Download General History of the Cold War

Cold war course
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Natalia Tsvetkova
Professor
American studies dep.
[email protected]
The aim of the course
Problem:
• There are a lots of stories about this event (cold war);
• All stories are based on some selected documents, and
every author tries to find surprising things using his (her)
personal interpretations, so
Solution:
• To write own story of the Cold War using selected
documents
• The course will be a combination of my lectures (my
story of cold war) and your analysis of documents +
reading
• Result: you will tell your own story.
Requirements and Assesment
(Active students are free from final exam)
No papers
6 credits:
• Reading and analysis of documents
• Participation in discussions and presentations
• Final exam (1 document for analysis)
4 credits or 2 credits:
• a passive participation
• 1 question for a final exam
General History of the Cold War
Overview of Cold War events
Cold War Map
Periods of the Cold War are relative to the periods of
American foreign policy
Russians do not elaborate their own
1)
2)
3)
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6)
the period of the pre-Cold War, 1945–47,
the containment period, 1947–54,
the flexible response, 1954–1969,
the period of Détente 1969–1979,
the collapse of the communist in the countries of
Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, 1980s–1990,
and
the aftermath of the Cold War, 1990–1992
The pre-cold war, 1945–47
1) 1943 Teheran and 1945 Yalta
Conferences:
Franklin Roosevelt, Winston
Churchill and Joseph Stalin
• shaped the spheres of
influence in Europe in regard
to the real presence of the
Soviet troops in countries of
the region.
• An agreement on free
elections in occupied
countries
2) The death of F. Roosevelt
and new president H. Truman
insisted on Soviet obligations
to arrange free elections in
client countries:
The pre-cold war, 1945–47
4) Potsdam conference, July and August 1945:
German question: to be unified or not, how to govern it by 4
Zonal Administrations, and how meet reparation
demands of the Soviet Union.
5) Stalin’s rejection to insert democratic parties in
governments of the countries in Eastern Europe + his
rejection to leave Iran+ Kennan diplomatic reports from
Moscow, winter 1946 >> U.S. policy was to be more
tough with Russians and
The containment, 1947–54
1)
East and West coalitions fell into place: Stalin establish
strong international movement of communists
(Cominform)>>
2) Communists took the political power in Eastern
European countries >> Truman doctrine and Marshall
plan, 1947 was to save the part of Europe
3) Germany was not unified and Berlin Airlift of 1948–49:
a Soviet test of American aims concerning the Soviet
Union (map)
4) communists under Mao Zedong defeated Chinese
nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek >>
Mao formed a communist People’s Republic of China on
October 1, 1949
Division of Germany
containment, 1947–54
5) 1950-1953 – Korean War >> a unstable pacific region
6) India received its independence from Great Britain in
1947 and was broken into two nations: Muslim Pakistan
and Hindu India >> wars between them were started +
7) Conflict between Jewish state and Arab world in middle
East after withdrawal of the Great Britain.
8) Russians are ready for world expansion >> American
containment strategy, 1951
The period of the flexible response, 1954–1969
1) Eisenhower –Khrushchev: massive rolling back
of each other;
2) Vietnam, 1954 -1973: Ho Chi Minh defeated
the French army>>Geneva Peace Accords
called for the temporary creation of North and
South Vietnam;
3) Revolts in Germany (1953), Hungary (1956)
and Czechoslovakia (1968) and cool position
of the USA>> the stability of European
confrontation;
4) Developing world as a new border of the Cold
War, since the end 1950s.
The period of the flexible response, 1954–1969
6) Outer space: Soviet satellite, 1957 Gagarin, 1961 and
atom
7) new Berlin and Cuba crises, 1961-1962 >> and idea of a
peaceful coexistence and détente was discussed in both
Moscow and Washington;
8) Six Day War between Israel and Arab states, 1967 >>
the Soviet and American allies in the region became
clear (until the end 1970s):
Egypt+Syria= the Soviet Union, Israel =the United States
Détente, until 1979
1)
Pragmatic approach to Cold War politics by Nixon and
Henry Kissinger: ideology was put aside;
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West recognition of Soviet influence in Europe,
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American alliance with China and
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West evolutionary pressure on the Soviet Union policy
in the area of human rights.
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Ostpolitik, initiated by W. Brandt: to establish friendly
relations with East Block
2) Helsinki Summit, 1975: the West gained a possibility
to communicate with human rights activists and with
dissidents in E. Europe and in the Soviet Union.
3) The end of 1970s: the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan and
the denial of the U.S. Congress to ratify a treaty on the
reduction of nuclear weapons
Collapse of communism, 1980s–1990
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Afghanistan (the invasion of the Soviet Union) and
Ronald Reagan approach to the Soviet Union
(dissidents, economic sanctions and Strategic Defense
Initiative in 1983) made the Cold War to be similar its
initial phase and undermined the power of the Soviet
Union;
Gorbochev decided to talk with Regan, 1985-1987;
Inside reforms in Russia gave impetus for revolution in
the Eastern European countries, 1989-1990:
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Poland and Hungary- free elections, October 1989
Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia, November 1989
German reunification, 1990
Collapse of communism, 1980–1990
4) Officially the Cold War was ended in September 1990:
Great Britain, the U.S., and the Soviet Union signed a
peace treaty with East and West Germany:
• the withdrawal of the Soviet Army and admit the
unification of Germany; +
5) On November 1990 - the nonaggression agreement
between member of NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
• George Bush said that “We closed the chapter of history.
The Cold War is over”.
The aftermath of the Cold War, 1990-1992
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A process of dissolution of the Soviet Union,
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia >> era of nationalistic
and religious conflicts;
The U. S. and Russia weakened the ties with radical
groups in different parts of the world >>
New ideologies are determining of international
relations system: Islam fundamentalism as the
substitution of communism.