Download The Cold War

The Cold War
Postwar Outcomes
• WWII’s end found the Soviets occupying most
of East and Central Europe and the eastern
part of Germany
• Partition of Germany into East and West
Germany: West Germany became democratic
and resumed self-government after a few
years of American, British and French
occupation: East Germany remained under
the domination of the Soviets with no
democracy.
The Division of
Germany:
1945 - 1990
Post WW II:
4 zones
created
West Germany
US, Great Britain,
France
East Germany:
Soviet Union
Berlin: German capital split
into eastern & western halves
• Japan was occupied by American forces after its
defeat; it adopted a democratic government,
resumed self-gov’t and became a strong ally of
the US
• The US launched the Marshall Plan; it provided
massive financial aid to rebuild European
economies and stop communism’s spread in
Europe
• United Nations – created near the end of WWII
to give nations a way to prevent future global
wars.
Marshall Plan: Economic plan to
stop the spread of Communism in
Europe
• $$$ given to
European countries
to rebuild after the
war.
Origins of the Cold War
• The Cold War lasted from the end of WWII
until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989
• The U.S. and the Soviet Union represented
starkly different fundamental values; the US
represented democracy and a free market
economic system; the Soviet Union was a
Totalitarian form of government with a
communist (socialist) economic system
Cold War
• The Cold War was an economic and political
power struggle from 1945-1989 between the
democratic ideals of the United States and the
communist government of the Soviet Union.
• The Truman Doctrine was a United States
pledge to resist the spread of communism
worldwide
Cold War:(1945-1989)
Political & Economic Struggle
USA
• Politically:
– Democracy
• Economically:
– Capitalist
– Free Market
USSR
• Politically:
– Communist
• Economically:
– Command Economy
– Quota System
• Truman Doctrine – “containment of communism”
guided American foreign policy during the Cold
War, not to stop it, but to keep it from spreading
and resist communist aggression into other
countries.
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – was
formed as a defensive alliance among the U.S. and
western European countries to prevent a Soviet
invasion of Western Europe.
• Soviet allies in Eastern Europe formed the Warsaw
Pact and for nearly 50 years both sides maintained
large military forces facing each other in Europe
Truman Doctrine
• U.S. pledge to
resist the spread of
communism
worldwide
• Policy of
Containment
The Dividing of Europe:
The Beginning of the Cold War
Soviet Union
creates an Iron
Curtain around
Southern &
Eastern Europe
& East Germany
Communist
satellite
governments
established in
Eastern
European
countries
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO):
Protect Western Europe vs Soviet
invasion
Warsaw Pact, an alliance of Soviet and East European
countries, was a response to NATO.
• China’s communist takeover, shortly after WWII,
increased U.S. fears of communist domination of
most of the world; instead, the communist nations
of China and the Soviet Union would become
rivals for territory and diplomatic influence, a split
that U.S. foreign policy used (i.e. President Nixon
in the 1970s)
• After the Soviets matched the U.S. in nuclear
bombs in the 1950s, the threat of a nuclear war
that would destroy both countries was everpresent throughout the Cold War; America, under
President Eisenhower, adopted a policy of
“massive retaliation” (MAD) to deter Soviet
nuclear strikes.
China: The Communist Victory
World’s largest
population now
Communist
Nuclear Arms Race:
1949 the Soviets build an A-Bomb
The Korean War (1950-1953)
• American involvement in the Korean War
(conflict) in the early 1950s reflected the
American policy of containment of communism.
• After North Korea invaded South Korea, the U.S.
military led an attack that went deep into North
Korea itself.
• Communist Chinese forces came into the war on
the side of North Korea and the war threatened
to widen, but eventually ended in a stalemate
with South Korea free of communist occupation.
Korean War
Korea remained divided
at 38th parallel
U.S. & UN
involved in
the Korean
War in 1950
Communist
North Korea
invaded South
Korea.
China entered
on side of North
Korea
The Vietnam War (1954-1975)
• U.S. involvement in Vietnam also reflected the
Cold War policy of containment of
communism
• From the 1950s through the early 1960s, the
communist government of North Vietnam
attempted to install through force a
communist government in South Vietnam;
the U.S. helped South Vietnam resist.
Background
to the Vietnam War
 France controlled “Indochina” since the
late 19th century
 Japan took control during World
War II
 With U.S. aid (containment), the French
attempted to retake control of Vietnam
 Domino Theory
Background
to the War
 The French lost control to
Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh
forces in 1954 at Dien Bien
Phu
 President Eisenhower declined to
intervene on behalf of France.
Background to the War
 Geneva Conference
th
 Vietnam was divided at 17
parallel
O Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist
forces controlled the North
O Ngo Dinh Diem, a Frencheducated, Roman Catholic
claimed control of the
South (US support)
Background to the War
 A date was set for democratic
elections to reunify Vietnam
 No elections, leading to military
conflict between Communist
North and Free South (US
supports)
• The U.S. military buildup in Vietnam began under
President John F. Kennedy; after Kennedy’s
assassination in 1963, the buildup was intensified
under President Lyndon Johnson.
• The scale of combat in Vietnam grew larger over
the course of the 1960s; American military forces
repeatedly defeated the North Vietnamese
forces in the field, but could not force an end to
the war on favorable terms by fighting a limited
war.
U.S. Military Involvement
Begins
 Eisenhower begins war
 Kennedy: Increases military
“advisors” to 16,000
 LBJ major escalation of troops:
“Americanization”
Johnson Sends Ground Forces
 Remembers Truman’s “loss”
of China  Domino Theory
revived
I’m not going to be
the president who
saw Southeast Asia
go the way China
went.
Johnson Sends Ground Forces
 Tonkin Gulf Incident  1964
 American Navy attacked by
North Vietnamese
 (acc. to Johnson, the attacks were
unprovoked)
 Tonkin Gulf Resolution

“The Blank Check” *
• The U.S. was bitterly divided; while there was
support for the military and conduct of the war
among some, many opposed the war; the war’s
active opposition grew, especially on college
campuses.
• After Johnson didn’t seek re-election, President
Nixon was elected on a pledge to end the war.
• Nixon instituted a policy of “Vietnamization”,
withdrawing American troops and replacing them
with South Vietnamese forces while maintaining
military aid to the South Vietnamese.
Impact of the
Tet Offensive
 Domestic U.S. Reaction:
Disbelief, Anger, Distrust of
Johnson Administration
 Hey, Hey LBJ! How
many kids did you
kill today?
Anti-War Demonstrations
 May 4, 1970
 4 students
shot dead.
 11 students
wounded
 Jackson State
University
 May 10, 1970
Kent State University
 2 dead; 12
wounded
Impact of the
Vietnam War
Johnson announces (March, 1968):
…I shall not
seek, and I will
not accept, the
nomination of my
party for another
term as your
President.
Nixon on Vietnam
 Nixon’s 1968 Campaign promised an
end to the war: Peace with Honor
 Appealed to the great
“Silent Majority”
 Vietnamization
 Expansion of the
conflict  The “Secret War”
 Cambodia
 Laos
 Agent Orange
(chemical defoliant)
• Ultimately “Vietnamization” failed when
South Vietnamese troops proved unable to
resist invasion by the Soviet-supplied North
Vietnamese Army, and President Nixon was
forced from office by the Watergate scandal.
In 1975, both North and South Vietnam came
under communist control
Cuba
• Fidel Castro led a communist revolution that
took over Cuba in the late 1950s. Many
Cubans fled to Florida and later attempted to
invade Cuba and overthrow Castro (the “Bay
of Pigs” invasion failed).
• In 1962, the Soviet Union stationed missiles in
Cuba, instigating the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuba
• Located 90 miles from Florida
• 1959: Fidel Castro took over
in a communist revolution
Bay of Pigs (1961)
• U.S. trained Cuban
rebels invade Cuba &
attempt to
overthrow Castro.
• IT FAILED
• US begins trade
embargo on Cuba (it
still exists today)
• President Kennedy ordered the Soviets to remove
their missiles and for several days the world was
on the brink of nuclear war. Eventually, the
Soviet leadership “blinked” and removed their
missiles.
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): 13 days in
October
• JFK President
• Issue: Soviet missiles in
Cuba
• US Response: Protests
then a naval blockade to
prevent Soviet ships from
reaching Cuba
• Soviet Response: Respect
the naval blockade and
remove missiles in Cuba
• (US would later remove
Nukes from Turkey)
Impact of the Cold War at Home
• The fear of communism and the threat of
nuclear war affected American life throughout
the Cold War.
• During the 1950s and 1960s, U.S. schools
regularly held drills to train children what to
do in case of a nuclear attack and U.S. citizens
were urged by the government to build bomb
shelters in their basements.
Cold War @ Home:
Red Scare &
Nuclear Scare
• The convictions of Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg for spying for the Soviet Union, and the
construction of nuclear weapons by the Soviets using
technical secrets obtained through spying, increased
domestic fears of communism.
• Senator Joseph McCarthy played on U.S. fears of
communism by recklessly accusing many U.S.
governmental officials, movie stars and citizens of
being communists based on flimsy or no evidence.
This led to the term McCarthyism, or the making of
false accusations based on rumor or guilt by
association.
• The Cold War made foreign policy a major issue in
every presidential election during the period.
Communist Spies & Second Red Scare
• Spies in America:
• Alger Hiss & the
Rosenberg’s (Julius
& Ethel) convicted
of spying
• America Paranoid that
spies are everywhere
Communist Spies
& Second Red
Scare
• HUAC: House UnAmerican Activities
Committee created to
investigate potential
Communist spies
• Joseph McCarthy:
Wisconsin senator
gains popularity by
publicly accusing
people of being spies
• People were
considered “guilty”
until proven “innocent”
• The heavy military expenditures throughout
the Cold War benefited Virginia’s economy
proportionately more than any other state,
especially in Hampton Roads, home to several
large naval and air bases, and Northern
Virginia, home to the Pentagon and numerous
private companies that contract with the
military
American Military Forces during the
Cold War
• In JFK’s inaugural address, he said the U.S.
would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet
any hardship, support any friend, oppose any
foe, in order to assure the survival and the
success of liberty.” He also said, “Ask not
what your country can do for you; ask what
you can do for your country.”
• During the Cold War, millions of Americans served in
the military, defending freedom in conflicts that
were not always popular; many were killed or
wounded. As a result of their service, the United
States and American ideals of democracy and
freedom ultimately prevailed in the Cold War
struggle against Soviet communism.
• President Kennedy, a WWII veteran, was
assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas, in an event
that shook the nation’s confidence and began a
period of internal strife and divisiveness, especially
spurred by divisions over U.S. involvement in
Vietnam.
John F. Kennedy Assassinated in Dallas,
(1961-1963) Texas in 1963
“Ask not what your
country can do for you,
ask what you can do for
your country!”
• Unlike WWII veterans, who returned to a grateful
and supportive nation, Vietnam veterans often
faced outright hostility from some who opposed
the war.
• It was not until several years after the end of the
war that the wounds of the war began to heal in
America, and Vietnam veterans were recognized
and honored for their service and sacrifices.
Internal Problems of the Soviet Union
• High military expenses in competition with the
U.S.
• Rising nationalism in Soviet republics
• Fast-paced reforms (market economy)
• Economic inefficiency
• Gorbachev’s “glasnost” and “perestroika”
(openness and economic restructuring)
End of the Cold War: The fall of the Soviet
Union
• Soviet Union economy
collapsing
• Soviet republics push for
independence
• Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev attempts to
save the USSR
• Glasnost: Openness
• Perestroika: Economic
Reforms
• Too little to late
Role of President Reagan
• Challenged moral legitimacy of the Soviets;
i.e., speech at Berlin Wall (“Mr. Gorbachev,
tear down this wall”)
• Increased U.S. military and economic pressure
on the Soviet Union
SOL Synthesis of the above
information:
• The Cold War set the framework for global
politics for 45 years after the end of World
War II and influenced U.S. domestic politics,
foreign affairs, and the role of the government
in the economy after 1945.
• The Cold War was a competition between 2
different ways of organizing government,
society, and economy.
• The American-led West’s belief in democracy,
individual freedom and a market economy, and the
Soviet belief in a totalitarian state and socialism.
• Our ant-communist strategy of containment in Asia
led to U.S. involvement in the Korean & Vietnamese
Wars.
• The Vietnam War demonstrated the power of U.S.
public opinion in reversing foreign policy. It tested
the democratic system to its limits, left scars on
American society that have not yet been erased, and
made many Americans deeply skeptical of future
military or even peacekeeping interventions.
• A strong military was the key to America’s
victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War.