Chapter 33
Discussion and Review
Describe the causes and onset of
the Cold War.

The Cold War had its origins during World War II. Fears of socialism
and communism, together with the military might of the Soviet Union
at the end of the war, created tension and distrust among Western
nations. The Soviet Union felt that it was denied credit for having
borne the brunt of the fighting against Nazi Germany, in which 20
million of its people lost their lives. Tensions and resentments built
during the postwar disorder, seeming to confirm each side’s worst
fears. Students should detail some of those postwar events, such as
the West’s concern with the emergence of communist regimes in
eastern Europe, the blockade of Berlin, the formation of the Warsaw
Pact, the brutal repression of the Hungarian revolt, the Cuban
missile crisis, Soviet spying, and Soviet possession of atomic
weapons. The Soviet Union reacted against what it viewed as
attempts to undermine Soviet hegemony, such as the Truman
Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the creation of NATO, Western
meddling in communist Yugoslavia, and Western assaults against
communist North Korea.
Describe decolonization and nation
building in South and Southeast Asia.

Japanese demonstrations of European weaknesses during World
War II played an important role in Southeast Asian nation building.
Many nations won their independence in the years immediately
following the war. For example, British India became independent in
1947. Mainly because of regional and religious differences, the
Indian colony achieved independence as two separate nations—
India and Pakistan. Bangladesh split from Pakistan in 1974,
revealing further divisions. The British colonies of Burma and the
Malay Federation became independent in 1948, followed by
Singapore in 1950. In Indonesia, Sukarno fought Dutch attempts to
reassert control after World War II, and Indonesia became
independent in 1949. France also struggled in vain to keep its
colony of French Indochina. Opposition to the French was led by Ho
Chi Minh, who controlled the Communist Party in Vietnam. French
attempts to retain the colony ended in failure at Dienbienphu in
1954, eventually drawing the United States into the conflict.
African colonies shared many internal problems in
their struggles for independence. What were some
of those internal problems?

Students should recognize that decolonization and nation building in
Africa varied greatly from nation to nation. Although no single
African model was evident throughout the continent, there were
some issues that colonies shared as they moved toward
independence. For instance, geographic boundaries, established by
European powers, were often not recognized by Africans.
Realignment of those borders was a problem for African nationalists.
The shortage of educated Africans often made self-rule a difficult
objective, and the dependence on monocrop agriculture made
independence an economic burden. New nations also lacked an
adequate infrastructure for internal transportation and
communication. Dependence on medical, sanitary, and public health
systems established by Europeans also created problems.
Emerging nations suffered a shortage of financial backing for
investment in education, industrialization, and agricultural
expansion—particularly in those countries that fought wars of
liberation.
What was the experience of Africans in
British colonies during their struggle for
independence?

The experience of British African colonies differed, depending on the
value Britain placed on those colonies. Colonies that had little
economic value won their independence shortly after World War II,
enduring little bloodshed or warfare in the process. One example is
the Gold Coast, renamed Ghana after independence. Ghana won
independence in 1947 under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah.
Britain fought harder to retain Kenya, which had many wealthy
European-owned plantations. British battles against Kenyan
freedom fighters lasted until independence in 1964. In Rhodesia,
after long struggle, majority rule prevailed. Rhodesia was renamed
Zimbabwe when Africans ultimately prevailed. In South Africa, like
Rhodesia, the white minority fought to retain political and economic
power at the expense of the non-white African majority. The concept
of apartheid, a policy of racial separation, was opposed by the
African National Congress and Nelson Mandela in particular.
Briefly discuss the origins of the Vietnam War. What two
broad global contexts explain the onset of that conflict?
What were the long-term repercussions of U.S.
involvement in Vietnam?

Students should place the Vietnam conflict within the following two broad
contexts. First, the independence movement in Vietnam was similar to other
anticolonialism and independence movements around the world in the
decade after World War II. Second, U.S. intervention in Vietnam clearly
illustrates the bipolarism of the Cold War. Students should trace the
beginnings of U.S. involvement to the Eisenhower administration’s decision
not to support the French colonial administration in 1954. The French were
driven out of Vietnam by a nationalist movement seeking Vietnamese
independence. Later, however, President Kennedy supported the corrupt
and unpopular South Vietnamese government as a bulwark against the
expansion of communism from the North. The Gulf of Tonkin incident
provided the excuse necessary to deploy many thousands of additional U.S.
troops, and the war escalated throughout the 1960s. The 1973 treaty ending
the fighting between the United States and Vietnam was prompted by a
powerful antiwar movement in the United States. The antiwar movement,
economic problems created by the war, and the unpopularity of the conflict
itself ensured that the United States would not engage directly in other Cold
War conflicts. Future interventions involved military support rather than the
use of U.S. troops.
How did the Cold War affect China
and Japan?

Both nations took advantage of the struggle between the United States and
the Soviet Union. In doing so, both Japan and China placed themselves in a
position to become major forces in the post-Cold War world. Japan
expanded economically, in part because of the very small military budget
imposed on them by the Allies after World War II. Protected by the United
States as an important Asian ally, Japan poured its resources into economic
recovery and expansion during the Cold War years. China, on the other
hand, was directly involved in the Cold War, particularly in light of the
Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Although both were communist nations,
China and the Soviet Union remained separate politically, and tensions
between them often ran high. The Great Leap Forward in 1958 and the
Cultural Revolution in 1966 attempted to drive Chinese industry and society
forward but instead created deep conflicts and hardship. While the
repression of the Cultural Revolution lasted until Mao Zedong’s death in
1976, China was slowly becoming a more modern world power. The gulf
between the USSR and China became so wide that China was welcomed in
world affairs, joining the United Nations in 1971. Although repression
continues in China, the Cold War was responsible for modernization and the
recreation of China as a world power.
Describe the economic and political struggle
between Third World nations in Latin
America and the United States.

In Guatemala, reformers focused on agrarian reform and
nationalization of large land holdings. The United Fruit Company
was a large United States corporation which not only controlled the
export of various crops, but also owned large tracts of lands. In
response to nationalization, the CIA on the pretext of protecting
Guatemala from communism sponsored a military coup. The
attempts by Cuba to win economic freedom were similar to the
situation in Guatemala. American domination of the Cuban economy
was overwhelming. Batista was corrupt and under the control of
foreign influences. Fidel Castro, a charismatic lawyer, led a
revolution to overthrow Batista. Castro gave speeches in the United
States and was warmly received. Upon his return to Cuba, he
nationalized private property and the property of United States
citizens. He turned toward the Soviet Union and adopted
Communism more out of necessity than design. The United States
responded with a blockade.
Describe the political situation in the Middle
East after World War II, with particular
emphasis on the region’s production of oil.

Students should recognize the Arab struggle with Israel as the foundation
for many decisions and activities in the Middle East. Originally encouraged
by the Balfour Declaration decades before, Jewish settlement in Palestine
increased tremendously after World War II and the Holocaust. Both Israel
and the Arab states participated in the independence movements that swept
the world after World War II. Nations that had been nominally independent
but were actually under British, French, or American control became
autonomous in those years as well. Many of those new nations rallied
around the Palestinian people displaced by Israel, which became
independent in 1948. Still, the Arab-Israeli conflict would have remained a
regional issue if it had not been for the presence of oil. The region’s huge oil
reserves were not effectively exploited until after World War II, which also
coincided with huge new demands for petroleum. Later, oil-producing
nations won greater control and profits from Western oil companies by
threatening to nationalize the oil fields. In 1960, they created OPEC as a
political and economic instrument to further their interests. The continuing
conflicts between the Arabs and Israelis complicated these matters
enormously. After the oil crisis in 1974, prices spiraled upward, bringing
great wealth and power to oil-producing nations.