Download The Cold War

WHII.12 The student will demonstrate
knowledge of major events and outcomes of
the Cold War by
a)
b)
c)
explaining key events of the Cold War, including the
competition between the American and Soviet
economic and political systems and the causes of the
collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe;
assessing the impact of nuclear weaponry on patterns
of conflict and cooperation since 1945;
describing conflicts and revolutionary movements in
eastern Asia, including those in China and Vietnam,
and their major leaders, i.e., Mao Tse-tung (Zedong),
Chiang Kai-shek, and Ho Chi Minh.
The origins of the Cold War
The Changing American Opinion
on Russia
• In September 1945 a poll found that 54% of
Americans thought we could trust the Soviet
Union (Russia) to cooperate in the post-war period
• In two months that number had dropped to 44%
• In five months it dropped to 35%
• Americans were souring on the Soviet Union and
transferring their wartime hatred of Nazi Germany
to the Communist in Russia
Underlying Causes of the Cold
War
• 1. Disagreement over Poland and the form of
government it would have after WWII
– Stalin told Truman that Poland was on his border and therefore
Russia should have more influence on Poland's future
• 2. Tension was caused by America withholding
information about the development of the A-Bomb
from the Russians.
– We had brought the English in on the project
– Stalin knew about the bomb from his spies in America
– The Russians felt left out
Causes
• The Russians resented what they saw as a
deliberate attempt by America to drag its feet on
opening a second front in Europe by Invading
France
– Russia had nearly half of all casualties in WWII
approximately 20 million dead
– Stalin had pushed for the invasion of France since 1942
• America did not establish this second front until June 6th 1944
• Russian leaders felt that a second front could have
weakened the Germans in Russia and help reduce
the cost of War in Russian lives
Causes
• Americans for their part were still mad at Russia
for making a secret non-aggression pact with
Germany in 1939.
– As part of that pact Russia had taken half of Poland
– America had never really recognized the Soviet Union or its
Communist leaders before Germany invaded Russia and make
strange allies of the two in the fight against Hitler
» It was a situation where neither country liked the other but
they had to get along for this one event
– There was not real trust
Different Ideology leads to
separate paths after war
The Americans dreamed of a world filled
with Democracy and Free Trade.
America
Russia
This would best serve Americas
economic growth in a post war world
Russia was determined to rebuild the
world on its terms
They resolved they would never be
invaded again
They needed Friendly Border countries
to establish a buffer between them and
enemies
Separate Paths
• America
• Share democratic
principles of life liberty,
and happiness with
world
• Russia
– Predicted that communism
would prevail by removing
the means of production
from business owners
– Until the above was
accomplished a strong
central government would
control the resources
• Stalin created a totalitarian
dictatorship which ruled
by terror
Time Line
1945
October – United Nations established to maintain
peace and international security.
_ Stalin installs a pro-communist
government in Poland, this violated the terms of
the Yalta Agreement to allow free elections in
liberated countries
_ Stalin masses troops on Turkish border
and demands land and access to Mediterranean
Sea
1946
February – Stalin announces that the communist
struggle for a world wide revolution would
continue
*** Western Governments use a show of force to
make Stalin back down in Turkey and also Iran
August – Communist revolutionaries start a
revolution in Greece
**** Stalin supported the communist
**** England supported the Greek government
1947
12th of March – President Truman established
the Truman Doctrine which said “ The
United States would support free people
resist takeover by outside or internal
pressure.
****400 million was sent to Greece and
Turkey to help defend them
**** America’s new policy was to be
containment
President Harry Truman
• Recognized fact that
the United States had
emerged form WWII
as a world leader
{Superpower} and
helped Americans
understand that role
and its responsibilities
The Truman Doctrine
• It shall be the policy of the United States to
support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation (conquering) by armed minorities or
outside pressures
• Truman was afraid that the war ruined nations of Europe might
become communist if their economic miseries could not be
cured.
– A starving man will take up any cause that will feed him
• The state department developed a plan to help these countries
but Congress would have to approve it
– Truman gained the support of the American people by
scaring the hell out of them with the threat the Soviet
Union posed to the United States
– Congress passed the plan approving $400 million for
Turkey and Greece
Containment
• American leaders saw a serious threat to
United States interest from the Soviet Union
• To address these concerns, American
officials developed a policy known as
containment
– The United States would need to remove any
opportunities for the enemy to establish
communist governments in other countries
The Marshall Plan
• By 1947 the Communist Party was growing
in many countries
– American policy makers feared that the Soviet
Union might intervene to support local
communist movements
– Policy makers were also keen to open new
markets for American Goods
In June of 1947 Secretary of State George Marshall unveiled a
plan for the nations of Europe, including the Soviet Union, to
draw up a program for economic recovery after the war
-The United States would then support the program with
financial aid
-The Soviet Union and its Eastern European neighbors (under
Soviet pressure) did not participate
-Sixteen Western European Nations did take part requesting $17
Billion over a four year period
-Western European nations restored their economic health and
the United States was rewarded with strong trade partners in that
part of the world
Cold War Conflicts
• The Berlin Airlift
• In June 1947 The Soviet Union began blockading the land and
water routes into the city of Berlin
» At wars end Germany had been split into four zones for
occupation by the allies
» The Soviets had the zone which included Berlin
• Berlin itself was divided up into four sectors controlled by the
allies
• The Soviets wanted the Americans, French, and English out of
Berlin
– President Truman did not want to risk war but was not willing to
let Berlin go to the Soviets
Berlin Airlift
• Truman and the other western leaders decided to
supply Berlin by air.
• Supplies were flown into the city every day
• The airlift lasted until May of 1949 when the
Soviets lifted the blockade
• The Tension that was created by the blockade
convinced the Western powers that they needed to
from a peacetime alliance for security against the
Soviet threat
The North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO)
• Established in 1949
• Included
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Luxemburg
Belgium
Canada
England
Denmark
France
Iceland
Italy
Norway
Netherlands
Portugal
America
NATO
• The United States vowed that an attack on
any of the members would be viewed as an
attack on the United States
• America dropped all opposition to military
treaties with Europe for the first time since
the American Revolution
• The United States was now directly
involved in European affairs
The Russian Response to NATO
• The Soviet Union established its own
defense pact with the countries of Eastern
Europe, which it dominated, called the
Warsaw Pact.
NSC-68
• The National Security Council was developed to
provide advice to the President on policies and
strategies in the Cold War period.
– The main policy they suggested was to increase defense
spending by 3 times.
– Some suggested that 4 times would be better
• This spending was justified by the new global demand for
security.
• Only a vigorous defense policy would contain communism
The Cold War in Asia, the Middle
East, and Latin America
INDIA
ISRAEL
IRAN
CHINA
KOREA
CUBA
VIETNAM
The United Nations Plan to Create a
Jewish State in Palestine
• On 29 November 1947 the United Nations
Partition Plan for Palestine or United Nations
General Assembly Resolution 181, a plan to
resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict in the British
Mandate of Palestine, was approved by the United
Nations General Assembly, at the UN World
Headquarters in New York. The plan partitioned
the territory into Jewish and Arab states, with the
Greater Jerusalem area, encompassing Bethlehem,
coming under international control. The failure of
this plan led to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
The Boundaries of the Jewish State
• The United Nations
attempted to force the
Arabs to accept a
Jewish State
– There was a great deal
of pressure to give the
Jews a Homeland as a
kind of repayment for
the Holocaust
Trouble in the Middle East
• Israel – Once the state of Israel was created
the Arab countries immediately attacked.
– The United States supported Israel in the
United Nations and also with military supplies
– America was going to ensure that the only
democracy in the middle east survived
– Russia was supplying war materials to the
Arabs in Syria, Jordan, and Egypt
Israel Win the
War in 1948
This map shows the land
captured by the Israeli army
during the 1948 war for
independence.
Palestinian Refugee Camps
• This map shows the
location of the
displaced (refugee)
Palestinian Arabs after
the 1948 war for
independence
Why the Soviet Union makes a move on
Iran and the American Reaction
• As early as 1942 the Soviet Union was assisting separatist
movements in northern Iran. This worried the United
States, therefore it was decided to give Iran diplomatic
support to "prevent the development of a communist take
over.” A Soviet presence would be open threat to
American interest in the Middle East.
• the Soviets saw the Iran as a buffer zone on its southern
border to provide protection against attack from the south.
The northern region of Iran would be a potential source of
oil for the Soviet Union. l
Trouble in the Middle East
• Iran – the United States was concerned that
the Russians were active along the border
with Iran.
– Iran held oil resources and loss of Iran to the
Communist would mean that American
Containment Policy was not working.
– The CIA was instrumental in bringing a
government to Iran which would be friendly to
the United States.
China Falls to Communist
• In January 1949 Beiping was taken by the Communists
without a fight, and its name was changed back to Beijing.
Between April and November, major cities passed from
Nationalist to Communist control with minimal resistance.
In most cases the surrounding countryside and small towns
had come under Communist influence long before the
cities
• On October 1, 1949 Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's
Republic of China. Chiang Kai-shek and 600,000
Nationalist troops and 2,000,000 refugees, predominantly
from the government and business community, retreated
from the mainland to the island of Taiwan
All that remains of Nationalist
(Democratic) China
• By 1950 the Chinese
Communist had forced the
former democratic
government out of
mainland China, and onto
the island of Taiwan.
• The United States signed a
treaty with Taiwan
guaranteeing its freedom
The Korean War
• At the end of WWII the allies
resorted to a short term solution
for the independence of Korea.
– Japanese troops north of the 38th
parallel surrendered to the
Russians while those south of the
parallel surrendered to America
– This was not intended to be
permanent
– Soon Russia set up and supported
a Communist government in the
North and America set up and
supported a Democratic
government in the South
Korean War
• While it had been hoped that the two
Korea’s would someday unify each wanted
it on different terms
– In June of 1950 North Korea invaded the South
to bring about a unification
– The United States assumed – wrongly – that the
Russians were behind the invasion
• President Truman was determined to intervene and
protect South Korea (Containment Theory)
The United Nations becomes
involved
•The Korean War from 1950 to
1953 was the most severe test
the United Nations had to face
since its inception in 1945. As
part of the whole Cold War
scenario, the Korean War was a
complicated issue with which
the United Nations had to
successfully deal with or lose
credibility just five years after
it had come into being.
A United Nations War
• Truman did not want to go it alone and went
to the United Nations Security Council
– China had been excluded from the security
council in 1949 when it became communist
– Russia was absent from the council because it
was protesting China’s exclusion
• A resolution calling North Korea was
passed and member nations were called on
to assist in restoring peace
The Security Council
• There are five permanent
members of the UN
security council.
– Each of these members has
a veto power over the
actions of the council
• The rest of the
membership rotates among
the worlds nations
The General Assembly of the
United Nations
• On June 27th 1950,
America called on the
United Nations to use
force to get the North
Koreans out as they had
ignored the Security
Council’s resolution of
June 25th. This was also
voted for and once again
the Russians could not use
their veto as they were
still boycotting the United
Nations.
Inchon
• a decisive 15-day invasion
and battle during the
Korean War. The battle
began on September 15,
1950, and ended around
September 28.
• The UN ground forces
were predominantly U.S.
Marines, and were
commanded by U.S. Army
General Douglas
Macarthur
A Marine uses a flame thrower to
flush out the Enemy at Inchon
Conduct of the War
• General Douglas Macarthur was put in
charge of the United Nations forces.
– His war strategy called for an overwhelming force to
push the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel
followed by a invasion of the North by United Nations
troops
– As Macarthur's troops approached the Chinese border in
North Korea the Chinese warned us not to go any further
– McArthur ignored the warning and in October of 1950 the
Chinese entered the war on North Koreas side.
– The war bogged down and McArthur wanted to use
Atomic weapons on the Chinese
MacArthur Vs. Truman
• President Truman wanted
a limited war and refused
MacArthur permission to
use nuclear weapons
• MacArthur would not
back down and sent a
letter to Congress which
attacked Truman's ability
lead.
• On April 5th 1951 Truman
fired MacArthur for
insubordination
Chinese Soldiers March across
the Yalu River to attack United
Nations Forces in North Korea
• The entry of China in
the Korean War
caught many by
surprise
• This event caused
tension because it
appeared to expand
the war
China Invades South Korea
• Chinese forces were very
successful in forcing the
United Nations troops out
of North Korea, but made
a fertile error in invading
South Korea.
– The American and other
United Nations troops
managed to hold there
position at the 38th parallel
– The war ended in an
armistice that kept the status
quo
The fallout from Korea
• The war was enormously frustrating to Americans
– 54,000 Americans had been killed and far more
wounded, for very limited results
– Americans began to wonder if the government was
sincere about stopping the spread of communism
– The war led to an even bigger defense budget, just as
NSC-68 asked
• In 1950 defense was one-third of the total budget. Ten years
later it was half of the total budget
The Early War in Vietnam
• At the end of WWII
France controlled
Southeast Asia.
– Vietnam was one part of
this area which sought to
gain independence
– The leader of the
independence movement
was Ho Chi Minh a
Vietnamese Nationalist
• He liked to use the
American Revolutionary
war as a model for
independence
– He was also sympathetic
to Marxism
The Viet Minh Fight against
France for Independence
• Ho Chi Minh established the Democratic Republic
of Vietnam in 1945.
– France would not let go with out a fight
– The United States was drawn in because we needed
France to help us contain communism in Europe
• The United States believed that communism was the same
everywhere and had to be stopped, even though Ho Chi Minh
had no close ties with the USSR, so we gave France large
amounts of aid and by 1954 we were paying ¾’s of the cost of
France’s fight to keep its colonial empire in Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh had asked President Truman for help against the
French in 1945 but Truman had turned him down rather than
ruin American relations with France
Outcomes of World War II
France is Defeated
• Even though we were giving them help the
French were losing the war in Vietnam.
– The French lost a battle at Dien Bien Phu which
turned out to be the turning point of this war.
– American President Dwight D. Eisenhower,
who had been elected to replace Truman in
November 1952 was very concerned about the
expansion of Asian Communism
Vietnam is divided
• To settle the issue of what would become of
Vietnam if the French left an international
conference was held at Geneva
– It was decided at the conference that Vietnam would be
divided at the 17th parallel
• A plan which was similar in purpose to those done in Germany
and Korea
– Ho Chi Minh would control the North and an anticommunist government would rule the south
• America would provide military aid, equipment, to South
Vietnam but resisted further involvement
• All this would change in the mid 1960’s
President Eisenhower
• The Domino Theory
– Eisenhower believed in
this theory which
compared the countries
of Southeast Asia to
dominoes.
– If you knock one
down, {allow it to fall
to the communist} the
rest would soon follow
Eisenhower and the policy of
Massive Retaliation
• The doctrine of massive retaliation was based on
the west's increasing frustration at its inability to
dominate in wars like Korea with conventional
strategies.
– By relying on a large nuclear arsenal, President
Eisenhower believed that conventional forces could be
reduced while still maintaining military prestige and
power
– the U.S. would respond to military provocation "at
places and with means of our own choosing." This was
interpreted to mean that the U.S. could respond to any
foreign challenge with nuclear
(MAD)
• Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is the
doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale
use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing
sides would result in the destruction of both the
attacker and the defender
– This is the theory of deterrence according to which the
deployment of strong weapons is essential to threaten
the enemy in order to prevent the use of the very same
weapons
The Role of the American
Military in the Cold War
VUS SOL 12c
Explain the role of Americas military
and veterans in defending freedom
during the Cold War
The Strategic Air Command
• One of the mainstays of deterring
aggression was the Strategic Air Command
(SAC). During the 1950’s and 60’s the U.
S. built a vast nuclear arsenal, most of it
under the control of the Strategic Air
Command.
• Throughout the Cold War, America’s
nuclear armada was on a hair trigger.
Weapons of Deterrence
B-52 Bombers (above) and
Intercontinental Ballistic
Missiles (right) were the
method of delivering
America’s Nuclear Response
to an attack by the Soviet
Union (USSR)
Hungarian Revolt of 1956
• The 1956 Hungarian
Revolution, also known
as the Hungarian
Uprising or simply the
Hungarian Revolt, was
an anti-Soviet revolt in
Hungary lasting from 23
October to 4 November
1956. The revolt was
suppressed by Soviet
troops
Suez Crisis 1956
• The Suez Crisis, also known as
the Suez War or 1956 War
– The conflict pitted Egypt
against a secret alliance
between France, the United
Kingdom and Israel.
– the European nations had
economic and trading interests
in the Suez Canal, while Israel
wanted to re-open the canal for
Israeli shipping
– When the USSR threatened to
intervene on behalf of Egypt,
Lester B. Pearson feared a
larger war and forced the
British and French to withdraw
Lebanon 1958
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Lebanese Muslims pushed the
government to join the newly
created United Arab Republic
A Muslim Rebellion and the
toppling of a pro-Western
government in Iraq caused the
Lebanese President Camille
Chamoun to call for U.S.
assistance.
America’s President Eisenhower
responded by authorizing 14,000
American soldiers to be sent to
Lebanon on July 15, 1958.
The goal of the operation was to
bolster the pro-Western Lebanese
government of President Camille
Chamoun against internal
opposition and threats from Syria
and the United Arab Republic.
The presence of the troops
successfully quelled the opposition
and the U.S. withdrew its forces on
October 25, 1958.
U.S. Marines in Lebanon 1958
• Marines occupy the
city of Beirut and its
airport.
– America had to protect
the Friendly
Democratic
government of this
small Middle-eastern
country in order to
contain communist
influence
Batista Cuba’s Dictator
• In 1940 he was elected
President of Cuba
• He was out of power from
1944 to 1952
• Staged a military take
over in 1952 and
abandoned the Cuban
Constitution
• He was on good terms
with America
– American companies
became rich while the
Cuban people became poor
CHE
• The Latin Lenin
– He was the inspiration
for several Latin
American
revolutionary
movements.
– He died as a result of
capture and torture by
the CIA and its friends
in Latin America
Fidel Castro
• Many people opposed
Batista
• Castro and his movement
M-26-7 started a
revolution in 1956
– Batista’s large well
equipped army could not
put the revolt down
– Batista fled Cuba stealing
millions of dollars
– Castro took over Cuba in
1959 and declared himself a
communist
The Soviet Union (USSR) and
America Face off
• After 1957, tension grew between Russia and America:
• Russia’s Sputnik satellite (1957) and space orbit (1961)
gave them a psychological advantage. Many Americans
believed America was in danger.
• In 1959, the Communist Fidel Castro took power in Cuba,
right next to America. In 1960, he made a trade
agreement with Russia.
•
Eisenhower and Khrushchev Plan to meet to cool a
warming cold war down
• A summit was planned for May 1960 to
discuss Berlin and nuclear weapons. The
American President Eisenhower wanted an
'open skies' agreement - that Russia and
America would let spy planes fly over each
other's countries, so that they could be
assured the other wasn't preparing for
war. Khrushchev refused - but Eisenhower
did so anyway.
Flight Path of U2 Flown by Gary
Powers
• On 5 May 1960 – just
9 days before the
summit – the Russians
announced that they
had shot down an
American U2 spyplane on 1 May
The Summit is Ruined
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Paris summit ruined; Cold War continues.
The summit met at Paris on 14 May 1960. Khrushchev refused to take part
in the talks unless the Americans apologized and cancelled all future spyflights.
President Eisenhower agreed to cancel the spy-flights, but would not
apologies – so Khrushchev went home; the Paris Summit collapsed.
Eisenhower’s planned visit to Russia cancelled.
Khrushchev and the Russians grew in confidence.
Americans became angry with Eisenhower, who they said was losing the
Cold War. After the U2 incident, America became more aggressive. They
elected John F Kennedy, who promised to be much tougher on communism.
Francis Gary Powers
• Gary Powers pictured
here on the left was
the pilot of the U2
Spy-plane which was
shot down.
• He had been given a
poison tablet to take if
he was captured but
failed to follow
through.
Kennedy and Ike talk about Bay
of Pigs Operation
• United States-planned and
funded landing by armed
Cuban exiles in southwest
Cuba in an attempt to
overthrow the government
of Fidel Castro in 1961
and marked the climax of
anti-Cuban US actions.
• the invasion failed
miserably and proved to
be a major international
embarrassment for the
Kennedy administration
Berlin Wall “East German Guard
Tower”
• At the Vienna summit of June
1961, Khrushchev again
demanded that the Americans
leave West Berlin. Kennedy’s
refused – and on 25 July
increased America’s spending
on weapons.
• On 13 August, Khrushchev
closed the border between east
and west Berlin – and built a
wall. The West was taken by
surprise - the Communists
The Wall Divides a City
• The East German Guards
were told to shoot anyone
that tried to escape over
the wall.
• The wall was intended to
keep the people of East
Berlin from leaving the
communist way of life for
the decedent western
capitalist world.
President Kennedy goes to Berlin
and gives a famous speech
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There are many people in the world who really don’t
understand what is the great issue between the free
world and the communist world.
Let them come to Berlin!
There are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we
can work with the communists.
Let them come to Berlin!
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of
Berlin.
And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the
words Ich bin ein Berliner' ['I am a Berliner'].
President Kennedy, 1963.
(Although he meant this to mean: 'I am a Berliner',
he should have said in German:
'Ich bin Berliner'. Outside Berlin, a Berliner - ein
Berliner - is a German pastry;
some people joke that he actually said: 'I am a jelly
doughnut'
The USSR’s Leader Nikida
Khrushchev becomes Belligerent
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"Whether you like it or not,
history is on our side. We will
bury you" - a meaning more akin
to "we will attend your funeral"
than "we shall cause your funeral".
Several online sources incorrectly
claim that he made this statement at
the United Nations General
Assembly on October 11, 1960,
when he is said to have pounded
the table with his shoe (or with an
extra shoe he had brought with him
explicitly for that purpose). [2]
(Occasionally these incorrect
reports give the date October 12,
the date this incident was reported
in most newspapers.)
Russian Nuclear Missiles in Cuba
Visible Signs of Danger
• This Fallout shelter
sign became a
common fixture in
public schools, court
houses and other
facilities that could be
set up as shelters in
case of nuclear war.
Stock Up on the Caned Goods
• Many people built
personal bomb shelters
in their backyards and
stocked these shelters
with the list of goods
that the government
recommended
How the crisis ended
• On October 26, they offered to withdraw the
missiles in return for a U.S. guarantee not to
invade Cuba or support any invasion. The second
deal was broadcast on public radio on October 27,
calling for the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from
Turkey
• October 28, Khrushchev announced that he had
ordered the removal of the Soviet missiles in
Cuba. The decision prompted then Secretary of
State Dean Rusk to comment, "We are eyeball to
eyeball, and the other fellow just blinked.
Buddhist Priest Protest lack of Religious freedom in
Vietnam under the Diem Government
•
On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang
Due, a sixty-six year old monk, sat
down in the middle of a busy
Saigon road. He was then
surrounded by a group of Buddhist
monks and nuns who poured petrol
over his head and then set fire to
him. One eyewitness later
commented: "As he burned he
never moved a muscle, never
uttered a sound, his outward
composure in sharp contrast to the
wailing people around him." While
Thich Quang Due was burning to
death, the monks and nuns gave out
leaflets calling for Diem's
government to show "charity and
compassion " to all religions
The President of South Vietnam
Ngo Dinh Diem.
• Events like the burn monk
convinced President John F.
Kennedy that Ngo Dinh Diem
would never be able to unite the
South Vietnamese against
communism
• The CIA, provided a group of
South Vietnamese generals with
$40,000 to overthrow Diem
with a promise that US forces
would make no attempt to
protect Diem
• Three weeks after Diem was
overthrown and killed,
President Kennedy was also
assassinated.
• After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, his deputy,
Lyndon B. Johnson became the new president of the
United States. Johnson was a strong supporter of the
Domino Theory
• Johnson, came under pressure from his military advisers
to take more 'forceful' action against North Vietnam
– On August 2, 1964, the US destroyer, "Maddox" was fired upon by
three North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. In
retaliation, "Maddox" fired back and hit all three, one of which
sank. The "Maddox" then retreated into international waters but the
next day it was ordered to return to the Gulf of Tonkin.
– Johnson now had the excuse he had been waiting for and ignored
Captain Herrick's second message. He ordered the bombing of four
North Vietnamese torpedo-boat bases and an oil-storage depot that
had been planned three months previously.
– The Congress approved Johnson's decision to bomb North Vietnam
and passed what has become known as the Gulf of Tonkin
resolution by the Senate by 88 votes to 2 and in the House of
Representatives by 416 to 0. This resolution authorized the
President to take all necessary measures against Vietnam
The War in Vietnam
• By the summer of
1968 over 500,000
American soldiers
were on the ground in
Vietnam.
• Americans began to
see stories nightly on
ABC, NBC, and CBS
about the war
American Policy for fighting the War
•
In 1965, General William
Westmoreland developed the
aggressive strategy of 'search and
destroy'. The objective was to find
and then kill members of the NLF.
The US soldiers found this
difficult. As one marine captain
explained: "You never knew who
was the enemy and who was the
friend. They all looked alike. They
all dressed alike." Innocent
civilians were often killed by
mistake. As one Marine officer
admitted they "were usually
counted as enemy dead, under the
unwritten rule 'If he's dead and
Vietnamese, he's VC'."
The Tet Offensive
• on the evening of 31st
January, 1968, 70,000
members of the NLF
launched a surprise attack
on more than a hundred
cities and towns in
Vietnam. It was now clear
that the purpose of the
attacks on the US
garrisons in September
had been to draw out
troops from the cities.
The Battle that cost America the War
• The Tet Offensive proved to be a turning point in the war.
In military terms it was a victory for the US forces. An
estimated 37,000 NLF soldiers were killed compared to
2,500 Americans. However, it illustrated that the NLF
appeared to have inexhaustible supplies of men and
women willing to fight for the overthrow of the South
Vietnamese government. In March, 1968, President
Johnson was told by his Secretary of Defense that in his
opinion the US could not win the Vietnam War and
recommended a negotiated withdrawal. Later that month,
President Johnson told the American people on national
television that he was reducing the air-raids on North
Vietnam and intended to seek a negotiated peace.
Fear
• A South Vietnamese
Woman and her
daughter show the
pain and fear of war
on their faces.
• As with all wars
Vietnam took a heavy
toll on civilians
MY LAI An American War Crime
• The War in Vietnam
dehumanized it
participants.
– The My Lai Massacre
occurred because American
soldiers hardened by the
war and the lose of friends
began to see all Vietnamese
as the enemy.
– Human life became cheap
First Man on the Moon 1969
• On July 20th 1969 Neil Armstrong became
the first man to walk on the moon
Vietnamization
• Soon after taking office. President Richard
Nixon introduced his policy of
"vietnamization".
– The plan was to encourage the South
Vietnamese to take more responsibility for
fighting the war. It was hoped that this policy
would eventually enable the United States to
withdraw gradually all their soldiers from
Vietnam.
The Paris Peace Talks
• Peace talks between representatives from
United States, South Vietnam, North
Vietnam and the NLF had been taking place
in Paris since January, 1969. By 1972,
Richard Nixon, like Lyndon B. Johnson
before him, had been gradually convinced
that a victory in Vietnam was unobtainable.
The Negotiations
• In October, 1972, the American and North Vietnamese negotiators
came close to agreeing to a formula to end the war. The plan was that
US troops would withdraw from Vietnam in exchange for a cease-fire
and the return of 566 American prisoners held in Hanoi. It was also
agreed that the governments in North and South Vietnam would
remain in power until new elections could be arranged to unite the
whole country.
• The only problem with this formula for the United States was that
while the US troops would leave the country, the North Vietnamese
troops could remain in their positions in South Vietnam.
– The North Vietnamese refused to change the terms of the agreement and
so in January, 1973, Nixon agreed to sign the peace plan that had been
proposed
Detente
• Both America and the USSR had pressing reasons
to seek relaxation in tensions.
– Leonid Brezhnev and the rest of the Soviet leadership
felt that the economic burden of the nuclear arms race
was unsustainable.
– The American economy was also in financial trouble as
the Vietnam War drained government finances at the
same time as Lyndon Johnson, and to a lesser extent
Richard Nixon, sought to expand the government
welfare state.
Summits and Treaties
• The most obvious outcomes of Détente was the series of summits held
between the leaders of the two superpowers and the treaties that
resulted from these meetings.
– Even before people spoke of Détente the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
had been signed in 1963.
– Later in the decade the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Outer Space
Treaty were two of the first elements of Détente.
– Beginning in 1969 at a summit in Helsinki the Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks led to the signing of the SALT I treaty in 1972, this treaty limited
each power's nuclear arsenals
– The Biological Weapons Convention and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
were also agreed to
– In 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe met and
produced the Helsinki Accords, a wide ranging series of agreements on
economic, political, and human rights issues
The End of Detente
• Détente began to unravel in 1979 due to a series of events. The Iranian
Revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis embarrassed the United
States and led much of the American public to believe their nation had
lost its international power and prestige.
• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to shore up a struggling allied
regime led to harsh criticisms in the west and a boycott of the 1980
Summer Olympics, which were to be held in Moscow. American
President Jimmy Carter boosted the U.S. defense budget and began to
heavily subsidize the anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan.
• The 1980 American presidential election saw Ronald Reagan elected
on a platform opposed to the concessions of Détente and committed to
restarting the arms race. Negotiations on SALT II were abandoned and
relations once again soured.
Shah of Iran
• An key ally of the United
States in the Persian Gulf
was the Shah of Iran.
– America had helped him
take over the country in the
1960’s
– He was disliked by the Shi’i
religious faith in Iran and
often used a secret police
force to control them by
terror
– In January 1979 the Shah’s
control of Iran began to fail
and he was forced to flee to
Egypt
Ayatollah Khomeini
• The most important leader
of the Shi’i in Iran he
lived in exile and
communicated with his
followers via radio and
taped messages.
• When the Shah was forced
to leave Iran Khomeini
returned to his home
country and set up the
Islamic Republic of Iran.
– Khomeini was not a friend
of America like the Shah
Iran
• Iran is a very strategic
country in the Persian
Gulf Region and has a
vast oil reserve.
• During the Cold War
both the Soviet Union
and America tried to
keep it friendly to
them.
Iranian Hostage Crisis
• On November 4th 1979 Iranian
students attacked and captured
the American Embassy in
Tehran the capital of Iran.
– They held 66 people hostage
for almost 500 days.
– In 1980 President Jimmy
Carter attempted a rescue of
the hostages, but the military
operation was a failure.
– Many people in the world
began to think America had
become weak and unwilling to
fight after the experience of the
Vietnam War
The Collapse of Communism
The Presidency of Ronald Reagan
• Ronald Reagan returned America to the hard line
policy of deterrence and (MAD).
– He describes the policy as promoting “stability through
offensive threat.”
– Enormous amounts of money were allocated for the military in
the first few years of Reagan’s presidency.
– In fact, defence spending increased by 7 percent a year from
1981 to 1985. The Pentagon’s share of the federal budget rose
from 23 to a staggering 27 percent.[12]
– This massive increase in the defence budget was necessary, in
order to “make America strong again after too many years of
neglects and mistakes
We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives...on every continent from Afghanistan
to Nicaragua ... to defy Soviet aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth.
Support for freedom fighters is self-defence
• Under the Reagan Doctrine: economic and
political support for insurgent movements in third
world countries where Marxism had been
instigated was necessary to protect America.
• This is contrary to earlier doctrines, such as the
Truman, Eisenhower, and Carter doctrines which
“were concerned with prevention, the Reagan
approach emphasized cure.”
Pershing II
• Reagan plans to send
Intermediate Nuclear
missiles to Europe to
counter the Soviet
Union.
• This is part of the
military buildup
planned by Reagan as
a determent to war
Reagan takes the Moral Stand
against Communism
• Ronald Reagan saw a vast moral difference between liberal
democracy and communist dictatorship, He thought it
important that Western leaders should openly express their
recognition of the evils perpetrated by communism.
• President Reagan thus broke with traditional diplomatic
practice, which tended to eschew harsh rhetoric, by
labeling the Soviet Union an "evil empire."
– Reagan's denunciations of communism gave encouragement to
those citizens in Eastern Europe who were looking for an
opportunity to throw off the yoke of communist government.
– This may have encouraged people to oppose and later dismantle
communism at the end of the 1980s.
Reagan’s most famous Speech on
The Evils of Communism
• In late 1987 Ronald Reagan made a trip to
the Berlin Wall and Gave a speech in which
he said “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this
wall”
• Many people see this a the call which led
Eastern Europeans to rise up and end the
rule of Communism in their countries
The Strategic Defense Initiative
Star Wars Defense
• This Defense system proposed by U.S. President
Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983[1] to use
ground-based and space-based systems to protect
the United States from attack by strategic nuclear
ballistic missiles.
• The initiative focused on strategic defense rather
than the previous strategic offense doctrine of
mutual assured destruction.
The Soviets and Americans find a
way to cool down the Cold War
• Reagan
and
Gorbachev
sign the
INF Treaty
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces (INF) Treaty
• The treaty eliminated nuclear and conventional
ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with
ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (300-3,400
miles).
– By the treaty's deadline of June 1, 1991, a total of 2,692
of such weapons had been destroyed, 846 by the U.S.
and 1846 by the Soviet Union.
– Also under the treaty, both nations were allowed to
inspect each other's military installations.
Poland Leads the Way
• Labor turmoil in Poland during 1980 had led to the
formation of the independent trade union, Solidarity, led by
Lech Wałęsa, which over time became a political force.
– On December 13, 1981, Communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski,
fearful of Soviet intervention started a crack-down on Solidarity,
declaring a martial law in Poland, suspending the union, and
temporarily imprisoning most of its leaders.
– Throughout the mid-1980s, Solidarity persisted solely as an
underground organization, supported by the Catholic Church and
the CIA.
– However, by the late 1980s, Solidarity became sufficiently strong
enough to frustrate Jaruzelski's attempts at reform, and nationwide
strikes in 1988 forced the government to open a dialogue with
Solidarity.
Rising Military Cost kill the Soviet
Economy
• The Soviet economy was not functioning well because of its nature.
• Gorbachev was trying to improve the Soviet
economy by reducing military spending.
– He believed that the military was absorbing too much
wealth and scarce resources, and he believed that one
way to reduce military spending was to make an arms
agreement with the United States
Gorbachev brings Political and
Economic Change to the USSR
• The first signs of major reform came in
1986 when Gorbachev launched a policy of
glasnost (openness) in the Soviet Union,
and emphasized the need for economic
reform, perestroika (economic restructuring
The End of the Cold War
• The Autumn of Nations is the series of events in Central and Eastern
Europe in the autumn of 1989, when various Soviet-style Communist
governments were overthrown in the space of a few months[1].
– The name of this event refers to the Revolutions of 1848, known as the
Spring of Nations. [1]
– The Autumn of Nations began in Poland[2] and sparked similar, mostly
peaceful revolutions in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Bulgaria, while Romania was the only Eastern bloc country to violently
overthrow its Communist regime and execute its head of state.[3]
– This event drastically altered the world's balance of power, marking
(combined with the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union) the end of
the Cold War and the beginning of the Post-Cold War era.
The End of the Soviet Union
• In June 1990, the Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved
• As the USSR rapidly withdrew its forces from Eastern Europe, the
spillover from the 1989 Autumn of Nations began reverberating
throughout the Soviet Union itself.
• Agitation in the Baltic states for self-determination lead to first
Lithuania, and then Estonia and Latvia, declaring independence.
• Disaffection in other Soviet republics, such as Georgia and
Azerbaijan, was countered by promises of greater decentralization.
• More open elections lead to the election of candidates opposed to
Communist Party rule.
• Glasnost had inadvertently released the long-suppressed national
sentiments of all peoples within the borders of the multinational Soviet
state. These nationalist movements were further strengthened by the
declining Soviet economy,