<P> One of the first actual conflicts of the Cold War took place in China . Following the withdrawal of Japanese troops after World War II, China was plunged into civil war, pitting Chinese Communists against Nationalists, who opposed Communism . The Soviets supported the Communists while the Americans supported the Nationalists . In 1949, the Communists were victorious, proclaiming the Peoples' Republic of China . However, the Nationalists continued to rule the island of Taiwan off the coast . With American guarantees of protection for Taiwan, China did not make an attempt to take over the island . A major political change in East Asia in this period was Japan's becoming a tolerant, democratic society and an ally of the United States . In 1950, another conflict broke out in Asia, this time in Korea . The peninsula had been divided between a Communist North and non-Communist South in 1948 following the withdrawal of American and Soviet troops . In 1950, the North Koreans invaded South Korea, wanting to united the land under Communism . The UN condemned the action, and, because the Soviets were boycotting the organization at the time and therefore had no influence on it, the UN sent forces to liberate South Korea . Many nations sent troops, but most were from America . UN forces were able to liberate the South and even attempted to conquer the North . However, fearing the loss of North Korea, Communist China sent troops to the North . The U.S. did not retaliate against China, fearing war with the Soviet Union, so the war stalemated . In 1953 the two sides agreed to a return to the pre-war borders and a de-militarization of the border area . </P> <P> The world lived in the constant fear of World War III in the Cold War . Seemingly any conflict involving Communism might lead to a conflict between the Warsaw pact countries and the NATO countries . The prospect of a third world war was made even more frightening by the fact that it would almost certainly be a nuclear war . In 1949 the Soviets developed their first atomic bomb, and soon both the United States and Soviet Union had enough to destroy the world several times over . With the development of missile technology, the stakes were raised as either country could launch weapons from great distances across the globe to their targets . Eventually, Britain, France, and China would also develop nuclear weapons . It is believed that Israel developed nuclear weapons as well . </P> <P> One major event that nearly brought the world to the brink of war was the Cuban Missile Crisis . In the 1950s a revolution in Cuba had brought the only Communist regime in the Western Hemisphere to power . In 1962, the Soviets began constructing missile sites in Cuba and sending nuclear missiles . Because of its close proximity to the U.S., the U.S. demanded the Soviets withdraw missiles from Cuba . The U.S. and Soviet Union came very close to attacking one another, but in the end came to a secret agreement in which the NATO withdrew missiles in exchange for a Soviet withdrawal of missiles from Cuba . </P> <P> The next great Cold War conflict occurred in Southeast Asia . In the 1960s, North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam, hoping to unite all of Vietnam under Communist rule . The U.S. responded by supporting the South Vietnamese . In 1964, American troops were sent to "save" South Vietnam from conquest, which many Americans feared would lead to Communist dominance in the entire region . The war lasted many years, but most Americans felt the North Vietnamese would be defeated in time . Despite American technological and military superiority, by 1968, the war showed no signs of ending and most Americans wanted U.S. forces to end their involvement . The U.S. undercut support for the North by getting the Soviets and Chinese to stop supporting North Vietnam, in exchange for recognition of the legitimacy of mainland China's Communist government, and began withdrawing troops from Vietnam . In 1972, the last American troops left Vietnam and in 1975 South Vietnam fell to the North . In the following years Communism took power in neighboring Laos and Cambodia . </P>

The first nation in the western hemisphere to fall to communism