THE COLD WAR HEATS UP
Unit 11 – Topic 2
Agenda W 4/13 A – Th 4/14 B
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Take a handout of today’s notes, the Marshall Plan
handout, and the Korean War handout.
Get out your warmup from last class. Complete the
other side of the warmup on Containment now.
We’ll be doing notes and clips today, from The
Century: America’s Time, the Best Years
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Play clip from “Best Years” from 1:00 – 3:37.
Answer 1st question on notes page.
Origins of the Cold War (recap)
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The Cold War lasted from the end of World War II
until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990.
Cold War: competition between the United States
and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
for power; both tried to influence Europe & the
world
Review: Why did the US and the USSR go from
being allies to being rivals? (Think-pair-share)
US and the USSR had different ideals and values.
Political
system
United States
Soviet Union
Democratic government
Totalitarian government
Capitalism (Free market)
Economic
system
Why were
they angry
with each
other?
Communist (socialist)
Capitalism: economic system
in which the factors of
production are owned
individually; different social
classes exist
Communism: economic system in
government makes all economic
decisions; no private property
1. US disliked/feared
Communism
2. USSR dropped out of First
World War
3. USSR signed a pact with
Hitler
1. Allies waited to invade Germany
in World War II
2. Took the US 17 years to
recognize the Soviet
government
3. USSR not invited to Peace
Conferences in World War I
4. US did not tell the Soviets about
the atomic bomb
Cold War Beginnings
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Containment:
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Keep communism in the areas where it already exists, do
not allow communism to spread
Truman Doctrine (1947) - support democracies in
Europe to help contain communism
Starts in Turkey and Greece – US provides $400 million in
economic and military aid to Turkey and Greece
 1947-1950: $660 million to European countries!
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Play from 13:15-19:24
More Events of the Cold War
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Marshall Plan (April 1948):
US
gives $$$ to European Countries to
help them recover from WWII and to
keep communism out
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Humanitarian, economic and political goals….
Then later in1948, Stalin ordered a blockade
of West Berlin (inside Soviet-controlled East
Germany) -- all supplies were cut off.
Play from 19:24 – 26:40
Berlin Airlift (1948-1949)
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U.S. and Great Britain flew food and supplies into West Berlin
to break the blockade for 11 months!
Also called “Operation Vittles”
What was the response to tension?
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Development of Competing Alliances
NATO (1949)
North Atlantic Treaty Org.
The Warsaw Pact (1955)
US & Western Europe promise
common defense
USSR & Eastern Europe
promised common defense
If one is attacked, all are
attacked
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Europe is divided in a military standoff –
Cold War
USSR exploded a nuclear
bomb (1949)
US is not the only one with the bomb
 New threat of a nuclear war that would destroy
both countries
 Play 26:40 – 27:50
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How did America react?
How do you think the USSR
built a bomb so quickly?
China became Communist (1949)
Civil war between Mao Zedong (Communist) and Chiang Kai-Shek
(capitalists/nationalists). The capitalist Chinese flee to Taiwan
 Mao’s Communist takeover increases American fears of communist
domination of the world but …
 China and the Soviet Union became rivals, not allies.
 In the 1970's, Pres. Nixon’s diplomatic mission to Beijing took
advantage this division of the major communist powers
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The Korean War
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North Korea (Communist) invaded
South Korea (Capitalist) (1950)
Why did the US get involved? – to
contain communism
 American troops (in a United Nations
force) counterattacked deep into North
Korea
 Chinese troops entered on the side of
North Korea
 Could have become World War III
 Eventually ended with a stalemate and
a divided N/S Korea
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Play from 27:57 – 31:50
Classwork (HW if you don’t finish)
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If you still have time in class, complete the Korean
War reading and answer the questions on the back.
This will help you understand this “forgotten” war.
Also read the Marshall Plan worksheet: read and
answer the questions on the back.
If you don’t finish these in class, they are both
homework.