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The Cold War 1945-1991
The Tehran Conference 1943
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US Lend Lease program to the UK – extended to supply USSR with:
o Armaments
o Trucks
o Intelligence
o And supplies
To help them with their struggle against the Germans
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USSR, UK and US met a Tehran, the capital at Iran to discuss:
o Who would control outer Mongolia and Manchuria
o And once Germany was defeated they would declare war on Japan
West would create 2nd front in Europe in 1944
US would receive endorsements to create UN Security Council consisting of
o China
o UK
o USSR
o US
To deal with threats to peace in the post war.
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Poland and Balkans government discussed but no agreement was reached.
The Yalta Conference February 1945
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Held at Yalta in the USSR
The ‘Big Three’, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt attended and known as the ‘Grand
Alliance’
Discussed
o The voting procedures and membership rules for the UN
o The fate of Poland in particular and Eastern Europe in General
o The treatment of the defeated Germany and Austria
o Soviet participation against Japan
Agreed to:
o Germany’s unconditional surrender
o A four-power occupation of Germany and Austria
o War-crimes trials for leading Nazis
o The necessity for the UN
o Free and unfettered elections in Eastern Europe asap
Did not agree to:
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o German reparations, and would leave the matter open for future discussions
o Poland’s self-determination without Soviet influence
Kept Secret:
o A Soviet pledge to enter the war in Asia two or three months after Germany’s
surrender
o Provisions for Soviet territorial gains in Asia at the expense of China (northern
Manchuria) and Japan (the southern part of the Sakhalin Islands, which Japan
had gained in the war of 1904)
o The allocation of two extra votes to the USSR in the UN General Assembly
o Poland’s post-war boarders which included territorial gains to the Soviets at
the expense of Poland in the east and the gains to Poland in the west at the
expense of Germany.
“There is one boundary which Yalta symbolises that can never be made legitimate, and that
is the dividing line between freedom and repression.” Reagan
The Potsdam Conference July-August 1945
o Held at Potsdam, a city just outside of Berlin, Germany
o Attended by Stalin, Attlee and Truman
o Agreements:
o An Allied Control Council was to be established to oversee the occupation of
Germany, to be composed of military governors from the four occupation
zones.
o Germany was to be treated as one single economic unit.
o Deadlock:
o The Soviet Union’s demand for $10 billion reparations from Germany was
rejected
o The Odor-Niesse Line viewed as a temporary border by the West, but Stalin
handed over from Germany to the Poles, which the Poles would not be likely
to hand back. As a consequence, the Poles would look to the Soviets to
protect their borders in the west. To the Soviets the new boarder was
permanent. If their allies would not allow reparations, the Soviets over times
could still determine how much Germany paid if they controlled their zones
within Germany.
o There was continual disagreement about Polish self-determination.
o There was no agreement about the Soviet control of the straits of the Black
Sea, or the establishment of Soviet military bases there.
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o There were 21 Potsdam Protocols which included:
o Certain principles would govern the treatment of Germany in the Initial
Control Period by the four powers.
o No reparations were to be taken from Austria
o All troops were to be withdrawn from Iran
Iron Curtain
o Determined to build a buffer between Germany and Moscow, the Soviet Red Army
established Communist governments in the eastern capitals it occupied at the end of
the war. As a result, the USSR created an “iron curtain” that effectively separated
East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Belarus,
Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania from the West.
“an iron curtain has descended across the continent” Churchill
The Truman Doctrine 1947
o Truman quickly latched onto the doctrine of containment and modified it with his
own Truman Doctrine. In a special address to Congress in March 1947, Truman
announced that the United States would support foreign governments resisting
“armed minorities” or “outside pressures”—that is, Communist revolutionaries or
the Soviet Union. He then convinced Congress to appropriate $400 million to
prevent the fall of Greece and Turkey to Communist insurgents.
o Critics, both at the time and looking back in retrospect, have charged that Truman’s
adoption of the containment doctrine, coupled with his own Truman Doctrine,
accelerated the Cold War by polarizing the United States and the USSR
unnecessarily. Many have claimed that the United States might have avoided fifty
years of competition and mutual distrust had Truman sought a diplomatic solution
instead.
o Defendants of Truman’s policy, however, have claimed that the Soviet Union had
already begun the Cold War by thwarting Allied attempts to reunite and stabilize
Germany. Truman, they have argued, merely met the existing Soviet challenge.
Other supporters believed that Truman used polarizing language in order to prevent
U.S. isolationists from abandoning the cause in Europe. Whatever his motivations,
Truman’s adoption of the containment doctrine and his characterization of the
Communist threat shaped American foreign policy for the subsequent four decades.
“marked the point at which Truman used the American fear of communism… to convince
Americans they must embark upon Cold War” LeFeber
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The Marshall Plan 1947
o The Soviet Union in particular wanted to exact revenge on Germany by dismantling
its factories and demanding outrageous war reparations. Truman realized, however,
that punitive action would only destabilize Germany further, just as it had after the
signing of the unforgiving Treaty of Versailles that had ended World War I.
o In 1947, Truman’s secretary of state, George C. Marshall, pledged that the United
States would grant more than $10 billion to help rebuild Europe if the European
nations themselves worked together to help meet this end. Great Britain, France,
Italy, and Germany complied and came together to lead postwar Europe—an early
precursor to the European Community and European Union that would come later.
The Marshall Plan, as it came to be known, stabilized Western Europe financially and
prevented economic collapse. Within ten years, European factories had exceeded
prewar production levels, boosting the standard of living and ensuring that
Communism would not take root.
Berlin Blockade 1948
o In 1948, Stalin attempted to drive British, French, and American forces out of Berlin
by cutting off all highway and railway access to the Western-controlled portion of
the city. Truman refused to withdraw U.S. troops; control of Berlin had become such
an enormous symbol in the U.S.-Soviet standoff that Truman could not afford the
political cost of caving under Stalin’s threats. Instead, he ordered American airplanes
to drop millions of tons of food and medical supplies to West Berlin’s residents in
1948 and 1949. Americans and Europeans hailed the Berlin airlift as a major victory
over the Soviet Union. Stalin eventually ended the Berlin crisis when he reopened
the roads and railways in 1949.
“An economic division of Germany could lead to a political division of Germany.”
LaFeber
‘
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China Becomes a Communist Party 1949
o Meanwhile, events unfolding in China had enormous repercussions on the United
States and ultimately on the Cold War itself. For decades, the Nationalist
government of Chiang Kai-shek (sometimes written as Jiang Jieshi) had been fighting
a long civil war against Communist rebels led by Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse-tung). The
U.S. government under Roosevelt and Truman had backed the Nationalists with
money and small arms shipments but overall had little influence on the war. Mao’s
revolutionaries, however, finally managed to defeat government forces in 1949 and
took control of mainland China.
o While Chiang and his supporters fled to the island of Taiwan, Communist Party
chairman Mao became the head of the new People’s Republic of China (PRC). The
so-called fall of China was a crushing blow for the United States, primarily because it
suddenly put more than a quarter of the world’s population under Communist
control. Moreover, previous U.S. support for Chiang Kai-shek also meant that the
PRC would not look favorably upon the United States.
The Korean War 1950-53
o North and South Korea
o With Hitler and Mussolini defeated in Europe in 1945, the United States and
Soviet Union turned to fighting Japan later in the year. After Japanese forces
surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur, the United States and the USSR
shared control of the neighboring Korean Peninsula, which had been under
Japanese control since the turn of the century. They divided Korea at the
38th parallel, with the Soviet Union taking control in the north and the
United States in the south. Both sides also armed the Koreans and erected
new governments friendly to each respective superpower.
o The Start of the Korean War
o It seemed that Korea might become a flash point in the Cold War, but then
Truman’s secretary of state, Dean Acheson, effectively announced in 1950
that the United States had no interest in Korea because it had no geopolitical
significance. The Soviet Union, however, may have interpreted Acheson’s
remarks as giving the USSR carte blanche regarding Korea and therefore
allowed the North Korean Communist government in Pyongyang to invade
South Korea in June 1950, with some Soviet support. Outnumbered and
outgunned, the South Korean forces retreated to the city of Pusan on the
peninsula’s southern shore. Truman watched, stunned, as the North Korean
forces captured almost the entire peninsula within the span of a few months.
He capitalized on the Soviet Union’s absence in the United Nations Security
Council, however, to convince the other members that North Korea had been
the sole aggressor. After a vote of unanimous approval, the Security Council
asked all member nations to help restore peace.
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o NSC-68
o Both conservative and liberal foreign policy makers in the United States
viewed the North Korean invasion as evidence that the Soviet Union did in
fact hope to spread Communism and as a threat to American efforts to
rebuild and democratize Japan. The invasion thus made George F. Kennan’s
theories about containment all the more pertinent: Truman worried that if
the United States failed to act, the Soviet Union would continue to expand
and threaten democracy.
o In order to check this feared expansion, Truman’s new National Security
Council submitted a classified document known simply as National Security
Council Memorandum 68 (NSC-68), which suggested that Truman quadruple
military spending for purposes of containment. The president readily
consented and asked Congress for more funds and more men. Within a few
years, the U.S. armed forces boasted more than 3 million men, and the
United States was spending roughly 15 percent of its gross national product
on the military.
o The Inchon Landing
o Truman made sure that General MacArthur, who had been an effective in
overseeing occupied postwar Japan, was made commander of the UN forces
sent to Korea. Truman then ordered MacArthur to pull U.S. troops out of
Japan and retake South Korea below the 38th parallel.
o In September 1950, MacArthur and his troops flanked the North Koreans by
making an amphibious landing at Inchon, near Seoul. The surprise Inchon
landing allowed U.S. forces to enter the peninsula quickly, without having to
break through the enormous forces surrounding Pusan. Caught entirely off
guard, the North Korean forces panicked and fled north, well past the 38th
parallel. Truman ordered MacArthur to cross the parallel and pursue the
North Koreans.
o Disaster at the Yalu River
o MacArthur’s crossing of the 38th parallel troubled the Soviet Union and
Communist China, especially considering that Truman had entered the war
vowing to restore peace and the status quo—not to conquer the entire
peninsula. China therefore warned the United States not to approach the
Chinese–North Korean border at the Yalu River. However, MacArthur ignored
the warning and pursued the North Koreans farther up the peninsula.
Interpreting this move as an act of war, the Chinese sent hundreds of
thousands of soldiers across the Yalu to meet MacArthur’s men in North
Korea. Overwhelmed, MacArthur and his forces retreated back to the 38th
parallel.
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o MacArthur’s Dismissal
o Stalemated once again at the 38th parallel, MacArthur pressured Truman to
drop nuclear bombs on mainland China. Doing so, MacArthur reasoned,
would not only allow his forces to take the entire Korean Peninsula but would
also topple the Communist regime in Beijing. Truman and U.S. military
officials, however, knew they lacked the resources to fight a war with China,
defend Western Europe, contain the Soviet Union, occupy Japan, and hold
Korea at the same time. They also wanted to keep the war limited and knew
that the deployment of nuclear weapons would bring the Soviet Union into
what could quickly devolve into World War III. MacArthur rebuffed these
arguments and instead tried to turn the American people against Truman by
criticizing him in public. Truman removed MacArthur from command in April
1951, for insubordination.
o The Election of 1952
o Even though MacArthur had disobeyed orders and publicly rebuked the
commander-in-chief, blame fell on Truman for “losing” Korea to the
Communists. Since Truman had little chance of being reelected, Democrats
instead nominated Illinois governor Adlai E. Stevenson for the presidency in
1952. Republicans, meanwhile, nominated former World War II general and
NATO supreme commander Dwight D. Eisenhower for president, with former
Red-hunter Richard M. Nixon as his running mate. Eisenhower’s status as a
war hero and Nixon’s reputation for being tough on Communists gave the
Republicans an easy victory. They won the popular vote by a 7 million-vote
margin and also won a landslide in the electoral college, with 442 electoral
votes to Stevenson’s 89.
o The End of the Korean War
o By the time Eisenhower took the oath of office in 1953, American soldiers
had been entrenched in Korea for nearly three years. In the time since
MacArthur’s final retreat to the 38th parallel, thousands more Americans had
died without any territorial loss or gain. Eisenhower eventually brought about
an armistice with North Korea, in part by making it known that he, unlike
Truman, would consider the use of nuclear weapons in Korea. Despite the
armistice, however, the border between North and South Korea has
remained one of the most heavily fortified Cold War “hot spots” in the world
for more than fifty years.
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Policy of Containment
o In 1947, State Department analyst George F. Kennan penned a highly influential
essay on the Soviet Union that transformed fear of the USSR into a cohesive foreign
policy. Arguing that insecure Russians had always had the desire to expand and
acquire territory, Kennan wrote that the Soviet Union would take every opportunity
to spread Communism into every possible “nook and cranny” around the globe,
either by conquering neighboring countries or by subtly supporting Communist
revolutionaries in politically unstable countries. Kennan also wrote, however, that
the United States could prevent the global domination of Communism with a
strategy of “containment.” He suggested maintaining the status quo by thwarting
Communist aggression abroad.
o Kennan’s containment doctrine rapidly became the root of the dominant U.S.
strategy for fighting Communism throughout the Cold War. Different presidents
interpreted the doctrine differently and/or employed different tactics to accomplish
their goals, but the overall strategy for keeping Communism in check remained the
same until the Cold War ended in the early 1990s.
The Domino Theory
o In April 1954, Eisenhower compared the nations of South-East Asia to a row of
dominoes:
“You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it
will go over very quickly.” Eisenhower
o Although it was first mentioned during Truman’s administration, it was from
Eisenhower’s time that it was understood by most Americans and became the
justification for the US commitment to South Vietnam.
Peaceful Coexistence
o Having emerged as leader of the USSR by 1955, Krushchev meanwhile was preaching
the policy of ‘peacful coexistence’, which he announced in 1956 at the 20th
Communist Party Congress.
o Peaceful coexistence could be announced because in May 1955 the Soviets decided
to meet NATO’s strength with their own military treaty, the Warsaw Pact.
o The Warsaw Pact did not alter the political or military situation in Europe but simply
solidified the Communist bloc.
o Peaceful coexistence was Krushchev’s only clear option in the new reality of the Cold
War, where any nuclear exchange would be catastrophic.
o Despite its name, ‘peaceful coexistence’ increased tensions around the globe as
Krushchev matched the United States by taking the economic and political SouthEast Asia, Africa and Latin America.
“In the Soviet mind, peaceful coexistence was only a temporary policy” McCauley
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The Arms Race/Space Race
o Also in 1949, Truman announced that the Soviet Union had successfully tested its
first atomic bomb, sooner than American scientists had predicted. Even though it
would have been difficult for the USSR to actually drop a nuclear bomb on U.S. soil—
nuclear missiles would not be invented for another decade—the Soviets’ discovery
cost Truman the diplomatic upper hand. Whereas the United States had lorded its
nuclear superiority over the Soviets’ heads in the past, it could no longer do so.
o To regain the upper hand, Truman poured federal dollars into the 1952 development
of the hydrogen bomb, an even more devastating weapon than the original atomic
bomb. Its developers feared this weapon would become a tool for genocide. The
Soviet Union responded in kind with its own H-bomb the following year, ratcheting
the stakes even higher. The United States and the USSR continued competing against
each other with the development of greater and more destructive weapons in an
arms race that lasted until the end of the Cold War.
o Intercontinental bomber aircraft (developed by the US in 1948, the USSR in 1955)
were vulnerable to attack, but once in the air, the anti-aircraft defence standards
had to be much higher than for conventional air raids.
o Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs – USSR 1957, US 1958) were placed in
hardened underground silos, invulnerable to all but a direct hit.
o Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs – US 1960, USSR 1968) were virtually
undetectable.
o During the 1960s, advances in radar and long-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)
promised a breakthrough in anti-ballistic missile defence.
o But by the early 1970s these in turn were countered by improvements in offensive
missiles – multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRVs – US 1970, USSR
1975) could swamp any defences.
o In 1983 US President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defence Initiative
(‘Star Wars’) program – a plan to develop satelites capable of destroying Soviet
missiles in flight. The economic inability of the Soviets to develop a comparable plan,
or counter-strategy, helped to precipitate the end of the Cold War.
o On 4th October 1957 the Cold War moved to space: the USSR launched the world’s
first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 (English translation: ‘travelling companion’/ ‘fellow
traveller.’)
o Sputnik 1 was launched by an SS-6 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
o The launch of Sputnik and the achievement of its orbit of the Earth received massive
publicity in the USSR and made a strong political and social impact in the West.
o Krushchev was very keen to have a successful space program, as it would
demonstrate Soviet superiority at a time when economically, militarily and politically
the communist system was being called into question by the members of the Soviet
bloc.
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o Such an obvious display of technological success would also assist his authority in the
USSR at a time when he was being challenged by rivals, including Molotov, a former
foreign minister.
o Sputnik captured the public’s imagination right around the world.
o It marked the beginning of the space race, with the Soviets clearly in the lead. It also
proved that communism worked and that the USSR could lead the West rather than
react to it as it had done up until this point.
o The Soviets sent a second Sputnik into orbit in November, this time with a dog, Laika,
who died on the mission from a lack of oxygen.
o In December 1957 the US Navy attempted to match the soviets with their satellite
the Vanguard.
o With the Western world watching and hoping that the launch would be a success,
the Vanguard reached a few centimetres into the air before exploding into flames.
o However, on the 31st of January 1958 the US Army successfully launched Explorer 1,
the first American artificial satellite.
o Although the Soviets were initially in the lead in the space race, the United States
quickly responded.
“It could no longer be assumed that the United States was without rival in its technological
capacity” Freedman
The Berlin Wall 1961
o Kennedy’s first foreign policy crisis surfaced just months after he took office, when
Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev threatened to sign a treaty with East Germany that
would cut off the city of Berlin from the United States and Western Europe. Although
the Soviet Union never signed any such treaty, it did construct a massive wall of
concrete and barbed wire around West Berlin in 1961 to prevent East Germans from
escaping to freedom in the Western-controlled part of the city. Over the years, guard
towers were installed, and the “no-man’s-land” between the inner and outer walls
was mined and booby-trapped, making it incredibly difficult for East Germans to
escape to West Berlin without being killed or captured. Over the ensuing decades,
the Berlin Wall came to be the most famous symbol of the Cold War.
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Cuba 1962
o Hoping to topple Cuba’s Communist-leaning leader, Fidel Castro, Kennedy
authorized the CIA to train and arm pro-American Cuban exiles and support them in
an attempted invasion of Cuba in1961. U.S. foreign policy advisors hoped that the
American-armed exiles, with U.S. Air Force support, could overpower Castro’s
sentries and spark a popular uprising.
o Shortly before the invasion, however, Kennedy privately decided not to commit to
U.S. air support. The CIA-trained exiles, believing that American planes would cover
them, stormed a beach on Cuba’s Bay of Pigs in April 1961, only to be ruthlessly
gunned down by Castro’s forces. The invasion was a complete failure and an
embarrassment for the Kennedy administration and the United States. Kennedy
accepted full responsibility for the massacre but continued to authorize covert CIA
missions to assassinate Castro, all of which proved unsuccessful.
o The following year, the true cost of the Bay of Pigs fiasco became apparent, and it
turned out to be even worse than it had initially appeared. Castro, understandably
outraged at the U.S. attempt to oust him, turned to the Soviet Union for support.
Khrushchev, eager to have an ally so close to U.S. shores, readily welcomed Castro’s
friendship. In 1962, it was revealed that the USSR had installed several nuclear
missiles in Cuba, less than 100 miles off the Florida coast.
o Upon learning of the missiles’ existence, a stunned Kennedy ordered the U.S. Navy
to blockade Cuba and demanded that Khrushchev remove the missiles. Moreover, he
threatened to retaliate against Moscow if Cuba launched any missiles at the United
States. With neither side willing to concede, the world stood on the brink of all-out
nuclear war for nearly two weeks. Finally, Khrushchev offered to remove the missiles
if the United States ended the blockade. Kennedy quickly agreed and likewise
offered to remove from Turkey American nuclear warheads aimed at the USSR. The
Cuban missile crisis was the closest the United States and the Soviet Union came to
nuclear war during the Cold War era.
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Czechoslovakia 1968
o The Czechoslovakian economy was controlled through the Soviet centralised
process, where all raw materials were purchased from the Soviet bloc states.
o There was no pressure to improve the production process or the product. This
practice inhibited economic growth and symbolised to the reformers the basic
problems of Soviet-controlled industrial processes and collectivisation of farming.
o This was only part of the problem; intellectual life and politics needed to be freed
from Soviet control to allow the Czech people to reach their potential.
o In an attempt to calm the factions, Krushchev’s replacement Brezhnev, went to
Prague in December 1967.
o He did not attempt to solve the problems between rival fraction
o In January 1968, the conservative pro-Moscow leader, Notovny, was forced to
resign, and the reformer, Dubcek, became the new party leader.
o Brezhnev and the Kremlin became concerned when Dubcek began the process of
reform and brought in the following changes:
o The censorship of the press and television was removed
o Competitive retail markets were established.
o Industry was decentralised. Factories were to be run by works councils
instead of by party officials.
o The de-collectivisation of farms began and independent cooperatives were
set up.
o The trade unions were given greater powers.
o There was more trade with the West.
o People had the freedom to travel abroad.
o The border with West Germany, closed since 1948, reopened.
o Discussion began about allowing the establishment of non-communist
political parties.
o Dubcek believed that Czechoslovakia should have the freedom of speech and
freedom of the press, so that the wishes of the people could be made known to the
Communist Party.
o Dubcek wanted Czechoslovakia to remain communist but have the features of
democracy.
o He told the Kremlin that Czechoslovakia would remain in the Warsaw Pact and
would continue to be a solid military ally of the Soviet Union.
o Known as:
“Communism with a human face” Dubcek
o As the program of reforms began to affect Czechoslovakian society, the time became
known as the ‘Prague Spring’.
o Brezhnev and the Politburo only decided to act when:
o Dubcek made the suggestion that the formation of non-communist political
parties would be allowed.
o Criticisms of the USSR began to appear in the Czech press.
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o The reforms had gone too far.
o The Kremlin became convinced that it was time to put an end to the democratic
experiment.
o On 21st of August 1968, about 500 000 Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops with tanks
crossed the border into Czechoslovakia and moved into Prague and the other Czech
cities.
o The Czech army put up virtually no resistance to the invading force, but the invaders
did meet an odd kind of resistance: 250 000 Czech citizens, mainly students raised in
communist schools where Russian was taught as a second language, climbed onto
the tanks to argue with the soldiers and present them with flowers.
o The protests subsided when it was clear that the Soviet tanks were staying.
o Dubcek and his colleagues were arrested and taken to Moscow where they were
forced to agree to stop the reform.
o Dubcek was replaced by conservative Husak, who would follow the directions of the
USSR.
o The Soviet handling of the crisis had disastrous results:
o Czechoslovakia had probably been the most pro-Soviet of all the satellite
states, but military intervention succeeded in embittering the Czecks.
o The Soviet intervention put a stop to any further official moves towards
reform in the Soviet bloc.
o On 12th October Brezhnev issued a statement which became known as the
Brezhnev Doctrine, to the effect that the Warsaw Pact countries were not
allowed to follow policies involving any departure from one-party state; if any
developments took place in ant member country which seemed a threat to
socialism, it was the right and the duty of other member states of the Pact to
intervene militarily in order to bring the reforms to an end.
Détente
o A relaxation of tension between the USSR and the West
o After events in the late 1960s, relations between the West and East improved
considerable
o Evidence;
o 1968 – Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty; Banned transfer of
nuclear weapons to other countries (signed by GB, US, USSR, however China
and France refused to sign)
o 1971 – Four Power Agreement; Maintained the status of Berlin
o 1971 – Peace Program; Brezhnev called for reduction in nuclear levels, end of
violence in Vietnam and the Middle-east
o 1972 – SALT I; Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (limited the number of
anti- ballistic missiles to two each), Interim Agreement on offensive arms (5
year freeze on ICBMs and SLBMs).
 Flaw: Did not place limits on strategic bombers)
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o 1972 – Soviet-US trade agreement; Allowed high-tech exports to the USSR,
however was ended by the US Senate because the agreement became too
dependence on Jewish emigration from the USSR to the US
o 1975 – Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe; The so called three
baskets were:
o Recognition of existing frontiers and acceptance of spheres of influence,
o all military exercises involving 25,000+ troops had to be announced,
worked together towards a closer economy and cultural ties,
o and for the respect of human rights (however the USSR was not happy
with the human rights basket)
 1979 – SALT II; Cap on nuclear missile launchers, MIRV warheads, and heavy
bombers, limited the number of ICBMs and SLBMs, US Senate never formally
agreed to it
 Important Soviet-US Summits (Face-to-Face meetings); 1972 Brezhnev and
Nixon, 1973 Brezhnev and Nixon, 1974 Brezhnev and Nixon, 1974Brezhnev and
Ford, 1979 Brezhnev and Carter
 NB; Willy Brandt (West German chancellor) did a significant amount of work to
help regularize relations between the US and the USSR through Soviet-West
German non-aggression pact, and the East-German West-German Basic Treaty
o Why did the Soviets want détente?
o Did not want further escalation of the arms race, due to already high
spending on defence, and the already stagnating economy
o Concerned about the danger and repercussions of a nuclear war
o USSR needed Western technology
o USSR was worried about the Sino-Soviet split and the improving
relations between China and the USA
 Why did the Americans want détente?
o To reduce the risk of a nuclear war
o Nixon and Kissinger wanted to build relations with the USSR with the
intention of deterring USSR from expansionist foreign policy by providing
economic incentives
o Nixon wanted Chinese and Soviet support in resolving the crisis in Vietnam,
with the aim of achieving acceptable peace
o Nixon was worried about the escalating cost of the arms race, in addition to
the already costly Vietnam war and 1973 recession
“With the fading of détente went the realisation that war – nuclear war – had never really
gone away” Hughes-Wilson
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Vietnam
o A growing crisis in French Indochina proved to be no less challenging for Eisenhower
than the Suez crisis. Ever since World War I, Vietnamese nationalists under the
leadership of Ho Chi Minh had sought independence from France, the colonial power
in the region. Although originally more nationalist and anticolonial than Communist,
Ho turned to the Soviet Union in the 1950s after U.S. officials had rebuffed his earlier
requests for help in securing independence. The USSR supplied money and arms to
the Vietminh forces, putting Eisenhower in the difficult position of supporting a
French colonial possession in order to contain the USSR.
o When the key French garrison at Dien Bien Phu fell to Ho Chi Minh’s troops in 1954,
Eisenhower promised to assist the French economically. Many U.S. foreign policy
thinkers feared that if one Southeast Asian country fell to Communism, all the others
would fall as well, just like a row of dominoes. This so-called domino theory
prompted Secretary of State Dulles and Vice President Nixon to advocate the use of
nuclear weapons against the North Vietnamese. Remembering the fruitless war in
Korea, however, Eisenhower merely responded, “I can conceive of no greater
tragedy than for the United States to become engaged in all-out war in Indochina.”
Nevertheless, Eisenhower’s financial commitment to contain Communism in
Vietnam after the fall of Dien Bien Phu laid the groundwork for what eventually
devolved into the Vietnam War.
o An international convention in Geneva, Switzerland, tried to avert further conflict in
Vietnam by temporarily splitting the country into two countries, with the dividing
line at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh erected his own government in Hanoi in North
Vietnam, while American-supported Ngo Dinh Diem founded a South Vietnamese
government in Saigon. This Geneva Conference agreement stipulated that the
division would be only temporary, a stopgap to maintain peace until national
elections could be held to reunite the country democratically.
o Although the USSR consented to the agreement, Eisenhower rejected it. Instead, he
pledged continued economic support to Ngo Dinh Diem and convinced Great Britain,
France, Australia, and other regional nations to join the mostly symbolic Southeast
Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), modelled after the highly successful NATO.
o Kennedy first applied his new doctrine to the problem in Vietnam, which was
becoming an even greater problem than Laos had been. The United States had been
funding Ngo Dinh Diem’s corrupt South Vietnamese regime since Eisenhower first
pledged support after the fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Most South Vietnamese,
however, hated Diem, resented the United States for keeping him in power, and
threatened to overthrow him on numerous occasions. To prevent Communistbacked insurgents from taking control of South Vietnam, Kennedy increased
American commitment by sending approximately 15,000 U.S. servicemen to Saigon,
ostensibly as mere “military advisors.” When anti-Diem sentiment continued to
intensify, however, the United States supported exactly what it had tried to
prevent—it allowed a 1963 coup to overthrow Diem.
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o Kennedy’s decision to send “military advisors” to South Vietnam drastically increased
U.S. involvement in the Vietnamese civil war. Eisenhower, after all, had merely
funded the anti-Communist faction, just as Truman had funded such factions in
Greece and Turkey in the late 1940s. Because the United States sent troops,
regardless of what they were called, responsibility for the war began to shift away
from South Vietnam and onto the United States. The arrival of the first group of
soldiers in Vietnam opened the floodgates, and additional troops soon followed.
Eventually, Kennedy and future presidents would find it politically impossible to
recall U.S. forces without having first defeated the pro-Communist North
Vietnamese. Kennedy’s decision to send “military advisors” ultimately proved to be a
costly mistake that entangled the United States in what would prove to be the
longest and least successful war in American history to date.
“domestic unrest, mounting taxes and endless casualities, all fuelled an increasing climate of
war weariness” Hughes-Wilson
Sino-Soviet Split
o Relationships between the United States and USSR became affected by Sino-Soviet
developments.
o The new Chinese Communist government began to introduce Stalinist policies at the
time that the Soviet Union was abandoning them.
o Khrushchev failed to establish a sound relationship with Mao, the Chinese leader. He
failed to consult the Chinese leadership over the policy of peaceful co-existence and
Mao set out to compete with Soviet influence.
o China encouraged Romania to take an independent line from Moscow and it
competed with the Soviets in Third World influence. It also encouraged territorial
disputes along the border with Russia.
o By 1964 China had the atomic bomb and was now regarded as a superpower.
o The bi-polar world of the early Cold War had changed to become a multi-polar world
with greater complications.
o China set out in the 1970s to end its international isolation and saw an
accommodation with the United States as beneficial to its development and standing
as well as a way of snubbing the Soviets.
o The outcome of these actions of China for the United States was to give it a chance
to split the Communist camp and reduce the power and influence of the Soviets
through peaceful diplomacy.
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The Middle East
o The Middle East conflicts signalled a new arena that the Cold War would be
played in against the backdrop of rising Islamic fundamentalism.
o Background
 The Middle East, with its extensive oil reserves, was of strategic
importance during the Cold War for both the Soviets and
Americans.
o Conflict
 Six Day War – 10th June 1967 US ally Israel invades Egypt with
American arms and gains large areas of land. Also attacks Syria,
Jordan and Iraq. Russia supports Syria and Egypt. Hatred for Israel
intensified. This threatens American oil interests.
 Yom Kippur War – 6th October 1973 Egypt attacks Israel. America
backs Israel and Russia continues to back Egypt. Israel was
eventually victorious.
o Resolution
 Both conflicts saw Russia and the US back opposing sides.
However, both were largely unwilling to become heavily involved
in the conflict due to the new détente policies and their need to
ensure oil supplies.
Afghanistan 1979
o The failed war in Afghanistan epitomised the declining power and influence of the
Soviet Union and signalled the end of the all powerful communist bloc.
o Background
 Afghanistan was a large Muslim nation in the Middle East. The US,
Russia and China all had vested interests in the region due to its oil.
Afghanistan was also becoming increasingly unstable with an increase
in Islamic fundamentalism. The Soviets especially felt the need to
control the area, as it felt the rise in Islamic fundamentalism might
infiltrate into the large Muslim populations it contained within its
empire.
o Conflict
 On the 25 December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in
order to install a pro- Soviet puppet government. Over 100 000 Soviet
troops swept into the nation.
o Resolution
 As a result the US issued a formal note of protest to effectively end
the Détente period between the Soviet Union and US. The US
withdrew from the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow and refused to
ratify the SALT II treaty. America imposed economic sanctions on the
USSR, aided the Afghanistan rebels (the Mujahidin) with weapons and
resources and began to increase weapons production.
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As for the Soviets, they were dragged into a prolonged struggle
throughout Afghanistan which some refer to as ‘Russia’s Vietnam’.
Humiliated, Russia ultimately withdrew in 1990. Faced with another
escalation of the Cold War it could ill afford, the Afghanistan crisis
contributed to the ultimate collapse of Soviet communism.
“Reagan was determined to meet the Communist threat, which he believed omnipresent,
head on” Paterson
Reagan
The Administration of Ronald Reagan (Republican President 1981-1989)
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Events in the 1970s had created a sense of frustration and loss of confidence in the
US. These included Watergate, stagflation, the energy crisis, the defeat in Vietnam,
and the Iranian hostage crisis.
The events resulted in:
o decline in American military strength around the world
o decline in productivity and innovation in American industry
o a perception of their being weaknesses in the office of the Presidency
o the OPEC oil crisis
o divisions within the Congress that made coherent political action impossible.
o Inflation in the American economy running at 18%.
Ronald Reagan campaigned for the Presidency against this backdrop and defeated
the incumbent president, Jimmy Carter, in a landslide. In addition, the Republicans
won control of the Senate for the first time since 1954.
Reagan was one of the most controversial US presidents. His supporters claim that
he rebuilt America’s military might, regained the nation’s place as the world’s preeminent power and restored American pride and patriotism.
Reagan’s administration doubled the US defence budget going from $165 billion in
1981 to $330 billion in 1987.
During the early years of his presidency Cold War tensions increased. During the
1980 presidential campaign Reagan described communism as “a form of insanity
(that) is contrary to human nature” and the Soviet Union as “the focus of evil in the
modern world”. He also said that détente, “has been a one-way street that the
Soviets have used to continue moving toward the Marxist goal of a socialist, one
world state.” In September 1983 he described the Soviet Union as, “an evil empire”.
Reagan then called for a space-based missile defence system – “Star Wars”. This
initiative it was claimed, could give protection against a nuclear attack and thus
would remove the need for deterrence. However, this policy had the effect of
potentially renewing the arms race. This presented a new threat to peace and
stability and the early stages of Reagan’s presidency was characterised as a ‘new
cold war’. (McDougall p.101)
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Reagan and his advisers tended to view every regional conflict as part of the Cold
War. This was particularly so in Central and South America. When a radical Marxist
government took over Grenada in October1983 Reagan sent in US forces and
overthrew the new regime. This was seen by most Latin American nations as an
example of “Yankee imperialism”.
In 1985 in his state of the union address he spelt out the “Reagan Doctrine”. This
meant US support for anti-Communist revolutions. He said, “We must not break faith
with those who are risking their lives on every continent from Afghanistan to
Nicaragua to defy Soviet-supported aggression.”
In Afghanistan the US provided aid to anti-Soviet ‘freedom fighters’ which ultimately
helped to force the Soviet Union to withdraw.
In Nicaragua, Reagan sponsored the CIA-backed anti-Sandinista rebels or ‘Contras’.
The CIA mined Nicaraguan harbours and issued a manual offering ways of
assassinating Sandinistas. In 1984 the US Congress ordered a stop to all such covert
activities. Reagan’s administration then sought financial support for these activities
from private individuals and foreign governments seeking US favours. Reagan also
allowed arms sales to Iran, an avowed enemy of the US, in order to sponsor the
Contras. This Iran-Contra Affair eventually blew up in 1986 and a congressional
investigation weakened the influence of Reagan from that point.
“Reagan refused to budge on Star Was but offered Gorbachev access to the technology”
Hughes-Wilson
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Gorbachev
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In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party. He
was a 54-year old agricultural specialist with little formal experience in foreign
affairs. Gorbachev advocated a policy of “glasnost” or “openness” which described
the new critical approach to the old Soviet system of government. He also adopted
the policy of “perestroika” or “restructuring” which indicated that major changes
needed to be made in the Soviet Union. With Gorbachev, Reagan began to make
concessions. He concluded a treaty that eliminated INF (Intermediate range Nuclear
Forces) and began negotiations on START, a strategic arms reduction treaty.
In foreign policy Gorbachev:
o Put less emphasis on the role of the military
o Abandoned the traditional Soviet aim of military parity with the United States
o Abandoned the claim to a protective chain of satellite nations in Eastern
Europe
o Reversed the Brezhnev doctrine of military intervention in Communist
countries
o Cut the Soviet defence budget
o Withdrew 115,000 Soviet troops from Afghanistan
o Unilaterally pulled 500,000 Soviet troops and 10,000 tanks out of Europe
o Agreed to let a unified Germany join NATO
o Agreed with the US to destroy short-range and medium-range nuclear
weapons
o Stimulated settlements of conflicts in Angola, Namibia, Cambodia
“In a triumph of pragmatism over ideology, Gorbachev came to accept that to save the
Communist system he would have to reform it in some major way” Sheehy
Disarmament Agreements 1987-1991
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Reagan and Gorbachev Geneva Summit, October, 1985
o This period from late 1984 to 1991 is seen by many observers as a period of
new détente. It encompasses the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev as
General Secretary of the Communist Party in March 1985 and the second
presidential term for Ronald Reagan and later George Bush.
o As a background to this conference, Gorbachev gave an interview
to Time magazine where he drew a distinction between research into the
Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) which he hinted was acceptable, and
developing of weapons systems, which was not. (Walker, p.290)
At this conference Gorbachev spelt out his ‘New Thinking’ in foreign affairs.
o They agreed in principle to work towards a Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
(START) which would cut nuclear arsenals in half.
o Reagan wanted Gorbachev to understand his thinking on SDI. He said, ‘if our
research succeeds, nations could defend themselves against missile attack,
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and mankind, at long last, escape the prison of mutual terror. And this is my
dream.’
o Both men’s claims were dismissed by many as no more than a dream and an
example of cynical propaganda but ‘each man believed in what he was
saying, even if his advisers did not.’ (Walker, p.291) They continued to
explore ways to reduce arms and embarked on a ‘long and private
correspondence which explored in great detail their evolving thinking on
disarmament’. (Walker, p.292) From these letters and other public
statements came both the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) and the START
treaties.
Reykjavik in Iceland in October 1986
o The discussions begun in Geneva continued at a successful Summit meeting
in Reykjavik in Iceland in October1986. This Summit did not result in a specific
agreement but it showed that Gorbachev and Reagan were coming closer on
a number of issues. At this Summit Gorbachev gave a detailed scenario for
nuclear disarmament by 2000. They agreed that strategic nuclear missiles
should be reduced by 50% within five years and that each power should be
limited to 1,600 missiles and 6,000 warheads. INF (Intermediate Nuclear
Forces) were to be withdrawn from Europe. This agreement collapsed when
Reagan refused to modify his commitment to his SDI program. They also
agreed to eventually eliminate other nuclear delivery systems, including
bombers. They also turned to tactical and battlefield nuclear weapons, and in
order to eliminate them, Gorbachev pledged dramatic cuts in Soviet
conventional forces. (Walker, p.293)
o Perhaps the best understanding of the success of Reykjavik is a quote from
Reagan. ‘For a day and a half, Gorbachev and I made progress on arms
reduction that even now seems breathtaking.’ (Walker, p.293)
o Gorbachev wrote: “Reykjavik marked a turning point in world history. It
tangibly demonstrated that the world could be improved.” (Walker, p.295)
Washington, December 1987
o In Washington a further meeting occurred in December1987. Here
Gorbachev agreed to consider each issue on its merits, starting with the INF
Treaty being signed. Further agreements were made about a reduction to
4,900 ballistic missile warheads as a sub limit. This was a further
breakthrough. Walker (p.295) argues that, ‘The Washington summit was a
thundering success, largely because it was built on the foundations laid at
Reykjavik.’ Walker believes that the Reykjavik and later Washington summits,
‘ended the New Cold War which had begun when she (Mrs Thatcher) and
President Reagan came to power’.
Final meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan Moscow May-June1988
o One newspaper reported this meeting as ‘great theatre, as Ronald Reagan,
the cold war monger, turned peacenik . . . there were protestations of warm
friendship and a palpable relaxation of tensions.’ Nine minor treaties and
agreements were signed at this last meeting between the two leaders.
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Achievements included arms control, regional issues and human rights. A
new treaty was signed eliminating 3000 medium-range missile warheads and
both sides came much closer to signing the START treaty which would
eliminate 12000 long-range weapons. Whilst much ground had been covered
in Moscow there was still some distance to go before the Cold War and its
attendant arms race would end. There were NO agreements on:
o Star Wars, which remained a serious obstacle.
o An end to the trade sanctions imposed by the US against the SU because of
Afghanistan
o A joint declaration that force would no longer be used by either side against
each other or around the world.
The final Summit for Gorbachev was with President Bush in 1991 in Moscow
o It was at this summit that the START Treaty was signed completing what had
begun in Geneva in 1985.
“For the first time in the atomic era, an entire class of nuclear weapons was being not just
limited but eliminated.”
Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR
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The USSR’s declining influence in the late 1980s set off a chain reaction.
With Gorbachev’s sweeping reforms, unification of Germany followed by 1990.
The two Germanys were unified on the 3rd of October 1990, creating the Federal
Republic of Germany.
The USSR collapsed when Gorbachev resigned as leader of the CPSU (Communist
Party of the Soviet Union) and banned any Party involvement in government affairs.
Without central authority and control the USSR began to break up.
The collapse of the Soviet Union meant that:
o The countries of Eastern Europe regained total control of their destinies
o The Russian Empire of the Tsars fragmented
o Russia, the largest of the republics of the USSR, was no longer a superpower.
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