Chapter 38: The Bipolar World Questions and Answers
When: 1945-1990
Who: the US—Kennedy, Nixon, McCarthy
The USSR (Soviet Union)—Khrushchev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin
Others: Castro, Tito
Where: See map pg 1077
NATO—US, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal (and others joined later)
Warsaw Pact—the USSR (Soviet Union), Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary,
Poland, Romania (some of these later dropped out)
Vocabulary: NATO, Warsaw Pact, Marshall Plan, MAD, nuclear proliferation, arms race, Berlin Wall,
Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, feminism, consumerism, space race, de-Stalinization, détente, Cultural
Revolution, Watergate, velvet revolutions, perestroika, glasnost
1. What is the Cold War?
The Cold War is a rivalry between
West
Democratic
Capitalist
NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization)
Mainly the US, but also most of Western
Europe, including West Germany, and
Canada
East
Communist (this is a political and economic
ideology)
Warsaw Pact
Mainly the Soviet Union (aka USSR), but
also most of Eastern Europe including East
Germany
It is called the Cold War because it was never fought militarily. Instead it was a rivalry between two
major superpowers with two completely different ideologies and ways of life that fought not through
actual fighting, but in competing to have the most nuclear weapons, have the most control over other
countries, through politicians arguing, and through economic control. The central part of it was the arms
race. Each side tried to get as many weapons as they could to compete with the other country. They
reached a point called mutually assured destruction, or MAD, which means that either side could
completely annihilate the other, and pretty much the whole world. That is why the Cold War was such a
tense time: it meant not just the death of soldiers, but basically the possible destruction of the entire
world.
2. Pg 1070-1073—Explain how the splitting up of Germany is a representation of the Cold
War conflict in Europe.
After WWII, all of Europe was split up to either be on the US’s side or the Soviet Union’s. The
western European nations became more like the US, and the eastern European nations became more like
the Soviet Union. Germany was split into West and East. Berlin, the capital is in East Germany. (See
map pg 1072). Many people were trying to escape East Germany and East Berlin, so the Soviets blocked
West Germany from East Germany, and they also constructed a wall to block West Berlin from East
Berlin. This is the Berlin Wall, and it is a major symbol of the Cold War. So the West Germans were
basically on an “island” in the middle of Communist East Germany. The Western nations airlifted food
and supplies to them.
3. Pg 1073-1076—Describe how the Cold War almost became “hot” in both Korea and Cuba.
Korea was split up into North and South at the 38th parallel. The North was Communist, and the
South was Democratic. The Northern Communists wanted to unify Korea under their control, so they
crossed the 38th parallel. Then, troops from the US and 19 other countries, with the United Nations’
support, sent troops to Korea. They pushed the Communists back, and even continued into North Korea.
China threatened to get involved, but the US kept pushing. They eventually ended in a stalemate for 3
years, causing the deaths of 3 million people, mostly Korean civilians. The US also wanted to help the
other non-Communist countries in Asia in order to prevent the Communists from taking them over, called
the domino effect (if one country becomes Communist, the rest will follow just like dominoes).
In Cuba, Fidel Castro had driven out the previous dictator, who had supported economic dependency
on the US by supporting US companies in Cuba. Castro quickly became a dictator himself, kicking out
US companies and killing or exiling political opponents. The US responded by placing an embargo
between itself and Cuba. The Soviets offered to help Cuba (to extend its own influence into the Western
Hemisphere). In return, the US decided to invade Cuba. They trained 1500 ex-Cubans, who landed in
Cuba in April 1961, at the Bay of Pigs. The Cubans either captured or killed all of them within 3 days.
Then, in order to prevent future US aggression, the Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba.
President Kennedy basically demanded that they not send them, and he sent ships and planes to prevent
them from getting there. For two weeks the Soviet Union and the US were in direct confrontation, and
finally the Soviet Union stepped down because they realized the potential for enormous global
destruction. It was a loss of face for them, and a big win for the US. (Although, personally, I think that
they were being the bigger person, by, you know, not totally destroying the world over a few weapons).
This event is called the Cuban Missile Crisis.
4. Pg 1076-1082—Analyze the Cold War’s social ramifications, especially as they pertain to
women’s rights, minorities and civil rights, consumerism, the space race, and the idea of
a peaceful coexistence.
While many women had worked during WWII, at the beginning of the Cold War in the 1950s, they
were encouraged to return home and become domesticated. The home was a place to feel safe and secure,
and to distract people from the threat of total nuclear meltdown. The best job for a woman was said to be
to provide a nice family life and raise patriotic children. Many women resented this, and the modern
feminist movement began. Women joined with African-Americans to rally for equal rights. The civil
rights movement sprang up in the 1950s, with leaders like Marcus Garvey calling for African-Americans
to return to Africa, Bob Marley calling for people to stand up for their rights, Rosa Parks sitting down,
and Martin Luther King, Jr. calling for equal legal rights. Both women and African-Americans used the
Communist ideology of equality to support their arguments. Likewise, the Soviet Union used the low
position of women and African-Americans in the US to attack capitalism and show its weaknesses.
Also in the US, Senator McCarthy led a witch hunt for “Communists”, which was basically anyone
who supports a liberal or more radical cause or who acts strangely. These people were labeled as
Communists, lost their jobs and sometimes were ostracized. Some were even jailed or even executed!
(Google Julius and Ethel Rosenberg if you don’t believe me:)
Consumerism was a major point of differentiation between capitalist and communist countries. While
communists had made significant gains in the areas of the military and science, they did not provide the
average person with the wide array of consumer goods (cars, movies, music, supermarkets full of
products, long vacations, etc.) that the US did. Western Europe also experienced a miraculous recovery
after the destruction of WWII. With the money pumped in from the Marshall Plan, they made quick
economic gains and even outpaced the US in some ways.
The space race was another means for the two countries to compete. Once the USSR launched
Sputnik, the 1st satellite, and sent the first man to space, the US competed and eventually sent a man to
the moon.
The Soviet Union was even stricter than the US and harsher towards any possible opponents. They
censored many writers and artists. But once Stalin died and Khrushchev became premier, they relaxed
the controls. Khrushchev even took a tour around the US, which made many Americans see him as a
human, not some evil Communist devil. Khrushchev also advocated the idea of peaceful coexistence,
meaning that both sides can inhabit the same world without, you know, blowing it up.
5. Pg 1082-1090 – Analyze the challenges to the US’s and the USSR’s global superpower
hegemony, including that of France, Yugoslavia, de-Stalinization, Hungary, the People’s
Republic of China (PRC), détente, Vietnam, Afghanistan, cultural protests including the
Cultural Revolution, and Watergate.
Of course there would be outside challenges to the two main superpowers other than just each other.
France
France wanted to break free from NATO and establish itself as a world nuclear power as
well, but when de Gaulle left office in 1969, his dreams for French and European
dominance died out.
Yugoslavia
A man named Tito established a Communist regime without the support of the USSR,
which challenged Soviet authority. Stalin kicked them out of the Soviet bloc. Tito kept
good relations with both eastern European communist states and non-aligned states, in
order to maintain Yugoslavia’s own independence.
De-Stalinization
This emerged from within the USSR. Stalin’s successor, Khrushchev loosened up
Stalin’s tight controls and tried to lessen his reputation by removing his portrait and his
name from buildings, etc. This caused other countries’ Communist leaders to reform and
loosen up a little.
Hungary
Hungarian nationalist communists announced a new government and withdrew from the
Warsaw Pact. The Soviets sent tanks and crushed the rebellion, installing a Sovietcooperative leader.
Czechoslovakia
The leader announced new reforms and a more humane communism, but again the
Soviets intervened and crushed it.
China
Remember through WWII, the nationalists and Communists were fighting for power, and
this continued after the War. The Communists won and established the People’s Republic of
China in 1949, with Mao Zedong (remember the Chinese Dynasties song?) as the leader. At
first, they admired the Soviet Union and looked to them for support and advice on how to
set up their own Communist country. But then they became discontented because the
Soviet Union wasn’t helping them enough and was placing too many demands on them.
Mao initiated the 5 Year Plans to improve heavy industry and not consumer goods (just like
Stalin did) and he executed or put in forced labor any real or imagined opponents (again,
just like Stalin). They collectivized the land, taking land away from people and dividing it
equally among everybody. This had the same terrible results as when Stalin did it. China
remained Communist, but it would open up later on.
Détente
Détente means reduction in hostility, and it represents the idea of both the USSR and the
US to calm things down and not destroy the world. They met in meetings called SALT to
try to lessen their arms. But since the US was supporting the PRC, and the USSR was
supporting a Soviet regime in Afghanistan, there were still hostilities.
Vietnam
Vietnam had for thousands of years been resisting Chinese and later European attempts at
conquest. During the Cold War, Vietnam was, like Korea, divided into Communist north
and Democratic south. The US army was there to defend South Korea. But the American
people did not like the war because they felt like it wasn’t the US’s business and because
American soldiers were dying (sound familiar?) The US left, and the war continued until
North overtook South and united Vietnam into a Communist state.
Afghanistan A coup overtook the Afghan government and made it Communist. The Islamic leaders
didn’t like this because Communism is atheistic. So civil war erupted. When the Soviet
Union supported the Communists, the US supported the Islamic leadership. There were
many groups fighting, including various Afghan tribes/religious groups. One of these was
the Taliban, who seized authority in 1996 and declared the Islamic State of Afghanistan.
Cultural Protests/Revolution
Within the US and the USSR, writers, artists, and filmmakers
criticized the Cold War and promoted peace and ending the nuclear arms race (the peace
sign stands for nuclear disarmament—ask me about this). This was also represented by
rock and roll which called people to freedom and revolution
Watergate
President Nixon tapped some wires of the Democratic National Headquarters at the
Watergate building. The press found out about it, so the American people didn’t trust the
President anymore.
6. Pg 1090-1096 – Analyze the end of the Cold War through the collapse of eastern
European Communist regimes and the Soviet Union and the effects that it had.
The USSR was experiencing many economic problems in all of its countries. The new Soviet leader,
Mikhail Gorbachev, opened up the Soviet economy, and let the Soviet-controlled republics be more
independent. This led to the collapse of regimes in Poland, Hungary, Romania, East Germany, etc. These
were called velvet revolutions because these changes were not very violent.
In the USSR itself, Gorbachev wanted to reform, not completely dismantle the whole Communist
system. (But that’s what ended up happening.) The economy was having problems due to old
technologies, factories, and products. The government-run healthcare system was terrible and caused an
increase in infant mortality and a shortened lifespan. Divorce, corruption, and alcoholism rose.
Gorbachev instituted perestroika (“restructuring”) to decentralize the economy, and glasnost (opening of
the Soviet government to criticism). The criticism flowed out and overwhelmed the Soviets, and many of
Russia’s minorities groups exhibited unrest. The reforms didn’t really work, and the Soviet economy was
in shambles. All the republics of the USSR declared independence. A new leader, Boris Yeltsin arose. In
1991, the USSR no longer existed.
Even though the Cold War was very tense and had the potential for total world destruction, it
provided a clear framework for who’s on whose side. Now the security of a known battle ceased to exist,
and people were unsure of where they stood. The future of who was in charge in the world, and who
played for what team, was uncertain.