Independence movements and democratization have shaped the political map since the end of World War II. The fall of Communism ended the Cold War, led to the creation of newly independent states, and changed the world balance of power. We could spend a lifetime exploring the Cold War, but the most important things you need to remember about it in this unit is how it changed the political landscape. Here's a quick summary of Cold War: following the end of World War II the world became bitterly divided between communist and democratic governments. The United States hoped to spread the ideas of democracy, while the Soviet Union looked to spread communism. The conflict took the world into a Cold War (as opposed to a direct military confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union) that would spread into Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia. After decades of conflict beginning in 1945, the Cold War began to thaw in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall. By 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War ended.

map of cold war

Geopolitically speaking, because of the domino theory (fear that if one country becomes communist, then the others around it will fall to communism as well), the United State got involved when China fell under communist control. The Korean War began in 1950 when North Korea (which was communist and backed by the Soviets) invaded South Korea (which was democratic and backed by the U.S.). The U.S. was determined not to let another country become communist and sent American soldiers to aid the South Koreans. After three years of back and forth, the war ended with the continued division of the Korea into North and South Korea on the 38th Parallel. What type of border is this?

The Vietnam War was also a conflict in Asia during the Cold War. Vietnam was divided into two countries: communist-controlled North Vietnam and democratic controlled South Vietnam. The U.S. sent forces to aid the South Vietnamese fight against the communists. After a long, bloody, and costly war, South Vietnam was under communist control. How did the border of these countries/this country change as a result of the Cold War?

An iron curtain fell through Eastern Europe, not a literal one but a symbolic one dividing the free world from the controlled world. Satellite states, like Czechoslovakia (by the way, which no longer exists, it has since divided peacefully into two separate states - the Czech Republic and Slovakia), were allowed to stay separate from the USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republic) but were still politically and economically controlled by the USSR's central government in Moscow. 14 other states were annexed (the formal act of acquiring territory by conquest or occupation), into the USSR. After the collapse of the USSR, those states claimed independence and our map grew again. Welcome to independence: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia (now Belarus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

(Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cold-war-2-investwithalex.jpg and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg)