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L14: The Cold War EscalatesTan Block

AgendaObjectives:1. To understand how

and why the Cold War escalated to near crisis between 1945 to 1953.

2. To understand the role of the arms race in this process.

Schedule: 1. Lecture, Group Work,

Discussion

Homework1. Process and

Research Check in Two Due: Thursday 5/24

2. Socratic Seminar Thursday 5/31

3. Paper Due: Monday 6/4

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L14: The Cold War EscalatesBlue Block

AgendaObjectives:1. To understand how

and why the Cold War escalated to near crisis between 1945 to 1953.

2. To understand the role of the arms race in this process.

Schedule: 1. Lecture, Group Work,

Discussion

Homework1. Process and

Research Check in Two Due: Wednesday 5/23

2. Socratic Seminar Monday 6/4

3. Paper Due: Monday 6/4 (??)

Summarizing the Cold War Thus Far…

• We have looked at the Cold War from 1945 to 1953.

• Between 1945 and 1953 the Cold War can be considered a time of containment.– What is containment?– How does the Korean War exemplify the

notion of containment?

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The Cold War: 1953-1962• Today, we want to study the next

phase of the Cold War and that is a phase of crisis and escalation.– What do you think this period will look

like?

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The Cold War Escalates• The Cold War escalates between

1953 and 1962 because of heightened competition over the development of atomic weapons (Arms Race).

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Nuclear Weapons: 1945

• In 1945, at the end of World War Two, and at the beginning of the Cold War, who had nuclear weapons?

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U.S., U.S.S.R., and the Bombing of Japan

• When the United States dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese, what do you think the reaction was in the Soviet Union?

• What do you think part of the motivation behind the United States’ decision to bomb Japan was then?

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The Arms Race• The Race is On…

– 1945• America has a nuclear weapon• America builds in stock of weapons to over 100 bombs

– 1949• Soviets develop a nuclear weapon

– 1952• America develops the more powerful atomic hydrogen bomb

– 1953• Soviets develop a hydrogen bomb

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The Arms Race

• By 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union had around 50,000 nuclear weapons between them.

• Their explosive power was equal to 15 billion tons of TNT.

• Both sides had enough nuclear bombs to kill the entire human race several times over.

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The Arms Race: Why?

• Why? – Given that it isn’t possible to kill

people more than once, why did both sides seek to make as many super-destructive weapons as possible?• To answer this question, you will read a

short excerpt from Brooman. With you group, identify all the financial, political, and military reasons behind the arms race.

Mutually Assured Destruction

• The ultimate outgrowth of the Arms Race was to shift US foreign policy.

• Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)– Balance of Terror– Absence of War (but not peace per se) assured because each side knows that if they go to war, it will lead to their complete annihilation – Irony: The creation of more and more deadly weapons actually leads to the avoidance of wear.

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Cuban Missile Crisis• October 1962 (lasted 13 days)• Soviets and US come as close as they ever will to fighting a nuclear war against each other.• The Short of It…

– Americans found out that the Soviets built launch-pads for nuclear missiles on Cuba and are sending boats with missiles to Cuba.– US responds by blockading Cuba.– Soviets continue approach to Cuba ignoring blockade– US threatens invasion of Cuba– Soviets shoot down a US spy plane– Secret communications between Kruschev and Kennedy resolve the crisis

• Soviets remove missiles from Cuba, U.S. removes missiles from Italy and Turkey (but the US public is not told the last part)

• Moscow-Washington Hotline Established

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Cuban Missile Crisis• How did the Cuban Missile

Crisis exemplify the concept of MAD?

• How does the Cuban Missile Crisis also represent a shift in US diplomacy toward the acceptance of secrecy as a valid part of strategy?

• What was the lesson learned from the Cuban Missile Crisis?

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MAD goes NUTS

• Ironically, the effect of the Cuban Missile Crisis was not to end the arms race, but rather to accelerate it.

• Both sides began to develop anti-missile technologies designed to intercept missiles before they reached their targets.

• This was called the Nuclear Utilization Targeting Strategy (NUTS)

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Making Meaning out of the Cold War

• How would you categorize the Cold War from 1953 to 1962?

• How are the terms MAD and NUTS representative of this period, both in a literal and figurative sense?