Download The Cold War WHAP/Napp Do Now: “The Cold War was one of the

The Cold War
WHAP/Napp
Do Now:
“The Cold War was one of the great postwar reconfigurations. The collapse of
colonialism and the emergence of more than eighty new nations from colonial control to
independence was another. This process of decolonization was in large part a legacy of the
world wars and the global depression. The anti-colonial nationalists gained important new
allies as the United States and the Soviet Union both added their voices. The Soviet Union
had from its inception under Lenin declared its opposition to overseas colonialism,
although its post-World War II holdings in central and eastern Europe and central Asia
looked like its own form of colonialism close to home. The United States, too, especially
under Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Truman, spoke out for an end of colonialism. These
anti-colonialism stands had some effect. Churchill, for example, moderated his procolonial positions, especially in regard to India, in deference to his wartime colleagues.
In Southeast Asia, the Japanese had driven out the European colonial powers during
World War II. At the end of the war, the Europeans tried to return but they faced
nationalist opponents who wanted no more of colonialism. After World War II, the French
attempted to reestablish colonial rule in Vietnam but met armed opposition and guerrilla
warfare led by Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the communist Vietminh or Independence
League. The Vietminh had established themselves in 1939 to fight against French
colonialism. Then they had fought against the Japanese occupation. Now they were once
again fighting the French. After the French lost the decisive battle of Dienbienphu in May
1954, they signed an armistice agreement with the Vietminh that partitioned the country at
the 17th parallel. The Vietminh governed the north. In the south, the French transferred
full sovereignty to a new anti-communist government and withdrew their troops. Civil war
engulfed the south. The north, under a communist government, called repeatedly for the
reunification of the country and supported communist insurgents, the Vietcong, against the
government of the south. America, tragically misreading an essentially nationalist civil war
as a Cold War battle, and unskilled in fighting guerilla warfare; committed increasing
number of its own troops to supporting the government of the south in an ultimately
doomed cause. It finally signed a peace agreement in 1973 and evacuated its last troops in
ignominious defeat in 1975.
The Vietnam War intruded deeply and divisively into US domestic life. President
Johnson buffeted by the anti-Vietnam War movement declined to run for a second term.
The war ended only under President Richard Nixon in 1973. Nixon’s opening to
communist China marked a turning point in US relations with communist countries as he
visited China in 1972, recognized it diplomatically, and finally allowed it to take China’s
Seat on the UN Security Council, replacing the government of Taiwan on that body.”
~ The World’s History
1- What were the two most significant developments of the post-World War II era?
________________________________________________________________________
2- Describe how decolonization and the Cold War affected Vietnam.
________________________________________________________________________
3- What were the causes and effects of the Vietnam War?
________________________________________________________________________
I.
A.
B.
C.
D.
The Cold War and Client States or Allies of the U.S.A. or the U.S.S.R.
In Afghanistan, a Marxist party had taken power in 1978
Land reforms and efforts to liberate women alienated conservative Muslims
Soviets intervened but were soon bogged down in a war they could not win
(1979-1989): Afghan guerrillas (received U.S.A. aid) led to a Soviet withdrawal
in 1989 and the rise of an Islamic Fundamentalist regime
E. Also conflict in Cuba: Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis
F. Yet some countries, such as India, took a posture of nonalignment (not allied)
G. When the Americans refused to assist Egypt in building Aswan Dam in mid1950s, developed close relationship with Soviets but in 1972, Soviets expelled
H. United States spearheaded Western effort to contain communism
II. Cold War Surprises – Divisions in the Communist World
A. Joseph Stalin died in 1953 and successor, Nikita Khrushchev, stunned country
when delivered a speech in 1956 presenting Stalin’s crimes
B. In Eastern Europe, Yugoslav leaders early on rejected Soviet domination
C. Fearing spread of reform movements, Soviet forces invaded supposed allies in
Hungary (1956-1957) and Czechoslovakia (1968) to crush democracy groups
D. In the early 1980s, Poland was seriously threatened with a similar action
E. USSR and China found themselves opposed: rivalry for communist leadership
F. Chinese criticized Khrushchev for backing down in Cuban missile crisis, and to
Soviets Mao was insanely indifferent to consequences of nuclear war
G. Enmity benefited U.S.: 1970s – “triangular diplomacy” like signing arms control
agreements with USSR and opening relationship with China
H. Nationalism proved more powerful than communist solidarity
III. “Miracle Year” – 1989 – And Profound Changes
A. Popular movements in Eastern Europe toppled despised governments
B. But climatic act occurred in 1991 in the Soviet Union
C. Mikhail Gorbachev had come to power in 1985 intending to revive and save
Soviet socialism from its accumulated dysfunction
D. Glasnost or “openness” – perestroika (“economic restructuring”) – free market
E. But exacerbated country’s many difficulties and led to its political disintegration
on Christmas Day of 1991
IV. Failures of Communism
A. Economically: forced to stand in long lines for goods of poor quality
B. Morally: horrors of Stalin’s Terror and the gulag, Mao’s Cultural Revolution,
and of genocide in communist Cambodia
V. Reforms
A. In China, after Mao’s death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping emerged as leader
B. Deng’s economic reforms: dismantled collective farms and a return to smallscale private agriculture occurred leading to stunning economic growth
C. But when a democracy movement surfaced in late 1980s, Deng ordered brutal
crushing of its demonstration in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square
D. Gorbachev’s perestroika (“restructuring), paralleled aspects of the Chinese
approach by freeing state enterprises from the heavy hand of government
E. Gorbachev’s Glasnost (“openness”) was a policy of free speech
F. Gorbachev also abandoned Brezhnev Doctrine
1- What was a Client State during the Cold War?
________________________________________________________________________
2- When did a Marxist regime come to power in Afghanistan?
________________________________________________________________________
3- Why was it surprising that a Marxist regime came to power in Afghanistan?
________________________________________________________________________
4- What nation supported Afghanistan’s Marxist regime?
________________________________________________________________________
5- Why was the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan compared to the U.S. in Vietnam?
________________________________________________________________________
6- Define nonalignment.
________________________________________________________________________
7- Identify a country that embraced nonalignment during the Cold War.
________________________________________________________________________
8- Decolonized nations also played Cold War politics. Describe Egypt’s choices.
________________________________________________________________________
9- Define containment.
________________________________________________________________________
10- How did Khrushchev stun the Communist world?
________________________________________________________________________
11- Define “triangular diplomacy.”
________________________________________________________________________
12- Provide an example of “triangular diplomacy.”
________________________________________________________________________
13- What proved to be more powerful than communist solidarity? Why?
________________________________________________________________________
14- Why was 1989 a “Miracle Year” in the Cold War?
________________________________________________________________________
15- What happened in 1991 that surprised people around the world?
________________________________________________________________________
16- Who was the last communist leader of the Soviet Union?
________________________________________________________________________
17- Explain this leader’s policy of perestroika.
________________________________________________________________________
18- Explain this leader’s policy of glasnost.
________________________________________________________________________
19- Why did communism fail?
________________________________________________________________________
20- Who was Deng Xiaoping?
________________________________________________________________________
21- How did Deng Xiaoping change China economically?
________________________________________________________________________
22- What happened at Tiananmen Square?
________________________________________________________________________
23- What happened to the Brezhnev Doctrine under Gorbachev?
________________________________________________________________________
1. Which of the following is associated
with Khrushchev’s leadership of
the Soviet Union?
I. The brutal suppression of the
Hungarian uprising
II. Official denunciation of Stalin’s
dictatorial excesses
III. A declared willingness to establish
friendlier relations with the nations of the
West
IV. A sudden increase in the power of the
KGB
(A) I only
(B) I or II only
(C) I and IV only
(D) I, II, and III
(E) I, III, and IV
2. What made the launching of
Sputnik and the flight of Yuri
Gagarin MOST troubling to the
United States?
(A) The blows to national prestige
they represented.
(B) Triumphs in the “space race”
were technologically linked to
progress in the nuclear arms
race.
(C) Gagarin’s landing on the moon
gave rise to fears that the USSR
would make territorial claims
there.
(D) Both Sputnik and Gagarin’s
spaceship were armed with
advanced laser weaponry.
(E) Both Sputnik and Gagarin’s
spaceship were used to take
reconnaissance photographs of
U.S. missile silos.
3. Which communist states in Eastern
Europe broke away from the Soviet
bloc before the 1980s?
(A) Yugoslavia and Bulgaria
(B) Yugoslavia and Albania
(C) Yugoslavia and Romania
(D) Yugoslavia and Hungary
(E) Yugoslavia and East Germany
4. Which best characterizes
weaknesses of the Soviet economy
after World War II?
I. Inflexible central planning
II. Low worker morale and productivity
III. Raw-material shortages
(A) I and II
(B) II and III
(C) I and III
(D) I only
(E) II only
5. Which Soviet leader was a leading
force in imposing economic,
diplomatic, and political reforms
after 1985 that contributed directly
to the demise of Soviet socialism?
(A) Nikolay Bukharin
(B) Leonid Brezhnev
(C) Mikhail Gorbachev
(D) Nikita Khrushchev
(E) Lavrenty Beria
6. How did Deng Xiaoping’s reforms
differ from Mikhail Gorbachev’s?
(A) Gorbachev allowed political and
cultural liberalization, whereas
Deng did not
(B) Gorbachev allowed economic
liberalization, whereas Deng did
not
Thesis Practice: Comparative – Deng Xiaoping and Mikhail Gorbachev
Analyze similarities and differences in the political and economic goals of Deng
Xiaoping and Mikhail Gorbachev.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________