The Cold War
Notes – Chapters 36-38
Former Allies Clash
Yalta Conference – Feb 1945
FDR, Churchill, Stalin
Occupation zones in Germany
Free Poland
UN
Soviets enter war against Japan in exchange for
land
Post-war World
Former Allies Clash
US and USSR emerged as rival
superpowers
Bitter rivalry
USSR – communist country
State controlled all property
Totalitarian government – no opposing
parties
US – capitalist country
Private citizens control property
Democratic – vote with free political parties
Former Allies Clash
Stalin had only joined the Allies after Hitler
invaded the USSR
US suspicious
Stalin resented Allied delay in creating the
second front in WW2
US ended lend-lease to USSR
US had kept atomic bomb a secret
USSR wanted sphere of influence
for protection
United Nations
Hopes for world peace
50 Nations met to establish UN in April 1945
US and USSR used UN as a forum to spread
their influence
Potsdam Conference
US, UK, and USSR
US – Truman
UK – Clement Attlee
USSR – Stalin
Potsdam Conference
At Yalta, Stalin agreed to free elections in
Poland
Truman wanted self-determination
US would benefit economically
• Access to raw materials
• Markets to sell goods
Stalin did not keep his promise
Wanted land to prevent invasions from west
Containment
Stalin installed communist governments in
countries of Eastern Europe
Satellite nations – countries dominated by the USSR
War was inevitable?
US moves to contain the Soviet threat
George Kennan proposed policy of containment
Prevent the extension of communism to other
countries
The Iron Curtain
Europe was divided
Communist Eastern Europe v. Democratic
Western Europe
Churchill coins the phrase iron curtain
Metaphor for the division of Europe
Cold War
US v. USSR –neither nation confronted the
other on the battlefield
Dominated global affairs from 1945-1991
Truman Doctrine
The US will “support free peoples who are
resisting attempted subjugation by armed
minorities or by outside pressures”
US spends $400 million in aid to Greece and
Turkey
• Prevent communist take over
National Security Act – 1947
Set up Dept of Defense, CIA (keep draft)
National Defense Budget [1940-1964]
Marshall Plan
Sec. of State George Marshall
US provides aid to all European nations that
needed it
Revived European hopes
16 countries received $13 billion in aid
Communist party lost its appeal to voters in
Western Europe
Germany?
Issue of German reunification
Germany was divided into four zones after
WW2
US, UK, and France combined their zones in 1948
USSR held East Germany
City of Berlin was split into the two zones
Western Berlin was occupied by Allies, but
surrounded by Soviet territory
Stalin closed off routes into West Berlin
Berlin Airlift
No fuel or food could reach
W. Berlin
US and UK flew food and
supplies to Berlin
W. Berlin survived
USSR lifted blockade and
US prestige
was raised
NATO
12 nations signed the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization
Pledged military support
First time US entered a military
alliance during peacetime
NO isolationism for US!
Soviets respond with
Warsaw Pact
Nuclear Arms Race
Began during Truman’s Presidency
Soviets exploded atomic bomb in 1949
US entered into race for Hydrogen Bomb
Even more destructive – immoral?
US explodes H-Bomb in 1952
Soviets exploded H-Bomb 1953
Brinkmanship
John Foster Dulles – Ike’s Secretary of State
ANTI-COMMUNIST
A moral crusade against communism
Brinkmanship – willingness to go to the edge
of all-out war
US trimmed army and navy to focus on its air force
Built up nuclear weapons
Chinese Civil War – 1946-1950
Chiang Kai-Shek (nationalist) v. Mao Zedong
(communist)
US supports nationalists with aid, but no
troops
Nationalists lose and flee to Taiwan
Mainland China becomes communist
Democrats accused of being soft on
communism
Korean War
[1950-1953]
Korean War
North Korea attacked the South
USSR absent from UN
UN votes to restore peace
US aids South – MacArthur’s troops
China intervenes for North
MacArthur presses for retaliation/invasion of
China/use of nuclear weapons
Publicly complains
FIRED!
Korean War
[1950-1953]
Kim Il-Sung
Syngman Rhee
“Domino Theory”
The Shifting Map of Korea
[1950-1953]
Cold War Spreads
CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)
Collected information – spies
Covert operations
Iran
Prime Minister Mossadegh nationalized oil fields
CIA helped the Shah of Iran return to power
Turned oil fields back over to Western companies
Guatemala
CIA took covert action to change the govt.
Cold War Spreads
Geneva Summit
“open skies proposal” – allow flights
Soviets reject it, but it’s a step towards peace
Suez War
Nasser looking for aid for dam on Nile
• Asked US/Britain, then USSR
• US withdraws offer
Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal
Israel, Britain, and France sent troops
UN defused situation
Eisenhower Doctrine
Eisenhower’s Warning
US would defend the Middle East against
communist attack
Hungarian Uprising
Soviets had dominated Hungary
Hungarians revolted in 1956 –
Democracy!
Soviets brutally responded and put down
rebellion
US did nothing – Hungary was a satellite
Space Race
Khruschev took power after Stalin
Peaceful coexistence
Competition!
Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957
World’s first artificial satellite
US frantically tries to catch up
Pours in money – research and education
Creation of NASA
U-2 Incident
CIA made secret flights over USSR (U-2)
Eisenhower and Krushchev holding another
summit
Dulles – make one last flight!
Soviets shoot down the plane
Flown by Francis Gary Powers
Renewed Confrontation
Eisenhower at first denies then admits incident
Krushchev demands apology
Eisenhower says NO! -- TENSION
Kennedy and the Cold War
Foreign Policy focused on Cold War
Communists gaining loyalty in third world
Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress
Redefine the nation’s nuclear strategy
Flexible Response:
Create a range of options by strengthening
the conventional military
Created the Green Berets
Elite branch of the Army
Cold War Continues
Fidel Castro leads communist revolution in
Cuba – 1959
Nationalizes US/UK properties
US cuts off Cuban trade
April 17, 1961 – Bay of Pigs
CIA trained Cuban exiles attempted to invade
Cuba and overthrow Castro
Failed – JFK takes responsibility (even though
the plan was put in place by Ike)
Pushed Cuba further into alliance with USSR
Cold War Continues
Cuban Missile Crisis
Oct 1962, US spy planes review nuclear
missiles in Cuba
JFK rejects air strike, instead issues a naval
quarantine of Cuba
Khrushchev agrees to pull missiles out of
Cuba and US agrees to remove missiles from
Turkey
Berlin Wall Crisis
After the airlift, many East Germans fled to
West Berlin
Khrushchev wanted to close access
JFK says NO! – we are determined to not let
the communists drive us from Berlin
Khruschev erected the Berlin Wall
Separated East and West Berlin
Prevented refugees from crossing