The Cold War1945- 1991Mr. Winchell

APUSH Period 7

The Cold War: An Overview• At end of World War II, European

power system was destroyed.

• The only two countries left with any true global power (USSR and the US)

• Referred to as Superpowers.

• Intense rivalry grew, became known as the Cold War.

• Tension would exist between the two from 1945 to 1991.

• Cold War divided the world into two camps. Soviet communism vs. American capitalism and democracy.

• Brought a nuclear arms race.• Massive decolonization after WWII,

new countries felt need to choose sides.

• Superpowers never faced off against each other but many smaller conflicts (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan) occurred because of them.

• Cold War may be responsible for the deaths of as many as 50 million people worldwide.

Wartime Tensions: Tehran Conference (late 1943)

• First Allied conference in which Stalin was present.

• Soviets expressed frustration that the Western Allies had not yet opened a second front against Germany in Western Europe.

• Allies also considered the political status of Iran. At the end of the war, tensions emerged over the timing of the pull out of both sides from the oil-rich region.

Wartime Tensions: Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945)

• the Allies attempt framework for postwar settlement in Europe.

• could not reach firm agreements on the crucial questions: the occupation of Germany, postwar reparations from Germany, and loans.

• no final consensus was reached on Germany, other than to agree to a Soviet request for reparations totaling $10 billion "as a basis for negotiations.“

• Debates over Poland's postwar government were also acrimonious.

• Allied victory in May 1945, Soviets effectively occupied Eastern Europe, US had much of Western Europe.

• In occupied Germany, the US and the Soviet Union established zones of occupation and loose framework for four-power control with the ailing French and British.

Wartime Tensions: Potsdam Conference (July/Aug 1945)

• May 7 and May 8, 1945, V-E day.

• Serious differences emerged over future development of Germany and Eastern Europe.

• U.S. was represented by new president, Harry S. Truman, who on April 12 succeeded to the office upon Roosevelt's death.

• Truman was unaware of Roosevelt's plans for post-war engagement with the Soviet Union, and generally uninformed about foreign policy and military matters. The new president, therefore, was initially reliant on a set of advisers.

• Took harder line towards Moscow than Roosevelt had done.

• Ultimatum to Japan: “Surrender of face prompt and utter destruction”.

The Atomic Age (1945)• Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

• V-J Day August 14/15, 1945.

• U.S. developed disarmament plan to turnover all fissionable materials, plants and bombs to international regulatory agency.

• Soviets responded quickly with their own plan – nothing less than a total ban on production of all fissionable material.

• Added that all existing bombs would be destroyed.

• Wishing to preserve monopoly on nuclear weapons, U.S. continued to stress regulation and inspection by an independent agency.

• Soviets, hopes of neutralizing U.S. advantage, insists immediate disarmament.

The Iron Curtain (March 5, 1946)

•Europe wrecked by WWII. Many were on the verge of collapse.

•From 1945 to 1948, the Soviets install governments in eastern Europe that support them. East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria fell under the protective umbrella of the Soviet Union. •Churchill warns, ”an iron curtain was settling across Europe…”

The Long Telegram (1946)• In 1946, Soviet expert George Kennan, sent

an 8000 word telegram to Washington from Moscow.

Kennan explained communist mentality in the following way:

The Soviet's hostility to the west is rooted in the need to legitimize their bloody dictatorship -- they must therefore believe in the inevitable triumph of communism over the beast capitalism.

• The Soviets, Kennan continued, would exploit every opportunity to extend their system and therefore could not and would not be converted to a policy of harmony and cooperation.

• Soviets believed that they had history on their side - history as understood by Marx's materialist conception of history -- the communists were in no hurry and would not risk major war. Met with firmness, Kennan went on, the Soviets will back off.

The Sources of Soviet Conduct (1947)

• Journal Foreign Affairs, article written by an author named X observed the Soviet empire would expand as far as it could as long as it did not have to fight.

• He stated that expansion could be halted by “long-term, patient, but firm and vigilant containment.”

This would provide Washington with its own hard line for the next three decades.

U.S. Fear: Domino Effect

• Domino theory was a foreign policy theory during the 1950s to 1980s.

• Promoted at times by the government of the U.S.

• speculated that if one land in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow.

• Was used during the Cold War to explain need for American intervention around world.

Truman Doctrine (1947)• January 1947, British informed the U.S. that

they could no longer supply economic aid to Greece or Turkey.

• Believed that Soviet Union was responsible for Britain's pullout.

• U.S. decided they had to assume the role of supplying aid.

• March 12, 1947 announced aid to Greece and Turkey in general war against communism.

• $400 million was approved by the House and Senate by a margin of three to one.

• Marked the formal declaration of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union

• Solidified the United States' position regarding containment.

• Soviets accepted the Truman Doctrine's "two rival worlds" idea.

• Went along with the Marxist-Leninist notion of a world divided into two hostile camps -- one capitalist, the other communist.

• For Stalin, a final class struggle, determined laws of historical development, would mean certain Soviet victory.

1947: The Turning Point

• A crucial year in early cold war history. • The forces of the free world were rallying to resist Soviet

aggression.• Build up of military defenses and European economic recovery --

massive assistance from the United States. • $20 billion in assistance by 1951.

National Security Act (1947)• Policy of unification military forces and

its strategy were required by the Cold War.

• Congress solved both issues by creating the National Security Act.

• Created familiar Department of Defense to serve as an organizing principle over the army, navy and air force.

• Act created the National Security Council, special advisory board to the executive office.

• Lastly, the Act created the Central Intelligence Agency or CIA, in charge of all intelligence.

The Marshall Plan (1948-1951)• Secretary of State George C. Marshall

proposed scheme of extensive aid to all European nations .

• a free market economy directed by forces not in Europe but across the Atlantic.

• Marshall even included Soviets in his plan.

• Soviets gave their response by walking out of Paris conference.

• Neither Russia nor its satellite states would take up the offer. “Dollar enslavement”

• Marshall Plan pumped U.S. dollars into Europe, West German economic recovery- began to trigger a general European recovery.

• Soviets viewed this development as little more than capitalist plot to draw the nations of eastern European into American “sphere of influence”.

The Berlin Blockade (1948)

•June 24, 1948- May 12, 1949.

•Stalin cutoff Berlin during the Berlin Blockade.

• Hope was to force the Allies out of Berlin so that he could have the city to himself.

•West airlifted supplies to the city.

•Stalin backed down.

•Resulted in the creation of 2 German states

Operation Vittles• All necessities for West Berlin’s 2.5 million

residents - estimated 4,500 tons of food, coal and other materials each day - had to enter the city by air.

• On biggest day, the "Easter parade“, April 16, airlift sent 1,398 flights into Berlin - one every minute.

• Before was over, more than 278,000 flights would carry 2.3 million tons relief supplies.

The Arms Race is Born (1949)• American military planners

received a shock: the Soviets had just succeeded in exploding an atomic bomb of their own.

• Considered obsolete but intent was what threatened the U.S.

• First United States explosion of an H-bomb (hydrogen bomb), took place in 1952. “Mike”

• Soviets announced detonation similar thermonuclear device in 1953. “Joe-4”

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)• Doctrine of military strategy and national

security policy.

• Full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both attacker and defender.

• Based on the theory of deterrence.

• Strategy is effectively a form of Nash equilibrium - both sides are attempting to avoid worst possible outcome (nuclear annihilation).

• John Foster Dulles: “Massive Retaliation”, 1954

Cold War Europe (1945-1991)

NATO (1949)• Issue of Soviet containment played out with the

creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

• Grew from European fears of Soviet aggression. Stalin

next Hitler?

• Western Europe needed some guarantee from U.S. that they would be protected from aggression while they economically recovered.

• NATO created with sole aim of protecting Europe from Soviet aggression, "to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law.“

• Two main features of the treaty:

• First, the United States made a firm commitment to protect and defend Europe. "an armed attack against one shall be considered an attack against all."

• Second, the U.S. would honor its commitment to defend Europe. Truman selected Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1950 as Supreme Commander of NATO forces.

• Four U.S. divisions were stationed in Europe to serve as the nucleus of NATO forces.

Eastern Bloc (1944-1991) and Warsaw Pact (1955-1991)• After the war, Stalin sought to secure the

Soviet Union's western border by installing communist-dominated regimes under Soviet influence in bordering countries.

• During /In years immediately after the war, Soviet Union annexed several countries as Soviet Socialist Republics within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

• Warsaw Treaty (1955–91) is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance commonly known as the Warsaw Pact.

• The Warsaw Treaty was the Soviet Bloc’s military response to West Germany’s May 1955 integration to NATO.

Communist China (1949)• Mao Zedong declared People's Republic of

China on October 1, 1949.

• The Soviet Union was the first country to recognize the People's Republic followed in quick order by other communist countries.

• Truman criticized for failure to prevent the spread of Communism.

• The United States, refused to recognize the Peoples Republic until 1979.

Chiang Kai-shek Chairman Mao

The Cold War Heats Up: Korea (1950-1953)

• Was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.

• Began on June 25, 1950 and an armistice was signed on July 27, 1953.

• The war was a result of the political division of Korea by agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War.

• Estimated casualties included 778,000 killed/wounded for UN forces and 1.5 million killed/wounded Communist forces.

Sputnik (1957)• First Earth-orbiting artificial

satellite.

• Launched by Soviets Union on October 4.

• Unanticipated announcement of success led to Sputnik crisis in the U.S.

• Ignited the Space Race within the Cold War.

• 1958, the U.S. creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Castro Takes Power (1959)

• January 1, leftist forces overthrow Fulgencio Batista.

• Castro nationalizes the

sugar industry and signs trade agreements with the Soviet Union.

• 1960, Castro seizes U.S. assets on the island.

U-2 Affair (1960)• May 1, an American high-altitude U-2

spy plane is shot down on mission over the Soviet Union.

• After the Soviets announce the capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers.

• Eisenhower forced to admit the truth behind the mission and the U-2 program, although he refused to publicly apologize to Soviet leader Nakita Khrushchev.

• Powers sentenced to ten years in prison, including seven years of hard labor, following an infamous show-trial.

• He served less than two years, however, and was released in 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

Bay of Pigs (April, 1961)

• U.S. organized invasion force of 1,400 Cuban exiles is defeated by Castro's government forces.

• Launched from Guatemala in ships and planes provided by the United States, the invaders surrender on April 20 after three days of fighting.

• President Kennedy takes full responsibility for the disaster.

The Berlin Crisis (1961)• June – Nov. 1961

• Last major political-military European incident of the Cold War about the occupational status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of post–World War II Germany.

• U.S.S.R. provoked the Berlin Crisis with an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of Western armed forces from West Berlin.

• Ended with the city's de facto partition with the East German erection of the Berlin Wall.

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)• After Bay of Pigs invasion, the

Soviet Union installed nuclear missiles in Cuba.

• After U-2 flights Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba on October 22 until the Soviet Union removed its missiles.

• On October 28, the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles, defusing one of the most dangerous confrontations of the Cold War.

The Cold War Heats Up Again: Vietnam (1959-1975)

• Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from September 26, 1959 to April 30, 1975.

• Fought between the communist North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.

• U.S. forces and allies 1.7 million dead/wounded.

• Communist North Vietnamese forces 1.7 million dead/wounded.

• March 29, 1973 U.S. forces withdraw.

• Becomes Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1975.

The Cold War Heats Up: Afghanistan (1979-1989)

• December 1979, President Leonid Brezhnev sent in troops to support struggling communist government.

• Thousands of Soviet troops intervened to prop up the pro-communist regime, leading to a major confrontation that drew in the US and Afghanistan's neighbors.

• About a million Afghans lost their lives as the Red Army tried to impose control and millions more fled abroad as refugees. Soviet deaths were estimated to be around 15,000.

• Soviets hailed the withdrawal (2/15/89) as a victory - many felt the exit marked a major humiliation.

• Eventually government Soviets supported would fall in 1992.

Able Archer 83 (1983)• A 10 day NATO command post exercise

starting on November 2, 1983 that spanned Western Europe.

• Simulated a period of conflict escalation, culminating in a coordinated nuclear attack.

• Incorporated a new, unique format of coded communication, radio silences, participation by heads of state.

• Deteriorating relations with U.S. and anticipated arrival of Pershing II nuclear missiles in Europe, led Soviets to believe exercise was a cover for genuine first strike.

• Soviets readied their nuclear forces and placed air units in East Germany and Poland on alert.

• Incident is closest world has come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Glasnost (1985)• Introduced by Mikhail

Gorbachev in the second half of 1980s.

• Policy of publicity, openness, and transparency in activities in the Soviet Union with goal of ending government corruption.

• Drawing back of the “Iron Curtain”.

• Result was less censorship and more freedom of information.

Perestroika (1987)• Russian term for the political and

economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

• Often argued to be one reason for the fall of communist political forces in Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and for ending Cold War.

• Reforms sought by Gorbachev would liberalize elections, government structure and economic policies by giving people more choice.

The Soviet Collapse (1985-1991)• After years of Soviet military buildup at

expense of domestic development, economic growth was at a standstill.

• Failed reform, a stagnant economy, and war in Afghanistan led to discontent, especially in the Baltic republics and Eastern Europe.

• Greater political and social freedoms created atmosphere of open criticism of Moscow.

• Several Soviet republics began resisting central control, and increasing democratization led to a weakening of the central government.

• Trade gap lead to eventual bankruptcy. • Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991

and the Soviet Union was formally dissolved the next day.

• Boris Yeltsin became first President of the Russian Federation serving from 1991 to 1999.