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Conflicting Superpowers
WHAP/Napp
“In 1946, in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, Great Britain’s wartime leader Winston
Churchill said: ‘From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has
descended across the Continent…’ The phrase ‘iron curtain’ became a watchword of the
Cold War, the state of political tension and military rivalry that was then beginning
between the United States and its allies (‘running dogs of imperialism,’ in Chinese
communist parlance) and the Soviet Union and its allies (‘satellites,’ in American parlance).
The wartime alliance between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union had
been uneasy. For more than a century political and economic leaders committed to free
markets and untrammeled capital investment had loathed socialism in its several forms.
After World War II the iron curtain in Europe and communist insurgencies in China and
elsewhere seemed to confirm the threat of worldwide revolution. Western leaders quickly
came to perceive the Soviet Union as the nerve center of world revolution and as a military
power capable of launching a war as destructive and terrible as the one that had recently
ended. But particularly after the United States and the countries of western Europe
established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance in 1949,
Soviet leaders felt surrounded by hostile forces just when they were trying to recover from
the terrible losses sustained in the war against the Axis. The distrust and suspicion between
the two sides played out on a worldwide stage.
In July 1947 the Truman Doctrine offered U.S. military aid to help both Turkey and
Greece resist Soviet military pressure and subversion, and in 1951 both were admitted to
NATO. NATO’s Soviet counterpart, the Warsaw Pact, emerged in 1955 in response to the
Western powers’ decision to allow West Germany to rearm within limits set by NATO.
The Soviet Union tested Western resolve in 1948-1949 by blockading the British, French,
and American zones in Berlin (located in Soviet-controlled East Germany). Airlifts of food
and fuel defeated the blockade. In 1961 the East German government accentuated
Germany’s political division by building the Berlin Wall, a structure designed primarily to
prevent its citizens from fleeing to the noncommunist western part of the city.
A more explosive crisis erupted in Korea, where the Second World War had left Soviet
troops in control north of the thirty-eighth parallel and American troops in control to the
south. When no agreement could be reached on holding countrywide elections, communist
North Korea and noncommunist South Korea became independent states in 1948. Two
years later North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations Security Council, in the
absence of the Soviet delegation, voted to condemn the invasion and called on members of
the United Nations to come to the defense of South Korea. The ensuing Korean War lasted
until 1953. The United States was the primary ally of South Korea. The People’s Republic
of China supported North Korea.” ~ The Earth and Its Peoples
1. Ideologically, the two competing sides in
2. The Berlin blockade clearly demonstrated
the cold war were
(A) That Western allies were afraid of war.
(A) Socialism and Communism.
(B) That the Soviet Union was afraid of war.
(B) Communism and Fascism.
(C) Britain and the United States would not
(C) Capitalism and Communism.
be intimidated into abandoning Berlin.
(D) Fascism and Capitalism.
(D) Berlin could survive without support.
Key Words/ I. An Introduction to the Cold War
Questions
A. 1949 was a key year in the globalization of the Cold War
B. In Europe, NATO was established
C. Soviets tested their first atomic bomb
D. Communists established the People’s Republic of China
E. After WWII, Korea divided: communist north/noncommunist south
F. 1950, communist North Korea under Kim Il Sung invaded South Korea
G. U.S.A. policy of containment would not allow it to stand by
H. 1953, cease-fire and split of Korea at original line of demarcation
I. Stalin died (1953); succeeded by Khrushchev (1953-1964), Brezhnev
J. Over time, a strategic arrangement: mutually assured destruction (MAD)
K. Soviets and Chinese tried to spread communism
L. United States tried to contain communism and prevent its spread
M. U.S./Domino Theory: if one country fell to communism, others follow
II. The Changing Nature of Global Politics
A. In 1956, Egypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal
B. French and British – owned controlling shares in Canal –humiliated by
Soviet-American agreement to allow nationalization to proceed
C. 1957, “space race”: USSR launched first human-made object, Sputnik
D. In 1959, Fidel Castro, “Che” Guevara – Communist revolution in Cuba
III. Crises and Cuba
A. Bay of Pigs (1961) was a failure in foreign policy for U.S.A.
B. U.S. had aided Cuban exiles in an attempt to invade the island but failed
C. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): success for American foreign policy –
Soviet missiles on Cuba – Kennedy demanded removal
IV. More Cold War Conflicts and Facts
A. American spy plane, pilot was Francis Gary Powers, shot down over
U.S.S.R. (1960)
B. In April 1961, USSR sent a human pilot, Yuri Gagarin, into space
C. In August 1961, USSR sealed East Berlin from West Berlin by building,
literally overnight, infamous Berlin Wall
D. During “Prague Spring” of 1968, Czechoslovakia embarked on a
campaign of liberalizing reforms, Brezhnev sent in an invasion force
E. Brezhnev Doctrine: USSR had right to intervene in Eastern Europe
F. Truman Doctrine (1947): material aid to all countries whose political
stability was threatened by communism; to help Greece and Turkey
G. In 1947, U.S. unveiled European Recovery Plan or the Marshall Plan
H. $13 billion to Europe for purposes of economic reconstruction
I. North Atlantic treaty Organization or NATO bound U.S., Canada,
Britain, and nine other Western European states into a formal alliance
J. Soviets developed their own military bloc, the Warsaw Pact
K. All of Vietnam fell to communists in 1975
L. From 1969 through 1979, Cold War entered a more peaceful period
known as détente, a term referring to the relaxation of tensions
M. But greatest surprise was the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991
Reflections:
1. What diplomatic alignment did the
Cold War replace?
(A) Europe’s traditional balance of
power
(B) The unipolar domination of
global power by Germany
(C) Asiatic hegemony
(D) Global anarchy
(E) A similar condition of bipolar
equilibrium
2. What was the Truman Doctrine?
(A) Truman’s commitment to lend
aid to countries threatened by
communist takeover
(B) Truman’s promise that the
United States would go to war to
protect any nation from
communist takeover
(C) Truman’s oath to protect Poland
from absorption into the Soviet
bloc
(D) Truman’s declaration of war on
North Korea
(E) Truman’s public refusal ever to
use atomic weapons after
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
3. Détente means:
(A) A heightening of tensions
(B) A relaxation of tensions
(C) Containment
(D) Counterespionage
(E) Exposing the enemy
4. Which of the following is true about
armed conflict during the Cold War?
(A) The United States and Soviet
Union declared war on each other
several times.
(B) There were almost no armed
conflicts during the Cold War.
(C) There were no armed conflicts
during the Cold War.
(D) Approximately 50 million people
died in various small-to-medium
conflicts.
(E) Several tactical nuclear
exchanges took place during the
Cold War.
5. The Brezhnev Doctrine was
(A) The USSR’s official protest
against U.S. conduct in Vietnam
(B) The USSR’s denunciation of
Maoist China, as the Sino-Soviet
split worsened
(C) The USSR’s condemnation of
NATO’s nuclear-arms buildup
(D) The USSR’s formal outlawing of
all dissident activity within its
borders
(E) The USSR’s ideological
justification of its military
intervention in Czechoslovakia
6. Which of the following helped to
make 1949 such an important
turning point in the Cold War?
(A) Fidel Castro led the Communists
to victory in Cuba.
(B) The Korean War began.
(C) The USSR tested its first atomic
weapon
Thesis Practice: Comparative
Analyze similarities and differences in U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. points of view during the Cold
War.
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War’s End and the Emergence of the Superpower Standoff
“The end of World War II led to a decades-long confrontation between the U.S. and the
U.S.S.R. and their allies. Both were members of the United Nations, formed during the war
as the official name of the anti-Axis Allies. After World War II, the UN did much to aid
refugees and to promote health care worldwide.”
From Hot War to Cold War
“The Cold War, lasting from the late 1940s to the late 1980s, rose from disagreements
between the U.S.S.R. and its World War II allies over postwar territorial settlements.
Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S. zones and Germany’s holdings were similarly
divvied up in Europe. The stage was set for two of the great movements of the latter half of
the 20th century: first, decolonization and second, the Cold War.” ~ World Civilizations
True or False: Write “T” if the statement is true and “F” if the statement is false.
1- NATO was a Cold War alliance between the Soviet Union and the satellites of
Eastern Europe.
2- The Warsaw Pact was an alliance between the United States and its allies during the
Cold War.
3- The Berlin Wall was constructed to prevent East Berliners from fleeing to West
Berlin.
4- The Cold War was a rivalry between the capitalist United States and the communist
Soviet Union.
5- The Cuban Missile Crisis was a success for President Kennedy as Khrushchev
removed Soviet missiles from Cuba.
6- The Bay of Pigs was a foreign policy failure for the United States as the Cuban exiles
failed to invade the island and topple Castro’s regime.
7- The policy of containment was designed to stop the spread of communism.
8- Détente means a relaxation of tensions during the Cold War.
9- The Korean peninsula is still divided today.
10- The Soviet Union still exists today.
Critical Thinking Questions:
How did the Cold War differ from other wars in world history?
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Was the Cold War inevitable? Explain your answer.
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