Cold War Superpowers Emerge • After WWII it was clear, there were two countries bigger and more powerful than all the others; the USA and the U.S.S.R. • The first conflict was about Eastern Europe, the U.S. said the countries should be able to choose their own style of government and leaders, the Soviets wanted control of the countries so a possible threat wouldn’t grow out of the area. • In Greece a civil war broke out between communist and anti communist forces; Britain was supporting the anti-communist forces but had to withdraw its help because of financial troubles in Great Britain. The Truman Doctrine • In 1946 President Harry S. Truman passed a law bill that stated any country that needs help fighting off communism could ask for and get financial help from the U.S.A. The Marshal Plan • In 1947, the U.S.A. passed a plan meant to help rebuild Europe called the Marshal Plan. • The U.S. offered $13 billion to European countries to help rebuild. • Eastern European satellite countries refused to take any money from the U.S. • In 1949 the U.S.S.R. passed a plan to help economically rebuild Eastern Europe called COMECON, but they didn’t have money to back up the plan and it failed. The Division of Germany • At the end of the war Germany was divided up between four countries; the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the U.S.S.R. Germany Split • The four countries tried many times to re-unite Germany but were not successful, so the U.S., France, and Great Britain decided to divide Germany in half and create a free West Germany. • The capital city of Germany, Berlin was located deep in the Soviet side and it was also divided up between the four powers. • The Soviets didn’t want the west to create a new “West Germany,” so in 1948 they cut off access to the city of Berlin. • The U.S. and Britain flew supplies into Berlin every day for 10 months; they made a total of 200,000 flights to bring supplies into West Britain so they could survive. • In 1949 the Soviets gave in and allowed trucks and trains to bring supplies into West Berlin. Formation of West Germany • In September 1949 a new West German country was created with Bonn as its capital. • Less than a month later, the U.S.S.R. created a new East German country, the capital was Berlin. N.A.T.O. • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (N.A.T.O.) was formed in 1949. • The Western European countries of Belgium, Luxembourg, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and Iceland, the U.S., and Canada were part of this organization, they promised to provide help if any of the countries were attacked. New Treaties • In 1955 the U.S.S.R. joined with Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania started a new military alliance called the “Warsaw Pact.” • These new military alliances began to spread to the rest of the world in the 1950’s. • North Korea allied with the U.S.S.R. and tried to change to communism and tried to take over South Korea; the U.S.A. helped South Korea and the Korean war began. • The U.S. and Britain then signed a treaty with Pakistan, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand and called this the SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organization). • They also signed a treaty with Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan and called it CENTO (Central Treaty Organization). Arms Race • In 1949 the U.S.S.R. tested its first atomic bomb. • The U.S. blamed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for passing the atomic secrets and killed them in 1953; it has since been said by KGB agents that they didn’t give up any atomic secrets. • Both the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. started building as many atomic weapons as possible so they could have more than the other and therefore the other country wouldn’t attack them. Arms and Space Race • • • In the 1950s the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. developed ICBMs or Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles; these missiles could be launched from the U.S. or the U.S.S.R. and reach the other country. They built up as many of these weapons as possible, hoping it would keep the other side from attacking them. In 1957, the Soviets sent the first manned satellite into orbit around the earth, this scared many Americans, they thought the Soviets must be far ahead of them when it came to missiles. The Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall • Nikita Khrushchev became leader of the U.S.S.R. in 1955. • West Berlin was completely surrounded by the poverty of East Germany and many East Germans tried to leave and move to West Berlin. • Khrushchev saw this and wanted to stop all the East Germans from leaving. • In 1961 Khrushchev built a wall separating West Berlin from East Berlin. • The wall became a huge barrier with machine gun turrets and barbed wire and it became a symbol of the split of Germany. Cold War Spreads: China • In 1949 Chinese communists took control of the government in China. • The U.S. saw its fears about communism spreading coming true. The Chinese government signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty; which brought the USSR and China together • During the 1960s, China and the Soviet Union had many disagreements; about the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, The Cuban Missile Crisis, USSR support of Vietnam, and invasion of Afghanistan, The Soviets not helping China get Taiwan back • The Chinese start to open up to the idea of working with the US, • In 1972, president Nixon visited China marking the beginning of more Chinese/US relations • In 1979 China refused to resign the Sino Soviet Treaty Korean War • • • • • • • • • After WWII, the northern half of Korea was controlled by the Soviets, and the Southern half was controlled by the US They were divided by the 38th parallel In 1950, with the support of Soviet leader Stalin, the communist northern half of Korea invaded the southern half and quickly took most of the country US president Truman went to the UN and got permission to send troops into South Korea and kick the communists out US general Douglas MacArthur suggested taking all of Korea He succeeded in taking most of Korea except for the area around one small city The Chinese then sent troops in and the Soviets sent pilots to use Chinese planes to bomb the US forces and pushed the US troops back behind the 38th parallel and even took Seoul General McArthur then wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on China, Truman said no, fired him and sent in more troops to push the Northern troops back across the 38th parallel and a cease fire was made. There is still a cease fire in place now, there was never a treaty made ending the war and there is still problems between North Korea and South Korea The Cuban Missile Crisis • In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Bautista and took control of Cuba and turned it communist. • In 1961 President Kennedy approved a secret plan for Cuban exiles to invade Cuba hoping to overthrow Castro, the invasion failed in large part because Kennedy failed to provide the air support he had promised. • In 1962 the U.S.S.R. started building nuclear missiles and putting them in Cuba pointed at the U.S. • Kennedy sent ships to blockade Cuba so the Soviets couldn’t sent anymore missiles there; the Soviet ships turned around and they promised not to build missiles there as long as the U.S. promised not to invade Cuba and the US took their nuclear weapons out of Turkey • Many suggest this was the closest the US and the USSR ever came to a direct war and potential nuclear war Vietnam • • • • Starting in 1956 the United States was involved in a war in Vietnam. Vietnam was a French colony, at the end of WWII Japan took over Vietnam but after the war the French again took control of the country. In 1949 the Chinese communists started arming and helping the Viet Minh fight against the French. The U.S. saw this as a communism taking over a country and in 1956 when the French could no longer handle the war the U.S. took the lead and tried to keep the southern part of Vietnam capitalist. Vietnam War • In the 1960’s president Lynden Johnson drastically increased the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam. • He believed that if Vietnam changed to communism than the rest of the countries in South East Asia would soon fail to communism as well. • In the U.S., as more young men were drafted to fight in this war thousands of miles away more and more people began to protest the war. • The U.S. couldn’t defeat the Chinese backed North Vietnamese. • In 1968 Richard Nixon ran for president, and won, promising to get the troops out of Vietnam. • In 1973 Nixon reached an agreement with the North Vietnamese and two years later Vietnam was completely communist. The Domino Theory • The U.S. thought that all Asian countries would turn communist and they would be led by the U.S.S.R. • That turned out not to be true, the U.S.S.R. and China began having disputes over the styles of communism they were using. • In the 1970’s Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China. • Nixon helped the U.S. and China began relations again. • The Vietnam War showed the limits of the U.S. and its military and kept the U.S. directly out of wars involving communism. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe • WWII devastated the Soviet union, workers got very little for doing a lot of work. • The same was true in the part of Eastern Europe that the Soviets took over. • After WWII the U.S.S.R.’s industry improved, they built more factories, and looked like a superpower when they tested the hydrogen bomb and launched sputnik into outer space. • The people of the Soviet Union were living very poor. • Most families lived in one bedroom apartments. • Stalin was still the leader of the U.S.S.R. and didn’t trust anyone. • In 1953 Stalin died and Nikita Khrushchev took over as the leader of the Soviet Union. The Khrushchev Era • When Stalin died Nikita Khrushchev took over as the political leader of the U.S.S.R. • He first tried to get rid of some of Stalin’s biggest mistakes. • He stopped using violence on his own people as a way to keep power. • Next he allowed more freedom of the press; letting people write books that sometimes said bad things about the U.S.S.R. • He also tried to grow more food to feed the people, but he failed. • Industrial productivity in the Soviet Union fell. • In 1962 Khrushchev led the U.S.S.R. during the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which they lost. • In 1964 while on vacation Khrushchev was replaced by a secret council. Eastern Europe • After WWII the Soviet Union controlled almost all of Eastern Europe and most of the Balkans except Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia. • By 1948 the U.S.S.R. had taken control of East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. • In Albania and Yugoslavia both set up their own communist governments that were independent of the Soviets. • Between 1948-1953 the Eastern European countries under the control of the U.S.S.R. followed Stalin style communist plans, concentrating on building up industry and eliminating all opposition political parties. Revolts Against Communism • Many people in Eastern Europe didn’t like communism or Soviet rule. • After Stalin’s death many Eastern European countries started to hint that they wanted their independence. • In 1956 protests started in Poland and Hungary asking for their independence; Poland backed down and signed the Warsaw Pact. • In Hungary the president declared their independence, the U.S.S.R. attacked Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and they took back control of Hungary. • In Czechoslovakia the leader had been put in by the U.S.S.R., in 1968 a writers rebellion led to the leaders resignation, the new leader promised Socialism. • In 1968 the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia and crushed the rebellion. Western Europe and North America • After WWII Western Europe, with the help of the Marshal Plan, was quickly recovering. • In France after WWII they established a new government that had a strong parliament and a weak president. • The government was ineffective; politician and war hero Charles de Gaulle stepped down from the government. • 1958 he returned and was asked to write a new constitution. • The new constitution gave the president more power and de Gaulle was elected as the first president. • De Gaulle wanted to make France powerful again so in 1960 France exploded its first nuclear bomb. • 1962 he gave independence to France’s African colonies. • France’s economy was growing faster than almost any other country in the world including the U.S. • 1968 because of student protests and a general labor strike de Gaulle again resigned and died within a year. West Germany • The three zones in the West of Germany (French, British, and U.S. zones), were unified from the beginning. • West Germany’s economy made huge gains, very quickly. • They had so many jobs they took guest workers from Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey to fill all the open jobs. • West Germany was quickly back on the path to success. The End of the British Empire • After WWII Great Britain was in major debt. • Winston Churchill, the popular leader during WWII, was replaced by a leader from the Labor party. • The new government quickly took steps to take care of its citizens by passing laws to provide for the sick, old, and unemployed. • They also passed laws that gave health insurance to all citizens. • All this cost a lot of money and this led them to give up many of their colonies overseas. • Britain was no longer one of the worlds biggest powers. European Unity • After two devastating wars most European countries were looking to find a way to create unity, not division, in Europe. • They were not ready, however, to join together completely so they concentrated to economic unity. • In 1957, France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg joined together to form an economic community. • They would not impose tariffs on each other, giving the nations basic free trade with each other; but they would impose tariffs on other countries outside of the group. • This group became an important economic power. U.S. Dominance • From 1945-1970, the U.S. followed the policies brought to the country from FDR, things like government help for the old, unemployment and sick, the rise of the power of unions, and fairness to minorities. • From 1945-1973, the amount of money people in the U.S. made went up about 3% every year; the U.S. became the leader in the world economically. The Red Scare • In the 1950’s people across the United States began to fear communist in their communities, government, and movies. • Senator Joseph McCarthy created a list with the names of hundreds of government workers, movie stars, and scholars that he claimed were communist. • The peoples whose names were on these lists became social outcasts; many actors, directors, and producers never worked again, many government workers lost their jobs, if your name was on the list quite often you were considered guilty, even if you weren’t. • In 1954 McCarthy accused army officials of being communist and he quickly lost his credibility. President Kennedy & Johnson • In 1960 John F. Kennedy became the youngest elected president ever (Teddy Roosevelt was younger but he became president as a V.P. when the president at the time died). • Less than three years later, JFK was shot to death while on a parade in Dallas on 11/22/1963. • Lynden Johnson was Kennedy’s V.P. and he became the next president. • Johnson tried to help the advance programs like a continuation of FDR’s New Deal, government assistance for people who need it. • He also tried to help the cause of Civil Rights or equal rights for all Americans. Civil Rights The Civil Rights Movement • In 1896 the Supreme Court of the U.S. declared in a famous court case called Plessey v. Ferguson, the court ruled that separate but equal facilities were lawful and acceptable, so schools, bathrooms, drinking fountains, housing, and many other things became segregated. • In 1954 the Supreme Court declared separate but equal was not ok and would be declared illegal. • In 1956 Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her seat on a public bus so a white man could sit down. She was arrested and with the help of a young man named Dr. Martin Luther King led a bus strike for a whole year that led to the end of the “back of the bus” law. Civil Rights Movement Continues • In august 1963 Martin Luther King led a one million person march to Washington D.C. • King followed the policies of Gandhi, non-violent protest. • In 1965 in Watts, Los Angeles, race riots broke out and 34 people died. • In 1968 when Martin Luther King was killed race riots broke out in almost 100 cities in the U.S. • Groups like the Black Panthers advocated equality through any means necessary meaning it was ok for them to use violence to reach their goals. • Malcolm X started out as a Black Panther but changed his mind and started to agree with Marin Luther King. • Malcolm X was killed by a member of the Black Panthers after he changed his mind about how to achieve equality. U.S. & Canada • Canada fought with the Allied Powers; U.S. and Great Britain, during WWII • After WWII Canada tried to build its industrial power and economy, similar to that of the U.S. • Many of the new businesses in Canada were owned by U.S. companies • Many Canadians were afraid the U.S. would take control of a lot of their country • Canada became very liberal and ended up looking much like the governments of European countries; the government provided its people with free healthcare, a strong social security plan, and money for the poor Changes in Western Society After WWII • Between 1940-1945 the average family income in the U.S. tripled • Less people were living in rural areas, most people lived in cities • Most people had extra money to buy things, new inventions like television and eventually computers • In the 1950’s more and more people began buying things on credit • By 1960 the number of people in Europe that had cars had gone up by 900% Women After WWII • After WWII many women gave up their jobs for the returning soldiers • There was a baby boom from 1945-1960 • By 1960 women started going back to work in large numbers • Women were not getting paid equally to men, in 1970 women earned 41 cents to every dollar men made • In the 1960 the Womens’ Liberation Movement started in the U.S. and Europe, women began demanding equal rights under the law, in the workplace and in society Anti War Movements • During the Vietnam War, in the 1960’s students in the U.S. began protesting against the war. • Many students were afraid they would be drafted and forced to serve in the war without wanting to. • In the late 60’s, the protests grew bigger and more people began to join this group called “hippies.” Student Revolts • In Europe in the 1960s students were also staging protests • After WWII in Western Europe there was a dramatic increase in the number of young people that went to college • Many colleges were over crowded • Students were also protesting the Vietnam War • By the mid 1970s the protest movement died down Kent State • In 1970 thousands of college students from Kent State University in Ohio gathered to protest the Vietnam War. • The Ohio National Guard began to shoot into the crowd, four students were killed, nine others were injured; this shocked the nation and soon there after the U.S. began withdrawing troops from Vietnam.
