Chapter 28
Cold War and a New Western World,
1945 - 1970
Confrontation of the Superpowers
WWII devastated the countries, cities and people of Europe, bringing
about an end to European supremacy in the world.
The Cold War
The indirect conflict between the Soviet Union and the U.S. over
ideologies and control of the post WWII world.
First Area of Conflict - Disagreement over Eastern Europe
United States and Britain championed self-determination and
democracy
Soviet forces occupied all of Eastern Europe and wanted to
establish pro-Soviet governments there to create a buffer zone
against potential western attacks.
Between 1945 and 1947 Communist governments were entrenched
in East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and Hungary
Possible Test Question
World War II not only devastated the countries,
cities, peoples, and cultures of Europe, but also
destroyed
American commitment to globalism in foreign policy.
European supremacy in world affairs.
Any commitment of old and new nations around the
globe to supranational bodies of diplomacy and conflict
resolution.
The capacity of western European nations to forge
lasting economic and cultural ties in the post-war
world.
The trans-Atlantic partnership.
Truman Doctrine, March 12, 1947
U.S. foreign policy developed due to a civil war in Greece
Provided $400 million in aid to countries threatened by aggression.
Assistance in defense of Greece and Turkey
Defined America’s fear of Communist expansion
Pledged U.S. support to support “free peoples” and “Fight
Communism anywhere, anytime”
Marshall Plan, June 1947, European Recovery Program
$13 billion for the economic recovery intended to
rebuild war-torn Europe
Soviet view – Western European countries sold their
political & economic freedom for U.S. loans. Made
Stalin push for more control of Eastern bloc countries
The American Policy of Containment
Stop the spread of Communism
Possible Test Question
The Marshall Plan
Was viewed by Western Europe as Capitalist
imperialism.
Included Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Was not considered a success.
Came to an abrupt end with the imposition of
the Berlin Blockade by the Soviet Union.
Intended to rebuild European prosperity and
stability.
Contention over Germany
Germany is partitioned into 4 sections (so is Berlin)
Soviets dismantle and remove 380 factories
Blockade of Berlin, 1948-1949
• Soviets cut off rail and road access through East Germany
• Supplies were flown in to west Berlin
• Soviets eventually back down
Germany separated, 1949
• West German Federal Republic, September
• German Democratic Republic, October
- East Germany
Cold War Tension
Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb, 1949
Communist forces win the Civil War in China, 1949
Mutual deterrence – belief that an arsenal of nuclear weapons
prevented war through mutually assured destruction
New Military Alliances
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (NATO)
1949
• Western Alliance
• Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Canada and the U.S.
• A few years later, West Germany, Greece & Turkey
joined
Warsaw Pact, 1955
• Communist Alliance
• Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union
Possible Test Question
The Warsaw Pact included all of the
following nations except
Poland.
Bulgaria.
Yugoslavia.
Hungary.
Czechoslovakia.
Globalization of the Cold War
The Korean War
Korea is divided after WWII
• North is communist – supported by Soviet Union
• South is democratic – supported by U.S.
North Koreans invaded the south, 1950
UN troops push North Korean troops back into North
Korea
Chinese intervene when UN troops approach the border
Uneasy truce, 1953
The overall effect of the Korean War was to reinforce
the American policy of Containment
Escalation of the Cold War in the mid-1950s
Policy of massive retaliation (Eisenhower)
Central Treaty Organization
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
Possible Test Question
The Cold War policy adopted in the mid1950s by the Eisenhower administration
was
Containment.
Détente.
MAD (mutually assured destruction)
Massive retaliation.
All of the above.
Another Berlin Crisis
Vulnerability of Berlin
• Western countries had to go through East Germany
to get to West Berlin
• Communists were losing intellectuals and skilled
workers who were fleeing East Germany through
West Berlin
ICBM missile and Sputnik I launched
Summit meeting in Vienna
• Khrushchev threatens JFK with a 6 month deadline
to abandon West Berlin
Berlin Wall, built in 1961
Map 28.1: The New European Alliance
Systems in the 1950s and 1960s
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Fidel Castro (b. 1927)
Established a communist regime in Cuba - 1959
Failed Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961
Attempted overthrow of Castro regime by C.I.A. trained
revolutionaries and given the go ahead by Pres. JFK
US discovers Soviet missile bases being built in Cuba
JFK orders a blockade of Cuba to prevent Soviet navy carrying
missiles to Cuba from reaching their destination
Khrushchev agrees to turn back ships carrying missiles in
return for Kennedy’s promise not to invade Cuba
Establish a hotline between US and Soviet Union
US and Soviet Union improve communications to prevent a
nuclear war
Ban nuclear tests in the atmosphere
Possible Test Question
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 concluded with
Improved communications between the United States
and the Soviet Union essential to prevent nuclear war.
The installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
The United States overthrowing Cuba’s Sovietsupported government.
John Kennedy backing down to the threats of Nikita
Khrushchev.
Fidel Castro giving up his military authority in the
Cuban government, although he retained political
control.
The Vietnam War
Vietnam divided into North (Communist supported by Soviets) and
South (Democratic supported by US) after France had been defeated in
1954 (decolonization)
President Lyndon Johnson sends larger numbers of troops to Vietnam,
1965
US was fighting against the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and the
Vietcong (guerrilla fighters in the south who supported the north
Domino Theory
If the communists succeed in Vietnam, other nations in Asia would
fall to communism
Americans and Europeans began to protest American involvement in
Vietnam
President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) vows to
bring an honorable end – vietnamization (replace
US troops with S. Vietnamese troops)
Begins withdrawing troops
Peace treaty signed January 1973 calls for removal
of all US troops
The Vietnam War showed the limitations of
American power
Led to a period of relaxed Soviet-American
relations in the 1970s known as Détente
Possible Test Question
The Vietnam War
Was resolved in 1975 with the Helsinki
Agreements.
Ended in 1973 with the defeat of North Korea.
Showed the limitations of American power,
leading to improved Soviet-American relations.
Marked the beginning of the total domination
of Southeast Asia by the Soviet Union.
Led to an immediate end of the Cold War in
1975 with the final withdrawal of Americans
from Vietnam.
Decolonization
Africa: The Struggle for Independence
G.B. and France lacked the resources to control
a colonial empire
Colonies were aware of allied stance on self
determination
Western educated intellectuals began to lead
independence movements
Most African nations received their
independence in the 1950s & 1960s.
South Africa set up a system of segregated
white rule known as apartheid.
Possible Test Question
African independence parties were usually
led by
Western-educated intellectuals.
Unemployed urban workers.
Moscow-trained urban workers.
Disgruntled peasants, fearful of being besieged
by western agricultural surpluses.
Religious leaders, both Christian and Muslim.
Map 28.2:
Decolonization
in Africa
Conflict in the Middle East
Emergence of new independent states
The Question of Palestine
Zionists wanted Palestine for a homeland
After World War II sympathy grew for the Jews
President Truman approves the idea of an independent Jewish state
within Palestine
Israel proclaimed a state, May 14, 1948
The one issue the Arab states were unified in was their opposition
to the formation of Israel
Nasser and Pan-Arabism (Arab unity)
Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918 – 1970) seized control of
Egyptian government in 1954
Advocated sharing Middle Eastern Oil wealth amongst Arab states
Suez conflict (Britain, France & Israel attack Egypt)
US & Soviet Union intervened on the side of Egypt to bring peace
Nasser emerged as an Arab leader
Possible Test Question
The Middle Eastern political leader who
promoted Pan-Arabism and who advocated
a sharing of Middle Eastern oil wealth
equally among the Arab states was
Yasir Arafat.
Saddam Hussein.
Anwar al-Sadat.
The Shah of Iran.
Gamal Abdul Nasser.
The Arab-Israeli Dispute
Palestine Liberation Organization formed in
1964
Yasir Arafat (1929 – 2004) (PLO leader)
June 5, 1967, the Six Day War begins
• Preemptive strike against Arab nations
• Israel destroyed Egyptian forces
• Tripled the size of their country in 6 days
Yom Kippur, 1973: Egypt attacks Israel
• Air and artillery strike during Jewish holy day on
Israeli forces in the Sinai peninsula
• Conflict ends in a cease fire negotiated by the UN in
1974
Map 28.3:
Decolonization
in the Middle
East
Asia: Nationalism and
Communism
Philippines granted independence, 1946
India
Muslims and Hindus
Divided between Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan
•
•
•
•
Gandhi was the only Congress leader to object
He warned of an “orgy of blood”
He was right
Fighting between Hindus and Muslims killed over 1 million
Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, January 30, 1948
British grant independence to Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
and Burma (Myanmar)
French efforts to keep Vietnam by holding
elections fail. Vietnam is divided
Possible Test Question
“An orgy of blood” refers to
The Vietnam War.
The separation of Pakistan from India.
The victory of Mao Zedong over the Chinese
Nationalists.
Nikita Khrushchev’s condemnation of Stalin.
The Korea debacle.
China Under Communism
After WWII, civil war continues in China
Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) (Nationalists)
Mao Zedong (1893-1976) (Communists)
Chiang Kai-shek goes to the Island of Taiwan (US navy
protects him)
Collectivization of all farmland and most industry and
commerce nationalized, 1955
Great Leap Forward, 1958
• Mao’s effort to achieve a classless society
• Collectivized farms were combined into “people’s communes”
consisting of 30,000 peasants
• The program was a disaster due to weather and poor planning
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976
• Red Guards took to the streets to cleanse society of impurities
associated with capitalism
Map 28.4: Decolonization in Asia
Possible Test Question
The Great Leap Forward was
Stalin’s stated philosophy for his last five-year
plan.
The radicalization of the feminist movement.
Mao Zedong’s effort to achieve a classless
society and the final state of communism.
The missile race between the United States and
the Soviet Union.
Mao Zedong’s New Economic Policy, modeled
on Lenin’s economic reforms in the early
1920s.
Decolonization and Cold War
Rivalries
Newly independent nations caught in U.S. –
Soviet conflict
Jawaharlal Nehru and Nonalignment
Kept India neutral
Tried to provide leadership to newly independent
countries in Asia and Africa
Indonesia
Sukarno and Suharto
• Sukarno received support from China and the Soviet Union
• Overthrown by General Suharto who established pro-western
relations
Possible Test Question
The Indian politician who pursued a policy
of neutrality in the Cold War and who
attempted to provide leadership to the
newly independent countries of Asia and
Africa was
Mahatma Gandhi.
Indira Gandhi.
Suharto.
Sukarno.
Jawaharlal Nehru.
The Soviet Union: From Stalin to
Khrushchev
Stalin’s Policies
Stalin’s method for the recovery of the Soviet Union
• Use Soviet labor to produce goods to export so
Russia could bring in foreign capital to build
machinery and Western technology
By 1947 the Soviet Union had attained pre-war levels
of industrial production
• Emphasized development of heavy industry & the
production of modern weapons and space
technology (Sputnik)
• Very few consumer goods produced
Stalin continued his iron rule until his death in 1953
Possible Test Question
The economic policies of Stalin
Completely overtaxed a war-damaged industrial plant
as production of material goods long failed to surpass
prewar levels.
Were unrealistic since Russia lacked readily accessible
natural resources and fossil fuels.
Managed to produce both “guns and butter,” that is
rearmed the Soviet military while providing cheap and
plentiful consumer goods.
Instituted a modified free-market capitalism in all
economic areas except for heavy industry.
Emphasized the development of heavy industry and the
production of modern weapons and space vehicles.
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)
Ends the forced labor camps
Condemns Stalinist programs of forced labor and terror
There seem to be a loosening of restraint
(destalinization)
Allowed more intellectual freedom
• Allowed publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s novel A Day
in the Life of Ivan Denisovich which portrayed life in Stalin’s
forced labor camps
Encouraged rebellion in satellite nations
• Rebellions will be crushed by Red Army (Hungary,
Czech etc)
Economic policies focused on production of light
industry and consumer goods & increase agricultural
output
• Failed to benefit the Soviet economy and industry
Forced into retirement by party members in 1964
Possible Test Question
The economic policies of Nikita Khruschev
in the 1950s and early 1960s
Were a continuation of Stalinist policies.
Were a great success.
Failed to benefit the Soviet economy and
industry.
Focused on building the economy on luxury
goods.
Made the Soviet Union completely and
permanently self-sufficient in agricultural
foodstuffs.
Eastern Europe: Behind the Iron
Curtain
In 1945 Soviet Union occupied all of the Balkans
Communist governments were under the control of the
Soviet Union
Due to strong democratic traditions, Czechoslovakia was
the last Eastern European nation to fall under Soviet
control
Albania and Yugoslavia were the exceptions to total Soviet
rule
Albania had a Stalinist type regime, but became more independent
Josip Broz, Tito, took control of Yugoslavia
• Asserted Yugoslavia’s independence from the end of WWII into the
1970s.
• Form of communism was less centralized and closer to MarxistLeninist ideal
Possible Test Question
Due to its strong democratic traditions, the
last Eastern European country to fall under
Soviet, one-party domination after WWII
was
Bulgaria.
Poland.
Hungary.
Czechoslovakia.
Romania.
Eastern European countries followed the Soviet
pattern
Five year plans
Farm collectivization
Upheaval in Eastern Europe
Khrushchev interferes less with the satellite countries
Rebellion in Poland
•
•
•
•
Wladyslaw Gomulka , 1956, elected first secretary
Poland pledged to follow its own socialist plan
Got nervous about a Soviet military response
Compromised and agreed to support the Warsaw Pact
Eastern Europe: Behind the Iron
Curtain: Hungary & Czechoslovakia
Hungary, 1956
This time dissent was directed at communism as well
Dissatisfaction and economic problems creates tense situation
Imry Nagy (1896-1958) declares Hungary free, November 1, 1956
Promises free elections – Soviet military invades
Soviet military intervention reasserts Communist leadership
Janos Kadar (1912-1989) replaced Nagy
Czechoslovakia, 1968
Antonin Novotny (1904-1975) known as “Little Stalin”
• Appointed by Stalin in 1952
• Resigned in the late 1960s over protests
Alexander Dubcek (1921-1992), “socialism with a human face”
• Initiated by Dubcek’s reforms – “Prague Spring”
Reform crushed by the Warsaw Pact – Red Army invades Czech
Possible Test Questions
The “Prague Spring” in Czechoslovakia in
1968
Was triggered by the reforms of Alexander
Dubcek.
Led to the presidency of Vaclav Havel in 1970.
Witnessed Czechoslovakia’s successful
withdrawal from the Soviet bloc.
Brought about the resignation of President
Gustav Husak.
Was encouraged by the Soviet leadership.
Western Europe: The Revival of
Democracy and the Economy
Europe recovered rapidly from World War II
Marshall Plan money was important to the recovery
France: The Domination of De Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970)
• Feels he has mission to reestablish the greatness of France
• Kept France largely independent politically
• Wanted to make France a nuclear power
Defeat in Indochina
Algerian crisis
• Algeria rebels against France for independence
• Anti-war movement almost leads to French civil war
Fifth Republic, 1958
• Powers of the President enhanced
Economic growth
Student riots, Labor Strikes, in 1968 over rising cost of living
Resignation of de Gaulle, April 1969
Possible Test Question
As president of France, Charles de Gaulle’s
position in the Cold War was to
Closely align France with the Warsaw Pact
nations.
Make France the “third” nuclear power and
pursue a largely independent political course.
Let American policy guide France and other
European nations.
Make France the leading European power in
NATO.
Join the non-aligned third-world nations.
Western Europe: The Revival of Democracy and the Economy
West Germany: A Reconceived Nation
Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) (Christian Democrats)
• Founding hero of West Germany
Reconciliation with France
Resurrection of the economy (“economic miracle”)
• New currency, free markets, low taxes
Payments to Holocaust survivors and Israel
Great Britain: The Welfare State
Clement Atlee (1883-1967) (Labour Party)
• British Welfare State (social security, socialized medicine)
 National Insurance Act and National Health Act
• Meant dismantling of the British Empire
• No longer viewed as a world power after loss of Suez Canal
Continued economic problems
• Economy lagged behind and failed to re-industrialize
• Lost colonies and their revenues
• Debt from international commitments
Possible Test Question
The first chancellor and “founding hero” of
the West German Federal Republic was
Helmut Kohl.
Helmut Schmidt.
Willy Brandt.
Konrad Adenauer.
Walter Ulbricht.
Italy: Weak Coalition Government
Postwar reconstruction
Alcide de Gaspari (prime minister, 1948 –
1953)
Unstable political coalitions
• Christian Democrats gained power with the backing
of the Catholic Church
Italy’s “economic miracle”
• Marshall Plan helped stabilize the economy and
increase production of steel and consumer goods
Western Europe: The Move
Toward Unity
European Coal and Steel Community
(ECSC)
France, West Germany, Belgium, Netherlands,
and Luxembourg
European Economic Community (Common
Market)
Founded for economic reasons
Created a free-trade area
Precursor to European Union
American Politics and Society in
the 1950s
Influence of the New Deal
New Deal influence continued by Truman,
Kennedy, and Johnson
Economic prosperity of the 1950’s
McCarthyism and the “Red Scare”
Communist witch hunt in 50s America
Decade of Upheaval: America in the 1960’s
Johnson and the Great Society
War on Poverty
Job Corps
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Civil Rights Movement
Civil Rights Act, 1964 – end segregation
Voting Rights Act, 1965 – ending voting discrimination
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
• Followed ideal of civil disobedience preached by Gandhi
• Assassinated, 1968 – riots followed
Malcolm X – black leader in northern cities
• Did not share MLK’s view of civil disobedience
Summer of 1965 – riots in major U.S. cities
Antiwar Protests
Kent State University, 1970 (students shot by national guard)
Counter-culture alternative to middle class conformity
Increased sexual permissiveness
Possible Test Question
The upheavals in the United States in the
1960s included all of the following except
Demands for civil rights for AfricanAmericans.
A desire to adopt Soviet-style socialism as an
alternative to rapacious capitalism.
Protests against the Vietnam War
Increased sexual permissiveness.
Counter-culture alternatives to middle class
societal norms.
The Emergence of a New Society
The Structure of European Society
Dramatic shift in the middle class with the addition of
white-collar management and administrative positions
Further urbanization
Rising income
• Lower class could afford the consumer goods enjoyed by the
middle and upper classes
Mass tourism
• Increase in disposable income and vacation time plus a
decrease in hours worked
Creation of the Welfare State
History of Social Welfare Policies
Extension of old benefits and creation of new ones
Removal of class barriers
Increased opportunity for higher education
Increase in state spending on social services
Gender Issues
Work, motherhood, and individual rights
• In West Germany and Britain, women were encouraged to stay
home
• France provided equal rights to women, but offered incentives
to stay home and bear children
Women in the Postwar Western
World
Participation in the workforce declines until end of 1950s
Women gave up their jobs to returning soldiers
“Baby Boom”
Birth control – the pill
Increased employment in the 1960s
Smaller families allowed women to work
Feminist Movement: The Quest for Liberation
Right to vote
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)
• The Second Sex, 1949
• Argued that women were seen as second class to men
Betty Friedan (b. 1921)
• The Feminine Mystique
• Founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
Possible Test Question
Betty Friedan
Was the author of The Second Sex.
Supported voting rights for women.
Was a founder of the National Organization of
Women.
Headed Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty.”
Was an anti-feminist.
Social Revolutions
The Permissive Society
Sexual freedom
Experimentation with drugs
Decriminalization of homosexuality
Increasing rates of divorce
Education and Student Revolt
Higher education becoming more widespread
Problems
•
•
•
•
Overcrowding
Professors who paid too little attention to students
Authoritative administrators
Seemingly irrelevant education
Student strikes in France were the most violent, 1968
• Students encouraged workers to back their protests
Protest Western society and the war in Vietnam
Possible Test Question
The most violent student revolts took place in
France, where students successfully encouraged
unionized workers to back their protests.
Britain, where conservative governments attempted to
use military force against demonstrators.
Germany, where young Nazi sympathizers attempted to
reestablish the Third Reich.
Italy, where anti-church demonstrations led to the
burning of Cathedrals.
The United States, where student demonstrations
brought an end to the Vietnam War.
Postwar Art and Literature
Art
New York replaced Paris as the center of the art world
Jean Dubuffet
• Borrowed distressed look of children’s art
Abstract Impressionism
• Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956)
• Known as action painting – painted on a canvas laid on the ground
Pop Art
• Andy Warhol (1930 – 1987)
• Used images from popular culture
Literature
Theater of the Absurd
• Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
• Günter Grass, The Tin Drum
Jean Dubuffet, Portrait of Jean Paulhan
Jackson Pollack –
Abstract Expressionism
Andy Warhol – Pop Art
Possible Test Question
The American artist Jackson Pollock was
most noted for
A return to extreme realism in his paintings.
Postmodernist sculptures.
Pop Art, which celebrated the whims of popular
culture.
Neo-Cubism.
Abstract Expressionist paintings.
The Philosophical Dilemma:
Existentialism
Existentialism
Central point was the absence of God in the universe
Humans had no preordained destiny
Stressed the need for people to create their own values and give
their own lives meaning
The Revival of Religion
Karl Barth (1886 – 1968) – Protestant
• Because people are sinners and imperfect, humans can only know
religious truths through the grace of God.
Karl Rahner (1904 – 1984) – Catholic
• Incorporated modern thought into the Catholic Church
Vatican II
• Pope XXIII liberalized some Catholic practices
The Explosion of Popular Culture
Culture as a Consumer Commodity
Link between mass culture and mass consumer society
The Americanization of the World
US influence on world culture
Movies
• primary method to spread US culture
Television
Popular music