Download The Cold War - Wright State University

The Cold War
Brian Johnson
Ed 448
The Revolution:
•
•
The seeds for the Cold War
are planted during World
War I and the ensuing
revolution in Russia.
Following Lenin's death in
1924, Joseph Stalin rapidly
rises to power. By the 1930s,
Stalin's "Great Purge" is
under way. Millions are
arrested, and many are
executed or sent to prison
camps, as Stalin tightens his
grip on the nation.
The Beginning:
End WWII
• Yalta Conference and
the Big Three.
• Political power shift.
• Collapse of Germany
in May 1945.
• Differences in opinion
of the future.
Separation of Berlin
• Began in 1945 after the
collapse of Germany.
• Divided into 4 different
zones.
• In 1946 agreements
broke down between
Soviet and the Western
powers sides merge and
the Berlin wall is erected
by the east on August 12.
Soviet Test Atomic Bomb
• Soviet test atomic bombs
August 29, 1949
• Test shock the U.S.
citizens question safety.
• Truman vows to build up
its conventional and
nuclear weapons to halt
the spread of the Soviet
influence around the
globe.
The Reds
• In the 1940s and '50s, the
Cold War was fought
through fear and persecution
on both sides of the globe. In
the United States, anticommunism became
strident.
• In the Soviet Union, fences
were raised against the
outside world. The Gulag,
the secret government
system of labor camps,
housed millions of prisoners.
Korean War
• War 1950-53
• First time the Cold War heated
up.
• U.S. dominated UN come to
the aid of South Korea.
• North Korea aided by USSR
and Communist China.
• War ended in a military
stalemate.
U2 Incident
• On May 1, 1960 a U2 plane piloted by Gary
Powers is shot down.
• Eisenhower denies any U.S. espionage.
• This event disrupts the peace process
between Eisenhower and Krushchev.
The Bay of Pigs
• In April 1961 the United States attempted an invasion of
Cuba.
• Authorized by Kennedy.
• Attempted to over through Castro as the leader.
• CIA aided exiles lead the invasion.
Cuban Missile Crisis
• Khrushchev conceived a plan to place intermediate
range missiles in Cuba.
• Castro joins forces with the Soviet Union.
• Kennedy responds by imposing a naval blockade to stop
construction of missile silos.
Space Race
• Paralleled the arms race.
• Sputnik shocks the U.S.
public in 1957.
• Yuri Gagarin becomes
the first person in space
for the USSR on April
12, 1961.
• Kennedy creates the
Apollo program to
counter the USSR’s
advances.
Yuri
Gagarin
The Vietnam Conflict
• Mid 1950’s until 1975.
• The U.S. and the South
Vietnamese (RVN) opposed
Ho Chi Minh
the revolutionary movement
known as Viet Cong and its
sponsor the Communist party
the North Vietnamese.
• The result of the war would
have profound ramifications
for the U.S. and the world.
The Allies
• The Cold War takes on a new dimension as the Soviet Union,
the United States and their allies become involved in wars
between rivals in Africa and the Middle East.
• In the mid-1950s, after a split with the West, the Egyptian
government of Gamal Abdel Nasser turned to the Soviet Union
for aid and arms.
• In 1975, as Portugal was withdrawing from its former colonial
possession in Angola, three factions emerged -- all trying to
wrest control of the country. The MPLA, the largest group, was
left-wing -- its leadership had received training from Cuba and
arms from Moscow. The FNLA was anti-communist and was
supplied with outdated U.S. arms from Zaire. UNITA, led by
Jonas Savimbi, also received U.S. supplies.
•
•
Fall of the Berlin Wall
and the Reunification of
Germany
In the year 1989, there were
dramatic events such as a massive
flight of inhabitants of the GDR via
Hungary and big demonstrations in
Leipzig on Mondays.
November 9, 1989 at about 7 p.m.
in somewhat unclear words East
Berlin's communist party (SED),
Günter Schabowski, that the
border would be opened for
"private trips abroad". Little later,
an onrush of East Berliners towards
West Berlin began, and there were
celebrations at the Brandenburg
Gate and at the Kurfürstendamm in
West Berlin.
Fall of the Soviet Union
• August 1991 after a coup attempt called the “August Days” the
union realized they could no longer hold the people
• This caused Gorbachev to resign.
• And by popular demand the union was put to and end.
• Enter the "Commonwealth of Independent Republics,“ built with
the old countries that formed the old Russia.
Conclusion
• The United States rejoiced as its formidable enemy was
brought to its knees, thereby ending the Cold War which had
hovered over these two superpowers since the end of World
War II. Indeed, the breakup of the Soviet Union transformed
the entire world political situation, leading to a complete
reformulation of political, economic and military alliances all
over the globe.