Download The Cold War

The Cold War
1945-1991
World History Chapter 15
The Cold War Unfolds
• Two Sides Face Off in Europe
• NATO
• Warsaw Pact
• Iron Curtain
– A Wall Divides Berlin
• West Berlin becomes a showcase
for western prosperity, East Berlin
stagnates under communism. TO
stop people from fleeing to the
west, a wall is built between East
and West Berlin.
– Eastern Europe Resists
• During the 50’s and 60’, countries
of Eastern Europe periodically
resisted Soviet rule, but the Soviet
Union was not afraid to use tanks
on civilians.
Nuclear Weapons Threaten the World
– Arms race between East and West
– MAD
– Hydrogen Bomb (1953)
• Limiting Nuclear Weapons
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1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Atmospheric testing)
1972 SALT I (Freeze number of weapons)
1972 SALT I (Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty)
1979 SALT II (Limit number of weapons)
1991 START (Reductions)
• Building Détente
– Relaxation of tensions
– Afghanistan problem
• Stopping the Spread of Nuclear Weapons
– In the 1960’s Britain, France, China build nuclear weapons
– 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
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Ohio class Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine
– 24 Trident II Missiles
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8 W88 Nuclear MIRV Warhead (475kt)
192 Independent warheads, for a total of 91mt (Megatons) of destructive
firepower
A megaton is equivalent to a million tons (or 2 billion pounds) of TNT
Adding up all of the firepower used in WWII, including the atomic weapons used
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was roughly equal to 3mt
The Cold War Goes Global
– China and Korea
– Spread of Communism (Truman Doctrine)
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Building Alliances and Bases
– Strategy to contain communism
– NATO, SEATO, CENTO, Japan
– Encircle Soviet Union
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When the Cold War Goes Hot
– Local conflict became proxies for superpowers
– Many former colonies gain independence
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Cuba Goes Communist
– Fidel Castro, 1959, takes control of Cuba, institutes a
communist regime.
– Bay of Pigs
– Trade Embargo
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Cuban Missiles Spark a Crisis
– Soviet Union puts nuclear missiles in Cuba in response to
American missiles in Turkey
The Soviet Union in the Cold War
• Soviet Communism
– In the years that followed WWII (The Great
Patriotic War), Stalin continued purging
“enemies of the state” Somewhere around
20 million people disappeared, were sent
to gulags, or were executed.
• Stalin’s Successors Hold the Line
– Nikita Khrushchev became premier after
Stalin’s death in 1953. Openly denounced
Stalin’s brutal regime in 1956, calling for
peace with the west.
– Leonid Brezhnev overthrew Khrushchev in
1963, and resumed Stalin’s tactics
• Some Soviets Bravely Resist
– Some Soviets tried to reform the system,
including scientists and writers
The United States in the Cold War
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Free Markets
– The competition with the Soviet Union was not limited
to military might, but extended to all aspects of
government, philosophy, economics, and ideology.
The Space Race, Sputnik, Mercury Program, Gemini
Program, Apollo Program
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Containing the Soviet Union
– Stopping communism at virtually any cost
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Living With Nuclear Dangers
– Fallout shelters
– Crystal Palace, flying command centers, secret
retreats, bombers, submarines, land based missiles,
the football
– Psychological testing, spies, Manchurian Candidates,
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Seeking Enemies Within
– FBI
– House Un American Activities Committee (HUAC) and
McCarthy, going after Hollywood writers, questioning
patriotism, the list
The Industrialized Democracies
• America Prospers and Changes
• At the end of WWII, the US was the most powerful country in
the world, both militarily and economically.
– America Plays a Central Role
• HQ of the United Nations – NYC
• American goods, shipping, worldwide economic dominance
• World Bank and International Monetary Fund located in
Washington D.C.
– The Postwar American Boom
• Moving to the suburbs
• Redistribution of population
• Veterans Programs
– Education
– Health
– Home buying
– An Oil Shock Brings Recession
• 1970’s America’s support of Israel linked to oil embargo, price of
oil spikes and supplies down. End of the postwar boom
Democracy Expands Opportunities
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Segregation and Discrimination
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Challenges to segregation and discrimination
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka 1954
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Americans Demand Civil Rights
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1956 Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. emerges as a civil rights
leader
1963 I Have a Dream speech in DC
Women Demand Equality
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Women also demanded more, challenging assumptions (male doctors, bra
burning, glass ceiling)
The Government’s Role Grows
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Government expands social programs to help the poor and disadvantaged
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Separate is not equal – segregated schools needed to integrate
Use of Airborne troops to protect Little Rock 9
The Great Society
Medicare
Subsidized housing
Civil Rights Acts
Republicans Respond
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Ronald Regan
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Cut taxes greatly
Increased military spending
Cut social services (closed mental institutions)
Greatly increased deficits
Western Europe Rebuilds
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Germany Divided and Reunited
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West and East Germany
Berlin Wall 1961-1989
West Germany’s “Economic Miracle”
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West Germany enjoyed Marshall Plan support and rebuilt into a modern
industrial power
Britain’s Narrowed Horizons
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Collapse of overseas empire, slower recovery
Other European Nations Prosper
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Other European countries also lost their empires, but the Marshall Plan
accomplished it’s goals in terms of helping Europe recover economically.
Building the Welfare State
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Market economies with increased government involvement in social
spending.
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Universal medical care
Pensions
Unemployment programs
Higher Taxes
Limiting the Welfare State
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1979, Britain, Margaret Thatcher, limiting social payments, more
privatization
Toward European Unity
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Economic cooperation between European countries, reduced tariffs,
European community, eventually to European Union
Japan is Transformed
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American Occupiers Bring Changes
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General MacArthur became the military governor of Japan during it’s
transition
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The Emperor, while allowed to remain emperor, lost all political power
Many social reforms
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Education for all
Equality for women
Land-reform
American military bases
Japanese military limited to self defense force
Japan Develops a Democracy
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Created a new constitution for Japan
Political parties begin to develop
The Liberal Democratic Party dominated government from the 1950’s to
the 1990’s
An Economic Miracle Relies on Exports
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Japanese industry responded well to the Marshall Plan
In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Japanese electronics and automobiles began to
dominate foreign markets
Money was saved by not spending on military
Communism Spreads in East Asia
• China’s Communist Revolution
– How the Communists Won
– Changing Chinese Society
– The Great Leap Forward Fails
– The Cultural Revolution Disrupts Life
• China, The Cold War’s “Wild Card”
– Split with the Soviet Union
– Washington Plays the China Card
– Taiwan and the Nationalists
War Comes to Korea
– A Divided Nation
– North Korean Attack Brings a United
Nations Response
– China Reverses United Nations Gains
• Two Koreas
– South Korea Recovers
– North Korea Digs In
War in Southeast Asia
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Indochina After WWII
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Indochina Under Foreign Rule
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French Colonialism from 1800
Japanese Invasion During WWII
Return of the French after the War
Ho Chi Minh Fights the French
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French 1946-1954
U.S. 1955-1975
Communist influence grows
Vietnamese wanted independence, created Declaration based of the American Declaration
of Independence, asked U.S. for help against the French
French want their colony back, fight insurgents
Insurgents led by Ho Chi Minh conduct guerrilla war against the French, defeat French
forces at the battle of Dienbienphu (dien bien foo)
Vietnam is Divided
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After 1954, the struggle for Vietnam became a part of the Cold War. Western and
Communist powers agreed to a separation of North and South Vietnam, the North being
Communist, the South under (un-elected) leader Ngo Dihn Diem, supported by the U.S.
Elections that might have reunited Vietnam were not held in the South, because the U.S.
believed the Communists might win the election as not many South Vietnamese trusted
the new government because of corruption.
Diem’s dictatorship grew worse, and many South Vietnamese who regarded Ho Chi Minh
(leader of the North) as a war hero (against the Japanese and the French), turned against
the Diem government, and in the 1960’s, started a guerrilla campaign against the
government, supported by communists in the North.
America Enters the Vietnam War
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The War Intensifies
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During Vietnam, the U.S. military needed to use the draft to field the required number of troops (upwards of 500,000). The
draft at first had many exemptions that allowed college men, married men, men with children, or who had fathers with
influence, to avoid the war. Some entered the National Guard to avoid being drafted, others joined “Champagne Units”
such as the Texas Air National Guard, where most of the members were sons of rich and powerful men.
As the war dragged on, the rules changed, exemptions were removed, and the draft became more democratic. Once this
happened, and more middle class and upper class sons were drafted, the opposition to the war reached a fever pitch.
Guerrilla War
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Ho Chi Minh (leader of the North) wanted to unite Vietnam under communism, and aided the National Liberation Front
(NLF) also known as the Viet Cong, or VC, or Victor Charlie (based on the NATO phonetic alphabet) which is why they were
often called “Charlie” by the troops. North Vietnamese troops were called Viet Minh (or North Vietnamese Army NVA)
The U.S. at first sent supplies and advisors, but later sent hundreds of thousands of troops to support the corrupt Southern
Vietnamese government.
On 1 Aug 1964, South Vietnamese commandos raided North Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. A U.S. destroyer in
the Gulf thought it was being attacked three days later, though this was likely an error in using their radar during rough seas.
This was used as an excuse for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (7 Aug 64) authorizing President Lyndon Johnson to use all
measures to support South Vietnam, and prevent further “aggression” in Southeast Asia.
After the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed, the U.S. started bombing targets in North Vietnam.
The North was not without superpower support, and Soviet weapons, ammo, fighter jets, missiles, tanks, and other
equipment was given to the North.
Jungle fighting
Agent Orange
Helicopter Gunships
My Lai Massacre
Napalm
The Press – Body Counts
The Draft
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American foreign policy regarded the Vietnam War as a part of a larger conflict against Communism. Policy makers believed
that if any country falls to communism, then it makes it more likely that the next country will fall, and so on, until
communism takes over the U.S. This was called the Domino Theory.
The South Vietnamese rebels tended to be peasants, and familiar with the land, which neither the French nor the Americans
could claim. Villagers often would hide rebels, or caches of weapons. The VC and the NVA built large tunnel complexes to
avoid American bombing and surveillance.
Getting from North to South was difficult for the VC and the NVA, so they used trails that crossed the borders of Cambodia
and Laos, called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. American attacks on the Trail caused the conflict to widen,
The Tet Offensive
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By 1968, the South Vietnamese Army and the U.S. failed to suppress the insurgency, or prevent aid from the North, though
the VC and the NVA could not make headway against the South’s defenses. The North Vietnamese decided to mount a
major offensive, and attacked targets all across the country during the Vietnamese New Year, or Tet. This became known as
the Tet Offensive. Though the North Vietnamese and the VC were driven back, the Offensive shook the confidence of
Americans who thought the war was being won, and public opinion turned against the war.
The Vietnam War Ends
– Casualties, KIA, MIA, as the numbers grew, American’s saw
Vietnam as a quagmire.
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More Americans Oppose the War
– As the war dragged on, longer than WWII, Americans began
to doubt whether the war could be won. Though most
wanted to leave, should we ignore the sacrifices already
made?
– Massive protests
– Kent State
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America Withdraws
– The Vietnam War destroyed the presidency of Lyndon
Johnson, and he decided not to run for a second term.
Lyndon’s successor, President Nixon, ended the war with
North Vietnam at peace talks in Paris, January 1973.
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North Vietnam Wins the War
– After the Americans withdrew forces, the South tried to
resist, but two years later, the North Vietnamese entered the
capital Saigon, which would be renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
Many South Vietnamese panicked at the departure of
American forces, and some were able to transported to the
U.S. on navy ships, but most were left behind, a tragic
reminder.
Southeast Asia After the War
– After the fall of Vietnam to communists, the countries of Laos and
Cambodia also fell under communist influence, but the dominoes
stopped there, and other countries in Southeast Asia remained
capitalistic.
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Tragedy in Cambodia
– During the Vietnam War, the U.S. bombed supply routes through
Cambodia, and even invaded the country briefly, but this proved
largely ineffective, and a local group of Cambodian communist
guerrillas called the Khmer Rouge sprung up. By 1975, the Khmer
Rouge, under Pol Pot, had overthrown the government of Cambodia,
and created a humanitarian disaster by killing over a third of it’s own
population, over a million people.
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Vietnam Under the Communists
– The new Vietnamese government was not sympathetic to those who
supported the Americans or the South Vietnamese government (even
by default) and many fled the country by boat. These “boat people”
fled the country in the hundreds of thousands, landing in neighboring
countries when allowed, and some made it to the U.S., though many
drowned in overcrowded boats.
– Vietnam suffered for a long time, as a U.S. led embargo prevented
many goods from entering the country, and poverty remained high
for decades.
The End of the Cold War
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The Soviet Union Declines
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A Hollow Victory
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Reforms Give Way to Repression
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In 1979 the Soviet Union became involved in an internal conflict between
government and local warlords in Afghanistan. Soviet forces came in to support
the government, but the warlords fought the redistribution of power. Also,
religious fighters, or mujahedeen came to Afghanistan to fight to Soviets.
Also, the CIA funded the anti-Soviet forces, as well as gave them weapons and
logistical support. This is also where the U.S. recruited and trained Osama Bin
Laden to fight the Soviets, and where he started his terrorist organization.
Gorbachev Tries Reform
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The massive military budgets of the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the cold
war fueled conflict around the world and maintained large fleets of ships,
submarines, aircraft, and nuclear weapons.
Though the Soviets did not spend as much as the U.S. in absolute terms, the
Soviet military budget consumed a much larger portion of their total budget,
and because of this, the Soviet Union literally could not spend enough to match
U.S. military spending, and attempting to do so broke the Soviet economy.
Soviets Have Their Own “Vietnam” in Afghanistan
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Though the Soviet Union was able to accomplish incredible things, their
economy was not able to deliver to it’s citizens the benefits of a creative society.
Cracking Under the Burden of Military Commitments
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Though Stalinist pogroms were reduced under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, the
Soviet Union was still more than willing to use military force to keep European
countries under their thumb.
The Command Economy Stagnates
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What did the Soviet Union really accomplish, even with victory in WWII and a
eastern European sphere of influence?
After Brezhnev, the Soviet Union went through a couple more old hard liners,
but their time was ending. A new face of Soviet Politics had emerged, Mikhail
Gorbachev. Gorbachev tried valiantly to save the economy with reforms called
Perestroika, and by reducing tensions with the west with openness, or Glasnost.
An Empire Crumbles
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While these reforms were needed, they also exposed the fundamental problems
with the system, and the system fell apart. The Republics broke away and
declared independence, and the government fell, bringing about a new Russian
state.
Changes Transform Eastern Europe
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Demands for Freedom Increase
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Hungary Quietly Reforms
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The Soviet thumb had fallen hardest on East Germany, and one of the consequences was
that many East Germans were more thoroughly indoctrinated into communism that their
Soviet rulers. But there were also those who yearned for more freedom as they could
see the television broadcasts and were aware of how much more prosperous and free
people were in the west. When Hungary opened it’s border with Austria, thousands of
East Germans fled to the west. Thousands more demanded reform.
Communist Governments Fall
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Economic hardships in the 1980’s led to massive challenges to Soviet authority from
Polish workers under the Solidarity labor union leader Lech Walesa. Though he was
arrested, he became a national hero and eventually the government released him and
Lech became a leader once again for political change.
East Germans Demand Change
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From 1968 on, Hungary used modest reforms to slowly transform the country. Because it
remained loyal to the Warsaw Pact and communist rule, these reforms were allowed. By
the last 1980’s, these changes transformed into open criticism of the government. This
eventually led to increased freedoms and even an open border with Austria.
Poland Embraces Solidarity
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Though Eastern European countries had opposed since Soviet occupation started at the
end of WWII, with glasnost and perestroika these countries once again called for
independence from Moscow.
By 1989, Gorbachev declared he would not interfere with Eastern European reforms, and
people in Eastern Europe called for national elections and democracy. One by one,
communist governments fell, though democracy was not the panacea many thought it
would be.
Czechoslovakia Splits
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1992, split into Czech Republic and Slovakia
Communist Declines Around the World
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China Builds on Deng’s Reforms
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Vietnam and North Korea Differ
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The fall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European communities
embracing democracy and market reforms, this affected the other
communist nations of China, Cuba and North Korea.
China’s government changed slowly over time away from Mao’s vision of
communism. Though the government continued to be dominated by the
communist party, the government began to allow for reforms under Deng
Xiaoping, creating small enclaves of market activity, and reforming rules for
farmers to allow them to sell their produce at market.
Also, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control after the 99 year lease by the
British government expired. The party moved quickly to establish control,
but enacted few laws, hoping to take advantage of the massive Hong Kong
markets.
Vietnam opened up to market reforms in the early 1990’s, and was
welcomed by the U.S. and the west.
North Korea on the other hand remained not only a one party state, but also
a family dictatorship under Kim Jong Il, son of Kim Il-Sung. North Korea
remains one of the worlds poorest countries though it boasts a massive
military and now nuclear weapons.
Cuba Declines
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Without support from the Soviet Union, Cuba declined, and many believed
that once Fidel Castro died, communism would die as well.
United States as Sole Superpower
• America emerged as the
“winner” of the cold war, with
the most powerful economy
and military in the world, the
world’s sole superpower. But
what did this mean?
• Military budget increased
• Military interventions
increased
• Military bases increased
• Expansion of NATO
• Should the U.S. be the world
policeman?
• What is our role?