1. What was the Cold War?
Why the name cold war?
 distinguish from a hot war
--------Hot war: direct military conflicts; head-on combats
e.g. trench warfare
--------cold war like couple fight
X talking + communication
Hostility and suspension ./. two parties
------different: literally kill each other
put in context: SU + US
1946-1991
------fighting for *supremacy*
-----originally used to describe international conflicts that don’t involve fighting
later extended its meaning to include local military as well
2. New World Order after WWII
- One of the major impacts of WWII: economy loss and casualties
--------Britain, France, the Soviet Union suffered terrible losses during WWII.
 A lot of reconstruction and economic recovery needed
-------- decline of formerly dominant European powers
------Rise of the US and Soviet Union
------US: tired on war; X wanna take on the burden on world leadership
-----Soviet Union: poor but kept huge armies in uniform;
-----Before & during WWII: Germany as common enemy
After WWII: brewing hostility
3. Formation of the Communist bloc
Lenin: a dictator
------------October Revolution 1917
Pulled out from wwi
------------Made the country communist
Civil war + famine  poor
------------Stalin:
--------one of The Big Three who represented the Soviet Union in Yelta and Potsdam conference
Reign with terror; X opposition  put in Soviet camp
------------SU distrusted democracies and wanted to be sure it had loyal friends, its own allies.
------------Eastern Europe countries, much weaker, forced to join
------------US not okay; I need my own allies and bloc
4. An ideological tug of war
ideology: way of thinking, governing, beliefs
--------------INCOMPATIBLE (like Apple and Andriod)
----------------confrontation ./. communist bloc and capitalist bloc
---------------Communism vs Capitalism
* sharing is caring
you own what you earn
--------------i). practice of one-party communist rule
practice of multi-party politics
--------------ii). Relatively less freedom
relatively more freedom of speech, assembly, religion etc.
--------------iii). Collective ownership; equal distribution of wealth
private ownership; distribution based on contribution
--------------iv). One class (proletariat)
different social classes
5. Characteristic of the Cold War
antagonistic ideologies
----------Cold war: X contact
-----------Propaganda:
Justify what one’s doing + demonizing what another side’s doing/dehumanising
----------Armaments race
----------Space race
----------Spying
- James Bond movies: villains always Russians
---------Winston Churchill, Iron curtain speech 1946; marked the beginning of the Cold War
the separation of Europe into a communist East and a non-communist West
6. From the Iron Curtain to the Berlin Wall
Berlin, capital of Germany
post WWII berlin: four zones (Britain, France, US, SU)
Berlin as the epicenter of the clashes of ideologies
--------------Western allies began to merge their zones and planned to introduce the same Germany
currency in West Berlin
--------------The SU was deeply suspicious of a fresh and strong Germany
June 1948: Berlin blockade blocked all major roads to western zones of berlin
--------------Berlin airlift: sent supplies by air;
May 1949: SU reopened all traffic
--------------Berlin blockade and Berlin airlift catalyzed the forming of west germany
Formation of East and West Germany:
 West Germany, aka The Federal Republic of Germany (May 1949)
-------------- East Germany, aka The German Democratic Republic (Oct 1949)
--------------Difference in style and standard of living as time went by
Disparity: East, rustic, basic;
--------------west, prosperous, shimmering, city vibe
--------------East berliners visited, later moved to West berlin
Loss of workers, resources, talents, capital
--------------1961: Building a berlin wall to stop this
X communication ./. east and west; separation of families
iron curtain (symbolic)  building of Berlin wall (1961)
7. Spreading Influences
i). Economic front:
- Truman doctrine (March 1947): help any country felt threatened by communism
-------------- Marshall Plan (1948): provide financial help to European countries
Marshall (US Secretary)  European Recovery Program
European economy was on the verge; countries devise a plan, I give you $
 enhance cooperation and ties within the capitalist bloc
------------Molotov Plan (1949): provide financial aid to its allies
 oppose Marshall plan; prevent the US from expanding into Eastern Europe
------------ii). military front:
Shortly after the beginning of the Berlin Blockade, the western countries discussed the idea of a
collective defence agreement
Aug 1949: official establishment of NATO
June 1955: formation of the Warsaw Pact
--------------Two opposing military camps formed  intense and intensified hostility and suspicion
8. a GLOBAL tug of war
characteristics of the Cold War X cold  regional hot wars
Local military conflicts (not on my soil!)
----------------- nationalist vs communist; China became PRC in Oct 1949
 marked the extension of the communist blog from Eastern Europe to Asia.
------------------ 1950-1953: Korea war : Communist up north; non-communist in the south
China backed north; UN + America backed south
neither side was able to win 1953 ended the war
--------------------- 1956: Suez Canal Crisis
Britain and France controlled the hen that lays golden eggs  Egypt not happy  pro-Soviet
Britain and France sent troops to the zone when Egypt nationalize the canal
--------------------- Vietnam War (1961-1975): Communist up north; capitalist in the south
supported by China and SU; backed by the US (costed a lot of money; national mobilisation)
lasted for 14 years, US defeated
--------------------Domino effect: if South Korea became communist, surrounding countries like Cambodia, the
Laos, Thailand, India would follow
 Cold War had given birth to regional hot wars
9. MAD
More than 200,000 people died in Japan after the U.S. dropped the world’s first atomic bomb
on Hiroshima and then another one three days later in Nagasaki during World War II in 1945
The bombings in the two cities so devastating that they forced Japan to surrender –
unconditionally
----------------
A-bomb (~ Thanos having all the infinity stones and can destroy the world with just a finger
snap/a click in Avengers)
- the SU sent spies to the US and worked on devising their own a-bomb
- Aug 1949: SU successfully tested their first nuclear device
- From Atomic bomb (A-bomb) to Hydrogen Bomb (H-bomb)
- hydrogen bomb has the potential to be 1,000 times more powerful than an atomic bomb
----------------Cuban Missile crisis: a turning point in the Cold War
1961: the US unsuccessfully tried to overthrow Cuba’s new communist govt;
Cuba felt threatened and sought help from the SU;
the SU then secretly deployed nuclear missiles to Cuba
as the US placed missiles in Turkey and Italy (close to SU)
the US intelligence later found out but the missiles were ready
1962: JFK ordered a naval blockade to stop Cuba from further shipping weapons from SU;
the SU saw this as an aggression, an act of war;
the US demanded the removal of missiles
hundreds of nuclear missiles were ready to launch from both sides
---------------Diplomacy reached and consensus made:
- US remove their missiles from Turkey and Italy + never invade Cuba
- SU remove their missiles from Cuba
X change ideological confrontation and hostility (As manifested in Vietnam War 2 years later)
the tense relations between the 2 blocs began to relax; more communication & diplomacy
--------------- 1963: more communications; direct tele line set up ./. SU and US in 1963
- 1969-1979: 2 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks were held; both agreed to reduce their missile
systems and nuclear weapons
- 1973-1975: European countries held a conference to improve communication and avoid
misunderstanding
------------------ 1971-1972: Ping Pong diplomacy (a turning point in Sino-American relations)
1971: The Chinese table tennis team invited the American team to visit China;
the US team came and warmly received by Premier Zhou Enlai
-------------1972: President Nixon of the United States visited the PRC
- 1st US president to visit PRC
10. Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Stalin: a dictator; people suffered under his rule; needed to respect him like God
-------------1953: Stalin died; imprisoned all his best doctors  too terrified to tretat him
New leader: Nikita Khrushchev:
-------------1956: De-stalinisation: statues of Stalin taken down
wanted Soviet people to be happier; allowing greater freedom in SU
Diplomatically X softening
But proposed MILD political reforms within the SU
Highly suspicious of the invasion of western cultures
X McDonalds, jazz music etc.
-------------1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the SU
a real game-changer
------------Philosophy differed from many of the previous Soviet leader
Believed that the system and economy of the SU was problematic as it didn’t allow the Soviet
people to find satisfaction at work;
Ppl x allow to speak and live freely
political movement for more openness and transparency + restructuring of the Soviey
political and economic system
 enjoy western pop culture, media can criticize government
 arms race needed to end in order to rescue the economy
 softened tone towards the US and less repression towards Eastern bloc countries
-------------East Germany
(9 Nov 1989) Tearing down of the Berlin Wall
end of family separation and travel band
-------------1990 reunion of Germany a year later
-------------1991 formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
------------* The Cold War originated from the hostility ./. the capitalist and communist blocs, and ended
with the complete collapse of the communist bloc.
- End of the Cold War, End of the ideological, global tug of war with the dissolution of the SU
Final reminder
Communism isn’t necessary evil, capitalism not all good
Capitalism has created and amplified problems like the disparity between the rich and the poor;
inter-generation poverty etc.
Problematic: execution of communism
HK capitalist
JFK: Democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall to keep our people in.