Download The Cold War Ch. 38-40

The Cold War
Ch. 38-39
KEY QUESTIONS:
HOW DID THE UNITED STATES AND THE SOVIET UNION
BECOME COLD WAR ENEMIES?
WERE THE METHODS USED BY THE U.S. TO CONTAIN
COMMUNISM JUSTIFIED?
HOW DID THE ANXIETIES RAISED BY THE COLD WAR AFFECT
LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES?
POST WWII EUROPE
POST WWII GERMANY
38.2 Forming an Uneasy Peace
 After WWII, U.S. and Soviet Union remained as the
two major superpowers
 Agreed at the Yalta Conference that Eastern Europe
should be Democratic
 Later at the Potsdam Conference, much changed



FDR replaced by Truman
Churchill replaced by Attlee
Even though Stalin promised elections, most that had occurred
had been rigged by the Soviets
38.2 continued
 How did the Soviets and Americans view Eastern
Europe?
SOVIETS
They needed it for
security (During both
world wars they were
invaded from their
border with Western
Europe).
UNITED STATES
They wanted it to be
independent. The United
States believed they
would become
democratic by choice and
become allies of the
United States.
American/Soviet Experiences of the War
United States
Soviet Union
Number of Casualties
290,000 Soldiers Killed
7 Million Soldiers, 20
Million Total Russians
Damage to Country
Harbor bombed by
Japanese, no other
damage to country
Entire Cities destroyed,
farms and livestock killed.
Financial Cost
Spent $320 Billion
financing the war,
invigorating U.S.
Economy
Required millions of
dollars worth of aid in
food, medicine,
equipment.
Competing Ideologies
Communism
Capitalism
 The State makes most
 Individuals make most
of decisions


Gov’t decides what is
produced
Limited choices for what
to purchase
 View Capitalism as
taking advantage of the
“proletariat” or
working class
decisions


What to produce
What to purchase
 Most things are
privately owned
Cold War Heats Up
 With Access to Nuclear Weapons and growing
economies, U.S. and USSR became Superpowers
 US believed that it needed to contain Soviet
expansion

Became central piece of U.S. Foreign Policy until the 1990s
 Iron Curtain
 Winston Churchill made a speech in 1946 in which he talked
about the growing Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.

“ From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an
iron curtain has descended across the continent.”
Cold War Heats Up
 U.S. wanted to limit USSR’s Nuclear capabilities
 1946 Bernard Baruch proposed banning nuclear weapons
development.
 How did the U.S. attempt this?
 The Baruch Plan. Which would est. the UN Atomic Energy
Commission
 What was Soviet Reaction?
 They rejected the plan unless the US agreed to destroy all of its
weapons.
 Hint: Pg. 495
Soviet Expansion
 In many countries, the
Soviet Union used its power
to influence the
governments of several
countries.
 U.S. was concerned that
this would lead to USSR
taking over the world one
country at a time
 Truman Doctrine

Limit the expansion of
communism and Soviet
influence at all costs
Rebuilding Europe
 Europe was heavily damaged and in economic ruin
after WWII
 Both the U.S. and USSR saw an opportunity to gain
support from European countries
 U.S. Marshall plan offered aid to European countries
that would support the United States

Western European Countries supported this
 Soviets responded with the Molotov Plan
 Eastern European Countries forced to follow this
39.2 Dealing with Postwar Europe
 After WWII, Germany was divided into 4 zones
 American, British, French, Soviet
 Americans, British, and French wanted to reunify Germany as
a democratic, capitalist country
 Soviets were angered and blockaded Berlin
 Americans dropped millions of pounds of supplies
into Berlin in the “Berlin Airlift”
 Uprising in Hungary tests U.S. Containment policy

U.S. does not intervene, afraid of risking a war with USSR
39.2 Dealing with Postwar Europe
 Two alliances were formed in 1949 to provide for
mutual defense and essentially divided Europe in
half.
 NATO: The United States and Western European
nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization
 Warsaw Pact: The Soviet Union responded by
forming an alliance with the Communist
countries of Eastern Europe.
39.3 Cold War in Asia
 1949, China falls to communist Mao Zedong
 US feared communist expansion from China; turned to Japan
as an ally in Asia
 Cut off all trade and communication with China in 1949
 In 1950, Communist North Korea invaded South
Korea, sparking the Korean War.



U.S. Forces invaded North Korea, almost to the border with
China
Feeling threatened, China sent 400,000 troops into North
Korea.
In 1953, an armistice was signed; countries technically still at
war
Fighting the Cold War in the Third World
 Both sides used economic and covert or secret means
to influence developing countries
 US very involved in South America

Often would support anticommunist dictators, despite their
treatment of their people
 Soviets countered US efforts with their own
 CIA used its influence to spread capitalism and
democracy, even through undemocratic means

Overthrew leaders in Iran, Guatemala, and Dominican
Republic
Arms Race
 Both sides attempted to stockpile as many nuclear
weapons as they could, and position them in
locations that would give them an advantage
 Brinksmanship (promoted by John Dulles)

Playing chicken with Nuclear Weapons
 Deterrence policy of Mutually Assured Destruction
 “If you shoot at me, I WILL shoot at you”
 Nuclear Stockpiles:
 US: 10,000 warheads
USSR: 9,000 warheads
China/UK/France: ~100 warheads
CH. 40 Vocab
 Communist Sympathizers:

A person who believes in communist ideology but is not a
member of the Communist Party
 House Un-American Activities Committee

Formed in 1938, a committee of the U.S House of
Representatives that investigated subversive organizations
in the United States in 1975.
 Alger Hiss Case

A court case involving Alger Hiss, a U.S. State Department
official accused of passing secrets to the Soviet Union, that
contributed to a growing fear of subversion during the
early Cold War. In 1950 a grad jury convicted Hiss of
perjury but his guilt in regard to espionage was not proven.
CH. 40 Vocab
 Rosenberg trial
 The controversial 1951 trial of two Americans, Ethel
and Julius Rosenberg, charged with passing atomic
secrets to the Soviets; the two were sentenced to
death and executed in 1953, making them the only
America civilians to be put to death for spying during
the Cold War
 McCarthyism
 The practice of publicly accusing people of subversive
activities without evidence to back up the charges;
named for Senator Joseph McCarthy who began such
a practice in the early 1950’s.
CH. 40 Vocab
 Atomic Age
 The era in which atomic weapons have been used,
beginning in 1945 with the first use of the atomic
bomb and lasting to the present time.
 Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA)
 A federal agency established by Congress in 1951 to
plan for civil defense during the arms race by
preparing Americans to survive a nuclear attack.
Topics to Review
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Soviet and American
goals at Yalta
Baruch Plan
Iron Curtain
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan
Outcome of the Korean
War
Berlin Airlift
8. NATO and the Warsaw
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Pact
Brinksmanship
McCarthyism
Third World Countries
Alger Hiss
FCDA
The Rosenbergs