, diplomatic, economic, environmental history and so on. In Hong Kong, there are museums that focus on certain aspect, e.g. Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence which talks about military history, it is sensible that more emphasis should be put on diplomacy history for HKMH.