forced to leave the USSR, but that number
jumped to about 250,000 during the 1970s.
The Trojan War
The Trojan War was a conflict of some consider-
able duration that occurred probably near or in
the early twelfth centuryB.C. and was fought by
people living in and around Troy, an ancient city
in western Asia Minor, in modern-day Turkey,
and various Greek generals from the Peloponne-
sus and mainland of Greece. Troy controlled
important trade routes through and across the
Hellespont (also called the Dardanelles Strait), a
long narrow waterway connecting the Aegean SeaCOMPARE
&
CONTRAST 1960s: The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, as
reported in the United States in 1964, pro-
vides a pretext for President Lyndon John-
son to escalate U.S. military engagement
in Southeast Asia, supposedly to protect
any government threatened by communist
aggression. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
passed by Congress August 7, 1964, gives
Johnson the legal right to increase military
involvement in Vietnam.
Early 2000s:In 2005, declassified reports
made by a National Security Agency study
show that the U.S. report of the Gulf of
Tonkin Incident was incorrect and exagger-
ated. Many believe that President Johnson
escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam
under false pretenses.
1960s:Written between 1958 and 1968 and
published in the West in 1974,The Gulag
Archipelago, memoir of Aleksandr Solzhe-
nitsyn (1918–2008), gives first-hand descrip-
tion of the massive Soviet system of forced
labor and concentration camps. The book
circulates through the underground press in
the USSR and other eastern bloc countries.
Early 2000s:Solzhenitsyn’sThe Gulag Archi-
pelago is required reading in some high
schools in Russia. Solzhenitsyn dies in 2008.
1960s:As U.S. military involvement in Viet-
nam escalates, young Americans take to the
streets in protest. Some burn draft cards and
U.S. flags. In November 1969, an estimated
500,000 people participate in an antiwar
protest march on Washington, D.C.Early 2000s: Between January and April
2003, an estimated 36 million around the
world take part in an estimated 3,000 pro-
tests against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
1960s:Estimates of Vietnam war casualties
are 58,183 U.S. military dead and in excess
of 3.1 million Vietnamese dead, including
both military and civilian mortalities.
Early 2000s:In 2006, military and civilian
Iraqi deaths since the March 2003 invasion
are estimated by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health to be approximately
655,000; however, the Iraqi government is
reported to dispute this claim, estimating
losses at about 40,000. In 2009, Global Secur-
ity reports that U.S. military dead number
4,262, and U.S. wounded total 30,182.
1960s:In 1962, Linus Pauling wins the Nobel
Peace Prize for working with Russian, Brit-
ish, and U.S. leaders to bring about the
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, ratified in 1963.
Early 2000s:In October 2009, Barack Obama
wins the Nobel Peace Prize, the third sitting
U.S. president to do so. Former Peace Prize
winner Mohamed ElBaradei, director general
of the International Atomic Energy Agency in
Vienna, is quoted as saying Obama ‘‘has
shown an unshakable commitment to diplo-
macy, mutual respect and dialogue as the
best means of resolving conflicts.’’ However,
with the president’s decision to send 30,000
U.S. military troops into Afghanistan, some
critics wonder if Obama’s earlier resolve has
weakened.Odysseus to Telemachus