Denver

2008-05-11T06:26:16Z

RwRynerson: Added link

'''Denver''' is the capital of [[Colorado]], and the state's largest city. The city sits on the eastern edge of the [[Rocky Mountains]].

Denver was founded in 1859, during the Colorado Gold Rush, as two distinct communities, Auraria and St Charles. St Charles was renamed Denver City in 1858 after territorial governor James W. Denver; Auraria and Denver City merged in 1860 to form modern Denver.<ref>Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names (Oxford 2005) p134</ref>

In sports, Denver is home to the [[NHL]]'s [[Colorado Avalanche]], the [[NFL]]'s [[Denver Broncos]], [[MLB]]'s [[Colorado Rockies]], and the [[NBA]]'s [[Denver Nuggets]]. Its nicknames include "The Mile-High City" (its downtown is 5286 feet above sea level), "Queen City of the Rockies," "Gateway to the Rockies," and "The Climate Capital of the World."

=== References ===
{{reflist|2}}

==External Links==
*[http://www.rtd-denver.com Denver's Regional Transportation District] Includes links to other Denver sites.

==See Also==
[[Denver Colorado Temple]]

[[Category:United States Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:US State Capitals]]
[[Category:Colorado]]

Amtrak

2008-05-11T06:20:01Z

RwRynerson: Corrected reference to "freight" railroads. They were not "freight" railroads until after creation of Amtrak.

[[Image:Amtrak.jpg|right|thumb]]
'''Amtrak''' is "the blending of the words '[[United States of America|American]]' and '[[Railway track|track]]'". Amtrak is "also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation". "Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 to take over the passenger rail services previously required to be operated by private railroad companies in the United States. "<ref>[http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/Title_Image_Copy_Page&c=am2Copy&cid=1081442674300&ssid=542 Amtrak National Facts]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External Links==
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/HomePage Official website

[[category:rail transport]]

Cold War

2008-05-11T06:14:40Z

RwRynerson: Added links

The '''Cold War''' between the [[United States]] and its [[NATO]] allies, and the [[USSR]] and its [[Comintern]] allies gradually built up in the absence of a formal [[Peace Treaty]] at the end of the [[Second World War]].

Although there was no direct fighting between the superpowers, each country was involved in a number of [[proxy conflict]]s, most notably in [[Vietnam]], [[Korea]] and [[Afghanistan]]; see also [[Cuban Missile Crisis]].

The Cold War was marked by a nuclear [[arms race]] between the two super-powers, and the unchecked proliferation of [[nuclear weapons]] was a cause for concern in many quarters. The Cold War also was marked by high levels of [[espionage]].

The root of the Cold War lies in [[Soviet]] [[expansionism]] and [[subversion]] of so-called "[[bourgeois regime]]s".

The tension during the war fluctuated, with the super powers going through periods of heightened conflict and also periods of improved relations. It ended on [[December]] 26, 1991 with the fall of the [[Soviet Union]].

==Causes==
Following the Russian Revolution in the closing days of [[World War I]], President [[Woodrow Wilson]] refused to recognized the communist government of Russia and contributed troops in support of the White Russians. Not until 1933 did the US recognize the Soviet government, and relations did not truly warm until Hitler's invasion of Russia.

While the US and the UK cooperated with Russia throughout [[World War II]], tensions began to deteriorate soon after the end of the conflict, notably over the division of Germany and the occupation status of Europe. In 1946, George Kennan, a [[Department of State]] [[diplomat]] stationed in [[Moscow]], wrote the ''Long Telegram'', in which argued for the necessity of [[Containment|containing]] the Soviet Union. His cable resonated with President Harry Truman's
administration, and the 1947 invasion of North Korea seemed to confirm Kennan's views{{fact}}.

==Conflicts==

===Early Fronts===

November 18, 1945, General Secretary of the [[Communist Party USA]] [[William Z. Foster]] told delegates to the National Convention that "on the international scale the key task is to stop American intervention in China." On December 4, 1945, the Communists staged a "Get Out of China Rally," while communist dominated [[labor union]]s put on work stoppages with the same slogan. Conditions inviting the North Korean attack were created by the [[United Nations]] which issued a resolution for withdrawal of both Soviet and American troops. Troops began withdrawing September 15, 1948, leaving only about 7500 Americans lightly armed. This left in South Korea 16,000 Koreans and 7500 Americans, both groups lightly armed, against 150,000 fully armed North Korean Communists. General Roberts, head of the U. S. Military Mission said the South Koreans were not permitted to arm adequately.

August 31, 1946, Harold J. Noble wrote an article in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' entitled, "Our Most Dangerous Boundary." The author pointed out that the Soviet Union had garrisoned [[North Korea]] with a larger force than the Americans possessed in [[Japan]] and [[Manchuria]]. The Communists were disposed to invade at a moment's notice. Where the U.S. had a squad near the border commanded by a corporal, the Soviet Union had a battalion, commanded by an officer, equipped with motor transport, ninety per cent of which came from America. The Soviet Union had established a police state in North Korea and suppressed every political organization except the Communist Party.

In 1947, General Albert Wedemeyer made his report on China and Korea. The Korean part was suppressed. Wedemeyer said:
:"American and Soviet forces . . . are approximately equal, less than 50,000 troops each, [but] the Soviet-equipped and trained North Korean People's (Communist) Army of approximately 125,000 is vastly superior to the United States-organized constabulary of 16,000 Koreans equipped with Japanese small arms. The North Korean People's Army constitutes a potential military threat to [[South Korea]], since there is strong possibility that the Soviets will withdraw their occupation forces and thus induce our own withdrawal."<ref>Hearings before the Senate Committee on Armed Services and Committee on Foreign Relations, June 6, 1951.</ref>

Wedemeyer warned that this would take place as soon as "they can be sure that the North Korean [[puppet government]] and its armed forces . . . are strong enough . . . to be relied upon to carry out Soviet objectives without the actual presence of Soviet troops." General Lyman L. Lemnitzer said that before June 1950, when the attack occurred, no aid had been sent but a few hundred dollars worth of bailing wire.<ref>Hearings before the Senate Committee on Armed Services and Committee on Foreign Relations, June 6, 1951.</ref>

[[Owen Lattimore]] in the [[leftist]] ''New York Compass'' said that the U.S. should give Korea a "parting grant" of $150,000,000 and "let [[South Korea]] fall but not to let it look as though we pushed it."<ref> New York Compass, Jan. 17, 1949.</ref>

[[Chiang Kai-shek]] was caught between two wars—a war on China by Japan and a war on China by the Soviet Union. American leaders refused to see this and insisted on acting in the illusion that China was fighting the Japanese only and that Soviet Union was an ally. Then came the startling realization that the United States, too, like China, were engaged in two wars in Asia, one against a common enemy, Japan; the other against a common enemy, the Soviet Union. The United States, with its ally China, fought the Japanese. But all the time the Soviet Union, with its satellite Comintern army in China, was fighting both China and the United States. The [[iron curtain]] that, with the [[Yalta agreement]], was rung down over American allies in Europe—[[Poland]] and [[Czechoslovakia]] and other little countries—now fell on China.

===Major Cold War Fronts===
====In the Americas====
* [[Cuban Revolution]] / [[Cuban Missile Crisis]]
* [[Nicaraguan Revolution]], [[Contras]]
* [[Salvadorian Civil War]]
* [[Chilen Military Coup]]
* [[Argentina Military Dictatorship]]

====In Asia====
* [[Korean War]]
* [[Vietnam War]]
* [[Afghan War]]

==== In Africa====
* [[Angolan Civil War]]

====In Europe====
* [[Berlin Wall]]

===The Shootdown of Korean Airlines Flight 007===

Considered by many as the second or third most critical single incident of the Cold War, after the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] of 1962 and [[Able Archer 83]], the shooting down of [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] on Sept. 1, 1983 would signal a change in the relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union prompted by the subsequent deployment of Pershing and cruise missiles in West Germany just 6 minutes from launch to Moscow. This precipitated the era of confrontation of 1983 and 1984 between the two nations. The world would once again witness what it saw as the blatent barbarity of what President Reagan had termed the "Evil Empire". Though the world had accepted that KAL 007 had exploded and crashed with no survivors of the 269 passengers and crew, there has most recently surfaced evidence to the contrary [http://www.rescue007.org/].

==Breakup of the Soviet Union and American Victory==

The Western democracies, under the leadership of the United States under President [[Ronald Reagan]] won the Cold War. An important element of this victory was Reagan's decision to commit to increased military spending, such as the "[[Strategic Defense Initiative|Star Wars]]" program. Reagan's decisions to intervene in Afghanistan while pursuing an arms race exacerbated structural weaknesses in the Soviet economy and pushed the USSR into an early decline.

In 1985, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] become General Secretary of the Communist Party.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/11/newsid_2538000/2538327.stm Gorbachev Becomes Soviet Leader], ''BBC'', 11 March, 1985.</ref> Recognizing the systemic problems faced by Soviet society, he attempted the twin reform programs of [[Glasnost]] (openness) and [[Perestroika]] (restructuring). Combined with the disaster at Chernobyl and losses in the war in Afghanistan, the effects of Gorbachev's reforms quickly spun out of control. Glasnost allowed media attention to focus on problems which had long been buried by the state's propaganda regime, causing widespread dissatisfaction among Soviet citizens. In 1989, a wave of constituent republics began to seek autonomy from the Soviet Union. Most attempts at succession (with the exception of Lithuania) were met with no Soviet resistance.

A failed coup attempting to halt the USSR's decline brought [[Boris Yeltsin]] to power. Yeltsin oversaw further economic reforms, though he was heavily criticized for his reliance on "shock therapy", which caused severe economic disruption to ordinary Russians while allowing oligarchs to gain control of state industries.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External Links==
*[http://home.att.net/~rw.rynerson/index2.htm Berlin 1969 - midpoint of the Cold War]

== See Also==
*[[Joseph McCarthy]]
*[[Iron Curtain]]
*[[Berlin Wall]]
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]]
*[[Soviet Officers of KAL 007 Shootdown]]

[[category:wars]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[Category:Communism]]

Berlin

2008-05-11T06:09:21Z

RwRynerson: Added link

[[Image:DSC00590_1.jpg|thumb|300|right|The Brandenburg Gate, viewed from the newly restored Paris Place.]]

'''Berlin''' is the capital of [[Germany]], and formerly of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] and the [[Margravate of Brandenburg]].

During the [[Cold War]] it was divided into an Eastern and a Western part. Both were considered to be under the control of the four [[WWII]] Allies. However, in fact, the [[USSR]] and East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, made [[East Berlin]] into the capital of [[East Germany]], whereas the Western Allies (USA, UK, France) and West Germany, the Federal Republic Germany, insisted on the allied status of all sectors of Berlin and made [[Bonn]] into the provisional capital of West Germany. A [[Berlin Wall|wall]] between the two parts was built by East Germany in order to stop people escaping from East Berlin to [[West Berlin]] for economic as well as political reasons.

Berlin is well-known for its liberal attitude and its large "alternative scene". During the time of the [[Cold War]], numerous young men from West Germany moved to West-Berlin, in order to avoid military service. They founded numerous communities, mainly in the city district "Kreuzberg". It is also the district with a strong community of Turkish.

Central yearly events are the Love Parade with [[Techno]] music and the Cristopher Street Day Parade. Another typical characteristic of Berliners is their so-called "Berliner Schnauze", prompt and sharp comments or replies. For outsiders it is often mistaken as rudeness.

A remarkable political event was the current mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, publicly announcing in his election campaign that he is gay. <ref>article in NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/world/europe/23wowereit.html?ei=5090&en=fab18328b0dbeafe&ex=1316664000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all]</ref>

===References===
<references/>

==External Links==
*[http://www.museum.hu-berlin.de/index_english.html Berlin Museum of Natural History]
*[http://home.att.net/~rw.rynerson/index2.htm Berlin 1969 - life in the U.S. Army's Berlin Brigade]

[[Category:German Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:Capital Cities]]

Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Denver

Amtrak

Cold War

Berlin