cold war lecture

Cold War:

Part I:

“Reconstruction & Confrontation”

Post War Clean-up

• US and USSR became Top Powers

– After defeating Germany (and Japan)

• Most of Europe was trying to rebuild

• America and Soviet Union were

virtually untouched and able to

“reload” rather than “rebuild”

Beginning of Problems

• Problems started during WWII…

• US was mad at Stalin for the non-aggression pact

with Hitler

• Stalin blamed allies (US) for not invading

Germany controlled Europe before 1944.

• US suffered 300,000 deaths

• USSR – 28 million killed or wounded

– Still had some rebuilding to do

Yalta Conference

• February 1945

• US, Britain, USSR met

• Divided Germany into zones of occupation controlled by allied forces

• Germany would also have to pay reparations to USSR

• Stalin agreed to join war against Japan

• FDR and Churchill were skeptical of USSR

Post-War Germany

The Ideological Struggle Soviet &

Eastern Bloc Nations

[“Iron Curtain”]

US & the Western

Democracies

GOAL spread world-wide Communism

GOAL “Containment” of Communism & the eventual collapse of the Communist world. [George Kennan] METHODOLOGIES:

Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]

Arms Race [nuclear escalation]

Ideological Competition for the minds and hearts of Third World peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist economy] “proxy wars”

Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]

The “Iron Curtain”

Iron Curtain: the ideological barrier that divided Eastern and Western Europe during the Cold War.

Truman Doctrine [1947] 1. Containment: restrict Soviet power and

the spread of communism

2. Civil War in Greece.

3. Turkey under pressure from the USSR for concessions in the Dardanelles.

4. The U. S. should support free peoples throughout the world who were resisting takeovers by armed minorities or outside pressures…We must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.

5. The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400 million in aid.

Marshall Plan [1948]

1. Secretary of State, George Marshall

2. U.S. aid plan designed to promote economic recovery in Europe after WWII

3. $12.5 billion of US aid to Western Europe extended to Eastern Europe & USSR, [but this was rejected].

Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49)

The Arms Race: A “Missile Gap?”

} Arms Race: a competition to achieve weapon superiority

} The Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb in 1949.

} Now there were two nuclear superpowers!

North Atlantic Treaty Organization - NATO (1949)

United States

Belgium

Britain

Canada

Denmark

France

Iceland

Italy

Luxemburg

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

1952: Greece & Turkey

1955: West Germany

1983: Spain

A mutual defense pact by Western nations in 1949.

Warsaw Pact (1955)

} U. S. S. R.

} Albania

} Bulgaria

} Czechoslovakia

} East Germany

} Hungary

} Poland

} Rumania

A 1955 defense pact between the USSR and Eastern European nations

Premier Nikita Khrushchev

About the capitalist states, it doesn't depend on you whether we (Soviet Union) exist. If you don't like us, don't accept our invitations, and don't invite us to come to see you. Whether you like it our not, history is on our side. We will bury you. -- 1956

De-Stalinization Program

Mao’s Revolution: 1949

Who lost China? – A 2nd } Power!

China’s Communist Path

• The Communists were led by Mao Zedong

• Founded the People’s Republic of China and

“The Great Leap Forward”

• Formed an alliance with the Soviet Union &

practiced Marxist principles

• Plans failed and Mao stepped down

• Cultural Revolution occurred: political

persecution in China from 1966 to 1976

– Led by Radical student groups known as the Red

Guards

– Persecuted anyone considered antirevolutionary

The Korean War: A “Police Action” (1950-1953)

Syngman Rhee

Kim Il-Sung

“Domino Theory”

CONTAINMENT TESTED

• After WWII Korea was occupied by

USSR(North)and USA (South)

• USSR sends tanks/weapons to

North to take over the south

• Truman puts stop to this

The War

• North Korea invaded

South

• General MacArthur

commanded UN military

to fight back

• September 1950-launch

surprise attack on North

Korea

• 1/2 surrendered; the rest

retreated

Not Over Yet

• UN forces pushed

North Korea back

close to China

• China gets angry &

sends 300,000 troops

• MacArthur calls for a

nuclear attack

• Truman disagrees;

removes MacArthur

End of War

• 1952: UN took

control of South

Korea

• New border set

near 38th parallel

• 4 million killed

• Today: Korea

remains divided

The Suez Crisis: 1956-1957

The Hungarian Uprising: 1956

Imre Nagy, Hungarian Prime Minister

} Promised free elections.

} This could lead to the end of communist rule in Hungary.

Sputnik I (1957) – Space Race

The Russians have beaten America in space—they have the technological edge!

Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth

U-2 Spy Incident (1960)

Col. Francis Gary Powers’ plane was

shot down over Soviet airspace.

The Berlin Wall Goes Up (1961)

Checkpoint Charlie

Khruschev Embraces Castro, 1961

• Fidel Castro

overthrew dictator

• Cuba becomes a

Soviet ally

• U.S. tried to remove

Castro in a failed

invasion: Bay of Pigs

Bay of Pigs Debacle (1961)

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

• Castro had allowed

Soviets to install

nuclear weapons in

Cuba

• U.S. placed a naval

blockade around the

island

• Soviets withdrew

missiles but U.S.

agreed not to invade

Cuba

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the Russians, and the other man blinked!

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

Vietnam War: 1965-1973

Trouble in Vietnam

• Communism spread

into Vietnam led by

Ho Chi Minh

• North Korea-

Communist

• South Korea- Anti-

Communist

Domino Theory

• Containment Policy

dictated they end

communism

• US felt they must get

involved

• Domino Theory- if one

country fell then its

neighbors would follow

Conflict ensues • South Led by Ngo dihn Diem

• People hated him

• Vietcong (communist S.V.) had

taken control of large parts of

S.V.

• Eventually Diem was

assassinated but others were

not liked either

• Risk of a Vietcong takeover, US

increases involvement

US Enters Fight

• August 1964- LBJ sends troops to

Vietnam

• 1965-185,000 troops

• 1968- 500,000 troops

Vietnam War

• US had the best weapons and

training

• Vietcong were fighting at home and

were committed to fight.

• Popularity of South Vietnam

decreased and influence of North

Vietnam and USSR increased which

made it harder for the US

More Work

• Within 3 years, North Vietnam had

conquered the South and united the

country.

• Last troops were pulled out in 1973

Post War Vietnam

• North took control of South and

installed communist government

• Communism caused 1.5 million to

flee

• Many refugees came to America

• 1995, relations became less strained

between US and Vietnam

Easing Cold War Tensions

• Tensions relaxed by 1970s

• U.S. led the way in the arms race in

1960s and wanted to threaten

Soviets to back down

• By 1970s Soviets caught up in the

arms race

• Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

(SALT) 1972 was agreed upon to

limit number of nuclear weapons

Tensions cont…

• Pres. Nixon reaches out to China

• Helped to reduce the tension in East

Asia

• Mikhail Gorbachev, new Soviet

leader, brings reform

• Berlin Wall came down and Germany

was reunited

• Soviet Union collapses in 1991

– Dissolved into 15 separate states