Lesson 2 -
International Events of the Cold War
Outcomes
 Students will gather basic information through a map and notes
presentation of major Cold War crises throughout this era
Activities
1.
Using ledger sized map, highlight events of the Korean War, Suez
Crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War. Students are to fill in the
templates on their hand-outs, including brief details of each event AND
Canada’s role in them, along with completing their Cold War map of
the world.
Materials
1.
2.
UN and the Cold War Crises student hand-out
Teacher key to hand-out
Division of Germany
Where:
Germany, Europe
 West Germany is formed after UK, France and the US agree to join their
occupation zones together
 East Germany (German Democratic Republic) was formed by Stalin (U.S.S.R.)
What: Blockade of Berlin
 The city of Berlin was also divided, but lay within the borders of East Germany
 West could only get in through certain highways, railways and corridors
 Western powers decided to introduce a new currency into W. Germany. Soviets
refused to accept it in Berlin
 Soviets blockaded the corridors, so no supplies could get into W. Berlin
 Allies countered with a massive airlift that supplied Berlin for 15 months!
 Soviets realized blockade wasn’t working.
Results:
1.
Two separate gov’ts for Berlin
2.
western Allies created NATO
What: Berlin Wall, 1961
 this barrier was built by the Soviets, intended to stop the massive migration of
East Berliners to the West (for jobs, defections, etc)
 it became one of the biggest symbols of the Cold War, and didn’t come down
until 1989
 defectors trying to get “over the wall” would often be shot
Where:
The Korean War (1950-53)
North and South Korea
What:
 Korea was divided after
Japan’s defeat in WWII
 North became communist
 South became democratic
 In 1950, the North invaded the South
Kim II-Sung (leader in the North)
Syngman Rhee (leader in South)
 The UN sent in a force of troops representing 32 countries, including Canada
 Over 26 500 Canadians served, 1 000 wounded and 400 were killed
 Even when armistice was signed in 1953, the two sides remained divided
What it meant for Canada:
 Loss of troops
 Showed our support of the UN and our willingness to fight to support those goals
The Suez Crisis, 1956
Where:
Suez Canal, dividing Egypt from Saudi Arabia
What: The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, was strategically important as a trade route
to India, but eventually more important as a link to the valuable oil countries of the
Middle East.
 Egyptian president Gamel Abdel Nasser seized this trade route from Britain
and France
 Israel saw this as a direct threat from Egypt
 Britain and France joined with Israel to attack Egypt
 Soviet Union sided with Nasser
What it meant for Canada:
 Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent refused to side with Britain and France
 Canada’s Minister of External Affairs, Lester B. Pearson, went to the UN and
suggested the creation of an emergency body
 The United Nations Emergency Force went to the Suez to keep the combatants
apart while a settlement to the crisis was worked out
Egypt’s Nasser with U.S.S.R.’s
Kruschev
 Pearson won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in 1957
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Where: island of Cuba, Caribbean Sea
What: Cuba’s leadership changes when Castro’s rebels overthrow the government. The
US backs an anti-Castro invasion which fails (“Bay of Pigs”), but encourages Cuba to
turn to the USSR for support
 both the US and USSR were stockpiling their nuclear weapons
 US spotted Soviet missiles in Cuba through aerial surveillance
 This now gave the US only a few minutes of advance warning from a Soviet
attack
 US set up a naval blockade around Cuba, defying Soviet ships to continue
bringing their missiles into Cuba
 Soviets continued on their path, protected by submarines
 Everyone was sure this would lead to nuclear war
From left to right: Cuba’s Fidel Castro, US’s J.F. Kennedy and U.S.S.R.’s Nikita
Kruschev
 At the last minute, Kruschev agrees to dismantle missile bases in exchange for a
US promise not to invade Cuba
What it meant for Canada:
 US expected Canada to support its stance against USSR and Cuba
 PM Diefenbaker did not “jump on board”
 US planes armed with nuclear weapons were not allowed to land at Canadian
bases
 The prime minister’s stance harmed the relationship we had with the U.S.
Prime Minister Diefenbaker
 Debate over the “nuclear issue” in Canada was a result
 John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963
The Vietnam War, 1954-1975
Where: North and South Vietnam
What: The Indochina War between France and the Communist Vietminh ended with the
defeat of the French in 1954.
 The country was divided between Communist North and the anti-communist
(partly democratic) South
North Vietnam leader – Ho Chi Minh
South Vietnam leader Ngo Dinh Diem
 The US supported the South, USSR supported the North
 The US believed that if the North won, the “domino theory” would result, nearby
nations would fall to communism
 Lyndon B Johnson increased the number of US troops in Vietnam from 15 000
(1963) to 543 000 (1969)
“Hey, hey LBJ… how many kids did you kill today?”
 This was the first televised war, and protest in America grew as they witnessed
the failures in Vietnam
The Tet Offensive
 US soldiers had massacred women and children in the village of My Lai
 The Viet Cong launched a massive offensive, attacking cities throughout South
Vietnam
 US presidency changes hands, as Nixon promised to remove troops out of
Vietnam
 The US completely withdrew by 1973
 Vietnam was taken over by the communists of the North
President Richard Nixon
What it meant for Canada:
 Some Americans did anything they could to avoid the “draft”… so they fled to
Canada. (“Draft Dodgers”
 Many anti-communists fled Vietnam and arrived as refugees in Canada
 Some Canadians profited from sales of goods for the war
 “Better dead than RED” was a popular saying a the time, but not widely agreed
upon
 During the war, PM Pearson publicly criticized the war and was publicly scolded
by then president Johnson