Download AP European History - Henry County Schools

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AP European History
Unit 10 – The Cold War, 1945-1989.
In 1945, Europe lay prostrate as some 50 million refugees drifted across the land and countless people
faced starvation and homelessness.
Memories of lost loved ones and homes.
Horrors of the concentration camps.
Hardships of occupation.
Mass bombings would haunt people for the rest of their lives.
Outrage, fear, and violence continued to stalk Europe.
Many resistance fighters and Soviet troops executed surrendering Nazi soldiers on the spot.
Angry officials and ordinary people hunted down and punished collaborators after only summary trials.
To shame women they suspected of sleeping with German soldiers, irate citizens shaved off women's
hair and marched them through the streets.
The Soviets, Poles, and Czechoslovakians pushed 13 million ethnic Germans out of homes in Eastern
Europe toward the west.
Stalin's officials sent thousands of returning Soviet prisoners to forced-labor camps or to the executioner
for being "contaminated" by dangerous, anti-Soviet ideas.
Jews who had managed to survive often found their homes destroyed, and they still suffered from
flagrant anti-Semitism.
With agricultural and nonmilitary industrial production at a fraction of their prewar levels, Western
Europe looked to the United States for loans, relief, defense, and leadership.
Eastern Europe, in even worse shambles, was falling under the dominance of the Soviet Union.
Political leaders and diplomats involved in the peace settlement hoped this time to avoid the "mistakes"
made at the close of World War I.
The main challenge facing them was to find a way to deal with defeated nations without spawning new
conflicts.
The leaders of Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union shaped postwar Europe in two
war-time conferences at Teheran in December 1943 and Yalta in February 1945, and one postwar
conference at Potsdam in July 1945.
Teheran Conference:
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin at
Teheran, Iran.
The conference was held to strengthen the cooperation of the United States, Great Britain, and the
USSR in World War II.
Agreement was reached on the scope and timing of operations against Germany, including plans for the
Allied invasion of France.
Stalin reaffirmed his pledge to commit Soviet forces against Japan after the defeat of Germany.
The final communiqué also stressed the need for cooperation through the United Nations in meeting the
problems of peace.
A separate protocol pledged the three powers to maintain the independence of Iran.
On other matters, however, discord among the wartime allies created a more ominous view of the
future.
The most crucial disagreements came over the fate of the Eastern European countries.
Stalin argued that because the Soviet Union had endured invasions through these countries in both
world wars, he needed them to serve as a "buffer zone" of states loyal
to the USSR.
The United States and
Great Britain demanded complete independence and democracy for these Eastern Europe countries.
Yalta Conference:
resort town on the Crimean Peninsula.
The "Big Three" met there to decide the fate of post-war Europe.
The goal of this conference was to discuss several issues:
Dividing up Germany.
United Nations.
German war reparations.
The final, and most difficult issue, the future of Poland.
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The Yalta conferees confirmed the policy adopted at the Casablanca Conference of demanding
Germany's unconditional surrender.
Plans were made for dividing Germany into four zones of occupation (American, British, French, and
Soviet) under a unified control commission in Berlin.
War crimes trials.
Study of the reparations question.
Agreement was also reached on reorganizing the Polish Lublin government (supported by Stalin) “on a
broader democratic basis” that would include members of Poland's London government-in-exile, which
the Western Allies had supported.
The conferees decided to ask China and France to join them in sponsoring the founding conference of
the United Nations to be convened in San Francisco on Apr. 25, 1945.
Agreement was reached on using the veto system of voting in the projected Security Council.
Future meetings of the foreign ministers of the “Big Three” were planned.
The USSR secretly agreed to enter the war against Japan within three months of Germany's surrender
and was promised S Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and an occupation zone in Korea.
The secret agreement respecting the disposal of Japan's holdings also provided that the port of Dalian
should be internationalized.
Port Arthur should be restored to its status before the 1904–5 Russo-Japanese War as a Russian naval
base, and that the Manchurian railroads should be under joint Chinese-Soviet administration.
The United States and Great Britain also agreed to recognize the autonomy of Outer Mongolia, and to
admit Ukraine and Belarus to the United Nations as full members.
The Yalta agreements were disputed even before the Potsdam Conference later in 1945.
The subsequent outbreak of the Cold War and Soviet successes in Eastern Europe led to much criticism
in the United States of the Yalta Conference and of Roosevelt, who was accused of delivering Eastern
Europe to Communist domination.
Potsdam Conference:
“Big 3” at Potsdam, suburb of Berlin.
Truman, Churchill, Stalin.
No agreement on Poland's western boundary but Lublin government allowed to expel 9 million
Germans from eastern Poland.
Germany to be administered as single economic unit by Allied Control Council under Lucius Clay.
Stalin sealed all land access to East Germany.
Stalin allowed to take 25% of West German industry in exchange for food, coal.
Nazi leaders to be tried as war criminals at Nuremberg.
Korea to be divided.
Stalin was told on July 24 of A-bomb test July 23 at Trinity.
Churchill lost British election July 28 to Labor's Clement Attlee.
Council of Foreign Ministers would meet to draft final peace treaties, but U.S. would withdraw.
Stalin refused to hold elections in occupied East Europe.
"trouble spots" appeared.
United Nations:
1945 delegates from 45 countries met to form the United Nations.
The five great powers – United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China were permanent
members of the Security Council with the right to veto.
The UN was intended to promote international cooperation.
The structure of the United Nations is based around its charter.
The charter established six parts of the United Nations:
The Security Council consists of eleven members.
Five of these are permanent (USA, USSR, GB, China, France).
The General Assembly appoints another six members who are non-permanent members.
The Security Council is given the primary task by the United Nations of maintaining peace and security
at an international level.
Each member of the Security Council is given one vote and a vote of seven members is needed for
action to be taken.
All five permanent members have to agree with the course of action.
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The Security Council can recommend the use of a blockade or other financial impositions for any nation
that is deemed as breaking international law.
If these do not work, then the Security Council can call on the United Nations to use military force to
enforce its will.
This is the major difference to the League of Nations – the United Nations has the ability to enforce its
decisions as each member state has to pledge to provide a military component dependent on its national
wealth and capability.
West versus East
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/causes_coldwaract.shtml
In 1945, Harry S Truman became president of the USA, determined to confront Communism.
He is reported to have told his advisers:
“The Russians only understand one language - how many armies have you got? I'm tired of babying the
Soviets.”
But this was not the only cause of trouble.
Historians believed that the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and America was also wrecked
by the huge differences between the two countries in:
Politics - America was capitalist, Russia was communist.
Lifestyle - America had freedom and a two-party democracy; Russia had secret police and a one-party
state.
Aims - America wanted Germany to recover as a trading partner; Russia wanted to weaken Germany
and create a buffer zone of friendly states around Russia.
The collapse of the wartime alliance led to a Cold War between the two superpowers.
Twenty million Russians died during the Second World War, so Stalin said he wanted a buffer zone of
friendly states around Russia to make sure that Russia could never be invaded again.
Stalin was planning the takeover of Eastern Europe.
During the war, Communists from the occupied countries of Eastern Europe escaped to Moscow and set
up Communist governments in exile there.
As the Red Army drove the Nazis back, it occupied large areas of Eastern Europe and Churchill in the
so-called percentages agreement - agreed that Eastern Europe could be a Soviet "sphere of influence"
In the countries that the Red Army "liberated", communist-dominated governments took power.
The Communists made sure that they controlled the army, set up a secret police force, and began to
arrest their opponents.
Non-Communists were gradually beaten, murdered, executed and terrified out of power.
By 1949, all the governments of Eastern Europe, except Yugoslavia, were hard line Stalinist regimes.
In 1946, in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, Churchill declared that an “Iron Curtain” had come down
across Europe, and that Soviet power was growing and had to be stopped.
Stalin called Churchill's speech a "declaration of war".
In 1947, Stalin set up Comintern - an alliance of Communist countries designed to make sure they
obeyed Soviet rule.
In 1947, two important events:
President Truman warned the American Congress that it was America's job to contain Communism this became known as the Truman Doctrine.
General George Marshall came up with a plan to help Europe recover from the war using American
money - this became known as the Marshall Plan.
By 1947, Greece was one of the few countries in Eastern Europe that hadn't turned communist.
The Communist rebels in Greece were prevented from taking over by the British Army.
America was becoming increasingly alarmed by the growth of Soviet power.
So, when the British told Truman they could no longer afford to keep their soldiers in Greece, Truman
stepped in to take over.
In March 1947, he told the American Congress it was America's job to stop communism growing any
stronger.
This was called the Truman Doctrine.
It is often said that Truman advocated containment (stopping the Soviet getting any more powerful), but
Truman did not use this word and many Americans spoke of "rolling back" communism.
In June 1947, General George Marshall made a visit to Europe to see what was needed.
He came away thinking Europe was so poor that the whole of Europe was about to turn Communist.
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Marshall and Truman asked Congress for $17 billion to fund the European Recovery Program
nicknamed the Marshall Plan - to get the economy of Europe going again.
Congress at first hesitated, but agreed in March 1948 when Czechoslovakia turned Communist.
The aid was given in the form of food, grants to buy equipment, improvements to transport systems, and
everything "from medicine to mules".
Most (70%) of the money was used to buy commodities from US suppliers:
$3.5 billion was spent on raw materials.
$3.2 billion on food, feed and fertilizer.
$1.9 billion on machinery and vehicles.
$1.6 billion on fuel.
Stalin forbade the Cominform countries to apply for Marshall Aid.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/developmentsact.shtml
In 1945, the Allies decided to split Germany into four zones of occupation.
The capital, Berlin, was also split into four zones.
The USSR took huge reparations from its zone in eastern Germany, but Britain, France and America
tried to improve conditions in their zones.
In June 1948, Britain, France and America united their zones into a new country, West Germany.
On June 23, 1948, they introduced a new currency, which they said would help trade.
The next day, Stalin cut off all rail and road links to west Berlin - the Berlin Blockade.
The west saw this as an attempt to starve Berlin into surrender, so they decided to supply west Berlin by
air.
The Berlin Blockade lasted 318 days.
During this time, 275,000 planes transported 1.5 million tons of supplies and a plane landed every three
minutes at Berlin's Templehof airport.
On May 12, 1949, Stalin abandoned the blockade.
When Berlin falls, Western Germany will be next. If we withdraw our position in Berlin, Europe is
threatened... Communism will run rampant. - General Clay
Results of the Berlin Crisis of 1948:
Germany was divided into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the Democratic
Republic of Germany (East Germany) until 1990.
The Iron Curtain became permanent.
The Cold War broke out into open confrontation, and the two superpowers began an Arms Race.
In 1949, the Allies set up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a military alliance to resist
Soviet Russia.
The decade after the Second World War saw Communism spread to the Far East, eventually dividing
Ko r e a .
The Korean War lasted three years and peace was only achieved when the use of the atomic bomb was
threatened.
The problem in Korea:
In 1945, Korea was split along the 38th parallel between a communist north led by Kim IL Sung, and a
non-communist south led by Syngman Rhee.
But communism was growing in the Far East.
In 1949, the Communists had taken power in China.
The US developed the 'domino theory' - the idea that, if one country fell to communism, others would
follow like a row of dominoes.
Then, in 1950, a report by the American National Security Council ('NSC68') recommended that the US
stop containment and start to roll back communism.
In 1950, after getting the support of Russia and China, Kim IL Sung invaded South Korea.
The North Korean People's Army (NKPA) easily defeated the Republic of Korea's army (the ROK’s).
By September, the NKPA had conquered almost the whole of South Korea.
The USA went to the United Nations and got them to send troops to defend South Korea.
The Russians couldn't veto the idea because they were boycotting the UN at the time.
In September, UN troops, led by the US General MacArthur, landed in Korea and drove the NKPA
back.
By October, the UN forces had almost conquered all of North Korea.
In November 1950, Chinese People's Volunteers attacked and drove the Americans back.
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They recaptured North Korea, and advanced into South Korea.
The Americans landed more troops and drove the Chinese back to the 38th parallel, where Truman
ordered General MacArthur to stop and sacked him when he disagreed.
The war went on as border clashes until 1953 when America's new president, Eisenhower, offered
peace, but threatened to use the atomic bomb if China did not accept the offer.
Recently, historians have shown that the Korean crisis almost led to a third world war - many US
advisers wanted to use the atomic bomb.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/koreanwarrev3.shtml
1953-1960 – changes:
In 1953, Stalin died and Nikita Khrushchev became the Soviet leader.
He was a jolly man, who said to prevent the most destructive war in history, there needed to be
"peaceful co-existence" between the superpowers.
He said Stalin was a terrible tyrant and he wanted to "de-Stalinize" Eastern Europe.
Everyone hoped that it would improve East-West relations.
It did not.
In fact, the period 1953-1960 was the time of greatest danger in the Cold War.
America and Russia competed with each other in the arms race, in sport, and in the space race.
Why did 'peaceful co-existence' make the Cold War more dangerous?
Khrushchev's statement that he wanted to "de-Stalinize" Eastern Europe led to anti-Soviet rebellions in
1956 in Poland and Hungary, and Khrushchev sent in Russian troops to re-establish Soviet control.
Russia and America waged an arms race, developing H-bombs and ICBMs.
Khrushchev set up the Warsaw Pact in 1955 - a military alliance of communist countries - to rival
NATO.
America responded by increasing the number of NATO troops in Germany.
Russia and America competed in every way possible - in sport, and in the space race.
Russia launched the first satellite - Sputnik - in 1957, and sent the first man into orbit - Yuri Gagarin - in
1961.
Alan Shepard became the first American to fly in space in 1961, and President Kennedy promised to put
a man on the moon by 1969.
This was not just a propaganda war, it was a clash of ideologies as both sides tried to prove that their
way was best.
America responded aggressively.
Senator McCarthy led a series of public trials of suspected Communists - the so-called witch-hunts.
Both sides spied on each other.
The Americans also used U2 spy planes to spy on Russia.
Hungarian revolution:
The death of Stalin led many Hungarians to hope that Hungary also would be 'de-Stalinized'.
In July 1956, the 'Stalinist' Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, Rakosi, fell from power.
During October 1956, students, workers and soldiers in Hungary attacked the AVH (the secret police)
and Russian soldiers, and smashed a statue of Stalin.
On October 24, 1956 Imre Nagy - a moderate and a pro-west - took over as prime minister.
Nagy asked Khrushchev to move the Russian troops out.
Khrushchev agreed and on October 28, 1956, the Russian army pulled out of Budapest.
For five days, there was freedom in Hungary.
The new Hungarian government introduced democracy, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion.
Cardinal Mindzenty, the leader of the Catholic Church, was freed from prison.
Then, on November 3, 1956, Nagy announced that Hungary was going to leave the Warsaw Pact.
However, Khrushchev was not going to allow this.
He claimed he had received a letter from Hungarian Communist leaders asking for his help.
At dawn on November 4, 1956, 1,000 Russian tanks rolled into Budapest.
They destroyed the Hungarian army and captured Hungarian Radio the last words broadcast were
"Help! Help! Help!".
Hungarian people - even children - fought the Russian troops with machine guns.
Some 4,000 Hungarians were killed.
Khrushchev put in Russian supporter, Janos Kadar, as prime minister.
Effects of the Hungarian Revolution:
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Repression in Hungary - thousands of Hungarians were arrested and imprisoned.
Some were executed and 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled to Austria.
Russia stayed in control behind the Iron Curtain - no other country tried to get rid of Russia troops until
Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Polarization of the Cold War - people in the West were horrified - many Communists left the
Communist Party - and Western leaders became more determined to contain communism.
The U2 incident and the Paris summit of 1960.
By the end of the 1950s, there was massive tension in the Cold War:
The arms race - both sides accepted the need for some kind of Nuclear Test Ban treaty.
Berlin - the Russians were furious that many East Germans were fleeing to the west through West
Berlin.
Cuba - the Americans were worried because Fidel Castro, a Communist, had seized power there in
1959.
A summit meeting was arranged for Paris to try to sort things out.
On 1st May 1960 - thirteen days before the summit - an American U2 spy plane was shot down over
Russia and the pilot, Gary Powers, was captured.
At first, the Americans tried to say that it was a weather plane, but they were forced to admit that it was
a spy plane when the Russians revealed that much of his plane had survived, and that they had captured
Gary Powers alive.
When the summit met on May 14, the first thing Khrushchev did was to demand that the US president,
Eisenhower, apologize.
When Eisenhower refused, Khrushchev went home.
The Cold War had just become substantially more dangerous.
Effects of the U2 incident:
The Paris meeting collapsed and there was no Test Ban Treaty.
There was no discussion about the problem of Berlin - which, ultimately, led to the Berlin Wall.
The incident was seen as a defeat for the US - so they elected John F Kennedy as president because he
promised to get tougher with the Russians.
The problems in West Berlin.
West Berlin was a worry and an embarrassment for the Soviet Union in 1961:
Nearly 2,000 refugees a day were fleeing to the West through west Berlin - hardly proof of the Soviet
claim that the Communist way of life was better than capitalism!
Many of those leaving were skilled and qualified workers.
The Soviets believed (rightly) that West Berlin was a center for US espionage.
At the Vienna Summit of June 1961, therefore, Khrushchev demanded that the US leave West Berlin
within six months.
Kennedy refused and instead guaranteed West Berlin's freedom.
On August 13, Khrushchev closed the border between East and West Berlin and started building the
Berlin Wall.
At first, the Russians regarded it as a propaganda success, but as time went on, it became a propaganda
disaster - a symbol of all that was bad about Soviet rule.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/cubanact.shtml
In 1962, the Cold War was at its coldest.
The Russians had built the Berlin Wall the previous year.
Kennedy who had been elected because he promised to get tough with the Communists felt that
Khrushchev had got one over on him at the Vienna Summit in 1961.
In April 1962, the Americans put nuclear missiles in Turkey.
Also, in 1959, a rebel named Fidel Castro took power in Cuba, an island just 90 miles away from
Florida.
Before Castro took over, the government - led by Colonel Batista - had been a corrupt and right-wing
military dictatorship, but the Americans had many business interests in Cuba.
When Castro came to power, however, he nationalized American companies in Cuba.
In retaliation, the Americans stopped all aid to Cuba, and all imports of Cuban sugar.
This was a blow to Castro as sugar was the mainstay of the Cuban economy.
Castro was forced to look to the USSR for help, and, in 1960, the USSR signed an agreement to buy 1
million tons of Cuban sugar every year.
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Castro, who had not been a Communist when he took power, became a Communist.
America was alarmed.
In April 1961, with Kennedy's knowledge, the CIA funded, trained, armed and transported 1,300 Cuban
exiles to invade Cuba.
They landed at the Bay of Pigs and made an attempt to overthrow Castro.
The invasion was a disaster, and President Kennedy was humiliated.
In September 1961, Castro asked for - and Russia publicly promised - weapons to defend Cuba against
America.
Which is why on October 14, 1962, the Americans discovered the missile sites in Cuba.
These sites brought every town in the US within range of Soviet nuclear missiles.
President Kennedy called a meeting of the National Security Council and on October 22 went on TV to
tell the American people that they were under threat.
The crisis had begun.
President Kennedy did not dare to invade Cuba, because that action could have started a world war - yet
he could not let the missile sites be completed.
With his advisers, he decided on a naval blockade to prevent Russian ships delivering the missiles for
the Cuban sites.
Khrushchev warned that Russia would see the blockade as an act of war.
Russian forces were put on alert; US bombers were put in the air carrying nuclear bombs; preparations
were made to invade Cuba.
There was massive tension in both Washington and Moscow.
Everybody thought the world was going to come to an end.
Secretly, the Americans suggested a trade-off of missile bases - US bases in Turkey for Russian bases in
Cuba.
The Russians made the first public move.
The ships heading for Cuba turned back, and Khrushchev sent a telegram offering to dismantle the
Cuban bases if Kennedy lifted the blockade and promised not to invade Cuba.
Then, as though having second thoughts, he sent a second letter demanding the dismantling of the
Turkish bases.
At the vital moment, a US U2 spy plane was shot down.
However, Kennedy ignored the U2 attack and agreed publicly to the first letter, and secretly to the
second.
The crisis was over.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/eventsofthecrisisrev3.shtml
Repercussions of the crisis:
Speaking many years later, Khrushchev claimed that he had won the Cuban missile crisis.
He had achieved both his aims - America never bothered Cuba again (which is still a Communist
country) and the US missile sites in Turkey were dismantled in November 1962.
The world did not see it that way at the time, because the Turkey deal was kept secret, the West saw
Kennedy as the hero who had faced down Communism.
Meanwhile, Khrushchev lost prestige.
China broke off relations with Russia and, in 1964, he was forced to resign as Soviet leader.
In 1963, a telephone hotline was set up to give instant contact between the two leaders if there was a
crisis.
In 1963, a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed.
In 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed - the superpowers promised not to supply
nuclear technology to other countries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/endact.shtml
Events in Czechoslovakia 1968.
There were no riots or demonstrations but, during 1967, students and writers were complaining about
the lack of freedom, and the poor performance of the Czechoslovak economy.
But when Antonin Novotny, the Czechoslovak president, asked Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, for
help, Brezhnev did not support him.
Novotny fell from power and on 5 January 1968, Alexandr Dubcek - a reformer - took over as leader of
the Communist Party (KSC).
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In April 1968, Dubcek's government announced an Action Plan for what it called a new model of
socialism - it removed state controls over industry and allowed freedom of speech.
For four months (the Prague Spring), there was freedom in Czechoslovakia.
But then the revolution began to run out of control.
Dubcek announced that he was still committed to democratic communism, but other political parties
were set up.
Also, Dubcek stressed that Czechoslovakia would stay in the Warsaw Pact, but in August, President
Tito of Yugoslavia, a country not in the Warsaw Pact, visited Prague.
At a meeting in Bratislava on August 3, 1968, Brezhnev read out a letter from some Czechoslovakian
Communists asking for help.
He announced the Brezhnev Doctrine - the USSR would not allow any Eastern European country to
reject Communism.
On August 20, 1968, 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia.
Dubcek and three other leaders were arrested and sent to Moscow.
The Czechoslovakians did not fight the Russians.
Instead, they stood in front of the tanks, and put flowers in the soldiers' hair.
Jan Palach burned himself to death in protest.
Brezhnev put in Gustav Husak, a supporter of Russia, as leader of the KSC.
Causes of the Prague Spring:
The policy of détente encouraged the uprising.
Romania had also broken free of Russian control, and was improving relations with the West.
The Czechs hated Russian control, especially:
Russian control of the economy, which had made Czechoslovakia poor.
The censorship and lack of freedom.
Some Czechs thought the USA would help them.
Effects of the invasion of Czechoslovakia:
Czechoslovakia returned to communist control and Russian troops were stationed there.
Half the leadership of the KSC, along with the directors of many firms (especially publishing
companies) were sacked and 47 anti-communists were arrested.
Russia stayed in control behind the Iron Curtain.
The Brezhnev Doctrine stated that Iron Curtain countries would not be allowed to abandon communism,
"even if it meant a third world war".
People in the West were horrified and so were many communist countries, especially Romania and
Yugoslavia.
Causes of détente:
America was shocked by the Vietnam War and wanted to stay out of world affairs.
There was also a vociferous campaign for nuclear disarmament movement in the West.
The arms race was very expensive for both superpowers.
The price of oil rocketed in the 1970s, and both superpowers experienced economic problems.
Limitations of détente:
The Non-Proliferation Treaty did not stop other countries developing nuclear weapons ( China, and
perhaps South Africa and Israel).
Neither Russia or America kept to the SALT1 agreement.
Neither side reduced their conventional weapons.
Further talks were much less successful and a SALT2 Treaty in 1979 added little.
In the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, America supported Israel, and Russia supported Egypt and Syria.
The Helsinki Agreement achieved nothing - it confirmed the Iron Curtain and Russia ignored its
promises about human rights.
Table tennis and space meetings were just one-off propaganda stunts.
Brezhnev said that Communists would still try to destroy capitalism.
Some historians suggest that Nixon only went to China to drive a wedge between Russia and China
The end of the Cold War.
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to try to prop up the communist government there,
which was being attacked by Muslim Mujaheddin fighters.
This immediately caused a rift with America, which boycotted the 1980 Olympics.
President Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as the 'evil empire'
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In 1980, Ronald Reagan became president of the USA.
As a strong anti-communist, he called the Soviet Union the "evil empire" and increased spending on
arms.
The US military developed the neutron bomb, cruise missiles and a Star Wars defense system using
space satellites.
By 1985, the Soviet Union was in trouble.
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR.
He withdrew from Afghanistan.
He realized that the USSR could not afford the arms race, and opened the START (Strategic Arms
Reduction Talks) with the USA.
He signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987.
He began to reform the Soviet system by allowing perestroika (competition in business) and glasnost
(freedom).
Mikhail Gorbachev reformed the Soviet system.
As in 1956 and 1968, a relaxation by the Soviet government encouraged revolutions in Eastern Europe
only this time, the USSR did not have the means or the will to impose military control.
Free elections held in Poland in June 1989 were won by Solidarity, originally a banned trade union, and
Lech Walesa became the first non-communist president of Poland.
Revolutions in other Eastern European countries quickly followed - notably the fall of the Berlin Wall
in November 1989.
In 1991, Gorbachev fell from power and the Soviet Union was dissolved.
Problems facing the USSR in the 1980s.
Afghanistan had become "Russia's Vietnam".
Russia could not afford the arms race.
The Soviet economy was backwards - factories and mines were decrepit and out of date.
Backward industry was causing increasing environmental problems - pollution, the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant explosion of 1986, and the Aral Sea dried up.
Many people were much poorer than the poorest people in the capitalist West - unrest about shortages
was growing.
Crime, alcoholism and drugs were out of control in Soviet towns.
The Soviet system had become corrupt and out of date - instead of dealing with problems, the
government just covered them up (Chernobyl, 1986).
Many people were dissatisfied with the Soviet police state and censorship.
The Western Renaissance
A divided and economically weak Europe made a huge turn-around within a generation after 1945.
The postwar challenge
The war left Europe physically devastated and in a state of economic and moral crisis.
Food rationing was necessary.
Russia's border had been pushed west, as was Poland's; thus, many Germans were forced to resettle in a
greatly reduced Germany.
All the Allies treated Germany harshly.
New leaders and new parties, especially the Catholic Christian Democrats, emerged in Italy, France, and
Germany and provided effective leadership and needed reforms.
In many countries, such as Britain, France, and Italy, socialists and communists emerged from the war
with considerable power and a strong desire for social reform.
The Marshall Plan aided in economic recovery and led to the Organization for European Economic
Cooperation (OEEC).
Military protection was provided through NATO.
Led by West Germany, a European economic miracle was underway by 1963.
American aid helped get the process off to a fast start.
European nations adopted Keynesian policies to stimulate their economies.
Under Erhard, Germany adopted a freemarket economy, a social welfare network, currency reform, and
price controls.
Under Monnet, flexible planning and a mixed state and private economy brought rapid growth to
France.
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Great potential demand (for products such as refrigerators), abandonment of protectionism, and the
creation of the Common Market stimulated the economy.
Toward European unity:
Democratic republics were reestablished in France, West Germany, and Italy.
The Christian Democrats wanted a unified Europe, but economic unity proved to be more realistic than
political unity under the Council of Europe.
The six nation Coal and Steel Community marked the beginning of a movement toward European unity
and led to reduction of tariffs.
This was known as the European Economic Community (EEC, or Common Market).
However, regenerated hopes for political union in Europe were frustrated by a resurgence of nationalism
in the 1960s.
De Gaulle, a romantic nationalist, wanted France to lead the Common Market.
He withdrew from NATO and vetoed British attempts to join the Common Market.
Decolonization.
The causes of imperial decline:
"Decolonization" brought demands for national self-determination in colonial areas after the First World
W ar .
The Second World War reduced European power and destroyed the Western sense of moral superiority.
Britain's Labour government granted independence to India in 1947.
In the Middle East the French gave up Syria and Lebanon; the British established a Jewish state inside
of Palestine--which was divided into two states by the United Nations.
The Arabs refused to accept this division and in 1948 an Arab attack led to Jewish conquest.
France was defeated in Indochina (Vietnam) in 1954, but they used a dirty war to hold on to Algeria
until 1962.
Britain's African colonies were freed and then tied to Britain by way of the Commonwealth.
As a result, European cultural and economic interests increased in Africa.
This is called "neocolonialism"; some claim that this undermined African independence.
Postwar Social Transformations
Science and technology:
With the Second World War, pure science and applied science were joined as leading scientists worked
for their governments to help fight the war.
The war led to major technological breakthroughs, such as radar, improved jet engines, computers, and
the atomic bomb.
Einstein's letter to Roosevelt in 1939 about the theoretical possibility of the atomic bomb led to the
Manhattan Project.
The first atomic bomb was successfully tested in July 1945--showing the awesome power of science.
Big Science
The war inspired "Big Science," which could attack difficult problems by combining theoretical work
with engineering techniques.
The United States took the lead in Big Science after the Second World War.
By 1965, most of the funds for scientific research came from the government.
A large portion of scientific research was devoted to defense.
Russia pioneered in the development of a space program by launching a satellite in 1957, but the United
States put the first men on the moon, in 1969.
European countries undertook financing of Big Science in order to stop the "brain drain" of their best
scientists to the United States; they created the Concorde.
The lives of scientists were altered by Big Science.
There were many more scientists and much specialized knowledge.
Specialization made teamwork, bureaucracy, and managers necessary.
It became difficult to appraise an individual scientist's contribution to a team effort.
Competition among scientists was often fierce.
The changing class structure:
Because of rapid economic growth after 1945, the traditional class distinctions became less clear-cut,
and society became more mobile and democratic.
Educational and employment opportunities made the middle class more open.
The rural working class shrank in size due to the mass exodus from the country.
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Social security reforms such as health care and family allowances reduced class tensions.
These reforms promoted greater social and economic equality.
Lower food costs allowed for greater consumption of other goods.
Automobile ownership increased; gadgets and household appliances, largely bought on credit, became
necessities for most families.
 Mass consumerism had come of age.
 Leisure and recreation, especially travel, became big business.
New Roles for Women
Emancipation of women in this period was significant; women's experiences and expectations changed
considerably.
 Women married earlier and bore their children quickly; a baby-boom occurred in the 1950s but in the
1960s the birth rate declined--reaching a no-growth level by the mid-1970s.
 Therefore, most women had smaller families and were finished childbearing by their later 20s--meaning
having more of their lifetime available for new roles outside the family.
 After World War II almost all women had to go outside the home to find cash income--this helped by an
economic boom of 1950-1973.
 Western women shared in an education boom; they then went into office work and professional jobs.
 In Eastern Europe, women were even more employable.
 The birth rate continued to fall and women had fewer babies.
 But as workers they experienced widespread pay discrimination.
 Discrimination led to movements for equality and emancipation; women's perspective on work moved
from that of temporary nuisance to a permanent condition that demanded job satisfaction and equality.
 The women's movement, 1968-1989.
 The women's movement grew as a result of women's lessened attention to children and greater attention
to work, along with new feminist critiques and the lessons of the civil rights movement, which
encouraged dissatisfied individuals to band together.
 The most influential early writer was Simone de Beauvoir, who argued that women had been trapped by
a male-constructed inferiority role.
 Betty Friedan of the United States called for group action and political solutions for women's crisis of
identity--which was really "sexism."
 This led to Friedan helping found NOW, and many similar groups followed in Europe.
 These groups pushed for equality in the workplace and issues such as legalized abortion, right to
divorce, protection from rape, and so on.
 Revolutionary changes occurred in Italy and else where.
 Homosexuals and others called for an end to legal discrimination.
Youth and the Counterculture
Prosperity and increased democracy in the late 1950s and 1960s led to a youth culture that rebelled against
authority and the status quo.
 In America, the youth rebellion grew out of the "beat" generation of the 1950s, and then became a major
culture in the 1960s--much of it beginning in San Francisco and Chicago's Near North.
 Rock music by Elvis Presley and then the Beatles encouraged its popularity.
 Rock poet-singer Bob Dylan best expressed the movement's radical politics, while the Beatles
encouraged personal and sexual freedom.
 Punk Rock, 1970s:
 England's punk scene had political and economic roots.
 The economy in the United Kingdom was in poor shape, and unemployment rates were at an all-time
high.
 England's youth were angry, rebellious and out of work.
 They had strong opinions and a lot of free time.
 This is where the beginnings of punk fashion as we know it emerged, and they centered out of one shop.
 The shop was simply called SEX, and it was owned by Malcolm McClaren.
 Malcolm McClaren had recently returned to London from the U.S., where he had unsuccessfully tried to
reinvent the New York Dolls to sell his clothing.
 He was determined to do it again, but this time looked to the youths who worked and hung out in his
shop to be his next project.
 This project would become the Sex Pistols, and they would develop a large following very quickly.
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Among the fans of the Sex Pistols was an outrageous bunch of young punks known as the Bromley
Contingent.
Named after the neighborhood they all came from, they were at the first Sex Pistols shows, and quickly
realized they could do it themselves.
Within a year, the Bromleys had formed a large portion of the London Punk scene, including The Clash,
The Slits, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Generation X (fronted by a young Billy Idol) and X-Ray Spex.
The British punk scene was now in full swing.
By the late '70s, punk had finished its beginning and had emerged as a solid musical force.
Sexual behavior changed; sexual intercourse between non-married young people increased dramatically.
This culture was encouraged by modern mass communications and travel, by the large proportion of
young people in society (the baby boomers), and by greater youth purchasing power.
Youth culture was in opposition to the established order because of the rebirth of romanticism and
revolutionary idealism--including the idea that the West was hopelessly rotten.
As a result, the Vietnam war took on great significance--as young people concluded that the war was
immoral.
Prior to the 1950s, higher education in Europe had been limited to only a few.
However, the number of people entering European universities increased in the 1950s and 1960s.
Overcrowding resulted, and a new "youth culture" emerged.
Many students believed they were not getting the kind of education they needed.
Student revolts over these issues occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A general strike spread across France in 1968.
De Gaulle moved troops toward Paris and called for new elections, which he won resoundingly.
The troubled economy
An economic crisis occurred in the early 1970s--partly because President Nixon's economic policies led
to the fall of the dollar and increased inflation; great uncertainty prevailed.
Also, cheap oil came to an end with an OPEC embargo on oil to the United States--causing a great
economic shock and world economic downturn.
Recovery did not begin until 1982; still, in 1985 unemployment was at its highest.
The "misery index" shows that economic misery was greatest in western Europe.
Society in a time of economic uncertainty
Economic stagnation of the 1970s and 1980s led to pessimism and sober realism.
But the welfare system of the state preserved political stability and democracy--unlike earlier eras.
One result was rapid growth of budget deficits by the late 1970s--and then a reaction to government
spending set in.
Margaret Thatcher in Britain slowed government spending and shifted to "privatizing" state-owned
industries.
Ronald Reagan's success was more limited--because he increased government spending, partly due to
his obsession with the Soviet threat, and partly due to more welfare spending.
In France, Mitterrand tried to take France toward more government ownership, but he failed.
Government reductions in big science projects led to greater demand for computers.
Austerity led some people to question excessive materialism and look to ways of improving diet and
health.
People postponed marriage, and many women became permanent members of the labor force.