Cold War
• Cold War - an atmosphere of suspicion, distrust, rivalry and
hostility between the Soviet Union and United States.
• Not an actual war, but a collection of conflicts / flashpoints
that brought the world to the brink of total war.
Cold War
Steps leading to the Cold War:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Russian Revolution (1917) – communist overthrow
Political Isolation of Russia (20s and 30s) - fear of
communism
Russian Industrial Revolution during the (30s) – thriving
while world depressed
Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945) – Stalin wanted pro-Soviet
gov’ts in Eastern Europe. West opposed to Soviet influence
Potsdam Conference (July 1945) – division of Germany and
Soviet control of Poland was seen as temporary by West
and permanent by USSR
Atomic Bomb (1945) – Soviets felt betrayed as US never
told them about bomb
Soviet Spy Network Publicized (1945) - Gouzenko
Cold War
Soviet & Eastern
Bloc Nations
[“Iron Curtain”]
US & the Western
Democracies
GOAL  “Containment”
of Communism & the
GOAL  spread world-wide
eventual collapse of the
Communism
METHODOLOGIES: Communist world.
[George Kennan]
1. Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]
2. Arms Race [nuclear escalation]
3. Ideological Competition for the minds and hearts of Third World peoples
[Communist govt. & command economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist
economy]  “proxy wars”
4. Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]
Cold War
• Iron Curtain –
boundary between two
sides. It blocked free
movement of info,
products, and people
Cold War
• Truman Doctrine (1947) – $400 million in
economic aid to Greece and Turkey. Hoped
this would stop spread of communism
• Marshall Plan (1947)– massive aid package
that offered food and economic assistance
to European countries. Used to strengthen
democracies
• Keenan’s Policy of Containment – policy to
stop the spread of communism following
WWII
Cold War
• Berlin Airlift – In 1948, Soviet Union
broke agreement with former allies (and
their rights to occupy their share of West
Berlin) and formed a blockade (lasts 11
months)
• Allies flew in food and supplies
• Increased tensions between the powers
Cold War
Vs.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(1949)
Warsaw Pact
(1955)
Cold War
 United States  Luxemburg
}
U. S. S. R.
}
East Germany
 Belgium
 Netherlands
}
Albania
}
Hungary
 Britain
 Norway
}
Bulgaria
}
Poland
 Canada
 Portugal
}
Czechoslovakia }
 Denmark
 1952: Greece &
Turkey
 France
 Iceland
 Italy
 1955: West Germany
 1983: Spain
Rumania
Cold War
Arms Race – building military superiority
• Soviet Union detonates atomic bomb in 1949
• U.S. develops hydrogen bomb in 1952
• Soviet Union develops hydrogen bomb in 1955
• Soviet Union develops Tsar Bomba (50 megatons
– largest ever created) in 1961
Cold War
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Cold War