the cold war 1945-1991 vs.. eq what is meant by the term “cold war”? what were the root causes...

The Cold War1945-1991

Vs.

EQ

• What is meant by the term “Cold War”?

• What were the root causes of this “war”?

• What were the weapons used?

• Who were the major players?

• Where/when did the Cold War turn hot?

• What brought about the end of the Cold War?

The Cold War Begins • The Yalta Conference (February

1945)

– F.D. Roosevelt

– Winston Churchill

– Josef Stalin

Yalta Conference

Yalta Conference

• Germany to be divided by the Allies (Americans, British & French)

• Germany to pay USSR for damages

• Soviets promise free elections in Eastern Europe

• Allies don’t believe Stalin but have to finish war

Yalta Conference

• Soviets promised to enter the war against Japan within 90 days of the end of the war in Europe– Set up future expansion in Asia

• Mistrust between Allies is already present in February 1945

The United Nations

• Formed April 1945

• An organization of nations designed to prevent aggression– A more useful League

• Had 50 original members including the US & USSR

• Made up of General Assembly & Security Council

The United Nations

• Security Council has 11 total members and 5 permanent members– 5 permanent members are the US, USSR,

Britain, France & China

• Real power of the UN is in the Security Council

The United Nations

• Security Council members can veto any resolution they want– 1 veto kills a resolution

• Nothing gets done without the Security Council

Different GoalsUS & USSR

• US wanted to encourage:– Democracy– Capitalism– Free trade– Personal freedom– A unified Germany

• Buffer to the threat posed by USSR

Different GoalsUS & USSR

• USSR wanted to encourage:– International communism– A divided Germany

• A divided Germany was a weakened Germany

– Buffer of east European nations to protect USSR

– Totalitarianism

Setting The Stage For Trouble

• Potsdam Conference, July 1945

–Harry S. Truman

–Josef Stalin

–Winston Churchill


• Stalin went back on pledges at Yalta to hold free elections

• Potsdam Ultimatum issued:

–Japan either surrenders or is hit with the atomic bomb


• USSR assures US it will enter war against Japan in early August

• Truman finds out the atomic bomb works & decides to use it against Japan– Stalin knew before Truman

• Decided to use bomb to scare Soviets?

• Atomic diplomacy?

Atomic Diplomacy

• Bully the Soviets with the bomb

• Don’t threaten the USSR but show them what they potentially face

• Let the world know who is boss

• Raise tension between the two sides

Iron Curtain Speech• Given by Winston Churchill at

Westminster College, March 1946

• http://www.historyguide.org/europe/churchill.html

• “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent…”

http://youtu.be/P8_wQ-5uxV4

http://www.historyguide.org/europe/churchill.html

http://www.historyguide.org/europe/churchill.html

Iron Curtain Speech

• Delivered at Fulton College, March 1947

• Stalin had said after Potsdam that the US & USSR could not live in peace & war was inevitable

• Churchill’s speech drove the former allies further apart

US Prepares for the Future

• US adopted policy of containment– George F. Kennan, Long Telegram

• Keep the Soviets/communists right where they were as of 1946

• Expansion of communists to be met with resistance each time (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan etc.)


• After the war, US needed to rebuild Europe

• Why?


• Europeans need food, medicine & fuel (humanitarian concerns)

• US needed trading partners

• US needed allies against the Soviets

• If Europeans did not get help, they would turn to the Soviets


• Truman Doctrine (March 1947)– Britain could no longer support nationalists

in Greece– Greek communists would win if nationalists

were not supported– President Truman asked Congress to aid

the Greeks


• “…I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free people…resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures….”

• President Harry Truman, March 1947


– President Truman asked Congress for $400 million in aid for Greece and Turkey to resist communists

• $4.210 Billion in 2013)

– Aid must go to Greece and Turkey or the Turks will turn to the USSR


• The Marshall Plan (July 1947)– Secretary of State George Marshall

proposed plan to aid European nations in need

– Aid to any nations in Europe who asked for it

– Had to tell US how money was spent

US Prepares for the Future– While Plan was debated in Congress,

communists seized power in Czechoslovakia– Plan immediately passed– Congress authorized $12.5 Billion in aid

• $131Billion in 2013

– Even Yugoslavia received aid

Tension Increases

• As a result of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, the Soviets looked weak

• Soviets responded with blockade of Berlin beginning in June 1948

• Wanted to cut Berlin off from the West to test the West

Tension Increases

• In June 1948 Britain, France & US had allowed the creation of West Germany Federal Republic of Germany)

• Soviets were furious– Soviets wanted Germany weak and divided– Still smarting from Marshall Plan

Tension Increases• Soviet response was to block the roads

to Berlin off from the West– Soviets wanted to bully the US & Britain into

giving up the idea of a unified Germany

• Berliners lacked food, fuel & medicine• US & Britain responded with the Berlin

Airlift

Berlin Airlift• June 1948 - May 1949

• US & G.B. flew over the Soviet blockade of Berlin and dropped much-needed supplies to Berlin

• Dared the Soviets to shoot

• Showed the world about strength

Berlin Airlift

• The Soviets were forced to back down & were humiliated. Again.

• They were made to look weak in the eyes of the world. Again.

• The West looked stronger than ever

Collective Security

• In response to the tension created by the Berlin crisis, the US, Canada & 10 western European nations formed NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• A collective security organization

Collective Security

• NATO– Formed 1949

– Designed to deter Soviet aggression through the use of military force

– An attack on one considered an attack on all

• The Parties of NATO agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. Consequently, they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense will assist the party or parties being attacked, individually and in concert with the other parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Collective Security

• Soviets responded to West Germany being included in NATO in 1955 with Warsaw Pact

• Made up of the Soviet Union & eastern European nations

• Yugoslavia was only communist nation not in the Warsaw Pact

The Arms Race• Between 1945 & 1949 only the US

had the atomic bomb• US had shown its willingness to use

the bomb when it bombed Japan• Soviets acquired the bomb in 1949

through spying on the US atomic program– No such thing as a scientific secret

The Arms Race

• In 1949, the US developed the Hydrogen Bomb (H-Bomb) which was more powerful than the atomic bomb

• In the 1950s the US reduced its conventional forces & increased its nuclear forces– “more bang for the buck”

The Arms Race

• The US decided it needed “more bang for the buck”

• Soviets continued to develop its weapons stockpile

• Both sides adopted a policy of brinkmanship

The Arms Race

• Brinksmanship is the policy of going right up to the edge or brink of the cliff without going over

• What’s the danger of this policy?

• MAD

• Mutually Assured Destruction

The Arms Race

• MAD: If one side launches 1 missile, the other side will launch all of its missiles & the first side will then launch the remaining missiles

The Arms Race

• Both sides need to develop space programs

• The same technology used to put a man on the moon is used to put a missile on the target

• USSR won the “space race” when they launched Sputnik in 1957

The Arms Race

• Operation Paperclip

• At the end of WWII the USSR & the US snuck Nazi scientists out of Germany

• Both sides needed these men to work on missile programs to get an edge on the other

The Arms Race

• Werner von Braun most famous– Brought to US– Eventually given job as director of NASA

(the Space Shuttle folks)

The Cold War Turns Hot

• Japan had annexed Korea in 1910 & held it until 1945

• Because of Potsdam, Soviets entered the war in August 1945

• USSR had attacked Japan from the north

• Soviets occupied N. Korea until 1949


• The US had occupied S. Korea & influenced the government there

• Korea was effectively split between the two superpowers

• In January 1950, the US made it clear that the Korean peninsula would be outside the range of its protection


• The USSR encouraged the N. Koreans to attack the south

• 25 June 1950: N. Korea attacked south across the 38th Parallel

• N. Korean attack tested US policy of containment


• S. Korea asked the UN for help

• Security Council voted to help

• Soviets did not vote b/c they wanted to test the Security Council

• Multi-national force sent to Korea in August 1950

• US forces took heavy losses at first


• UN forces pushed to Pusan Perimeter in SE Korea

• September 1950: daring landing made at Inchon behind enemy lines

• Communists driven back

• UN/US forces on Chinese border by October 1950

The Cold War Turns Hot• General MacArthur made threats

about bombing China• China invaded Korea in October

1950• Chinese forces drove UN/US forces

back across the 38th parallel• War stalemates for next 2 years• War ends in June 1953


• A state of war still technically exists between N & S Korea

• Border is still the 38th parallel

• North Korea is still a communist nation

The Cold War Turns Hot• Indochina was a French colony since

the mid-19th century

• Indochina had been taken by the Japanese in 1940

• In 1945, France wanted its colony back

• September 1945: Ho Chi Minh asked the US for help against the French


• President Truman was unwilling to help the communist Ho Chi Minh

• Ho Chi Minh was just like the communists in Yugoslavia who the US were to help in 1947

• Assisting Yugoslavia would not hurt France


• The US decided to support France and sent money and surplus equipment to the French

• The Indochina War began in 1945

• By 1954, the French had moved into northern Vietnam (Indochina) near a place called Dien Bien Phu


• Battle of Dien Bien Phu (May 1954)– French forced to abandon Vietnam in 1954

• Geneva Accords determined Vietnam to be divided at 17th parallel– Elections to be held in late 1954 were

cancelled by the South– US supported decision to cancel elections


• The US feared the “loss” of another Asian nation to the communists

• US supported Ngo Dihn Diem as leader of S. Vietnam

• Diem was corrupt and more French than Vietnamese in perspective

• US knew Diem’s weaknesses, but needed him

The Cold War Turns Hot• The North sent guerrillas south to

de-stabilize the gov’t in the South• Guerrillas were known as Viet Cong• US sent advisors to Vietnam in 1956

and by 1963 were engaged in fighting the VC

• By 1965 the US was engaged in a war with the NVA


• By 1968, the US had more than 500,000 troops in Vietnam

• By 1973, US had pulled out its ground troops & in April 1975, the capital of the South, Saigon, had fallen to the communists

• The US had lost more than 60,000 men in Vietnam


• Why did the US get involved in Korea & in Vietnam?

• The Domino Theory

• The belief that nations are like dominoes

• If one nation or domino falls, the next, & the next & so on….


• The whole point of the strategy of containment was to resist communist advances at every step

• Korea & Vietnam are two extreme examples of this principle

The Cold War in the 3rd World

• Third World • Term is from 1952 and refers to

nations that are under-developed economically in the 20th century

• These nations would be found primarily in Latin America, Asia & Africa


• Obviously, the US & USSR would not fight each other directly– Each side needed allies– Allies would be found in the new, developing

nations– Among other tactics, US used the Peace

Corps to persuade 3rd world to support the US

The Cold War in the 3rd World– US also used spy planes, satellites,

assassinations, coup attempts & money to achieve goals

– Development of Special Forces


• India was largest 3rd World nation– Remained non-aligned– Was not on either side, but used each to

own advantage

The Problem of Cuba

• Cuba had been a Spanish colony since the days of Columbus

• Spain lost Cuba to US in Spanish-American War (1898)

• Gained independence from US in 1902

• Government of Batista overthrown by Castro in January 1959

The Problem of Cuba

– US did like the violation of the Monroe Doctrine

– US did not want communists 90 miles off US coast

– Made repeated attempts to “remove” Castro

The Problem of Cuba

• Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)

–CIA organized invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles

–CIA promised air support & failed to provide it

–Invasion failed miserably

–Cubans greatly annoyed

The Problem of Cuba

• Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)– The repeated attempts to kill Castro drove

Castro to ask USSR for aid– Castro received 40 nuclear missiles – US spy planes film missile launchers and

trucks– US demands removal of missiles & Cuba

refuses

The Problem of Cuba

• USSR told US war would result if there was an invasion of Cuba

• US Navy set up a blockade around Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from delivering more missiles

• October 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• President Kennedy & Premier Khrushchev came up to edge of nuclear war

• Khrushchev blinked and missiles were removed from Cuba– Obsolete US missiles removed from

Turkey in return

Cold War in Europe

• Josef Stalin died March 1953

• New leader, Nikita Khrushchev, moved USSR away from Stalin called “destalinization”

• This move made others think that it would be acceptable to move away from the USSR a little

Cold War in Europe• Most satellite nations did not try to

move away from the Soviets

• Hungary did attempt to end Soviet domination– 1956 Imre Nagy overthrew Hungarian

communist gov’t & called for new elections– Soviets responded & crushed rebellion

• Nagy was tried and executed

– Soviets had re-established control & had shown no more tomfoolery would be tolerated

Cold War in Europe

• In Berlin, thousands were escaping to the West– Once a person made it in to W. Berlin, he

had free passage across E. Germany into W. Germany

– The Soviets did not like how many were leaving nor did they like the “brain drain” that resulted

Cold War in Europe

• In August 1961 the Berlin wall was put up– Literally put up overnight in certain areas, it

divided Berlin in a more permanent way– Became the symbol of the Cold War– Came down 9 November 1989 on live TV

Cold War in Europe• Prague Spring (1968)

– In the age of peace & love, Czechs wanted more freedom

– Alexander Dubcek loosened control in Czechoslovakia as Leonid Brezhnev tightened control in the USSR

• Offered more freedom of expression

– Brezhnev had to show how tough he was• Sent tanks in to crush Prague Spring• Could not have anyone else getting these bad ideas

Detente

• Détente: literally, a lessening of tensions

• The arms race, Cuban Missile Crisis, war in Vietnam and problems in E. Europe led to US & US not wanting to directly confront one another– Chances for war increasing all the time

Detente

• US needed to be more flexible in dealing w/ the Soviets & the Chinese– 1972: President Nixon makes first visit to

PRC & began work on SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)

• SALT was to limit the total number of missiles each side could have

Detente• Détente did not last:

–President Regan called the USSR the “Evil Empire”

–Called for development of SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) or “Star Wars”

–Regan supported Nicaraguan Contras against the communist government of Nicaragua

The End of the Cold War

• Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in USSR in 1982– Brought 2 important ideas of reform with

him:

• Glasnost

• Perestroika


• Glasnost: literally, openness– This was an opening of Soviet society

which had been closed off since 1917– Different opinions were allowed, as was

criticism of the gov’t (some)– Churches reopened & banned books

published


• Perestroika:– A similar opening of the Soviet economy– Allowed people to have small amounts of

private property and profits– Designed to jumpstart Soviet economy– Similar to Lenin’s NEP of 1921

The End of the Cold War• Gorbachev also signed the INF

Treaty (Intermediate range, Nuclear Forces)– Treaty designed to limit number of missiles w/

ranges b/t 300-3,400m

• Treaty unfair to USSR b/c it did not take British or French missiles into account

• USSR needed the treaty b/c it helped cut spending on missiles


• Gorbachev also encouraged satellite nations to make reforms

• Beginning with Poland in 1980, things unraveled quickly

Poland• In 1980, the union Solidarity,

demanded legal recognition– Under its leader, Lech Walesa, Solidarity

was recognized and then a year later banned

• After Solidarity was banned, martial law was declared in Poland

– Economic problems in Poland & Russia’s inability to help made the Poles very unhappy

• Polish workers went on strike in summer of 1988

Poland

• In spring 1989, Solidarity was legalized & free elections were held during late 1989 & 1990– Lech Walesa was first democratically

elected president of Poland– Walesa served until 1995 when he was

voted out in favor a former communist

Hungary• Inspired by Gorbachev & Poland,

Hungary made some important changes– Allowed for free-enterprise & created a stock-

market (based entirely on private investment for private gain)

– October 1989: Hungarian gov’t dissolved itself

– Hungary opened borders w/ East Germany• Allowed E. German tourists to escape to Austria• Put a great amount of pressure on E. Germany

East Germany• E. Germany did not make any

reforms in the late 1980s• In response to Hungary’s open

borders, E. Germany closed their borders entirely– Protests broke out in response– Protestors demanded free travel &

elections

East Germany

• E. German president resigned & new president opened the Wall in a gamble– Thought people would not leave the East if

they could• They did. Big time.

• Wall “comes down” 9 November 1989– Germany reunified October 1990

Yugoslavia• An artificial country created after WWI at

Versailles

• Created primarily from 6 major ethnic groups– Slovenes– Croats– Bosnians– Macedonians– Montenegrins– Serbs

Yugoslavia

• Nationalism was a problem

–2 alphabets• Latin & Cyrillic

–6 languages

–3 major religions• Eastern Orthodox, Islam, Catholic

–8 ethnic groups

Yugoslavia

• After WWII, Yugoslavia was held together by a strongman, Josip Broz Tito– Tito was a communist, but a nationalist first– Was able to hold competing forces in

Yugoslavia in check – Tito died in 1980 leaving a power vacuum

which was filled by nationalist Serbs

Yugoslavia

• Serb nationalists led by Slobodan Milosevic– Milosevic’s goal was to create “Greater

Serbia” at the expense of the rest of Yugoslavia

• Yugoslavia was a federal republic with each of the 6 republics having a turn at the presidency

Yugoslavia

• June 1991: Croatia denied its turn with the presidency

• Slovenia declared its independence as a result

• Milosevic sent Yugoslav People’s Army (JPA) to Slovenia

Yugoslavia• Slovenia easily defeated the JPA in

10 days• Croatia then declared its

independence • This time a larger JPA force was

sent to Croatia• Croatia asked Slovenia for

assistance

Yugoslavia

• Since Croatia allowed the JPA to go through its territory on the way to Slovenia, help did not come

• This time the war would last longer than 10 days and would result in the destruction of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

• February 1992: Bosnia declared its independence

• War became a free for all

• Croats killed Serbs who killed Bosnians who killed Croats

• Atrocities committed by all sides; ethnic cleansing on a large scale– Bihac, Gorazde,…

Yugoslavia

• War comes to an end in 1996 with the Dayton Peace Accords

• NATO troops sent to Bosnia to separate former warring factions

• Mission to Bosnia still in effect until 2004

Serbia

• After the Balkan Wars, new violence broke out in Serbia’s Kosovo province– Ethnic Albanians made up the vast majority

of the population in Kosovo– Kosovar Albanians demanded

independence & movement became increasingly violent

Serbia

• Milosevic decided to crush independence movement with military force– Reports of Serb atrocities reached NATO

whose diplomatic efforts to bring had failed– 2 month bombing campaign began in April

1999• NATO (US) bombing campaign forced Serb

troops out of Kosovo

Serbia

• NATO put peacekeepers in Kosovo to protect the people

• Milosevic eventually extradited to the Hague for war crimes trial – Milosevic died while on trial

The end of the Soviet Union• More than 100 ethnic groups lived

in the USSR

• Nationalism & freedom were clearly strong forces at work

• There was a growing demand for political and religious freedom in the USSR

The end of the Soviet Union

• Final act of the Soviet Union started in Baltic States

• Latvia, Lithuania & Estonia were freed from Russian influence in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1917)

• Baltics retaken by USSR in 1940

• 1990: Lithuania declared its independence


• Gorbachev had brought in reforms but did not want to end USSR

• Sent troops into Lithuania to crush independence

• Soviet troops killed 14

• Gorbachev now looked like Khrushchev & Brezhnev before him

The end of the Soviet Union• Reforms were not going fast/far

enough & people were tired of Gorbachev

• The Popular Boris Yeltsin had criticized Gorby’s policies

• Yeltsin wanted more reforms and quickly

• Old guard communists rejected reform & tried to overthrow Gorbachev & his reforms


• August 1991: Attempted Coup by communists against Gorbachev

• Gorbachev arrested & was told resign

• Gorbachev refused & tanks & troops were sent to Moscow

• Yeltsin climbed on the tanks & said coup was illegal


• Orders are given to attack Parliament & troops refused (1917 all over again?)

• Yeltsin is the hero & Gorby is freed

• Gorby resigned from Communist Party

• By 15 December 1991 all Soviet republics had declared independence


• The former Soviet republics, save for the Baltics & Georgia, joined the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

• CIS was a loose grouping of the republics

• 25 December 1991: Gorbachev resigned as leader of the USSR


• The Cold War is officially over, the USSR ceased to exist & the US has won!!

the cold war 1945-1991 vs.. eq what is meant by the term “cold war”? what were the root causes...

Documents

peace war

term cold war

us ussrmade

cold war1945

total members

original members

atomic diplomacybully

allies americans