Cold War introduction year 9.

Do Now: Analyse these sources and answer the 4 questions.

Analyse the following source- What can you infer about the threat of Nuclear Weapons?

Read the Following information:

The Arms Race

In the years immediately after the Second World War, the United States alone had the specific knowledge of and raw materials for making nuclear weapons. At first, it was thought that uranium was rare in the world but this turned out to be wrong. American leaders hoped that their exclusive ownership of nuclear weapons would be enough to frighten the Soviet Union into doing what they were told.

Behind the scenes, the Soviet’s were working on building their own atomic weapons. During the war, Soviet efforts had been limited by a lack of uranium but new supplies in Eastern Europe were found and provided a steady supply while the Soviets developed a domestic source. While American experts had predicted that the USSR would not have nuclear weapons until the mid-1950s, the first Soviet bomb was detonated on August 29, 1949, shocking the entire world. The bomb, named "Joe One" by the West, was more or less a copy of "Fat Man", one of the bombs the United States had dropped on Japan in 1945.

Both governments spent massive amounts to increase the quality and quantity of their nuclear arsenals (stores). Both nations quickly began the development of a hydrogen bomb and the United States detonated the first of these on November 1, 1952. Again, the Soviets surprised the world by exploding a hydrogen bomb in 1955.

The most important development in terms of delivery in the 1950s was the introduction of intercontinental ballistic missiles, ICBMs. Missiles had long been regarded the ideal platform for nuclear weapons, instead of using the highly dangerous methods of using bombers. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union showed the world that they had missiles able to reach any part of the world when they launched Sputnik into space. The United States launched their own satellite on the 31 October 1959.

This period also saw some of the first attempts to defend against nuclear weapons. Both superpowers built large radar units to detect incoming bombers and missiles. Fighters to use against bombers and anti-ballistic missiles to use against ICBMs were also developed. Large underground bunkers were constructed to save the leaders, and citizens were told to build fallout shelters and taught how to react to a nuclear attack. These measurements were called civil defense.

None of these defensive measures were secure, and in the 1950s both the United States and Soviet Union had nuclear power to obliterate the other side. Both sides developed a capability to launch a devastating attack even after sustaining a full assault from the other side (especially by means of submarines), called a second strike. This policy was part of what became known as Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD): both sides knew that any attack upon the other would be devastating to themselves, thus in theory refraining them from attacking the other.

Using the information complete the following sentence:

The development of all these weapons and defenses caused great tensions between the two countries because….

Read the Following information:

Differences between Capitalism and Communism

Capitalism

•System of government is democratic

•Property is privately owned

•Driven by free enterprise

•Wealth distributed unevenly

•Education and health care provided by private entities

•Freedom of the press Class distinctions: upper class, middle class and working class

•Focus is on the individual and his/her own progress in life

Communism

•System of government is totalitarian

•Property is owned by the state

•No free enterprise is allowed

•Wealth distributed equally

•Education and health care provided by the state

•Press controlled and owned by the state

•Classless society: all members of society are considered to be equal

•Focus is on the progress of the community as a whole

Following this Capitalism and communism have the following opposing sets of ideas:

The ideology of capitalism

•People need freedom

•When people compete against one another, they achieve greater things

•Some people have more than others because they make better use of their abilities

•Governments should not interfere with the rights of individuals to make their own living

•The government should interfere in the economy as little as possible

The ideology of communism

•People need one another

•When people work together as equals, they achieve greater things

•No-one should have more than anyone else - everybody's needs are equally important

•Governments should make sure that everyone's needs are being met

•There is central control of the economy

Totalitarian: A political system in which the government has total control over the public and private lives and actions of that state's citizens.

Free enterprise: The freedom for private businesses to operate for a profit without interference from the government.

Use the information to answer the following questions.

What is Capitalism?

What is Communism?

Now write few sentences explaining what the Cold War was. Why do you think a ‘hot’ war did not happen?

Read the following sources:

Does Source D support the evidence of source B about the Bolsheviks and their aims?

Source D does/does not support Source B about the Bolsheviks because . . .

The origin of these sources impacts their validity because . . .