after world war 2

Restructuring the

Postwar World, 1945–Present

By the late 1940s, growing tensions between the United States

and the Soviet Union had given rise to the Cold War. The two

superpowers battled for world supremacy and demanded that other

nations take sides. As the map to the right indicates, the world was

soon divided into two opposing camps: Communist and non-

Communist. Use the map to help you answer the questions below.

1. What does the map show?

2. Which parts of the world are shown as Communist, and which as non-Communist?

3. How does this map show the potential danger of the Cold War?

4. Why might the clear-cut division shown on this map bemisleading?

Connect History and Geography

1949Communists takecontrol of China.

1945United Nationsformed.

For more information about the Cold War . . .

CLASSZONE.COM

In 1975, in the wake of the Vietnam War, thisSouth Vietnamese man fled from his homelandwith his family. The war devastated Vietnam. It also led to massive popular protests in theUnited States against U.S. military support forSouth Vietnam.

852

1957Soviets launchSputnik.

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PACIFIC OCEAN

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Communist

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Cold War Enemies, 1949

1959Cuban Revolutionoverthrows Batista regime.

1975Vietnam War ends.

1979Nicaraguan Communists toppleU.S.-backed dictatorship.

1997South Korea aids North Korea,but the two remain divided.

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Interact with History

854

Rebel forces are skilled at guerrilla warfare. With weaponssupplied by your superpower enemy and their knowledge ofthe land, they are powerful military opponents.

Would yousupport thecountry’s ruleror the rebels?

The developing country has rich naturalresources that both superpowers need.

Life is difficult for thecountry’s people. Theysuffer even more as thecivil war continues.

EXAMINING the ISSUES

• What is most important to you—aidingthe people of the developing nation orpreventing your enemy from gaininginfluence there?

• How might competing superpowers useweaker countries in their competition?

• How might being caught in a strugglebetween superpowers affect adeveloping nation?

As a class, discuss the effects of the conflictbetween superpowers on the rest of the world.Think about the experiences of Latin Americanand other countries under colonialism and howthose lessons might be useful.

As you read about how the two superpowersdivided up the world, notice the part weakercountries played in their conflict.

World War II has ended and two super-powers—the United States and the Soviet

Union—dominate the world. You are the leaderof one of those superpowers. Civil war has brokenout in a developing country that supplies you withessential raw materials.

For that reason, it is important for you to helprestore peace. The ruler of that country is a brutaldictator who makes life miserable for his people.Rebels are fighting to topple him, but they arebacked by your superpower enemy.

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SETTING THE STAGE During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Unionjoined forces to fight against the Germans. The Soviet army marched west. TheAmericans marched east to meet them in a defeated Germany. When the Allied sol-diers met at the Elbe River, they embraced each other warmly. Their leaders, how-ever, regarded each other much more coolly.

Former Allies DivergeEven before World War II ended, the U.S. alliance with the Soviet Union had begunto unravel. The United States was upset that Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union’s leader,had signed a nonaggression pact with Adolf Hitler, Germany’s leader,in 1939. Later, Stalin blamed the Allies for delaying their invasion ofGerman-occupied Europe until 1944. Driven by these and otherconflicts, the two allies began to pursue opposing goals.

A Joint Postwar Plan In February 1945, the war was not yet over.But the leaders of the three Allied nations—the United States,Britain, and the Soviet Union—met in the Soviet Black Sea resort cityof Yalta. There, they agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupa-tion controlled by the Allied military forces. Germany also would haveto pay the Soviet Union to compensate for its loss of life and property.Stalin promised that Eastern Europeans would have free elections.Skeptical Winston Churchill recognized this as an empty promise.And he predicted that Stalin would keep his pledge only if theEastern Europeans followed “a policy friendly to Russia.” In return,Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan, an ally of Germany.

Creation of the United Nations In June 1945, the United Statesand the Soviet Union temporarily set aside their differences. Theyjoined 48 other countries in forming the United Nations. Thisinternational organization was intended to protect the membersagainst aggression. It was to be based in New York. The 50 nationsthat signed the UN charter pledged “to save succeeding generationsfrom the scourge of war.”

The charter for the new peacekeeping organizationestablished a large body called the GeneralAssembly. This was like an international townmeeting. Each UN member nation could cast itsvote on a broad range of issues, including mem-bership. An 11-member body called the SecurityCouncil had the real power to investigate and set-tle disputes, though. The five permanent membersof the Security Council were Britain, China,

Two SuperpowersFace Off

1TERMS & NAMES

• United Nations• iron curtain• containment• Truman Doctrine• Marshall Plan• Cold War• NATO• Warsaw Pact• brinkmanship• U-2 incident

MAIN IDEA

The conflicting aims between theUnited States and the Soviet Union led to global competition.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

The conflicts between these twosuperpowers played a major role inreshaping the modern world.

Yalta Conference

When the leaders of the UnitedStates, the Soviet Union, and GreatBritain met at Yalta, their goalswere noble ones:

• to promote world peace• to provide emergency relief• to help form interim governments

based on the will of the people.Prime Minister Winston Churchill(left) was optimistic about “thebroad sunlight of victorious peace.”

But “victorious peace” meantvery different things to Stalin (right)and Roosevelt (center). The Sovietleader wanted a strong Communiststate and protection againstrenewed invasion from the West.The ailing U.S. president wanted ademocratic world led by his coun-try. And those conflicting viewsmade continuing peace impossible.

SPOTLIGHTON

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France, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Each could veto any SecurityCouncil action. This provision was intended to prevent any members of the Councilfrom voting as a bloc to override the others.

Differing U.S. and Soviet Goals Despite their agreement at Yalta and their mutualpresence on the UN Security Council, the United States and the Soviet Union splitsharply after the war ended. The war had affected these two superpowers very differ-ently. The United States, the world’s richest and most powerful country at that time, suf-fered 400,000 deaths. Its cities and factories remained intact, however. The Soviet Unionexperienced at least 50 times as many fatalities. One in four Soviets was wounded orkilled. In addition, many Soviet cities were demolished. These contrasting situations, aswell as striking political and economic differences, affected the two countries’ postwargoals. As the following chart shows, their aims in postwar Europe were contradictory.

The Soviet Union Corrals Eastern EuropeWith the end of World War II, a major goal of the Soviet Union was to shield itselffrom another invasion from the west. Even before the devastation of World War II,centuries of history had taught the Soviets to fear invasion. Because it lacked naturalwestern borders, Russia fell victim to each of its neighbors in turn. In the 17th cen-tury, the Poles captured the Kremlin. During the next century, the Swedes attacked.Napoleon overran Moscow in 1812. The Germans invaded Russia during World War I.

Soviets Build a Wall of Satellite Nations As the war drew to a close, the SovietUnion pushed the Nazis back across Eastern Europe. By the end of the war, Soviettroops occupied a strip of countries along the Soviet Union’s own western border. TheSoviet Union regarded these countries as a necessary buffer, or wall of protection.Stalin ignored the agreement made in Yalta to allow free elections in Eastern Europe.He installed or secured Communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary,Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia.

The Soviet leader’s American partner at Yalta, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, haddied on April 12, 1945. Roosevelt’s successor, President Harry S. Truman, was atougher adversary for Stalin. To the new president, Stalin’s reluctance to allow freeelections in Poland and other Eastern European nations represented a clear violationof those countries’ rights. Truman, Stalin, and Churchill met at Potsdam, Germany, inJuly 1945. There, President Truman pressed Stalin to permit free elections in EasternEurope. The Soviet leader refused. In a speech in early 1946, Stalin declared that

THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. SummarizingWhy did the UnitedStates and the SovietUnion split after thewar?A. Answer Theirbasic aims were inconflict: the U.S. wasinterested in promot-ing the economicrecovery and growthof Western Europe,and the Soviet Unionwas interested in pro-tecting itself andspreading commu-nism.

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Superpower Aims in EuropeSoviet UnionUnited States

SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Charts1. Which Soviet aims involved self-protection?2. Which U.S. and Soviet aims in Europe conflicted?

• Encourage democracy in other countries tohelp prevent the rise of Communistgovernments

• Gain access to raw materials and markets tofuel booming industries

• Rebuild European governments to promotestability and create new markets forAmerican goods

• Reunite Germany to stabilize it and increasethe security of Europe

• Encourage communism in other countries aspart of a worldwide workers’ revolution

• Rebuild its war-ravaged economy usingEastern Europe’s industrial equipment andraw materials

• Control Eastern Europe to protect Sovietborders and balance the U.S. influence inWestern Europe

• Keep Germany divided to prevent its wagingwar again

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Restructuring the Postwar World 857

communism and capitalism could not exist in the same world. He said that warbetween the United States and the Soviet Union was certain.

The Iron Curtain Divides East and West Europe now lay divided between Eastand West. Germany’s postwar fate, which had been decided at Yalta, left the countrysplit into two sections. The Soviets controlled the eastern part, including half ofGermany’s capital, Berlin. Under a Communist government, East Germany wasnamed the German Democratic Republic. The western zones became the FederalRepublic of Germany in 1949. Winston Churchill described the division of Europe:

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S TFrom Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended acrossthe continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central andEastern Europe. . . . All these famous cities and the populations around them lie in theSoviet sphere and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence butto a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow.WINSTON CHURCHILL, “Iron Curtain” speech, March 5, 1946

Churchill’s phrase “iron curtain” came to represent Europe’s division between amostly democratic Western Europe and a Communist Eastern Europe. From behindthe iron curtain, Stalin termed Churchill’s words a “call to war.”

United States Counters Soviet ExpansionSoviet-American relations continued to worsen in 1946 and 1947. An increasinglyworried United States sought to offset the growing Soviet threat in Eastern Europe.President Truman declared that it was time to stop “babying the Soviets.” He adopteda foreign policy called containment. Containment was a policy directed at blockingSoviet influence and preventing the expansion of communism. Containment policiesincluded creating alliances and helping weak countries resist Soviet advances.

Iron curtain

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The Cold War World, 1949

Communist countriesNon-Communistcountries

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Maps1. Location In which part of Germany was Berlin located?2. Place Which countries separated the Soviet Union from Western Europe?

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. RecognizingEffects How didWinston Churchillinfluence politicalevents after WorldWar II?B. Answer Hedefined the division ofEurope as an iron cur-tain and confirmedStalin’s opinion thatthe West was hostile.

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The Truman Doctrine In a speech asking Congress for foreign aid for Turkey andGreece, President Truman contrasted democracy with communism:

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S TOne way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free insti-tutions . . . free elections . . . and freedom from political oppression. The second way oflife is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It reliesupon terror and oppression . . . fixed elections, and the suppression of personal free-doms. I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who areresisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.HARRY S. TRUMAN, speech to Congress, March 12, 1947

Truman’s support for countries that rejected communism was called the TrumanDoctrine. It caused great controversy. Some opponents objected to American inter-ference in other nations’ affairs. Others argued that the United States lacked theresources to carry on a global crusade against communism. Still others pointed outthat some U.S. support would go to dictators. Congress, however, immediately autho-rized over $400 million in aid to Turkey and Greece.

The Marshall Plan Much of Western Europe lay in ruins after the war. Europe’sproblems included record-breaking cold and snow, postwar unemployment, lack offood, and economic turmoil. In June 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshallproposed that America give aid to any European country that needed it. This assistanceprogram, called the Marshall Plan, would provide food, machines, and other materi-als. As Congress debated the $12.5 billion program in February 1948, the Communistsseized power in Czechoslovakia. Congress immediately approved the Marshall Plan.The plan achieved spectacular success in Western Europe and in Yugoslavia.

The Berlin Airlift While Europe began rebuilding, the United States and its alliesclashed with the Soviet Union over Germany. The Soviets meant to keep their formerenemy weak and divided. In 1948, France, Britain, and the United States decided towithdraw their forces from Germany. They would allow their three occupation zonesto form one nation. The Soviet Union responded by holding West Berlin hostage.

Although Berlin lay well within the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, it too hadbeen divided into four zones. The Soviet Union cut off highway, water, and rail trafficinto Berlin’s western zones. Since no supplies could get in, the city faced starvation.Stalin gambled that the threat would frighten Western countries. He hoped it wouldforce them to surrender West Berlin or give up their idea of reunifying Germany.

The Soviet leader lost his gamble. To break the blockade, American and Britishofficials flew food and supplies into West Berlin. For nearly 11 months, planes took

THINK THROUGH HISTORYC. MakingInferences Whatwas PresidentTruman’s major reasonfor offering aid toother countries? C. PossibleAnswers To helpEuropean countriesrebuild and becomestrong enough toresist Communistexpansion.

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ain

2,8262,445

1,316 1,297877

561 547 515257 237 153 146 119 51 33 29

350

The Marshall Plan

Source: Problèmes Économiques No. 306

SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Charts1. Which country received the most aid from the United States?2. Why do you think Great Britain and France received so much aid?

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off and landed every three minutes. In 277,000 flights, pilots brought in 2.3 milliontons of supplies—food, fuel, medicine, and even Christmas presents. The SovietUnion, admitting defeat, lifted the Berlin blockade in May 1949.

The Cold War and a Divided WorldThese increasing conflicts were the beginnings of the Cold War. This was a state ofdiplomatic hostility that developed between the two superpowers. Beginning in 1949,the superpowers used spying, propaganda, diplomacy, and secret operations in theirdealings with each other. Much of the world allied with one side or the other. In fact,until the Soviet Union finally broke up in 1991, the Cold War dictated not only U.S.and Soviet foreign policy. It influenced world alliances as well.

Rival Alliances The Berlin blockade heightened Western Europe’s fears of Sovietaggression. As a result, in 1949, ten Western European nations joined with the UnitedStates and Canada to form a defensive military alliance. This alliance was called theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). These nations promised to meet anattack on any NATO member with armed force. For the United States, NATO mem-bership marked the country’s first peacetime military commitment.

The Soviet Union viewed NATO as a threat. In response, the Soviets developed analliance system in 1955 as part of their own containment policy. It was known as theWarsaw Pact. This alliance included the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany,Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania.

Not every country joined the new alliances, however. India, for example, chose toremain unallied with either side. And China, the world’s largest communist country,came to distrust the Soviet Union. Like India, it remained unallied.

Nuclear Threat As these alliances were forming, the Cold War threatened to heatup enough to destroy the world. The United States already had atomic bombs. Asearly as 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its own atomic weapon. The superpowershad both become nuclear powers.

President Truman was determined to develop an even more deadly weapon beforethe Soviets did. He authorized work on a thermonuclear weapon in January 1950. Thishydrogen or H-bomb would be thousands of times more powerful than the A -bomb.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYD. Analyzing IssuesWhat Soviet actionswere the TrumanDoctrine, the MarshallPlan, and the Berlinairlift responses to?D. Answer Theaggressive spread ofcommunism and theSoviet blockade ofWest Berlin.

Children in WestBerlin in 1948welcome planesthat landed everyfew minutes withsupplies to breakthe Soviet blockadeof the city.

BackgroundThe East Germansbuilt a wall in 1961to separate East andWest Berlin. ThisBerlin Wall symbol-ized the division ofthe world into rivalcamps.

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Its power came from the fusion, or joining together, of atoms, rather than from thesplitting of atoms, as in the A-bomb. In November 1952, the United States success-fully tested the first H-bomb. By August of the following year, the Soviets hadexploded their own thermonuclear weapon.

Dwight D. Eisenhower became the U.S. president in 1953. He appointed thefirmly anti-Communist John Foster Dulles as his secretary of state. If the SovietUnion or its supporters attacked U.S. interests, Dulles threatened, the United Stateswould “retaliate instantly, by means and at places of our own choosing.” This willing-ness to go to the brink, or edge, of war became known as brinkmanship.

Brinkmanship required a reliable source of nuclear weapons and airplanes todeliver them. So the United States strengthened its air force and began producingstockpiles of nuclear weapons. In response, the Soviet Union made its own collectionof nuclear bombs. This arms race would go on for four decades.

The Cold War in the Skies The Cold War also affected the science and educationprograms of the two countries. In August 1957, the Soviets announced the develop-ment of a rocket that could travel great distances. This was a true intercontinental bal-listic missile, or ICBM. On October 4, the Soviets used an ICBM to push the first

unmanned satellite above the earth’s atmosphere.The launching of this Soviet satellite, Sputnik I, made

Americans feel as if they had fallen behind in science and tech-nology. In response, the U.S. government poured hugeamounts of money into education, especially in science, mathe-matics, and foreign languages. Within months, by January 1958,the United States had successfully launched its own satellite.

In 1960, the skies provided the arena for an even more seri-ous showdown between the superpowers. Five years earlier,President Eisenhower proposed an “open skies” policy. Thispolicy stated that the United States and the Soviet Union couldfly freely over each other’s territory to guard against surprisenuclear attacks. The Soviet Union rejected Eisenhower’s pro-posal. In response, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)authorized secret high-altitude spy flights over Soviet territoryin planes called U-2s. In May 1960, the Soviets shot down a U-2 plane, and its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was captured.The Soviets sentenced him to ten years in prison but releasedhim after 19 months. This U-2 incident brought mistrust andtensions between the superpowers to a new height.

While Soviet Communists were squaring off against theUnited States, Communists in China were fighting an internalbattle for control of that country.

The Cold War tookto the skies as theUnited States andthe Soviet Unionraced to produceICBMs. Missileslike this one werecapable of inflictingdestruction fromgreat distances.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYE. RecognizingEffects How did theU.S. policy of brink-manship contribute tothe arms race?E. Answer Going tothe brink of warrequired nuclearweapons and ameans of deliveringthem. Neither super-power wanted theother to amass moreof these weaponsand technology.

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2. TAKING NOTES

Using a web diagram like the onebelow, list the causes of the ColdWar between the United Statesand the Soviet Union.

Which cause was a direct resultof World War II? Explain.

3. ANALYZING MOTIVES

What were Stalin’s objectives insupporting Communist govern-ments in Eastern Europe?

THINK ABOUT• the effects of World War II• the location of the Soviet Union• U.S. aims in Europe

4. THEME ACTIVITY

Economics Draw a cartoon thatshows either capitalism from theSoviet point of view or commu-nism from the U.S. point of view.

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• United Nations• iron curtain• containment• Truman Doctrine• Marshall Plan• Cold War• NATO• Warsaw Pact• brinkmanship• U-2 incident

Section Assessment1

Cold War

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Comparing Which destinationsin space did both the United Statesand the Soviet Union explore?

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R7

Making Inferences What rolemight space continue to play inachieving world peace?

Connect to Today

Connect to History

S C I E N C E T E C H N O L O G Y&

This view of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz taken from the window of the U.S. Apollo in1975 shows the curve of the earth beneath them. It symbolizes the superpowers’realization that they would have to coexist in space as well as on earth.

The Soviet Union launchedSputnik, the first successfulartificial space satellite, onOctober 4, 1957. As it circled theearth every 96 minutes, PremierNikita Khrushchev boasted that hiscountry would soon be “turning outlong-range missiles like sausages.”Unable to let this challenge gounanswered, the United States beganbeefing up its own space program. Its firstattempts failed, however, and became knownas “Stayputnik” or “Flopnik.”

United States

Soviet Union

1962 First American orbitsthe earth (John Glenn, Jr.)

1969 First mannedlunar landing

1976 Viking 1lands on Mars

1977 Voyager 2 launched to Jupiter,Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

1981 Space shuttleColumbia launched

1992 Mars Observerlaunched

1959 Luna 2 probe reaches the moon

1961 First human orbits the earth (Yuri Gagarin)

1963 First woman in space(Valentina Tereshkova)

1970 Venera 7lands on Venus

1971 First manned spacestation (Salyut 1)

1988 Cosmonauts spend 366days on space station Mir

1997 Two spacecraftland on Mars

1975 U.S. and Soviet Unionlaunch first joint space mission

1995 U.S. shuttle Discovery links upwith Soviet Space Station Mir

1961 First American in space(Alan Shepard)


In a major technological triumph, theUnited States put human beings onthe moon on July 20, 1969. In thishistoric “giant leap for mankind,”astronaut Buzz Aldrin plants the U.S.flag and leaves his footprints on thelunar surface.

1997 Mars Pathfinderexplores surface of

Mars

The Space RaceBeginning in the late 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Unioncompeted for influence not only among the nations of the world, but inthe skies as well. Once the superpowers had ICBMs to deliver nuclearwarheads and aircraft for spying missions, they both began to developtechnology that could be used to explore—and ultimately control—space.

1970 199019801960

199019801960

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SETTING THE STAGE In World War II, China fought on the side of the victoriousAllies. During the war, however, Japan’s occupation armies devastated China’s majorcities. China’s civilian death toll alone was in the millions. This vast country sufferedcasualties second only to those of the Soviet Union.

Civil War in ChinaWhen the Japanese invaded China in 1937, a bitter civil war was raging between theNationalists and the Communists. During World War II, the political opponents tem-porarily united to fight the Japanese. With the war’s end, however, they resumed theirfight for control of the country.

Internal Struggles Under their leader, Mao Zedong (mow dzuh•dahng), theCommunists held a stronghold in northwestern China. From there, they mobilizedChinese peasants for guerrilla war against the Japanese in the northeast. Thanks totheir efforts to teach literacy and improve food production, the Communists won thepeasants’ loyalty. By 1945, Mao’s Red Army controlled much of northern China.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist forces under Jiang Jieshi (jee•ahng jee•shee), whosename was formerly spelled Chiang Kai-shek, dominated southwestern China. Protectedfrom the Japanese by rugged mountain ranges, Jiang gathered an army of 2.5 millionmen. Between 1942 and 1945, the United States sent the Nationalist army at least $1.5billion in aid to fight the Japanese. Instead of benefiting the army, however, these sup-plies and money often ended up in the hands of a few corrupt officers. In addition,Jiang’s army actually fought few battles against the Japanese. Instead, the Nationalistarmy saved its strength for the coming battle against Mao’s Red Army. As soon as theJapanese surrendered, the Nationalists and Communists resumed their civil war.

Involvement of the United States Thatrenewed civil war lasted from 1946 to 1949. Atfirst, the Nationalists enjoyed a considerable advan-tage. Their army outnumbered the Communists’army by as much as three to one. And the UnitedStates provided nearly $2 billion more in aid.

The Nationalist forces, however, did little to winpopular support. With China’s economy collapsing,thousands of Nationalist soldiers deserted to theCommunists. In spring 1949, China’s major citiesfell to the Red forces one by one. Mao’s troops werewell trained in guerrilla warfare. But they were alsoenthusiastic about his promised return of land tothe peasants. The remnants of Jiang’s shatteredarmy fled south. In October 1949, Mao Zedonggained control of the country. He proclaimed it the

Chinese peasantsperformed thebackbreaking laborthat supported thecountry. AfterWorld War II, theCommunistsworked hard to wintheir support.

BackgroundThe Japanese hadcontrolled Manchuriain northeast Chinasince 1931. In 1937,they launched an all-out attack.

CommunistsTriumph in China

2TERMS & NAMES

• Mao Zedong• Jiang Jieshi• commune• Red Guards• Cultural

Revolution

MAIN IDEA

After World War II, Chinese Communistsdefeated Nationalist forces and twoseparate Chinas emerged.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

China remains a Communist countryand a major player on the world stage.

862

BackgroundThe English spellingof Chinese words hasbeen changed tomake the pronuncia-tion as close toChinese as possibleand to standardize itthroughout the world.

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People’s Republic of China. Jiang and other Nationalist leaders retreated to the islandof Taiwan, which westerners called Formosa.

Mao Zedong’s victory fueled U.S. anti-Communist feelings. Those feelings onlygrew after the Chinese and Soviets signed a treaty of friendship in February 1950.Many people in the United States viewed the takeover of China as another step in aCommunist campaign to conquer the world.

Two Chinas and the Cold WarChina had split into two nations. One was the island of Taiwan, or Nationalist China,with an area of 13,000 square miles. The mainland, or People’s Republic of China,had an area of more than 3.5 million square miles. The existence of two Chinas, andthe conflicting international loyalties they inspired, intensified the Cold War.

The Superpowers React After Jiang Jieshi fled to Taiwan, the United States helpedhim set up a Nationalist government on that small island. They called it the Republicof China. The Soviets gave financial, military, and technical aid to the CommunistPeople’s Republic of China. In addition, the Chinese and the Soviets pledged to cometo each other’s defense if either country were attacked.

The United States responded by attempting to enlarge its own sphere of influence inAsia. For example, the United States limited the Soviet Union’s occupation of Japan toonly the few small islands it had gained at the Yalta talks. The two superpowers dividedup Korea into a Soviet-supported Communist north and a U.S.-supported south.

Communist China Continues to Expand In the early years of Mao’s reign,Chinese troops expanded into southern, or Inner, Mongolia, Tibet, and India.Northern, or Outer, Mongolia, which bordered the Soviet Union, remained in theSoviet sphere. After declaring Inner Mongolia an “Autonomous Area,” China chal-lenged that autonomy. It took control of the country.

In a brutal assault in 1950 and 1951, China also took control of Tibet. This wasanother so-called Autonomous Area. The Chinese promised autonomy to Tibetans, whofollowed the religious leader, the Dalai Lama. When China’s control over Tibet tightenedin the late 1950s, however, the Dalai Lama fled to India. Tibetans responded by rioting.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. RecognizingEffects How did theoutcome of theChinese civil war con-tribute to Cold Wartensions?A. Possible AnswerThe victory of theChinese Communistsreinforced U.S. beliefthat the Communistswere poised to takeover the world.

Jiang Jieshi

Southern China

United States

Defeat of Communists

Weak due to inflation and failingeconomy

Ineffective, corrupt leadershipand poor morale

Mao Zedong

Northern China

Soviet Union

National liberation

Strong due to promised land reform

Experienced, motivated guerrilla army

LEADER

AREA RULED

FOREIGN SUPPORT

DOMESTIC POLICY

PUBLIC SUPPORT

MILITARYORGANIZATION

SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Charts1. Which party’s domestic policy appealed more to Chinese peasants?2. Which aspect of the Communist approach do you think was most responsible for

Mao’s victory?

Chinese Political Opponents—1945

CommunistsNationalists

Vocabularyautonomous:self-governing.

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India welcomed the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan refugees after Tibet’s failedrevolt in 1959. As a result, resentment between India and China grew. In 1962, whenIndia trespassed across the two countries’ unclear border into China’s territory, Maounleashed his forces. China held its border, but resentment continued.

Transformation and RevolutionFor decades China had been either at war with or occupied by Japan. Mao and theCommunists moved rapidly to strengthen their rule over China’s 550 million people.The Communists claimed to have a new “Mandate of Heaven.” And they aimed torestore China as a powerful nation.

Transformation Under Mao Zedong After taking power, the Chinese Communistsbegan to tighten their hold on the country. The party’s 4.5 million members made upjust one percent of the Chinese population. But they were a highly disciplined group.Like the Soviets, the Chinese Communists set up two parallel organizations. These were

the Communist party and the national government. Until 1959, Maoruled as both chairman of the Communist party and head of state.

Mao’s Marxist Socialism Mao determined to reshape China’s econ-omy based on Marxist socialism. Eighty percent of the population stilllived in rural areas. But most Chinese farmers owned no land. Instead,ten percent of the rural population controlled 70 percent of the farm-land. Under the Agrarian Reform Law of 1950, Mao seized the hold-ings of these landlords. He then divided them among the peasants. Hisforces killed more than a million landlords who resisted this policy.

To further his socialist principles, between 1953 and 1957, Mao’sgovernment forced the peasants to join collective farms. These farmseach consisted of 200 to 300 households. The Chinese Communistsalso eagerly embraced Marxist ideas about women and the family.They made women fully equal in the home and in the workplace.They also instituted state-sponsored child care.

Mao’s changes also transformed industry and business. Gradually,the government nationalized all private companies, or brought themunder government ownership. In 1953, Mao launched a Soviet-stylefive-year plan that set high production targets for industry. The plansucceeded. By 1957, China’s output of coal, cement, and electricityhad doubled. Steel production had quadrupled.

Mao’s Communes To expand the success of the first five-year planin industry, Chinese leaders planned another ambitious program. Earlyin 1958, Mao proclaimed the “Great Leap Forward.” This plan calledfor still larger collective farms, or communes. By the end of 1958, thegovernment had created about 26,000 communes. The average com-mune sprawled over 15,000 acres and supported over 25,000 people.

In the strictly controlled life of the communes, peasants organizedinto “production battalions.” Under the leadership of company andsquad leaders, they worked the land together. They ate in communaldining rooms, slept in communal dormitories, and raised children incommunal nurseries. And they owned nothing. The peasants had noincentive to work hard when only the state profited from their labor.Most of them hated living in the huge, impersonal communes.

The Great Leap Forward proved to be a great leap backward for China. Poor plan-ning and inefficient “backyard” industries hampered growth. Worst of all, crop failuresbetween 1958 and 1961 unleashed a famine that killed approximately 20 million peo-ple. The government officially discontinued the program in 1961.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. Analyzing IssuesWhat aspects ofMarxist socialism didMao try to bring toChina?B. AnswerCollective ownershipof land, communal liv-ing, government con-trol of industry.

864 Chapter 33

Mao Zedong

1893–1976

Born to a poor, but increasinglywealthy peasant family, Maoembraced Marxist socialism as ayoung man. Though he began as anurban labor organizer, Mao quicklyrealized the revolutionary potentialof China’s peasants. In a 1927report, Mao predicted:

The force of the peasantry islike that of the raging windsand driving rain. . . . They willbury beneath them all forces ofimperialism, militarism, corruptofficialdom, village bosses andevil gentry.

Mao’s first attempt to lead thepeasants in revolt failed in 1927. Butduring the Japanese occupation,Mao and his followers won thewidespread support of the peasantsby reducing rents and promising toredistribute land.

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New Policies and Mao’s Response China was facingexternal problems as well as internal ones in the late 1950s.The spirit of cooperation that had bound the Soviet Unionand China began to fade. Each sought to lead the worldwideCommunist movement. They also shared the longest border inthe world. And they faced numerous territorial disputes. In1960, the Soviets halted economic aid to China.

After the failure of the Great Leap Forward and the split withthe Soviet Union, Mao reduced his role in the government. Otherleaders moved away from Mao’s strict socialist ideas. Under the newleaders, for example, farm families could live in their own homes.They also could sell crops they grew on small private plots. Factoryworkers could compete for wage increases, bonuses, and promotions.

Mao disapproved of China’s new economic policies, believing thatthey weakened the Communist goal of social equality. Determined torevive the revolution, Mao launched a new campaign in 1966. Heurged China’s young people to “learn revolution by making revolution.”Millions of high school and college students responded to Mao’s call.They left their classrooms and formed militia units called Red Guards.

The Cultural Revolution The Red Guards led a major uprisingknown as the Cultural Revolution. The goal of the CulturalRevolution was to establish a society of peasants and workers inwhich all were equal. The new hero was the peasant who workedwith his hands. The life of the mind—intellectual and artisticactivity—was considered useless and dangerous. To help stamp outthis threat, the Red Guards shut down colleges and schools. Theylashed out at professors, government officials, factory managers, andeven their own parents. They targeted anyone who seemed to havespecial privileges or who resisted the regime. Exiled intellectuals hadto “purify” themselves by doing hard labor in remote villages.Thousands of people were executed or died in jail.

The resulting widespread chaos closed down factories and threat-ened farm production. Civil war seemed possible. By 1976, evenMao admitted that the Cultural Revolution had to stop. With Mao’sapproval, the army dissolved the Red Guards. Zhou Enlai (johehn•leye), one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party andpremier since 1949, began to restore order.

While China was struggling to become stable, the Cold War continued to rage. Be-tween the 1950s and the 1970s, two full-scale wars broke out—in Korea and in Vietnam.

C. Possible AnswerThe social upheaval itcaused brought abouteconomic chaos andthreatened civil war.THINK THROUGH HISTORYC. MakingInferences Whydid the CulturalRevolution fail?

2. TAKING NOTES

Using a chart like the one below,summarize the reforms MaoZedong proposed for China.

Mao Zedong’s Reforms

Create a propaganda postersupporting one of these reforms.

3. IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS

What circumstances preventedMao’s Great Leap Forward frombringing economic prosperity toChina?

THINK ABOUT• Mao’s strict socialism• life in a commune• environmental problems

4. ANALYZING THEMES

Revolution What policies oractions enabled the Communiststo defeat the Nationalists in theirlong civil war?

THINK ABOUT• the goals of each group• the leaders of the Communists

and the Nationalists• foreign support

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• Mao Zedong• Jiang Jieshi• commune• Red Guards• Cultural Revolution

Section Assessment2

Aspect of Life

Agriculture

Industry

Family

Reform

The Cultural Revolution

The Cultural Revolution started in1966, when Chihua Wen was eightyears old. For the next decade, hisworld, and that of every otherChinese child, was turned inside out.

Wen’s neighbors were well-known revolutionary writers andloyal members of the CommunistParty. Their loyalty becamemeaningless, however, the night theRed Guards (shown above) stormedinto their apartment. There was thesound of breaking glass and achild’s scream. Then the teenagedGuards carried a sack of books outto the yard and set them on fire.

They returned to the apartmentand emerged carrying two heavysacks. As they raced off with thesacks in the back of the truck, Wenheard sounds of gagging. “No oneever saw the couple or their childagain,” he said. And Wen neverforgot what he had seen.

Daily Life

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SETTING THE STAGE When World War II ended, Korea became a divided nation.North of the 38th parallel, a line that crosses Korea at 38 degrees north latitude,Japanese troops surrendered to the Soviets. South of this line, the Japanese surren-dered to the Americans. As in Germany, two nations developed. One was theCommunist industrial north. The other was the non-Communist rural south.

War in KoreaBy 1949, both the United States and the Soviet Union had withdrawn most of theirtroops from Korea. The Soviets gambled that the United States would not defendSouth Korea. So they supplied North Korea with tanks, airplanes, and money in anattempt to take over the peninsula.

Standoff at the 38th Parallel On June 25, 1950, the North Koreans swept acrossthe 38th parallel in a surprise attack on South Korea. Within days, North Koreantroops had penetrated deep into the south.

President Truman was convinced that the North Korean aggressors were repeatingwhat Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese had done in the 1930s. His policy of contain-ment was being put to the test. And Truman resolved to help South Korea resistCommunist influence.

South Korea also asked the United Nations to intervene. When the matter cameto a vote in the Security Council, the Soviets were absent. They had boycotted thecouncil to protest the seating of Nationalist China (Taiwan) rather than mainlandChina. The Soviet Union thus forfeited its chance to veto the UN’s plan of action.This plan was to send an international force to Korea to stop the invasion. A total of15 nations, including Britain and Canada, participated under the leadership ofGeneral Douglas MacArthur.

Meanwhile, the North Koreans continued to advance. By September 1950, theycontrolled the entire Korean peninsula except for a tiny area around Pusan in the farsoutheast. That month, however, MacArthur launched a surprise attack. Troops mov-

ing north from Pusan met up with forces thathad made an amphibious landing at Inchon.Caught in this pincer action, about half of theNorth Koreans surrendered. The rest retreated.

The Fighting Continues The UNarmy pursued the retreating NorthKorean troops across the 38th parallelinto North Korea. By late November,UN troops had pushed the NorthKoreans almost to the Yalu River atthe border with China. These troopswere mostly from the United States.

War in Koreaand Vietnam

3TERMS & NAMES

• 38th parallel• Douglas

MacArthur• Ho Chi Minh• domino theory• Ngo Dinh Diem• Vietcong• Vietnamization• Khmer Rouge

MAIN IDEA

In Asia, the Cold War flared into actualwars supported mainly by thesuperpowers.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Today, Vietnam is a Communist countryand Korea is split into Communist andnon-Communist nations.

866 Chapter 33

U.S. infantry troopsfire heavy mortarshells atCommuniststrongholds inNorth Korea in 1950.

Vocabularyboycotted: refusedto take part in.

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Then, in October 1950, the Chinesefelt threatened by the American fleetoff their coast. They sent 300,000troops to aid North Korea. The fightbetween North and South Korea hadgrown into a war between the Chineseand the Americans.

Greatly outnumbering the UNforces, the Chinese drove them south-ward. By early January 1951, they hadpushed all UN and South Korean troopsout of North Korea. The Chinese thenmoved south. They finally captured theSouth Korean capital, Seoul.

“We face an entirely new war,”declared General MacArthur. And hecalled for a nuclear attack againstChinese cities. President Truman dis-agreed, viewing MacArthur’s proposalsas reckless. “We are trying to prevent aworld war, not start one,” the presidentexplained. MacArthur tried to go overthe president’s head by taking his caseto Congress and to the press. Inresponse, Truman fired him.

Over the next two years, UN forcescontinued to fight to drive the NorthKoreans back to the 38th parallel. By1952, UN troops had recaptured Seoul andregained control of South Korea. Finally,in July 1953, the UN forces and NorthKorea signed a cease-fire agreement. After three years of fighting, the border betweenthe two Koreas was set near the 38th parallel. This was almost where it had beenbefore the war started. But approximately 5 million soldiers and civilians had died.

Aftermath and Legacy of the War After the war, Korea remained divided intotwo countries. In North Korea, the Communist dictator Kim Il Sung established col-lective farms, developed heavy industry, and built up the country’s military power. AtKim’s death in 1994, his son Kim Jong Il ascended to power. Under Kim Jong Il’s rule,Communist North Korea developed nuclear weapons. Although the country is well-armed, it has serious economic problems. It continues to struggle with shortages ofenergy and food.

On the other hand, South Korea prospered, thanks to massive aid from the UnitedStates and other countries. In the 1960s, South Korea concentrated on developing itsindustry and boosting foreign trade. A succession of dictatorships ruled the rapidlydeveloping country. With the 1987 adoption of a democratic constitution, however,South Korea established free elections. During the 1980s and early 1990s, SouthKorea claimed one of the highest economic growth rates in the world.

Political differences keep the two Koreas apart, despite periodic discussions ofreuniting the country. In a show of force in 1996, for example, North Korea senttroops into the demilitarized zone that separates the two nations. And the UnitedStates still maintains 37,000 troops in South Korea. In 1997, however, South Koreajoined several other countries in sending food to North Korea. Although talks con-tinue, the Communist North Koreans remain firmly opposed to reunification.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. RecognizingEffects What effectsdid the Korean warhave on the Koreanpeople and nation?A. Answer About5 million Koreans andforeign soldiers diedand neither North norSouth Korea hadgained any territory.

0

0

100 Miles

200 Kilometers

40°N

130°E

125°E

38th Parallel

35°N

Sea o fJapan

Ye l l owSea

Ya

lu R.

SOUTHKOREA

JAPAN

NORTHKOREA

CHINA

SOVIETUNION

AntungChosan

UnsanHungnam

ChineseIntervention,October 1950

Wonsan

Pyongyang

PanmunjomSeoul

Pohang

Taegu

Taejon

Mokpo Pusan

InchonU.S. Marine StrikeSeptember 1950

Farthest NorthKorean advance,September 1950Farthest UN advance, November 1950Farthest Chineseand North Koreanadvance, January 1951Armistice line, 1953

War in Korea, 1950–1953

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBU ILDER :Interpreting Maps 1. Movement What was the northernmost Korean city UN

troops had reached by November 1950?2. Movement Did North or South Korean forces advance further

into the other’s territory?

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War in VietnamLike America’s involvement in the Korean War, its involvement in Vietnam stemmedfrom its Cold War policy of containment. Beginning after World War II, manyAmericans and their leaders had one foreign policy goal. They were committed tohalting the spread of communism.

By the 1950s, the United States had begun providing financial aid, advisers, andfinally, half a million soldiers to a former French colony, Vietnam. America’s aim wasto keep Southeast Asia from embracing communism as China had done.

The Road to War In the early 1900s, France controlled most of resource-richSoutheast Asia. Nationalist independence movements, however, had begun to developin the part of French Indochina that is now Vietnam. A young Vietnamese nationalist,

Ho Chi Minh, turned to the Communists for help in his struggle.During the 1930s, Ho’s Indochinese Communist party led revoltsand strikes against the French. The French responded by jailingVietnamese protesters. They also sentenced Ho, the party’s leader, todeath. Ho fled his death sentence but continued to inspire Vietnam’sgrowing nationalist movement from exile. Ho returned to Vietnam in1941, a year after the Japanese seized control of his country. He andother nationalists founded the Vietminh (Independence) League.

The Japanese left Vietnam in 1945, after their defeat in WorldWar II. Ho Chi Minh believed that independence would surely fol-low. France, however, intended to regain its former colony.

War Breaks Out Vietnamese Nationalists and Communists joinedto fight the French armies. While the French held most of the majorcities, they remained powerless in the countryside. There theVietminh had widespread peasant support. The Vietminh used hit-and-run tactics to confine the French to the cities.

The French people began to doubt that maintaining their colonyin Vietnam was worth the lives and money the struggle cost. In 1954,the French suffered a major military defeat at Dien Bien Phu. Theysurrendered to Ho.

The United States had supported the French in Vietnam. Withthe defeat of the French, the United States saw a rising threat to therest of Asia. U.S. President Eisenhower described this threat interms of the domino theory. The Southeast Asian nations were likea row of dominos, he said. The fall of one to communism would leadto the fall of its neighbors. This theory became a major justificationfor U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War era.

After France’s defeat, an international peace conference met inGeneva to discuss the future of Indochina. Based on these talks,Vietnam was divided at 17° north latitude. North of that line, Ho ChiMinh’s Communist forces governed. To the south, the United Statesand France set up an anti-Communist government under the leader-ship of Ngo Dinh Diem (NOH dihn D’YEM).

Vietnam—A Divided Country Diem, an unpopular leader, ruled the south as adictator. In contrast, Ho Chi Minh began a popular program of land redistribution inthe north. The United States sensed that an election might lead to victory for theCommunists. So it supported Diem’s cancellation of the elections.

Vietnamese opposition to Diem’s corrupt government grew. Communist guerrillas,called Vietcong, began to gain strength in the south. While some of the Vietcongwere trained soldiers from North Vietnam, most were South Vietnamese who hatedDiem. Gradually, the Vietcong won control of large areas of the countryside.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. MakingInferences Whatactions might theUnited States havejustified by thedomino theory?B. Possible AnswerIntervention in any sit-uation that mightresult in a gain ofCommunist territory orpower.

868 Chapter 33

Ho Chi Minh

1890–1969

When he was young, the poorVietnamese Nguyen That (uhng•wihnthaht) Thanh worked as a cook on aFrench steamship. In visitingAmerican cities where the boatdocked, such as Boston and NewYork, he learned about bothAmerican culture and ideals.

He later took a new name—HoChi Minh, meaning “He whoenlightens.” But he held onto thoseAmerican ideals. Though aCommunist, in announcingVietnam’s independence fromFrance in 1945, he declared, “Allmen are created equal.”

His people revered him andfondly called him Uncle Ho.However, Ho Chi Minh did not put hisdemocratic ideals into practice.From 1954 to 1969, he ruled NorthVietnam by crushing all opposition.

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In 1963, backed by the UnitedStates, a group of South Vietnamesegenerals planned a coup. Meetingalmost no resistance, they overthrewand assassinated Diem. The new lead-ers, however, were no more popularthan Diem had been. A takeover by theCommunist Vietcong with the backingof North Vietnam seemed inevitable.

The United States Gets InvolvedFaced with this possibility, theUnited States decided to esca-late, or increase, its involve-ment. Americans had beenserving as advisers to the SouthVietnamese since the late 1950s.But their numbers steadilygrew. The United States alsosent increasing numbers ofplanes, tanks, and other militaryequipment to South Vietnam.

In August 1964, U.S. PresidentLyndon Johnson told Congress thatNorth Vietnamese patrol boats hadattacked two American destroyers in theGulf of Tonkin. As a result, Congressauthorized the president to sendAmerican troops into Vietnam. By late1965, more than 185,000 American sol-diers were fighting on Vietnamese soil,although war had not officially beendeclared. American planes had also begun to bomb North Vietnam. By 1968, morethan half a million American soldiers were in combat there.

The United States boasted the best-equipped, most advanced army in the world.Yet the Americans faced two major difficulties. First, they were fighting a guerrillawar in unfamiliar jungle terrain. Second, the South Vietnamese government they weredefending was becoming steadily more unpopular. At the same time, popular supportfor the Vietcong grew. Ho Chi Minh also strongly supported the Vietcong with troopsand munitions, as did the Soviet Union and China.

Unable to win a decisive victory on the ground, the United States turned to airpower. American forces bombed millions of acres of farmland and forest in an attemptto destroy enemy hideouts. This bombing strengthened peasants’ opposition to theSouth Vietnamese government.

The United States Withdraws During the late 1960s, the war grew increasinglyunpopular in the United States. Dissatisfied youth began to protest the tremendousloss of life in an unpopular conflict on the other side of the world. Bowing to intensepublic pressure, President Richard Nixon began withdrawing U.S. troops fromVietnam in 1969. Nixon’s plan was called Vietnamization. It allowed for U.S. troopsto gradually pull out, while the South Vietnamese increased their combat role. Nixonwanted to pursue Vietnamization while preserving the South Vietnamese government.So he authorized a massive bombing campaign against North Vietnamese bases andsupply routes. The president also authorized bombings in neighboring Laos andCambodia to wipe out Vietcong hiding places.

BackgroundThe Chinese sentmore than 300,000troops to support theNorth Vietnameseduring the war. Sovietpilots joined theChinese in shootingdown U.S. planes.

0

0

200 Miles

400 Kilometers

National LiberationFront (Vietcong)Saigon governmentContested areas

Areas controlled in 1973

The War in Vietnam, 1957–1973

SOUTHVIETNAM

LAOS

CHINA

BURMA

CAMBODIA

NORTHVIETNAM

Gulf ofTonkin

Gulf ofThailand

SouthChina

SeaMekong

R

MekongDelta

Hainan

20°N

Tropic of Cancer

15°N

10°N

110°E

105°EHaiphong

Hanoi

Vihn

Dong Hoi

Hue Da Nang

Chulai

Kon Tum

SaigonBien Hoa

PhnomPenh

Cam RahnBay

Dien BienPhu

HoChi M

ihn Trail

DemarcationLine, 1954

U.S. SeventhFleet, 1964


GEOGRAPHY SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Maps 1. Human-Environment Interaction Did the Saigon government

or the Vietcong control more of South Vietnam in 1973?2. Movement Which country committed the most troops to the

war in Vietnam?

BackgroundGuerrilla warfare iscarried out by smallbands of local fight-ers, often in harsh ter-rain. It is characterizedby surprise attacks,ambushes, and hit-and-run tactics.

Combat Troops Involved

■ S. Vietnam ■ N. Vietnam ■ U.S.

197519731971196919671965196319610

200400600800

1,000

Troo

ps (i

n th

ousa

nds)

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Under continued popular protest and political pres-sure at home, President Nixon kept withdrawing U.S.troops. The last forces left in 1973. The NorthVietnamese overran South Vietnam two years laterbecause the South Vietnamese could not fend off theNorth Vietnamese on their own. The Communistsrenamed Saigon, the former capital of the South, HoChi Minh City to honor their dead leader. But morethan 1.5 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans hadalso died during the war.

Ongoing Turmoil in Cambodia The end of the wardid not put an end to bloodshed and chaos in Southeast Asia, however. Cambodia (alsoknown as Kampuchea) had suffered U.S. bombing during the war. And it remainedunstable for years. In 1975, Communist rebels known as the Khmer Rouge set up abrutal Communist government under the leadership of Pol Pot. In a ruthless attemptto transform Cambodia into a rural society, Pol Pot’s followers slaughtered 2 millionpeople. This was almost one quarter of the nation’s population. A Vietnamese invasionin 1978 overthrew the Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese finally withdrew in 1989. In1993, under the supervision of UN peacekeepers, Cambodia adopted a democratic

constitution and held a free election. Pol Pot was captured anddetained in 1997 for the war crimes he had committed.

Postwar Vietnam After 1975, the victorious North Vietnameseimposed strict controls over the South. Officials sent thousands ofpeople to “reeducation camps” for training in Communist thought.They nationalized industries and strictly controlled businesses.

Communist oppression also caused 1.5 million people to flee fromVietnam. Most refugees escaped in dangerously overcrowded ships.More than 200,000 of these “boat people” died at sea. The survivorsoften spent long months in crowded refugee camps scattered acrossSoutheast Asia. About 70,000 Vietnamese refugees eventually settledin the United States or in Canada.

Though Communists still govern Vietnam, the country now wel-comes foreign investment. Much of that investment comes fromVietnam’s old enemy, the United States. America lifted its tradeembargo against Vietnam in 1994 and is moving toward officialrecognition of the country.

While the Cold War superpowers were struggling for power in theKorean and Vietnam wars, they also were using economic and diplo-matic means to bring other countries under their control.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYC. RecognizingEffects What wasone of the effects ofPol Pot’s efforts toturn Cambodia into arural society?C. Possible AnswerHis followers killednearly 2 million people.

The skulls ofCambodian citizensform a hauntingmemorial to thebrutality of theKhmer Rougeduring the 1970s.

870 Chapter 33

Capitalism in Vietnam

Vietnam is now a Communist coun-try. But its economy is modeled moreon that of the Soviets’ Cold Warenemy, the United States. In 1997, atravel magazine claimed that Hanoi,the capital of Vietnam, “jumps withvitality, its streets and shops jammedwith locals and handfuls of Westerntourists and businesspeople.”

Along Hanoi’s shaded boule-vards, billboards advertise Americanand Japanese copiers, motorcycles,video recorders, and soft drinks. Onthe streets, enterprising Vietnamesebusinesspeople offer more tradi-tional services. These includebicycle repair, a haircut, a shave, ora tasty snack.

CONNECT to TODAY

2. TAKING NOTES

Using a Venn diagram like the onebelow, compare and contrast thecauses and effects of the wars inVietnam and Korea.

Do you think the similarities or thedifferences between the two warsare more striking? Why?

3. FORMING OPINIONS

Do you think U.S. involvement inVietnam was justified? Why orwhy not?

THINK ABOUT• the U.S. policy of containment• the domino theory• U.S. public opinion

4. THEME ACTIVITY

Empire Building Create apropaganda poster for either theUnited States or the Soviet Unionsupporting its involvement in Asia.

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• 38th parallel• Douglas MacArthur• Ho Chi Minh• domino theory• Ngo Dinh Diem• Vietcong• Vietnamization• Khmer Rouge

Section Assessment3

Korean War

Both

Vietnam War

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SETTING THE STAGE Vietnam was just one of many countries that attempted toshake off colonial rule after World War II. Local battles for independence providedyet another arena for competition between the Cold War superpowers.

Confrontations over Developing NationsFollowing World War II, the world’s nations were grouped politically into three“worlds.” The First World was the United States and its allies. The Second Worldincluded the Soviet Union and its allies. The Third World consisted of developingnations, often newly independent, who were not aligned with either superpower.

These Third World countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa experienced terrible poverty and political instability. This was largely due to a long history of impe-rialism. They also suffered from ethnic conflicts and lack of technology and education.Each desperately needed a political and economic system around which to build itssociety. Soviet-style communism and U.S.-style free-market democracy were thecountries’ main choices.

Cold War Strategies The United States, the Soviet Union, and, in some cases,China, used a variety of techniques to gain influence in the Third World. These competing superpowers sponsored or backed wars of revolution, liberation, or coun-terrevolution. The U.S. and Soviet spy agencies—the CIA and the KGB—engaged ina variety of covert, or secret, activities. These activities rangedfrom spying to assassination attempts. The United States alsoprovided military aid, built schools, set up programs to combatpoverty, and sent volunteer workers to developing nations inLatin America, Asia, and Africa. The Soviets offered militaryand technical assistance, mainly to India and Egypt.

Association of Nonaligned Nations Other developingnations also had pressing needs for assistance. They becameimportant players in the Cold War competition between theUnited States, the Soviet Union, and also China.

Not all Third World countries wished to play such a role,however. India, for example, vowed to remain neutral in theCold War. Indonesia, a populous island nation in Southeast Asia,also struggled to stay uninvolved. In 1955, Indonesia hosted theleaders of Asian and African countries in the BandungConference. They met to form what they called a “third force”of such independent countries, or nonaligned nations.

Nations such as India and Indonesia remained neutral. Butother countries took sides with the superpowers or played thecompeting sides off against each other.

The flour providedby U.S. aid helpedkeep theseColombian childrenalive. They alsolearned to make theflour sacks intoclothing in a schoolrun by missionaries.

Cold WarAround the World

4TERMS & NAMES

• Third World• nonaligned nations• Fidel Castro• Anastasio Somoza• Daniel Ortega• Shah Mohammed

Reza Pahlavi• Ayatollah Ruholla

KhomeiniMAIN IDEA

The Cold War superpowers supportedopposing sides in Latin American andMiddle Eastern conflicts.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Many of these areas today are troubledby political, economic, and militaryconflict and crisis.

A. PossibleAnswersAdvantages—controlover their own politicsand economies; abilityto accept help fromeither side;Disadvantages—lackof economic and mili-tary support from thestrong superpowers, ifneeded.THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. MakingInferences Whatadvantages and dis-advantages mightbeing nonalignedhave offered a devel-oping nation?

871

BackgroundIn the 1970s, thethree worlds wereredefined in economicterms. The small butprosperous FirstWorld was at the topof a pyramid and thelarge, poverty-strickenThird World was atthe bottom.

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Postwar Face-off in Latin America After World War II, rapid industrialization, population growth, and a lingering gapbetween the rich and the poor led Latin American nations to seek aid from both

superpowers. During this period, many LatinAmerican countries alternated between short-lived democracy and harsh military rule.

As described in Chapter 28, U.S. involvementin Latin America began long before World WarII. American businesses backed leaders whooften oppressed their people, but who protected

U.S. interests. After the war, communism and nationalistic feelingsinspired a wave of revolutionary movements. These found enthusias-tic Soviet support. In response, the United States provided militarysupport and economic assistance to anti-Communist dictators.

Cuban Revolution Throughout the 1950s, U.S. support main-tained Cuba’s unpopular dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Cuban resent-ment led to a popular revolution, which overthrew Batista in January1959. A young lawyer named Fidel Castro led that revolution.

At first, many people praised Castro for bringing reforms to Cubaand improving the economy, literacy, health care, and conditions forwomen. Yet Castro was a harsh dictator. He suspended elections,jailed or executed his opponents, and strangled the press with tightgovernment controls.

When Castro nationalized the Cuban economy, he took over U.S.-owned sugar mills and refineries. In response, President Eisenhowerordered an embargo on all trade with Cuba. As relations with theUnited States deteriorated, Castro turned to the Soviets for the eco-nomic and military aid he needed.

In 1960, the CIA planned an invasion of Cuba and began to trainanti-Castro Cuban exiles to carry it out. In April 1961 these exileslanded at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The new president, Kennedy,approved the invasion but refused to send U.S. planes to support it.Castro’s forces defeated the invaders, humiliating the United States.

The Cuban Missile Crisis The failed Bay of Pigs invasion con-vinced the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, that the United Stateswould not resist Soviet expansion in Latin America. Consequently, inJuly 1962, Khrushchev secretly began to build 42 missile sites inCuba. In October, an American spy plane discovered the sites. TheU.S. President, John F. Kennedy, declared that missiles so close tothe U.S. mainland were a threat. He demanded that the Sovietsremove the missiles. Kennedy also announced a quarantine, or

blockade, of Cuba to prevent the Soviets installing more missiles. Castro protested hiscountry’s being used as a tool in the Cold War:

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S TCuba did not and does not intend to be in the middle of a conflict between the East andthe West. Our problem is above all one of national sovereignty. Cuba does not mean toget involved in the Cold War.FIDEL CASTRO, quoted in an interview October 27, 1962

Nevertheless, Cuba was deeply involved. Kennedy’s demand for the removal of Sovietmissiles put the United States and the Soviet Union on a collision course. U.S. troopsassembled in Florida, ready to invade Cuba. People around the world began to fear that

872 Chapter 33

CUBA

NICARAGUA

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. ContrastingWhat differing U.S.and Soviet aims ledto the Cuban missilecrisis?B. Answer U.S.—desire to protect itselfand prevent thespread of commu-nism; Soviet—desireto support its Communist ally.

Fidel Castro

1926–

The son of a wealthy Spanish-Cuban farmer, Fidel Castro becameinvolved in politics while enrolled atthe University of Havana. He firstattempted to overthrow the Cubandictator, Batista, in 1953. He wasimprisoned, but vowed not to giveup the struggle for independence:

Personally, I am not interestedin power nor do I envisage as-suming it at any time. All that Iwill do is to make sure that thesacrifices of so many compa-triots should not be in vain. . . .

Despite this declaration, Castrobecame a staunch Soviet ally andhas been dictator of Cuba for over30 years.

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160°

120°

80°W

40°W

this standoff would lead to World War III and a nuclear disaster. Fortunately, Khru-shchev agreed to remove the missiles in return for a U.S. promise not to invade Cuba.

The resolution of the Cuban missile crisis left Castro completely dependent onSoviet support. In exchange for this support, Castro backed Communist revolutions inLatin America and Africa. Approximately 36,000 Cubans fought in Angola’s waragainst colonialism in the 1970s. Soviet aid to Cuba, however, ended abruptly with thebreakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. This loss dealt a crippling blow to the Cubaneconomy. The country still suffers a scarcity of vital supplies. But the aging Castrorefuses to adopt economic reforms or to give up power. An equally stubborn UnitedStates refuses to lift its trade embargo.

Civil War in Nicaragua Just as the United States had supported the unpopularBatista in Cuba, it had funded the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza andhis family since 1933. In 1979, Communist Sandinista rebels toppled the dictatorshipof Somoza’s son. Both the United States and the Soviet Union initially gave aid to theSandinistas and their leader, Daniel Ortega (awr•TAY•guh).

The Sandinistas, however, had aided other socialist rebels in nearby El Salvador.To help the El Salvadoran government fight those rebels, the United States sup-ported Nicaraguan anti-Communist rebel forces. These rebels were called Contrasor contrarevolucionarios.

The civil war in Nicaragua lasted over a decade and seriously weakened the country’seconomy. In 1990, President Ortega agreed to hold free elections. He was defeated byVioleta Chamorro. In 1996, Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo was elected president.

C. Answer Becausethe Sandinistas weresupporting socialistrebels in El Salvador.THINK THROUGH HISTORYC. AnalyzingMotives Why didthe U.S. switch itssupport from theSandinistas to theContras?

Tropic of Capricorn

Arctic Circle

40°N

160°

W

120°

W

80°W

40°W

40°E

120°

E

0°

Tropic of Cancer

40°S

0° Equator

0

0

3,000 Miles

5,000 Kilometers

Communist expansionCommunist expansionprevented by U.S. andallies

SOVIET UNIONGERMANY

GREECE

ANGOLA

CONGO

MOZAMBIQUEBOLIVIA

CHILE

GUATEMALA

UNITEDSTATES

CUBA

TURKEY

EGYPT

IRAN CHINA

NORTHKOREA

SOUTH KOREA

VIETNAM

MALAYSIA

I N D O N E S I A

NORTH

AMERICA

SOUTH

AMERICA

EUROPE

A F R I C A

A S I A

AUSTRALIA

ATLANTIC OCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

INDIANOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

Cold War Hot Spots, 1948–1975

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Maps 1. Location On what continents identified on the map did Cold

War conflicts not occur?2. Region About what fraction of the globe did Communists

control by 1975?

The United States andthe Soviet Union bringthe world to the brinkof nuclear war duringthe Cuban missilecrisis in 1962.

The Soviets downU.S. U-2 pilotFrancis GaryPowers in 1960.

The United Stateshelps Greece defeatCommunist-led rebels(1946–1949) and giveseconomic andmilitary aid to Turkey(1947–1950).

Communists retain orgain control afterbloody wars in Korea(1950–1953) andVietnam (1957–1975)supported by Chinaand the Soviet Union.

The United Statesintervenes in thegovernments ofGuatemala (1954),Bolivia (1956), andChile (1973).


The Soviet Union aidsanticolonial strugglesin Congo (1960) andMozambique (1971)and, with help fromCuba, in Angola (1974).

Britain helps Indonesiangovernment repress anuprising by Communistsin 1965.

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Confrontations in the Middle EastAs the map on the previous page shows, Cold War confrontations continued to eruptaround the globe. (For more information about African conflicts, see Chapter 34.)With its rich supplies of oil, the Middle East lured both the United States and theSoviet Union.

Religious and Secular Values Clash in Iran Throughout the Middle East, wealthfrom the oil industry fueled a growing conflict between traditional Islamic values and

modern Western materialism. In no country didthe clash between cultures erupt more dramati-cally than in the former Persia, or Iran.

After World War II, Iran’s leader, ShahMohammed Reza Pahlavi (PAH•luh•vee),embraced Western governments and wealthyWestern oil companies. Angry Iranian national-

ists resented these foreign alliances. They united under the leadership of PrimeMinister Muhammad Mossaddeq (moh•sah•DEHK). They seized and nationalized aBritish-owned oil company and, in 1953, forced the shah to flee. Fearing thatMossaddeq might turn to the Soviets for support, the United States had him arrested.It then restored the shah to power.

The United States Supports Secular Rule With U.S. support, the shah western-ized his country. By the end of the 1950s, Iran’s capital, Tehran, featured gleamingskyscrapers, foreign banks, and modern factories. Millions of Iranians, however, stilllived in extreme poverty. And the shah’s secret police brutally punished anyone whodared to oppose him. The shah also tried to weaken the political influence of religionin the country by limiting the role of Islamic legal and academic experts. Iran’s conser-vative Muslim leaders, known as ayatollahs (eye•uh•TOH•luhz), bitterly opposed thismove. They also opposed what they saw as socially and morally corrupting Westerninfluences. They wanted Iran to become a republic ruled strictly by Islamic law.

The leader of this religious opposition, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini(koh•MAY•nee), was living in exile. Spurred by his tape-recorded messages, Iranian

workers went on strike. “Death to the shah!” and “Downwith America!” they vowed. In late 1978, riots erupted inevery major city in Iran. Faced with overwhelming opposi-tion, the shah fled Iran in January 1979. A triumphantKhomeini returned from exile to establish an Islamic state.He banned the Western influences that the shah hadbrought to Iran and reinstated traditional Muslim values.Islamic law became the legal code for the country.

Khomeini’s Anti-U.S. Policies Adherence to Islamruled Khomeini’s domestic policies. But hatred of theUnited States was at the heart of his politics. The

Americans had long supported the shah. Theiradmitting him into the United States for medicaltreatment in 1979, however, was the final insult.That year, with the ayatollah’s blessing, a groupof young Islamic revolutionaries seized the U.S.embassy in Tehran. They took more than 60Americans hostage. They also demanded thereturn of the shah to face trial. Most of the U.S.hostages remained prisoners for 444 days beforethey were released on January 20, 1981.

IRAN

AFGHANISTAN

THINK THROUGH HISTORYD. AnalyzingMotives Why didthe United States sup-port the Shah of Iran?D. Answer To main-tain the Shah’salliance with theWest and prevent theSoviets from gaininginfluence in Iran.

Ayatollah Khomeini(top) supported thetaking of U.S.hostages in Tehranin 1979. During their14-month captivity,the hostages wereblindfolded andparaded throughthe city streets(bottom).

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Khomeini also encouraged Muslim fundamentalists, or strict believers, in other coun-tries to overthrow their secular governments. Intended to be a means of unifying Mus-lims, this policy only heightened tensions between Iran and its neighbor, Iraq. While theIranians were Shi’a, the Iraqis belonged to the rival Sunni Muslim sect. In addition, amilitary leader, Saddam Hussein (hoo•SAYN), governed Iraq as a secular state.

War broke out between the two countries in 1980. For eight years, Muslim killedMuslim in a territorial struggle. Caught in the middle, the United States secretly soldweapons to Iran in an effort to get their hostages released. A million Iranians andIraqis died before a UN ceasefire ended the hostilities in 1988.

The Superpowers Face Off in Afghanistan Iran was not the only country in theMiddle East in which Cold War tensions erupted. For several years following WorldWar II, Afghanistan maintained its independence from both the neighboring SovietUnion and the United States. In the 1950s, however, Soviet influence in the countrybegan to increase. In the late 1970s, a Muslim revolt threatened to topple Afghanistan’sCommunist regime. This revolt triggered a Soviet invasion in December 1979.

The Soviets expected to prop up the Afghan Communists quickly and withdraw.Instead, just as the United States had gotten mired in Vietnam in the1960s, the Soviets found themselves stuck in Afghanistan. And likethe Vietcong in Vietnam, determined Afghan rebel forces outmaneu-vered and overpowered a military superpower. Soviet helicopterrocket attacks secured the cities. They failed to dislodge the rebels,called mujahideen, from their mountain strongholds, however.Supplied with American weapons, the mujahideen fought on.

The United States had armed the rebels because they consideredthe Soviet invasion a threat to the rich Middle Eastern oil supplies.U.S. President Jimmy Carter sternly warned the Soviets that anyattempt to gain control of the Persian Gulf would be “repelled byany means necessary, including military force.” No threat developed,though. Therefore, the United States limited its response to anembargo of grain shipments to the Soviet Union. It also boycottedthe 1980 summer Olympic games in Moscow.

In the 1980s, a new Soviet regime acknowledged the war’s devas-tating costs to both Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. After a ten-year occupation—as long as U.S. involvement in Vietnam—PresidentMikhail Gorbachev ordered his forces to withdraw. The last Soviettroops left Afghanistan in February 1989. By then, internal unrestand economic problems were tearing the Soviet Union itself apart.

BackgroundThe Shi’i and SunniMuslims had been inconflict since they splitover religious practiceand beliefs in the 7thcentury A.D. (seeChapter 10).

Boycott of 1980 Olympics

Sixty-two nations, including Japan,West Germany, and Canada, joinedthe U.S. boycott of the 1980Moscow Olympics. In sympathy, 16of the 81 teams who did participaterefused to carry their national flagsin the opening ceremony.

U.S. athletes had trained foryears to compete in the Olympics.They received CongressionalOlympic medals as a consolationfor their dashed hopes anddisappointment.

Disappointed athletes and othercritics suggested that future gamesshould be played in a neutrallocation. This move would helpseparate international sportscompetition from politics.

SPOTLIGHTON

2. TAKING NOTES

Using a flow chart like the onebelow, fill in the main events ofU.S. involvement in Cuba.

Write a newspaper headline forone of the events you listed.

3. COMPARING

What similarities do you seeamong U.S. actions in Nicaragua,Cuba, and Iran?

THINK ABOUT• the type of leader the United

States supported in eachcountry

• U.S. interests in these countries

4. ANALYZING THEMES

Economics Today, Cuba suffersa severe shortage of vitalsupplies, largely due to the U.S.trade embargo that has lasted foralmost 40 years. Do you think theUnited States should lift thatembargo? Why or why not?

THINK ABOUT• Castro’s leadership• prior U.S. conflicts with Cuba• human suffering

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• Third World• nonaligned nations• Fidel Castro• Anastasio Somoza• Daniel Ortega• Shah Mohammed Reza

Pahlavi• Ayatollah Ruholla

Khomeini

Section Assessment4

Castro leadsrevolutionagainst Batista

THINK THROUGH HISTORYE. Comparing Inwhat ways were U.S.involvement inVietnam and Sovietinvolvement inAfghanistan similar?E . Answer Bothsuperpowers becamemired in long, bloodystruggles with guer-rilla forces who ulti-mately defeatedthem.

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876 Chapter 33

SETTING THE STAGE In the postwar years, the Soviet Union kept a firm grip on itssatellite countries in Eastern Europe. These countries were Poland, Czechoslovakia,Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania, and East Germany. It did not allowthem to direct and develop their own economies. Instead, it insisted that they developindustries to meet Soviet needs. These policies greatly hampered Eastern Europe’seconomic recovery.

The Soviets Dominate Eastern EuropeAfter Stalin died, a new, more moderate group of Soviet leaders came to power. Thesenew leaders allowed their satellite countries a taste of independence, as long as theyremained firmly Communist and allied with the Soviet Union. During the 1950s and1960s, however, growing protest movements in Eastern Europe threatened the SovietUnion’s grip over the region. Increasing tensions with Communist China also divertedSoviet attention and forces.

Destalinization and Rumblings of Protest Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953.Shortly after his death, a loyal member of the Communist party named NikitaKhrushchev became the dominant Soviet leader. The shrewd, tough Khrushchev pub-licly denounced Stalin for jailing and killing loyal Soviet citizens. His speech signaled thebeginning of a policy called destalinization, or purging the country of Stalin’s memory.Workers destroyed monuments of the former dictator and reburied his body outside theKremlin wall. Khrushchev also called for “peaceful competition” with the capitalist states.

This new Soviet outlook did not change life in thesatellite countries, however. Their resentment occa-sionally turned into active protest. In October 1956, forexample, the Hungarian army joined with protesters tooverthrow Hungary’s Soviet-controlled government.Storming through the capital, Budapest, angry mobswaved Hungarian flags with the Communist hammer-and-sickle emblem cut out. “From the youngest childto the oldest man,” one protester declared, “no onewants communism.”

A popular and liberal Hungarian Communist leadernamed Imre Nagy (IHM•ray nahj) formed a new gov-ernment. Nagy promised free elections and demandedthat Soviet troops leave Hungary. In response, in earlyNovember, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest. Theywere backed by infantry units. Thousands of Hungarianfreedom fighters armed themselves with pistols andbottles. The Soviets overpowered them, however. Theinvaders replaced the Hungarian government with pro-Soviet leaders and eventually executed Nagy.

A toppled statue ofStalin lies inMoscow, a starksymbol ofKhrushchev’s policyof destalinization.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. RecognizingEffects What effectsdid destalinizationhave on Soviet satel-lite countries?A. Answer None.Their resentment andprotest against Sovietrule continued.

The Cold War Thaws5TERMS & NAMES

• Nikita Khrushchev• destalinization• Leonid Brezhnev• John F. Kennedy • Lyndon Johnson • détente• Richard M. Nixon• SALT• Ronald Reagan• Star Wars

MAIN IDEA

The Cold War began to thaw as thesuperpowers entered an era of uneasydiplomacy.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

The United States and the countries ofthe former Soviet Union continue tocooperate and maintain a cautiouspeace.

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Brezhnev and the Revolt in Czechoslovakia Despite this show of force inHungary, Khrushchev lost prestige in his country as a result of the Cuban missile cri-sis. In 1964, Communist party leaders voted to remove him from power. His replace-ment, Leonid Brezhnev, quickly adopted repressive domestic policies. TheCommunist party strictly enforced laws to limit such basic human rights as freedom ofspeech and worship. Government censors carefully controlled what writers could pub-lish. And Brezhnev clamped down on those who dared to protest his government’spolicies. For example, the secret police arrested many dissidents, including AleksandrSolzhenitsyn, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize for literature. They then expelled himfrom the Soviet Union.

Brezhnev made it clear that he would not tolerate dissent in Eastern Europe either.His policy was put to the test in early 1968. At that time, Czech Communist leaderAlexander Dubcek (DOOB•chehk) loosened controls on censorship to offer his coun-try socialism with “a human face.” This period of reform, when Czechoslovakia’s capi-tal bloomed with new ideas, became known as Prague Spring.

Prague Spring, however, did not survive the summer. On August 20, armed forcesfrom the Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia. Brezhnev justified this inva-sion by claiming the Soviet right to prevent its satellites from rejecting communism.

Split with China While many of the Soviet satellite countries resisted Communistrule, China seemed firmly committed to communism. In fact, to cement the tiesbetween their Communist powers, Mao and Stalin had signed a 30-year treaty offriendship in 1950. Their spirit of cooperation, however, ran out before the treaty did.

Faces of Protest


Soviet tanks move into Prague in 1968to stamp out Czech reforms.

HUNGARY CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Imre Nagy (1896–1958)

Of peasant background, Imre Nagy was capturedby the Soviets during World War I and recruitedinto their army. He became a Communist and livedin Moscow until 1944, when he returned to Soviet-occupied Hungary.

Although he held several posts in his country’sCommunist government, his loyalty remained withthe peasants. Because of his independentapproach, he fell in and out of favor with the Sovietregime. He led the anti-Soviet revolt in October 1956.

The Soviets forcefully put down the uprising anddeported Nagy. They then brought him back toHungary, where they tried and executed him. Heremained in disgrace until the Hungarian SupremeCourt cleared his name in 1989.

Alexander Dubcek (1921–1992)

Alexander Dubcek was the son of a member of theCzech Communist Party and moved rapidly upthrough the Communist ranks in Czechoslovakia.

In response to the spirit of change in the 1960s,Dubcek instituted broad reforms in the 1968 PragueSpring. Not surprisingly, Soviet officials reactednegatively. Tanks rolled into Prague to suppress afeared revolt.

The Soviets expelled Dubcek from theCommunist Party in 1970. He survived, though. Heregained political prominence in 1989, when theCommunists agreed to share power in a coalitiongovernment. When the new nation of Slovakia wasformed in 1992, Dubcek became head of its SocialDemocratic Party.

V

V

V

V

V

V

BackgroundNikita Khrushchevwas the first Sovietleader to leave officealive.

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The Victim The Survivor

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The Soviets assumed that the Chinese would follow Soviet leadership in worldaffairs. As the Chinese grew more confident, however, they came to resent beingMoscow’s junior partner. They began to spread their own brand of communism inAfrica and other parts of Asia. In 1959, Khrushchev punished the Chinese for theirindependence by refusing to share nuclear secrets with them. The following year, theSoviets ended technical economic aid to China. This split eventually grew so wide thatfighting broke out along the long Chinese-Soviet border. After repeated incidents, thetwo neighbors today maintain a fragile peace.

From Brinkmanship to DétenteIn the 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union finally backed away from theaggressive policies of brinkmanship they had followed during the early postwar years.The superpowers slowly moved toward a period of lowered tensions.

Brinkmanship Breaks Down The brinkmanship policy that the United States fol-lowed during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations resulted in oneterrifying crisis after another. Though these crises erupted all over the world, theywere united by a common fear. Nuclear war seemed possible.

In 1960, the U-2 incident prevented a meeting between the United States and theSoviet Union to discuss the buildup of arms on both sides. Then, during the presi-dency of John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s, the Cuban missile crisis made thesuperpowers’ use of nuclear weapons a very real possibility. (See pages 872–873.) Thecrisis ended when the Soviet ships turned back to avoid a confrontation at sea. “We’reeyeball to eyeball,” the relieved U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk said, “and I thinkthe other fellow just blinked.” President Kennedy’s Secretary of Defense, RobertMcNamara, however, admitted just how close the world had come to disaster:

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S TIn the face of an air attack [on Cuba] and in the face of the probability of a groundattack, it was certainly possible, and I would say probable, that a Cuban sergeant orSoviet officer in a missile silo, without authority from Moscow, would have launchedone or more of those intermediate-range missiles, equipped with a nuclear warhead,against one or more of the cities on the East Coast of the United States.ROBERT McNAMARA, quoted in Inside the Cold War

Tensions remained high, and after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963,Lyndon Johnson assumed the U.S. presidency. Committed to stopping the spread ofcommunism, President Johnson escalated U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam.

The United States Embraces Détente Widespread popular protests wracked theUnited States during the Vietnam War. And the turmoil did not end with U.S. with-drawal. As it tried to heal its internal wounds, the United States began backing away

from its policy of direct confrontation with theSoviet Union. Détente, a policy of lessened ColdWar tensions, finally replaced brinkmanship duringthe administration of President Richard M. Nixon.

President Nixon’s move toward détente grew outof a philosophy known as realpolitik. This termcomes from the German word meaning “realisticpolitics.” In practice, realpolitik meant dealing withother nations in a practical and flexible manner.While the United States continued to contain thespread of communism, the two superpowers agreedto pursue détente and to reduce tensions.

Nixon’s new policy represented a dramatic per-sonal reversal as well as a political shift for the

In a spirit ofcooperation anddétente, the U.S.and the SovietUnion try to preventtheir conflicts fromdestroying theworld.

Vocabularydétente: a Frenchword meaning “aloosening”

878 Chapter 33

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. RecognizingBias Do you thinkthat RobertMcNamara’s view ofthe Soviet threat inCuba was justified orwas due to a biasedU.S. fear of the SovietUnion? Explain.B. PossibleAnswersJustified—TheSoviets had installedmissiles in Cuba withthe intent to use themagainst the UnitedStates. Biased—TheSoviets intended theirmissiles only to be athreat. They knewthat using them mightstart a nuclear warthat would destroythe world.

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country. His rise in politics in the 1950s was largely due to his strong anti-Communistposition. Twenty years later, he became the first American president after World War IIto visit Communist China. The visit made sense in a world in which three—ratherthan just two—superpowers eyed each other suspiciously. “We want the Chinese withus when we sit down and negotiate with the Russians,” Nixon explained.

Nixon Visits the Communist Superpowers Three months after visiting Beijingin February 1972, President Nixon made history again by becoming the first Americanpresident since the beginning of the Cold War to visit the Soviet Union. After a seriesof meetings called the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), Nixon and Brezhnevsigned the SALT I Treaty. This five-year agreement limited to 1972 levels the numberof intercontinental ballistic and submarine-launched missiles each country could have.In 1975, 33 nations joined the United States and the Soviet Union in signing a com-mitment to détente and cooperation, the Helsinki Accords.

Détente CoolsUnder Presidents Nixon and Gerald Ford, the United Statesgradually improved relations with China and the Soviet Union.In the late 1970s, however, President Jimmy Carter’s concernover harsh treatment of Soviet protesters threatened to preventa second round of SALT negotiations. In June 1979, Carter andBrezhnev finally signed the SALT II agreement. When theSoviets invaded Afghanistan in December of that year, however,the U.S. Congress refused to ratify SALT II. Tensions continuedto mount as increasing numbers of European and Asian coun-tries began building nuclear arsenals.

Ronald Reagan Abandons Détente The fiercely anti-Communist U.S. president Ronald Reagan took office in 1981.He continued his country’s retreat from détente. In 1983, he announced a program—the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)—to protect America against enemy missiles.The program, called Star Wars after a popular movie, was never put into effect. Itremained a symbol of U.S. anti-Communist sentiment, however.

Tensions increased as U.S. activities such as arming Nicaragua’s Contras pushed thetwo countries even farther from détente. A transfer of power in the Soviet Union in1985, however, brought a new policy toward the United States and the beginnings of afinal thaw in the Cold War.

The Cold War between the two superpowers ebbed and flowed. Meanwhile, as youwill learn in the next chapter, developing countries continued their own struggles forindependence from colonialism.

U.S. PresidentJimmy Carter andSoviet PremierLeonid Brezhnevoptimistically markthe signing of theSALT II treaty inVienna, Austria,in 1979. Carter,however, remainedconcerned overSoviet violations ofits citizens’ humanrights.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYC. AnalyzingCauses Why did theUnited States beginpursuing a policy ofdétente?C. Possible AnswerInternal turmoil fol-lowing the VietnamWar and a realizationthat it would have todeal realistically andflexibly with not onlythe Soviet Union, butwith China as well;fear of nuclear war.

2. TAKING NOTES

In a chart like the one below,indicate each U.S. president’scontribution to Cold War tensionsby writing his name in the correctcolumn.

Write a paragraph summarizingthe policies and actions of one ofthese presidents.

3. EVALUATING DECISIONS

Do you think it was a wise politicalmove for Nixon to visit CommunistChina and the Soviet Union? Whyor why not?

THINK ABOUT• the Cuban missile crisis• realpolitik• public sentiment after the

Vietnam War

4. THEME ACTIVITY

Revolution Write a poem orsong lyrics expressing aHungarian or Czech citizen’sprotest against Communist rule.

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• Nikita Khrushchev• destalinization• Leonid Brezhnev• John F. Kennedy• Lyndon Johnson• détente• Richard M. Nixon• SALT• Ronald Reagan• Star Wars

Section Assessment5

TensionsIncreased

Eisenhower

TensionsDecreased

THINK THROUGH HISTORYD. Contrasting Inwhat ways didPresidents Nixon’sand Reagan’s policiestoward the SovietUnion differ?D. Answer Nixonpursued a policy ofdétente, or easing oftensions. Reaganbrought tensions to anew height.


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33Chapter Assessment

REVIEW QUESTIONS

SECTION 1 (pages 855–861)

Two Superpowers Face Off11. Why did some Americans oppose the Truman Doctrine?

12. How did the Soviet Union respond to the U.S. policy of brinkmanship?


Communists Triumph in China13. Which sides did the superpowers support in the Chinese internal

struggle for control of the country?

14. What were the results of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward andCultural Revolution?


War in Korea and Vietnam15. What effects did the Korean War have on Korea’s land and people?

16. What major difficulties did the U.S. Army face in fighting the war inVietnam?


Cold War Around the World17. Why did developing nations often align themselves with one or the

other superpower?

18. How did the Soviet Union respond to the U.S.-supported Bay of Pigsinvasion?


The Cold War Thaws19. In what ways did Soviet actions hamper Eastern Europe’s economic

recovery after World War II?

20. What policies characterized realpolitik and how did they affect thecourse of the Cold War?

Cold War, 1946–1980

TERMS & NAMESBriefly explain the importance of each of the followingin reconstructing the postwar world since 1945.

Interact with History

On page 854, you consideredwhat action you would take in acivil war in a developing countrythat both the United States andthe Soviet Union were interestedin. Now that you have learnedmore about the Cold War, wouldyour decision change? Discussyour ideas with a small group.

1. containment

2. Cold War

3. Mao Zedong

4. Cultural Revolution

5. 38th parallel

6. Vietnamization

7. Fidel Castro

8. Nikita Khrushchev

9. détente

10. SALT

Visual Summary

880 Chapter 33

1946 Institutescontainmentpolicy to blockSoviet influence

1948 Gives massive foreign aid toEurope under Marshall Plan

1965 Sends troopsto Vietnam

1952 Tests first H-bomb

1953 Adopts brinkmanship policy,which escalates Cold War

1968 Violently brings PragueSpring to an end

1950 Signs friendshiptreaty with China

1956 Puts down revolt in Hungaryand later executes Imre Nagy

1953 Tests first H-bomb

1957 Launches Sputnik,starting space race

1979 InvadesAfghanistan

1950 CommunistNorth Korea attacksSouth Korea

1962 U.S. blockadesCuba in response tobuildup of Sovietmissiles

1972 Nixon andBrezhnev sign

SALT I treaty

1980 U.S. boycottsMoscow Summer

Olympics to protestinvasion of Afghanistan

1948 U.S. andBritain break

Soviet blockade ofBerlin with airlift

1960 U-2 incidentreignites tensionbetween super-

powers

United States

Soviet Union

1975

1975

1955

1955 1965

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CHAPTER ACTIVITIES1. LIVING HISTORY: Unit Portfolio Project

Your unit portfolio project focuses on the wayseconomic factors influence history. For Chapter 33, you might use one of thefollowing ideas.

• Ask classmates to think about what life would be like for peasants in aCommunist satellite country. Then stage an interview in which you askthem to discuss their feelings about communism and capitalism. Audiotapeyour interviews and add a commentary to create an “objective” newscast.

• Create a poster to teach elementary school students about the differencesbetween capitalism and communism.

2. CONNECT TO TODAY: Cooperative Learning

The superpowers played a part in many revolutions orupheavals in developing nations. This unrest continues today as countriesstruggle to develop suitable political and economic systems.

Working with a team, create an oral presentation about a current politicalstruggle or revolution.

Using the Internet or magazines, research a current political conflict.Investigate the beliefs, programs, tactics, and popular support of the

rival factions. Determine what the outcome of the struggle appears to be.

• Collect photographs, charts, artifacts, or other visual aids to illustrate theissues involved in the struggle.

• If possible, interview people from that country who have immigrated tothe United States and include their viewpoints in your presentation.

3. INTERPRETING A TIME LINE

Look back at the unit time line on pages 850–851. Which two events duringthe Cold War do you think had the greatest impact on the U.S. decision topursue a policy of détente?

CRITICAL THINKING1. COLD WAR MANEUVERS

Using a web like the one below, indicate varioustactics the Soviet Union and the United States usedduring the Cold War.

2. RECOGNIZING THE ENEMY

American cartoonist Walt Kelly once said, “We havemet the enemy, and he is us.” In what sense do youthink this saying applies to the Cold War super-powers? In what specific ways were the United Statesand the Soviet Union more similar than they weredifferent?

3. FROM WORLD WAR TO COLD WAR

The Soviet Union emergedfrom World War II economically and physicallydevastated. How do you think the development ofthe Cold War would have proceeded if the UnitedStates had been in that position?

4. ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES

The following poem by Ho Chi Minh was broadcastover Hanoi Radio on January 1, 1968. Read the poemand answer the questions that follow.

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S TThis Spring far outshines the previous Springs,Of victories throughout the land come happytidings.South and North, rushing heroically together,shallsmite the American invaders!Go Forward!Total victory shall be ours.HO CHI MINH, quoted in America and Vietnam

• In Ho’s opinion, who was the enemy in theVietnam War?

• What purpose might the North Vietnamese havehad in broadcasting this poem?

FOCUS ON GEOGRAPHY

Cold War tensionsbetween the UnitedStates and the SovietUnion were fed by thefear of nuclear war.

• What does this mapprojection suggestabout the distancebetween thecountries?

• Which country hadmore ICBM bases?

Connect to HistoryHow did the UnitedStates and the SovietUnion avoid a nuclearconfrontation?

0 1,000 Miles

0 2,000 Kilometers

30°W

150°E

150°W

30°E

180°

60°W

120°E

90°W

90°E

30°N

45°N

60°N75

°N

North Pole

ARCTIC OCEAN

ATLANTICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

CANADA

UNITED

STATES

SOVIET UNION

Soviet ICBM baseSoviet radarU.S. ICBM baseU.S. radar

THEME ECONOMICS

THEME REVOLUTION

THEME EMPIRE BUILDING

Cold War Tactics

CLASSZONE .COMTEST PRACTICEAdditional Test Practice,

pp. S1–S33


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after world war 2

Documents

world war

vietnam war

thecivil war

war devastated vietnam

o r t ha

t e ds t

e tu n

world supremacy