The Cold War would dominate global affairs from 1945 until the breakup of the USSR in
1991


State of Hostility

No actual Fighting
 Conflict takes forms of non-cooperation

Propaganda

Economic measures

 Before WW2 there were a number of countries which could have been superpowers – USA, USSR, Great Britain,
France, Japan, Germany.

The damage caused by the war left only two countries with the military strength and resources to be called superpowers….
USA and USSR .
U.S. and U.S.S.R. soon viewed each other with increasing suspicion


USA was capitalist and USSR was communism complete opposites
Communism: U.S.S.R
• Usually a one-party state.
• Industry and agriculture owned by the state.
• People encouraged to work for the common good.
• Classless society with no individual profit-making
• The government controlled most aspects of people’s lives.
• Strong censorship with restrictions on what could be said or written.
Capitalism –U.S.
• Free elections and more that one political party.
• Most industry and agriculture owned by private individuals.
• They employ workers and keep all profits made.
• Limits on government interference in people’s lives
• Freedom of speech and movement

 The “Big Three” - Churchill (GB), Stalin (USSR) and FDR (US) meet

They agree to self-determination after the war

Divide Germany into four military zones
• After Yalta (and FDR ’ s death)
Truman confronts the Soviet
Union at Potsdam - challenges the Soviet Union for violating the agreements made at Yalta
The "Big Three" at the Yalta
Conference, Winston Churchill,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph
Stalin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yalta_Conference_%28Churchill,_Roosevelt,_Stalin%29_%28B%26W%29.jpg

 Europe was now divided into two political regions; a mostly democratic Western Europe and a communist Eastern
Europe
 In a 1946 speech, Winston
Churchill said, “ An iron curtain has descended across the continent ”
 The phrase “ iron curtain ” came to stand for the division of Europe

Churchill felt that behind the Iron
Curtain, the USSR was planning to attack and conquer Western
Europe.


Set up communist gov. in countries they “ liberate ” from the Germans

Includes East Germany, including Poland
Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Romania, Bulgaria and
Albania

Known as Soviet Block or
Soviet Satellite countries
In a 1946 speech, Stalin said communism and capitalism were incompatible – and another war was inevitable  Main Purpose?

Protect USSR from invasion from the West


Truman Doctrine

Marshall Plan

NATO
The Cold War: The Geography of
Containment

 The U.S. promise to join or support any fight against
Communism

Great Britain announces it can no longer protect western interest in the
Mediterranean

Soviets demand control of the Dardanelles from
Turkey

The U.S. approved $400 million in aid and military support to Turkey and
Greece

The Marshall Plan helped
Western Europe recover economically
 Post-war Europe was devastated economically
 In June 1947, Secretary of
State George Marshall proposed a U.S. aid package to
European nations
 Western Europe accepted the help, while Eastern Europe
(Stalin) rejected the aid
 Over the next four years 16
European countries received
$13 billion in U.S. aid
 By 1952 Western Europe ’ s economy was flourishing

Marshall Plan
1948-1952 aid sent to
European countries

 NATO was established by a treaty in 1949
 This organization established a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
 “ An armed attack against one or more shall be considered an attack on all.
” –President Truman

Formed SEATO (Southeast Asian Treaty Organization) as a counter part in the Pacific
 Soviets form their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact in 1955
 Original members were:
 United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France,
Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Belgium,
Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
 Greece (1952), West Germany (1955) join also
12


Communist Response to NATO.
 Signed on May 1, 1955 in Warsaw,
Poland

Military treaty, which bound its signatories to come to the aid of the others, should any one of them be the victim of foreign aggression.

Original Members:
 Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East
Germany, Poland, Rumania, the
USSR, and the Czechoslovak
Republic.
13

NATO
WARSAW
NEUTRAL

 At the end of the war, Germany was divided among the Allies into
four zones for the purpose of occupation
 The U.S, France, and Great
Britain decided to combine their 3 zones into one zone – West
Germany, or the federal Republic of Germany
 The U.S.S.R. controlled East
Germany, or the German
Democratic Republic
 Now the superpowers were occupying an area right next to each other – problems were bound to occur

 Not wanting to invade and start a war with the
Soviets, America and
Britain started the Berlin airlift to fly supplies into
West Berlin -1948
 For 327 days, planes took off and landed every few minutes, around the clock
 In 277,000 flights, they brought in 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and medicine to the West
Berliners

 Truman transfers 60 American
B52’s to Britain, supposedly carrying atomic bombs
 Realizing they were beaten and suffering a public relations nightmare, the
Soviets lifted their blockade in
1949
On Christmas 1948, the plane crews brought gifts to West
Berlin

MAO
 After Japan left China at the end of the War, Chinese
Nationalists and Communists fought a bloody civil war
 Despite the U.S. sending
$ billions to the Nationalists, the Communists under Mao won the war and ruled China
 Chiang and the Nationalists fled China to neighboring
Taiwan (Formosa)
 Mao established the People ’ s
Republic of China
Kai-Shek

 The American public was shocked that China had fallen to the
Communists
 Many believed containment had failed and communism was expanding
 American fear of communism expansion was increasing


Goals was to establish a society of equal peasants and workers

Intellectualism and learning were considered useless and dangerous

The Communist Red Guards shut down schools and lashed out at teachers, gov. officials and business managers.

These individuals were
“ purified ” through hard work in labor camps

The chaos that resulted led Mao to stop the Cultural Rev. and disband the Red Guards

Soviet controlled
U.S. controlled
 Japan had taken over Korea in 1910 and ruled it until
August 1945
 As WWII ended, Japanese troops north of the 38 th parallel surrendered to the
Soviets
 Japanese soldiers south of the 38 th surrendered to the
Americans
 As in Germany, two nations developed, one communist
(North Korea) and one democratic (South Korea)

President Truman gets the UN to send troops to protect the south

 1950, N. Korean forces surprise attack S. Korea
 With only 500 U.S. troops in S.
Korea, Soviets figured Americans would not fight to save S. Korea
 Instead, America sent troops, planes and ships to S. Korea

Douglas MacArthur is labeled the commander of the UN troops (and most are U.S. troops)

Fighting begins badly
–Truman shifts his goals to unifying all of Korea instead of just protecting the south

This is a picture of Gen. McArthur during the Korean War.
 At first, N. Korea seemed unstoppable
 However, General
MacArthur launched a counterattack with tanks, heavy artillery, and troops
 Many N. Koreans
surrendered; others retreated across the 38 th parallel http://unit8jong11.wikispaces.com/+Korean+War

 Just as it looked like the Americans were going to score a victory in the North, 300,000 Chinese soldiers joined the war on the side of the N. Koreans
 The fight between North and South Korea had turned into a war in which the main opponents were Chinese Communists vs. America
 To halt the bloody stalemate, General
MacArthur called for an extension of the war into China
 He called for the U.S. to drop atomic bombs on several Chinese cities
 President Truman rejected the General ’ s requests

 Negotiators began working on a settlement as early as the summer of 1951
 Finally, in 1953, an agreement was signed that ended the war in a stalemate, truce
Korean War Memorial, Washington
D.C.
 America ’ s cost: 54,000 lives and $67 billion

 At the height of WWII, about 80,000
Americans became members of the
Communist Party
 Some feared that the first loyalty of these American Communists was to the
Soviet Union
 In 1947, President Truman set up the Loyalty Review Board
 created to investigate federal
employees and dismiss those disloyal to the U.S. government
 The U.S. Attorney General also drew up a list of 91 “ subversive ”
organizations – membership in any of these was ground for suspicion

 The HUAC was a government body began investigating communist influence in the movie industry
 The committee believed that
Communists were sneaking propaganda into films
 The HUAC subpoenaed witnesses from
Hollywood to discuss their involvement
 Subsequently, the committee blacklisted 500 actors, directors,
writers and producers whom they believed had communist connections

Nixon examines microfilm in Hiss case
 Spies cases added to fear
 Alger Hiss was accused of being a spy for the Soviets
 A young Republican congressman named Richard
Nixon gained fame by tirelessly prosecuting Hiss Hiss was found guilty and jailed.
U.S. citizens executed for espionage
 High Profile spy case: The
The Rosenberg's were the first

Rosenberg's were accused of providing information to
Soviets which enabled them to produce an atomic bomb in
1949
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were found guilty and executed

 The most famous anti-
Communist activist was
Republican Senator, Joseph
McCarthy.
 McCarthy took advantage of people ’ s concern about
Communism by making unsupported claims that 205 state department members were Communists
 Finally, in 1954 McCarthy went too far by accused high ranking Army officers of being
Communists


 Today, those Congressional witch hunts and episodes of “ red-baiting" are universally discredited as abuse of official power
 The history of the blacklist era has come to stand for censorship and political despotism; and the blacklisting, persecution, and jailing of American citizens for their political beliefs - or their perceived political beliefs - is regarded as a shameful chapter in modern
American history

An H-bomb test conducted by
America near Bikini Island in
Pacific Ocean, 1954
 The U.S. and U.S.S.R. competed in developing atomic and hydrogen bombs
 The Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in 1949
 The U.S. began work on a bomb 67 times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima – the hydrogen bomb

This is the beginning of an “ arms race ” between us and the
USSR in which we compete to build bigger and more weapons than one another

The Soviets responded to the
Hungarian revolt with tanks
 Dominated by the Soviet Union since the end of WWII, the
Hungarian people rose up in revolt in 1956
 Led by Imre Nagy, the liberal
Communist leader of Hungary, the people demanded free elections and the end of Soviet domination
The Soviets ’ response was swift and brutal –
30,000
Hungarians were killed (including
Nagy) as the
Soviets reasserted control

 The Space Race was initially dominated by the
Soviets
 On October 4, 1957, they launched Sputnik, the world ’ s first artificial satellite
 Sputnik traveled around earth at 18,000 miles an hour, circling the globe every 96 minutes

• Shocks the US
• If they can do that, they can hit us from space!
• Marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-
U.S.S.R space race.
• The Ultimate Prize:
Who will be the first to land on the moon?

 Fidel Castro — leads revolt in Cuba against dictator supported by U.S.
 By 1959, Castro in power, nationalizes economy, takes
U.S. property
 The U.S. had a troubled relationship with its southern Communist neighbor

U.S. supported a failed attempt to overthrow Castro known as the Bay of
Pigs invasion (April 1961)
 1962- American reconnaissance planes discover the Soviets installing missiles in
Cuba, 90 miles off the Florida coast

 1962: U.S. demands removal of
Soviet missiles in Cuban Missile
Crisis

Kennedy and his advisors debated how to respond

Decide on a naval blockade of
Cuba and takes concern to UN to explain actions
 For several tense days
U.S. waits to hear from the prime minister of the
USSR, Nikita Khrushchev
 Meanwhile several
Soviet ships steamed towards Cuba and our blockade line

 Khrushchev sent Kennedy a message
 Agreed to remove missiles if U.S. promised not to invade Cuba
 Ships stopped outside of blockade line and crisis was averted
 Is the closest the U.S and Soviets ever came to nuclear war

 Soviets invade Afghanistan, help Communist government against rebels
 Muslim rebels fight guerilla war against Soviets with U.S. weapons
 Osama Bin Laden helps organize defense of Muslim lands
 Taliban emerge
 U.S. stops grain shipments to Soviet Union; Soviets withdraw
(1989)

1955 -1975

After WWII Ho Chi Minh, a
Vietnamese nationalist, turns to communist for help in struggle against
French

Ho chi Minh forms the Vietminh, a communist group

French no longer want colony in
Vietnam after defeat at Dien Bien Phu

Vietnam is divided (17 N Latitude)

Ngo Dinh Diem leads an anti – communist gov. in the south

• U.S. is concerned with Vietnam becoming communist because of domino theory
• Domino theory : fall of Vietnam to communist, would lead to the fall of its neighbors
• U.S. sends military advisors to the south


Ngo Dinh Diem ’ s harsh policies lead to the rise of the Vietcong , a southern communist group

After Gulf of Tonkin , more U.S. troops are sent and join the fight under President Johnson

Under Nixon U.S. withdraws,
Vietnamization

Shortly after US leaves, communist take over Vietnam

Domino theory proves correct in
Cambodia

First war the USA has lost

Losses: 3.3 million Vietnamese – civilians and troops & 58,000 U.S. troops

U.S. bombing –left country in ruins

 John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson

Brinkmanship is the willingness to go the brink or edge of war
 Richard Nixon:
 Détente is the policy of relaxing or lessening Cold War tensions

Richard Nixon & Ronald Reagan:

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ( SALT I) limits number of arms each country could have

 Soviet Premier 1985-1991
 Began changing Soviet society with new policies

Glasnost openness , people in Soviet Union could now openly criticize the government

Perestroika -economic restructuring, tried to revive the Soviet economy

Stressed diplomacy over the use of force

Some didn‘t like his changes and tried to overthrow him in a Coup d ’ etat.

People rally in the streets to stop Coup leaders

Boris Yeltsin , leader of Russian Republic steps forward and calls for end of coup.

Democracy and People Power is taking hold in the USSR

The coup failed, and would eventually cause The Soviet Union to fall

 By end of 80’s, much of the Eastern
Bloc began to crumble. The
Hungarian government took down barbed wire on its border with Austria and West.

The Iron Curtain was starting to unravel. In late 1989, one of the most famous symbols of the Cold War came down: the Berlin Wall .

By the end of year, leaders of every
Eastern European nation except
Bulgaria had been ousted by popular uprisings.

On December 8, 1991, Soviet Union ceased to exist. Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Republic, formed the Commonwealth of
Independent States (C.I.S.). After 45 years, the Cold War was over.

 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coldwar.htm
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/
 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/coldwar/
 http://library.thinkquest.org/10826/timeline.htm
 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/potsdam_conference.htm
 http://www.ushistory.org/us/59e.asp
 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/detente.htm
 http://www.frccusa.org/Russian_American_Library.html
 http://www.nebraskastudies.org/1000/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebrask
astudies.org/1000/stories/1001_0140.html