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The Cold War
A Brief Summary
Following the second World War, the U.S.
and Western Europe engaged in a “Cold
War” with the Soviet Union. This conflict
between the two nuclear powers was fought
mostly in the emerging countries of the 3rd
world.
What is the cold war?
The power struggle and
state of hostility between
the U.S. and the Soviet
Union (and their allies)
after WWII
Why the Cold War?
The U.S. and Soviets had conflicting
political and economic views
The Soviet Union and the U.S. had different
goals as they emerged from WWII
The Soviets and U.S. emerged from WWII
as Super Powers
U.S. Goals
Allow for selfdetermination in all
nations
Gain access to raw
material and markets
Rebuild European
gov. to create stability
and new markets for
U.S. goods
Reunite Germany
Soviet Goals
Encourage communism
in other countries
Rebuild Eastern Europe
using soviet labor and
raw materials
Control Eastern Europe
to create a buffer zone
between Germany and
balance U.S. Western
European influence
Keep Germany weak and
divided
Yalta Conference (1945)
Churchill,Stalin and FDR meet
They agree to self-determination after the war
Divide Germany into four military zones
After Yalta (and FDR’s death) Truman confronts
the Soviet Union at Potsdam
Harry Truman challenges the Soviet Union for violating
the agreements made at Yalta
Soviets had installed a communist regime in Poland,
and not allowed for self determination
Truman could not take action to stop them as Soviets
were in a strong place in Europe
UN is mostly
ineffective
Set up in a San
Francisco
conference in
April of 1945
The UN charter set
the U.S., the
Soviet Union,
China, France and
Britain as
members of the
Security Council
U.S. and Soviet Union
block each other's
actions
UN is the 1st casualty
of the cold war
Soviets take control
Set up communist gov. in countries they
“liberate” from the Germans
Includes East Germany
also includes Poland Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania
Known as Soviet Block or Soviet Satellite
countries
Churchill coins term Iron Curtain to define
the division that exists between Western
and Eastern Europe
“An Iron Curtain….”
Winston Churchill coined
this term.
Famous speech on March
5, 1946 at Westminster
College, in Fulton,
Missouri.
CLICK for text and video
of speech
9
10
Churchill’s Warning…
Churchill felt that behind
the Iron Curtain, the
USSR was planning to
attack and conquer
Western Europe.
11
1970’s map
Containment
CONTAINMENT: The
U.S. plan to actively
stop the spread of
communism
Three Examples of Containment
# One- The Truman Doctrine: The U.S.
promise to join or support any fight against
Communism
Great Britain announces it can no longer protect
western interest in the Mediterranean
Soviets demand control of the Dardanelles from
Turkey
The U.S. approved $400 million in aid and
military support to Turkey and Greece
# Two- The Marshall Plan
Western Europe becomes vulnerable to
Soviet influence by 1947
Marshall (sec. of state) draws up a plan to
give financial aid and
provide basic supplies
to help rebuild
these countries
# Three- NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
An alliance of democratic nations that agreed to
assist each other if attacked by a communist
nation
“An armed attack against one or more shall be
considered an attack on all.” –President Truman
Formed SEATO (Southeast Asian Treaty
Organization) as a counter part in the Pacific
Soviets form their own alliance called the
Warsaw Pact in 1955
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Germany is divided into four zones after
WWII
The Soviet sector remains separate when the
French, British and U.S. sectors join in 1947
to form West Germany
Berlin is also divided into four sectors but it
is 100 miles inside the Soviet Zone
Division of Germany
The Allies decided to
divide Germany into 4
zones after the war.
Also, the capital of Berlin
was divided into 4 sectors.
SEE next 2 slides
18
June 1948, Stalin attempts to starve West Berliners into
submission.
All rail and street access was blocked.
1st Truman plans a massive airlift of supplies.
Second he transfers 60 American b-52’s to
Britain supposedly carrying atomic bombs
Blockade ends in early 1949
Later in 1961 Khrushchev built a wall to stop
the flow of East Germans to West Berlin
known as the Berlin Wall
Warsaw Pact
Communist Response to NATO.
Signed on May 1, 1955 in Warsaw, Poland
Military treaty, which bound its signatories to come to
the aid of the others, should any one of them be the
victim of foreign aggression.
Original Members:
Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Rumania,
the USSR, and the Czechoslovak Republic.
The Soviets get the nuclear bomb
The Soviets Develop the Atomic Bomb (1949)
The U.S. responds by building the H-bomb, or
hydrogen bomb (1952)
This is the beginning
of an “arms race”
between us and the
USSR in which we
compete to build bigger
and more weapons than
one another
Cold War in Asia
Communism in China
China struggles
with a rebellion
from the end of
WWI
Chinese emperor
forced from
throne.
Chiang Kai-shek
is the Nationalist
Chinese Leader
Mao Zedong is the Communist leader
With the support of the Soviets and the
peasants of the countryside the communist
led by Mao win the civil war with
Nationalists. “The Long March”
The National Chinese government moves to
exile in Taiwan in defeat against the
Communists.
Mao Zedong reforms China
Great Leap Forward
Mao Zedong’s plan to expand the Chinese
economy by moving peasants on to large
communes with 25K people
The great dislike of the plan and several years
of famine made it a failure and “great leap
backwards”
Why failure? Poor harvests and no motivation
Cultural Revolution
Goals was to establish a society of equal peasants
and workers
Intellectualism and learning were considered
useless and dangerous
The Communist Red Guards shut down schools
and lashed out at teachers, gov. officials and
business managers.
These individuals were “purified” through hard
work in labor camps
The chaos that resulted led Mao to stop the
Cultural Rev. and disband the Red Guards
Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution-Four Olds
Communist Aggression in Korea
Korea is divided at the 38th parallel in 1945
U.S. controls the South, the Soviets the North
Each country sets up governments before they
withdrawal their troops in 1949
North Korea is communist
South Korea is not
On June 25, 1950 North Korean troops cross the
38th parallel
President Truman gets the UN to send troops to
protect the south
Douglas MacArthur is labeled the commander
of the UN troops (and most are U.S. troops)
Fighting begins badly
Tide begins to turn and Truman shifts his goals
to unifying all of Korea instead of just
protecting the south
China warns that if American troops were in
North Korea they would respond with force
U.S./UN forces cross the 38th parallel in October
and advance to the Yalu river
The Chinese fulfill their promise and attack the
U.S./UN forces
Korean war continues with each side
gaining small advances back and forth from
1951-1953
On July 27, 1953 a truce ends the war
dividing Korea close to the 38th parallel
Cold War in America
(1945-1960)
Was there reason to be
concerned? YES!
Soviet domination of
Eastern Europe
China turned Communist –
1 billion people!
80,000 Americans members
of Communist party
Loyalty Review Board
Set up by President
Truman in March
1947.
Purpose?
Investigate Federal
government employees
and dismiss those
disloyal to US
212 dismissed
House on Un-American
Activities Committee (HUAC)
1947= House of
Representatives
Investigate
Communist
influence in the
movie industry
‘Hollywood Ten’
10 Hollywood
screenwriters and
directors who
refused to testify
before HUAC.
Charged with
contempt of
Congress.
Claimed 1st
Amendment right of
free speech
Blacklisted
Following a meeting of film industry
executives at New York's WaldorfAstoria hotel, MPAA president
Johnston issued a press release on
the executives' behalf that is today
referred to as the Waldorf Statement.
The statement declared that the ten
would be fired or suspended without
pay and not reemployed until they
were cleared of contempt charges
and had sworn that they were not
Communists.
The first Hollywood blacklist was
now in effect.
Spy Cases Shock the US
During the late
1940s and early
1950s, America
was rocked by
sensational
stories of
Americans
spying for the
Soviet Union.
Alger Hiss
Hiss worked for the US
State Department.
Accused of being a spy
for the USSR.
Found guilty of
perjury.
Later (1990s) Hiss was
proven to be a spy for
the USSR.
The Rosenbergs
American Communists who
were found guilty of
conspiracy to commit
espionage in relation to
passing information on the
American nuclear bomb to
the Soviet Union.
The couple were executed
at sundown in the electric
chair at Sing Sing
Correctional Facility in
Ossining, New York, on
June 19, 1953.
McCarthyism
Senator Joe
McCarthy
became the most
famous antiCommunist
activist.
Used the issue to
help win reelection in 1950.
McCarthy’s Tactics
Made one
unsupported
accusation after
another.
He would bully
witnesses.
McCarthyism =
tactics used to
advance your
career.
McCarthy’s Downfall
In 1954 McCarthy made accusations against the
US Army.
Led to televised Senate investigation; and
American people did not like McCarthy’s tactics.
His popularity dropped greatly.
Central Intelligence Agency-CIA
Used spies to
gather information
abroad
Began to carry out
covert operations
to weaken or
overthrow
governments
unfriendly to the
United States.
Iran
One of the CIAs first
covert actions tool
place in Iran when
Iran’s Prime minister
Mohammed
Mossadegh
nationalized Iran’s oil
fields.
CIA worked to
remove Mossadegh
Shah of Iran
CIA “Operation
Ajax” caused the
downfall of
Mossadegh from
office.
The Shah, backed by
the US, formed a
government friendly
to the US.
Suez War- 1956
Egypt nationalized the
Suez Canal and would not
allow ships headed for
Israel to pass through – all
nations were supposed to
have access.
French, English, Israeli
force attacked Egypt.
After discussion, canal was
opened.
Hungarian Uprising
1956
The Hungarian
people, tired of
Soviet domination in
their country, rose
in revolt and called
for a democratic
government.
The Soviet response
was swift and
brutal:
USSR Crushes
Rebellion
Soviet tanks rolled
into Hungary and
killed 30,000
Hungarians and
executed the
resistance leader –
Imre Nagy.
US and UN did
nothing to help.
Space Race
On October 4, 1957
the Soviet Union
successfully
launched Sputnik I.
The world's first
artificial satellite
was about the size of
a beach ball.
Race to control space was on!
Orbited the earth in
98 minutes.
U-2 Incident
U-2 was designed to be high altitude
reconnaissance plane.
CIA used these to spy on USSR and one
was shot down on May 1, 1960.
Cuban Missile Crisis
The U.S. had a troubled
relationship with its southern
Communist neighbor
i.e. supported a failed
attempt to overthrow Castro
known as the Bay of Pigs
invasion (April 1961)
October 1962 American
reconnaissance planes discover
the Soviets installing missiles
in Cuba, 90 miles off the
Florida coast
Kennedy and his advisors debated how to
respond
Decide on a naval blockade of Cuba and
takes concern to UN to explain actions
For several tense days
U.S. waits to hear from
the prime minister of the
USSR, Nikita Khrushchev
Meanwhile several
Soviet ships steamed
towards Cuba and our blockade line
Working through back channels Khrushchev
sent Kennedy a message
Agreed to remove missiles if U.S. promised not to
invade Cuba
Ships stopped outside of blockade line and crisis
was averted
Is the closest the U.S and Soviets ever came to
nuclear war
The Cold War in Vietnam
After WWII Ho Chi Minh, a
Vietnamese nationalist, turns to
communist for help in struggle against French
Ho chi Minh forms the Vietminh, a communist
group
French no longer want colony in Vietnam after
defeat at Dien Bien Phu
Vietnam is divided (17 N Latitude)
Ngo Dinh Diem leads an anti –communist
gov. in the south
U.S. is concerned with Vietnam
becoming communist because of
domino theory
Domino theory: fall of Vietnam to
communist, would lead to the fall
of its neighbors
U.S. sends military advisors to
the south
Ngo Dinh Diem’s harsh policies lead to the rise of
the Vietcong, a southern communist group
After Gulf of Tonkin, more U.S. troops are sent
and join the fight under President Johnson
Under Nixon U.S. withdraws,
Vietnamization
Shortly after US leaves, communist take
over Vietnam
Domino theory proves correct in Cambodia
The Soviets face new challenges
In the USSR
Nikita Khrushchev (1953): destalinization
For the Soviet satellites
Hungary (Led by Imre Nagy) tries to revolt and
revolt is put down by the Soviet military (1956)
Czechoslovakia’s Communist leader
(Alexander Dubcek) loosens censorship rules in
the Prague Spring, Warsaw Pact troops invade
(1968)
U.S. policy evolves
John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson use
the policy of brinkmanship
Brinkmanship is the willingness to go the brink
or edge of war
Nixon: Détente
Détente is the policy of relaxing or lessening
Cold War tensions
SALT I Treaty limits number of arms each
country could have (1972)
Soviet Invasion of
Afghanistan
Timeline
1953 Afghan Prime Minister Daud creates alliance with
USSR for economic and military assistance.
1978 Islamic and ethnic leaders who oppose communist
ideology begin armed revolt in Afghan countryside.
(The Mujahideen)
1979 At request of Afghan govt. USSR sends troops to
collapse opposition.
1985 ½ of Afghan population displaced by civil war
1986 U.S. supplies Mujahideen with Stinger missiles,
to shoot down Soviet helicopter gunships.
Soviet/Afghan War
1988 Afghanistan, USSR, U.S.
and Pakistan sign peace accords.
1989 Last of USSR troops leave
Mujahideen triumph
1994 Factional contests for power result in Taliban
government.
1996 Taleban seize control of Kabul and introduce hardline version of Islam, banning women from work, and
introducing extreme Islamic punishments, which include
stoning to death and amputations.
Gorbachev moves towards
democracy(1982)
New, younger leader
Began changing Soviet
society with new policies
Glasnost-openness, people in
Soviet Union could now
openly criticize the government
Perestroika-economic
restructuring, tried to revive the Soviet economy
Stressed diplomacy over the use of force
Soviets loose their grip on Eastern Europe
Poland Hungary, Czechoslovakia and
Romania all reform or disband their
communist gov. in the
early 1990s
Germany
Berlin Wall is torn down,
November 1989
Germany is reunified and
works to establish a combined
country (1990)
Soviet Union collapses
Lithuania tries to succeed, and Gorbachev
sends in army (1991)
Boris Yeltsin criticizes Gorbachev
August coup of hard line Communist (1991)
attempts to overthrow Gorbachev
Yeltsin supports Gorbachev
The failed coup brings an end to the
Communist party
Gorbachev resigns
Soviet Union is broken up
Estonia and Latvia declare their independence
By December 1991, 15 republics of the USSR
declared their independence
Yeltsin becomes president-faces challenges
The Economy
• Shock therapy tries to reform the Russian economy by
abruptly shifting to a free-market
• Created economic hardship initially
Chechnya Rebels
•
•
•
•
Declares their independence in 1991
Yeltsin does not let the region secede
Yeltsin sends troops to Chechnya, many civilians killed
Ongoing today
Yugoslavia Falls Apart
Country made up after World War I
Contains six major ethnic groups
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, and Croatia
declare their independence in the early
1990s
A war erupts and Serbs in Bosnia oppose
independence and use ethnic cleansing
against Muslims and Croats