FIND OUT MORE. International Organizations 434 • Nations 312 • War 313
History^435
Middle East
The Middle East saw much conflict during the last century.
Its deserts contain the world’s biggest oil fields, which have
brought wealth to the area’s rulers but also colonial
interference and wars.
WHAT WAS THE CUBAN
MISSILE CRISIS?
Both sides in the Cold War were
heavily armed with nuclear weapons.
In 1962 the Soviet Union secretly
stationed missiles in communist Cuba.
The USA found out and demanded the
missiles be removed. The Soviet Union gave in
and the world narrowly avoided a nuclear war.WHAT WAS THE VIETNAM WAR?
In 1954, the French colonial army in Vietnam was
defeated by communist rebels. The country was
divided into North and South Vietnam, and the USA
intervened to support an anti-communist government
in the South. During the 1960s troops were sent to
fight the communists. They failed to defeat them and
Vietnam united under communist rule in 1975.WHY HAS THERE BEEN FIGHTING IN IRAQ?
In 1979, Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq.
Iraq invaded Iran and occupied oil-rich Kuwait,
which was liberated by a US-led coalition in 1991.
In 2003, the USA and Britain claimed Hussein remained
an international threat and invaded Iraq. Hussein was
overthrown but those opposed to the American presence
in Iraq continued to fight the USA and its allies.
WHAT WAS THE IRON CURTAIN?
World War II had left communist governments in
control of central and eastern Europe. They were
opposed by the nations of western Europe and the
United States. The two hostile sides, or “blocs”,
became isolated from each other. In a speech, British
politician Winston Churchill said that it was as if an
“iron curtain” had fallen across Europe.
1 PROTEST IN THE USA
Protestors against the Vietnam War march through Washington, D.C.,
in 1969. Many people in the Western nations believed this war to be
unjust, and large public demonstrations took place around the world.
CASTRO’S REVOLUTION 3
Revolutionary Fidel Castro overthrew
the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in
1959 and made Cuba a communist state.Cold War
After World War II, allies who had fought fascism
together became rivals for world power. From 1945 to
1990, there was a period of tension called the Cold War.
Capitalist countries, led by the USA, clashed with the
communist countries of the Soviet Union and China.
FIND OUT MORE. Eastern Asia 268–269 • World War II 432–433
2 THE SIX DAY WAR
This war in 1967 was the
third of many fought
between Israel and its
Arab neighbours. Israel
won, occupying large
areas of Arab territory.
The war left 300,000
Palestinians refugees.
WHAT IS THE PALESTINE PROBLEM?
In 1948, the UN made part of Palestine into the
Jewish nation of Israel. Jewish people returned to their
traditional homeland, but many displaced Palestinian
Arabs became refugees. The struggle between Israelis
and Palestinians for this land continues.
Cold War
Middle East