The Cold War Era

THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE COLD WAR• Yalta & Potsdam Conferences– Yalta Conference: February 4-11, 1945 (Crimea)• Created the Yalta Declaration of Liberated

– Plans for Occupied Germany

– Fate of Poland

– Potsdam Conference: July 17 – August 2, 1945• Truman attempted to pick up where Roosevelt left off at Yalta,

and revisit unresolved issues.• 1945 Truman accused the Soviets of breaking Yalta

agreements.• Truman agreed to Stalin’s Poland border proposal but refused

to agree to reparations from allied sections of Germany.

• Yalta

• Potsdam

The United Nations • Establish

October 24, 1945

• Every nation has a seat in the General Assembly

• Real power lies in the UN Security Council

• U.S., Russia, Britain, France, & China all have permanent seats with veto power.

The Beginning of Cold Tension

• The Partition of Germany– Agreement made to divide Germany into four

zones controlled by the U.S., Britain, France, & the Soviet Union.

– Anticipated eventual re-unification.

– Stalin requested Germany pay $20 million in reparations

No need to writeWho is this?

•Saar Protectorate (1947-1956)

– On 10 July 1945, US forces left the Saar area and French troops established their occupational administration.

– October 1954, France offered to establish an independent "Saarland“

– October 1956 the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to join West Germany

– January 1, 1957 Saarland Joins West Germany

contd

• As a side note, the territorial dispute over control of the Saarland was one of the last between member states and even led to the European Flag (adopted

1955) being given a politically neutral ring of twelve stars rather than the originally proposed 15 (one of which was to represent a nominally independent Saar)

• In 1953, the Council of Europe had 15 members.– West Germany disputed the use of 15

stars.

Poland

Roosevelt & Churchill agreed to let Stalin annex eastern sections of Poland, but refused allowing them to install a procommunist government.

Stalin promised free elections

The Cold War Begins

• The Berlin Airlift

– Stalin refused the Allies to travel through Berlin which cut-off access to West Berlin.

– Truman ordered the Air Force to fly over & drop supplies to West Berlin.

Capitalism vs. Communism

1949 the Soviet zone became the republic of East Germany

The three Allied zones joined together & became West Germany.

Winston Churchill described the division between the democratic west & communist east as an “iron curtain.”

• Containment • (The Truman Doctrine

1947)– U.S. policy towards

communism• Belief that if the

Soviets were kept within their borders they will eventually collapse.

– Supported democratic governments in Greece & Turkey

The Marshall Plan 1948(European Recovery Program)

• Gave millions in aid to Western Europe

• Ensured Western Europe would buy American goods.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) U.S. & Canada allied with Western Europe. Pledged to support the others in the event of a Soviet

invasion. When West Germany joined NATO in 1954, the Soviet

Union formed its own treaty with Eastern Europe known as the Warsaw Pact.

The Founding of Israel Palestinian Jews founded the

independent Jewish state of Israel in 1948

President Truman offered diplomatic recognition Believed this support would help

his upcoming election

• Secretary of State George Marshall strongly opposed recognizing the state of  Israel. Marshall felt that if the state of Israel was declared, a war would break out in the Middle East (which it did in 1948 one day after Israel declared independence). 

• The Soviet Union– 1949 Soviets test their first atomic bomb• From this point on, the U.S. & Soviets enter into an

arms race with each developing long range missiles to deliver atomic warheads - Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles

COLD WAR CONFLICTS

The Korean War

Background– At the Potsdam Conference, it was decided that Korea

would be divided.• December 1945, Korea is administered by a U.S./Soviet

Joint Commission– Korea was to be independent in 5 years

– Stalin installed a Soviet-friendly government in North Korea.

– The U.S. supported Syngman Rhee in the South below the 38th Parallel

– June 1950 North Korea launched an attack on the South

– B/c of the U.S. policy of containment, the U.S. sent troops to the South.

– The United States negotiated peace after almost 4 years of fighting.

– The boundaries in Korea remained the same as they were before the war

– The U.S. implemented NSC-68 which called for a massive military build-up, which tripled defense spending.

• Domino Theory– U.S. belief that if one country fell to communism,

then many more would follow.

The Vietnam War

Internal Turmoil

Thích Quảng Đứ

Protesting

SouthVietnam’s

treatment of

Buddhist Monks (June 1963)

Immolation

• French gave up control in Indochina in 1945• 1946-54 France fought with the Viet Minh• The Geneva Accord 1954, divided Vietnam into two zones

along the 17th parallel. Elections were planned for 1956• The South Vietnam government put down all opposition, and

refused to participate in elections• The U.S. didn’t want the election either, as the communist would

have won in a land slide.

• With Chinese & Soviet help, Ho Chi Minh created a communist state in North Vietnam

• South Vietnam created ties to the West• Southern communists (Viet Cong) & the North launched a

war against the South to unite Vietnam• The U.S. stepped in to resist communism• 1973 U.S. withdrew from Vietnam• 1975 the South fell to the North

War Photography

1965

1968

Major General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan

1972

• Napalm Girl

What about the Arms Race?• Start of the Arms Race – August 29, 1949 the Soviet

Union successfully tested its first atomic bomb.

– 1952 the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb. This was an even more powerful version of the nuclear bomb. The Soviets followed up by exploding their first hydrogen bomb in 1953.

ICBMs In the 1950s both countries worked on developing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles or ICBMs. These missiles could be launched from long range, as far away as 3,500

miles. 

• Defense As both sides continued to develop new and more powerful weapons, the fear of what would happen if war broke out spread throughout the world.

Militaries began to work on defenses such as large radar arrays to tell if a missile had been launched. They also worked on defense missiles that could shoot down ICBMs.

• Mutual Assured Destruction 

One of the major factors in the Cold War was termed Mutual Assured Destruction or MAD. This meant that both countries could destroy the other country in the case of attack.

• Other Countries Involved 

During the Cold War, three other nations also developed the nuclear bomb and had their own nuclear weapons. These included Great Britain, France, and China.

• Détente and Arms Reduction Talks 

As the Arms Race heated up, it became very expensive for both countries. In the early 1970s both sides realized that something had to give. The two sides began to talk and take a softer line towards each other. This easing of relations was called détente. 

• In order to try and slow down the Arms Race, the countries agreed to reduce arms through the SALT I and SALT II agreements. SALT stood for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. 

• End of the Arms Race 

For the most part, the Arms Race came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War in 1991.