Era VIII WHII.12 The

Cold War

“An iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

- Winston Churchill

text in red is for notes Voorhees

The student will apply social science skills to

understand the conflicts during the second

half of the twentieth century by:

a) explaining the causes of the Cold War, including the

competition between the American and Soviet economic and

political systems and the causes of the collapse of communism

in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe;

b) describing the major leaders and events of the Cold War,

including the location of major conflicts;

c) describing conflicts and revolutionary movements in Asia

and their major leaders, including Mao Tse-tung (Zedong),

Chiang Kai-shek, Deng Xiaoping, and Ho Chi Minh; and

d) examining the political and economic shifts that led to the

end of the Cold War, with emphasis on Margaret Thatcher,

Mikhail Gorbachev, and Ronald Reagan.

Cold War=

40+ years

the Cold War period lasted from the

mid-1940s until the end of the 1980s

Bush, Reagan, Gorbachev

The Berlin Wall;

symbol of the Cold War

Cheering the end of the Berlin Wall 1989

I. Intro

The Cold War 1945 -1991

Period of undeclared war

between the two

“Superpowers”:

United States and “The

West” versus the Soviet

Union and “The

Communist Bloc”

Soviet

Bloc

Western

Powers

Post- WWII

Dunkirk Treaty (1947) between Britain and France, which pledged a common defense against aggression

Brussels Treaty (1948) signed by most Western European countries

The Berlin blockade that began in March 1948 led to negotiations between Western Europe, Canada, and the United States

In the years after World War II, many

Western leaders believed the policies

of the USSR threatened international

stability and peace

the West forms common defenses:

Dunkirk Treaty

Brussels Treaty

Berlin blockade leads to

North Atlantic Treaty

West verses East

USSR aggression… steps to WWIII?

The forcible installation of Communist

governments throughout Eastern Europe

Territorial demands by the Soviets

Their support of guerrilla war in Greece

Regional separatism in Iran

Rejection by Eastern European nations of the

European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan)

Creation of Cominform, a European Communist

organization

Warsaw Pact troops to invade

Czechoslovakia

Review-

international institutions were created

International Cooperative Organizations:

United Nations

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Established and adopted by members of the United Nations

Provided a code of conduct for the treatment of people under the protection of their government

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Warsaw Pact

II. Beginning of the Cold War

The Yalta Conference and the Soviet control of Eastern

Europe

A. The Yalta

Conference

1945- leaders of the Allied

powers the “Big Three”

Churchill, Roosevelt, and

Stalin

Allied military strategy in

the final months of

World War II

Defeat of Germany

Peace arrangements

Division of Germany

The Big Three: British Prime Minister Winston

Churchill, American President Franklin

Roosevelt, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin

B. Potsdam Conference

July – August 1945

British Prime Minister

Clement Attlee, U.S. President

Harry S. Truman, and Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin

Meet to discuss post-war order of

Germany

Germany and Austria will be

partitioned and administered by

the Allies

Soviets refuse to allow free

democratic elections –

beginning of the Cold War

C. Global Conflict and Arms Race

Although centered originally in Europe, the Cold War

enmity eventually drew the United States and the

USSR into local conflicts in almost every quarter of

the globe

It also produced what became known as the Cold

War arms race, an intense competition between the

two superpowers to accumulate advanced military

weapons

Beginning of the Cold War (1945- 1948)

D. Democracy and the free enterprise

system v. dictatorship and communism

international politics were heavily shaped by the

intense rivalry between these two great blocs of

power and the political ideologies they represented

democracy and capitalism in the case of the United

States and its allies, and communism in the case of the

Soviet bloc

democracy and capitalism

communism

Beginning of the Cold War (1945- 1948)

E. President Truman and the Policy of

Containment

Congress appropriated $400 million to support anti-

Communist forces in Turkey and Greece

By giving aid, the United States signaled that it would

bolster regimes that claimed to face Communist threats

As George Kennan explained in an article in Foreign

Affairs magazine in 1947, “containment” meant using

“unalterable counterforce at every point” until Soviet

power ended or faded

Truman

Stalin failed to honor pledges to

hold free elections in Eastern

Europe

Truman refused to honor

promises to send reparations

from the defeated Germany to

help rebuild the war-devastated

USSR

The president proposed the

Truman Doctrine

Containment

Containment aimed to prevent the spread of

communism and to oppose communist nations—

especially the Soviet Union—by diplomatic, political,

and economic means

Kennan’s article publicized the policy of containment

of Soviet communism, a policy adopted by the

administration of President Harry S. Truman

Kennan’s ideas provided an influential justification for

American policy toward the Soviet Union during the

Cold War

F. Truman Doctrine

President Truman vows to give aid to any

nation resisting the spread of communism

“Containment”= keep communism where it is…

don’t let it spread

George Kennan= author of “containment”

V.

G. Eastern Europe

Soviet satellite nations

The Iron Curtain

US and USSR had become divided over the political

future of Poland

Stalin believed that Soviet control of Poland was

necessary for his country’s security

This met with opposition from the Allies- it was not long

before the quarrel had extended to the political future of

other Eastern European nations

Yet both sides thought they could work it out

Former British Prime Minister Winston

Churchill coined the term Iron Curtain…

Photo: Truman and Churchill in Fulton, Missouri, on March 5, 1946.

Iron Curtain

Iron Curtain, policy of isolation set up by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) after World War II (1939-45) that involved rigid censorship and restrictions on travel

The Iron Curtain acted as a barrier to communication and the free exchange of ideas between the USSR (and its satellite states) and the rest of the world

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”-Sir Winston Churchill

Cold War characteristics

Characteristics of the Cold War (1948-

1989)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) v. the Warsaw Pact

Korean Conflict

Vietnam War

Berlin and significance of Berlin Wall

Cuban Missile Crisis

Nuclear weapons and the theory of deterrence

III. Cold War sides:

United States (US)

Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics

(USSR)

Britain

France

West Germany

Japan

Canada

Bulgaria

Czechoslovakia

Hungary

Poland

East Germany

Romania

During parts of the

Cold War: Cuba and

China

North Atlantic

Treaty

Organization

(1949)

•Western

powers

•To contain

the USSR and

communism

Warsaw Pact (1955)

•Soviet dominated

treaty of cooperation to

counter West Germany’s

rearmament entrance into

the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization

Cold War Alliances

A. Conflicts and revolutionary

movements in China

Division of China into two nations at the end of the

Chinese civil war

Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi)—Nationalist China

(island of Taiwan)

Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong)—Communist

China (mainland China)

Continuing conflict between the two Chinas

Communist China= part of the Korean Conflict

B. Mainland China 1949= Communist

Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Party were defeated by Mao

Zedong and forced to flee to Taiwan (an island off the Coast of

China) in 1949.

Mainland China became “The People’s Republic of China (or

communist “Red China”)

Taiwan

Communist

China

China

Mainland China under Mao becomes the communist

“People’s Republic of China” (or “Red China”)

The Island of Taiwan becomes the Republic of China

under Chiang

Both men claim to be the true leader of China

Korea: 1950-1953

After the Soviets enter the

war they attack the Japanese

in Manchuria and Korea

After the war the Soviets

occupy the northern half

of Korea and the U.S. the

southern half

Korea is divided into two

countries, a communist

North Korea and a non-

communist South Korea

This becomes a source of

tension during the Cold War

Korea

Vietnam

C. Conflicts and revolutionary

movements in Vietnam

French Imperialism

Leadership of Ho Chi Minh

Vietnam was a divided nation

Influence of policy of containment= The

United States and the Vietnam War

Vietnam is a reunited communist country

today

Vietnam

After Japan is defeated Vietnam is returned to France as a colony at the end of World War II

1. Vietnamese nationalist and communist leader Ho Chi Minh declares independence in 1945

Vietnam

2. The Viet Minh (Vietnamese Nationalists) aided by the Soviets and later the Chinese fight the French for independence in the First Indochina War in the 1950’s which evolved into Vietnam War in the 1960’s

3. After nine years of fighting France, Vietnam is partitioned in 1954 into a communist north and non-communist south

Vietnam

4. 1964 to 1973 the U.S. attempts to defeat the

Communists in North Vietnam

5. 1975: after the U.S. had withdrawn its troops,

Vietnam is reunited under a communist

government

D. Berlin Blockade

1948 – 1949

As the Allies conquer Germany at the end of World

War II, they divide it into separate zones of occupation

Berlin, in the Soviet zone, is partially controlled by

Western occupying forces

When the Soviets blockade the city to gain

control over all Berlin, the United States supports

West Berliners with a dramatic airlift of supplies

The event divides the city and hardens the line between

East and West Germany

E. Berlin Airlift

Stalin attempted to seize West Berlin by blockading

the city

For 11 months, cargo planes delivered goods to the

Soviet-blockaded city

The Western Allies fly in supplies= end of

blockade

1948- The Berlin Blockade and Airlift – 1st Major

Conflict

F. Berlin Wall

End of World War II- 1945- Berlin completely

surrounded by territory occupied by Soviet forces

1949 that area became country of East Germany

Berlin was partitioned into East and West

West Berlin- occupied by British, French, and United

States forces supported by the Federal Republic of

Germany (West Germany)

East Berlin- German Democratic Republic (GDR)

(East Germany)

Berlin Wall

1. Between 1949 and 1961= 2.7 million people

fled East Germany, more than half of them

through West Berlin

East Germans knew their standard of living was

lower than West Germany

2. 1961- East German government decided to

stop this flight to the West by building the wall

East Germany built concrete wall- 4 m (12 ft) high

and 166 km (103 mi) long

Berlin Wall

During the night of August 13, 1961, East German soldiers and

members of its militia surrounded West Berlin with temporary

fortifications that were rapidly replaced by a concrete wall

Where a wall was not possible, buildings were bricked-up

The only openings in the wall were two closely guarded

crossing points

GDR announced that the wall was needed to prevent military

aggression and political interference from West Germany

East German government built tank traps and ditches along

the eastern side of the wall (constructed to keep East German

citizens in)

G. Cuban Missile Crisis

“it’s going to be a cold winter”- JFK

United States President John F. Kennedy and Soviet

Premier Nikita Khrushchev met in Vienna, Austria, on

June 3, 1961

They could not reach agreement on any issues

JFK(on television)

Cuban Missile Crisis 1960

Regarded by many as the world's closest approach to

nuclear war

The crisis began when the United States discovered Cuba

had secretly installed Soviet missiles able to carry nuclear

weapons capable of hitting targets across most of the

United States

This led to a tense stand-off of several days as the United

States imposed a naval blockade of Cuba and demanded

that the USSR remove the missiles.

Crisis…

1. US discovers missiles

2. Tense standoff

3. Kennedy installs blockade

4. Khrushchev agreed to dismantle and

remove the weapons from Cuba and offered the

United States on-site inspection

Kennedy secretly promised not to invade Cuba and

to remove older missiles from Turkey

5. Kennedy called off the blockade

6. Nuclear war had been avoided

H. Nuclear Weapons and the Theory of

Deterrence

Policy- discourage hostile action by

a potential aggressor

deliberate efforts to prevent the

initiation of aggression

convincing a would-be aggressor that the

attack will fail—“deterrence by denial”

giving the impression that success would be

achieved at an excessive price—

“deterrence by punishment.”

Punishment

may be imposed by mounting an effective

defense

by launching retaliatory attacks

I. Nuclear Arms Race

J. The Space Race

Indira Gandhi

Closer relationship between India and the Soviet

Union during the Cold War

Developed nuclear program

Margaret Thatcher

British Prime Minister

Free trade and less government regulation of

business

Close relationship with United States and U.S.

foreign policy

Asserted United Kingdom’s military power

1989- China

Tiananmen

Square - failed

“Revolution” in

China

The Chinese

government crushes

a pro-democracy

movement

hundreds

dead, 10,000

wounded

Deng

Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping

Reformed communist economy to market

economy leading to rapid economic growth

Communist control of government continued

China

not ready for democracy

IV. The End of the Cold War

A. Collapse of Communism in the USSR

and Eastern Europe

Soviet economic collapse

Nationalism in Warsaw Pact countries

Tearing down of Berlin Wall (1989)

Breakup of the Soviet Union

Expansion of NATO

Ronald Wilson Reagan

US president

1981-1985 and 1985-1989

Vice President George H. W. Bush

1989- Soviets withdraw from Eastern Europe

Poland and “Solidarity” “Velvet Revolution” in Czechoslovakia

Retribution in RomaniaTearing down a wall in Germany

Tearing Down the Wall

1989-The Berlin Wall is taken down

B.Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms

Glasnost= “openness”

Perestroika=

economic reform

political reform

Last president of Soviet Union

Break-up of the Soviet Union- 1991

Gorbachev’s brand of reform communism opened a floodgate

of spontaneous changes in all corners of Soviet society

He was quickly upstaged by public figures who demanded an

immediate embrace of Western-style democracy and a transfer

of power from the central government to the 15 constituent

republics of the USSR

C. 1991 Soviet Union CollapsesThe Fall of Communism and the end of the Cold War

Soviet “Hard Liners” stage a coup and attack

the Russian White House (Parliament)

1991Yeltsin stops coup - Gorbachev steps down

Gorbachev and Yeltsin

The Soviet flag flies for

the last time over the Kremlin

1991The Soviet Union Dissolves

The Soviet Union

Yugoslavia

Republic of Russia

Republic of

KazakhstanUkraine

Baltic

States

1991Yugoslavia Dissolves - Violence and Ethnic Cleansing

Erupt

Yugoslavia

The New Balkan States

1992U.S. and Russia sign “non-aggression” pact

1992European

Union

Established

Beginning a

new era of

regional

economic

cooperation

and “Free

Trade”

Next: WHII.13 Independence Movements