The Cold War

The United Nations Chartered in April 1945 Replaced the League of

Nations 50 nations joined initially

(today, UN has 193 members) In the General Assembly,

which decides general UN policies, each nation gets 1 vote (so all are equal)

UN Security Council: US, Soviet Union, France, Great Britain, & China reserved the power to veto any action by the UN

For the UN to take any military action requires a unanimous vote of the Security Council

The Potsdam Conference

Jul. 16 – Aug. 2 1945 Stalin, Clement Atlee

(who had replaced Churchill as British Prime Minister), and Truman met to decide the fate of Germany and other occupied territories in Europe

All sides agreed to divide Germany and Austria into occupation zones and to dismantle most German industry, but disagreed over making Germany pay war reparations to the Soviets

Germany divided

The Soviets Split from the Allies

Stalin wanted to keep territory which the Soviets had conquered in Eastern Europe, in order to protect his nation from future invasions

Allies insisted on free elections in Soviet-occupied Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, & Hungary

Stalin refused and by 1948 all of these states had communist governments (Latvia, Lithuania, & Estonia became part of the Soviet Union itself)

The Iron Curtain “From Stettin in the Baltic

to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe … and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.” - Winston Churchill, 1946

Term “iron curtain” was meant to describe the ideological division that had risen between Communist Eastern Europe and Democratic Western Europe

Containment Policy US had little choice

but to accept communism in Eastern Europe or enter into an unpopular war with the Soviets

US instead focused on preventing communism from spreading into new areas and pledged to “contain” communism to the areas where it already existed

First Test of Containment

Stalin supported communist rebels in Greece and Turkey in their efforts to overthrow US-backed governments

The devastation of WWII had left these governments in a seriously weakened state and they were in serious danger of falling without US intervention

The Truman Doctrine

1947: Truman declared that US foreign policy would be to “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”

Truman essentially declared war on the spread of communism, launching a “Cold War” that would last into the 1990s

After Truman’s speech, Congress approved $400 million in economic aid to Greece and Turkey

The Marshall Plan In support of the Truman

Doctrine, Sec. of State George Marshall developed a plan to provide US financial aid to war-torn Europe, to help with rebuilding both physically and economically

The economic prosperity in Western Europe that followed minimized the potential for any further spread of communism in that region

The US sent $25 billion in aid to Europe in the 6 years following the end of WWII

Stalin rejects the Marshall Plan

The US even offered economic assistance to countries behind the “iron curtain,” including the Soviet Union, but Stalin would not allow any communist state to accept US assistance, believing it would weaken his control

The Berlin Blockade June 1948 – May 1949 Frustrated with US

efforts to restore a unified Germany, Stalin tried to push the US and its allies out of West Berlin by blocking all overland access to the city through East Germany

All road and rail lines were cut and no supplies could be brought into the western half of the city

The Berlin Airlift Allies decided to fly

supplies into Berlin instead

Soviets were unwilling to be the aggressor by shooting down Allied aircraft

1500 flights a day delivered 5000 tons of supplies a day – everything from food to coal to gasoline to cloth to machinery

After nearly a year, the Soviets lifted the unsuccessful blockade

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Founded April 4, 1949 Mutual defense treaty

against the Soviets US, Canada, and most

of Western Europe were members

Today, still includes most of Europe + US & Canada

The Warsaw Pact May 14, 1955: Soviets

responded to NATO by creating an alliance of communist states

Unlike NATO, which was an alliance of free nations, Warsaw Pact members were given no choice but to join by the Soviets

Officially disbanded July 1, 1991 after the collapse of Soviet power

Russians Develop Atomic Bombs

August 29, 1949: Soviets tested their first atomic bomb (technology they had largely stolen from the US through espionage)

By 1961, Soviets were capable of detonating 100 megaton bombs (equal to about 20 times all of the explosives used in WWII combined!)

Soviets had become a much more serious threat in the eyes of the US

US and Chinese Communism

China had been involved in a civil war between Nationalists and Communists since before WWII began

Communists gained control of mainland China in 1949, driving the Nationalists to flee to the island of Taiwan

The US refused to acknowledge the Communists as the legitimate Chinese government, instead insisting on recognizing the Nationalists on Taiwan as the “true” China, while the Soviets took just the opposite stance

The Korean War June 1950 – July 1953 After WWII, Korea had

been divided much as Germany had into a Communist-held north and a US-backed south

North Korea, backed by China & the Soviets attacked South Korea, backed by the UN (using mostly US soldiers)

Dispute was eventually settled by returning to essentially pre-war boundaries, but no formal peace was ever declared

The H-Bomb Nov. 1952: The US

tested its newest weapon the Hydrogen Bomb, a weapon 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima

Within a year, however, the Soviets also had H-bombs

Nuclear Arms Race

Soviets and Americans rapidly built enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times over

“MAD” (Mutually Assured Destruction) was the theory that the more nuclear weapons both sides had, the safer the world was because it made a nuclear war unwinnable for both sides

Domino Theory US believed

strongly in the idea that if you let even a single nation fall to communism, then you would set off a chain reaction where its neighbors would also fall to communism (like dominos)

Brinksmanship Brinksmanship is the

practice of escalating international tensions to the brink of war, with the hope that the other side will back down at the last minute and thereby give you an advantage in future negotiations

Nikita Khrushchev 1894 – 1971 (life) 1953 – 64 (Soviet

leader) Named head of the

Soviet Union after the death of Stalin in 1953

More liberal than Stalin in Soviet domestic issues, but more confrontational in foreign policy, pushing the Soviet Union to the brink of war with the US on several occasions

The U-2 Incident 1960 Just weeks before a major

peace summit, the Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane over their airspace and captured the pilot, Francis Gary Powers

Marked a turning point in US-Soviet relations, as the peace summit was cancelled and the American pilot was tried as a spy and sentenced to prison (the Soviets later traded him back to the US for one of their own spies)

Communism in Cuba

Many US business held large investments in Cuba during the 1950s, but those investments were jeopardized when Cuba’s government was overthrown by communist rebels under the leadership of Fidel Castro

US leadership were equally alarmed by the seizure of over $1 billion worth of property in Cuba owned by Americans as they were by suddenly having a communist state 90 miles off the US coast

The Berlin Wall West Berlin, deep

inside of communist East Germany, became a way for many Germans to flee communist oppression

In 1961, the Soviets ordered the construction of a wall around West Berlin to isolate it and prevent future defections

The Berlin Wall became the physical symbol of the Cold War

The Bay of Pigs Invasion The American CIA (Central

Intelligence Agency) began training Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba with the purpose of overthrowing Castro’s communist gov’t.

In April 1961, the exiles landed at The Bay of Pigs in Cuba, but were quickly defeated by Cuban forces when the US failed to provide any further invention on their behalf

Major international embarrassment for the US

The Cuban Missile Crisis

Soviets placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in Fall 1962

US demanded their removal and enacted a naval blockade of Cuba to stop Soviet ships from bringing more missiles

Many thought that WWIII would result as the US and USSR faced off over a tense 13-day period, each threatening the other with nuclear force

Soviets eventually backed down and removed the missiles, thanks to the US publicly promising not to invade Cuba and secretly agreeing to remove American missiles from Turkey

The Vietnam War 1959 – 1975 US backed South

Vietnam against Soviet-backed communist North Vietnam

As tensions between the two Vietnams increased, the US began sending military advisors, then soldiers to train South Vietnamese troops and, eventually, hundreds of thousands of US combat troops

The Paris Peace Accords

Signed Jan. 27, 1973 After a decade of

fighting and over 58,000 casualties, US withdrew all troops from Vietnam

No permanent peace was formed between North and South

The South Falls March 1975 North launched a full-

scale invasion of the South

Nixon had promised US aid if the North violated the treaty, but Nixon had been forced to resign due to the Watergate scandal and Congress refused to approve any new involvement in Vietnam

By April 30, the North had conquered the South

The Space Race Both the US and USSR

had captured German rocket scientists at the end of WWII and were pursuing missile technologies

Starting in 1957, these technologies were used to compete against each other for control of outer space – a multi-billion dollar “space race” to see who could accomplish certain objectives or discoveries first

ICBMs Intercontinental

Ballistic Missiles The development

of missile technologies allowed both sides to mount atomic warheads onto long-range rockets which could be launched against distant targets

Sputnik The first man-made

object to attain orbit around the earth (satellite)

Sputnik I launched by the Soviets in Oct. 1957, followed by Sputnik II (which carried the first living creature into space, a dog named Laika) in November

These launches triggered a panic in the US, as Americans worried that the Soviets were gaining a technological advantage over the US

Yuri Gagarin 1934 – 1968 Soviet “cosmonaut” who

became the first man in space in April of 1961

Declared a “Hero of the Soviet Union,” he was never allowed to return to space due to his value as an instrument of propaganda; instead, he was sent on a world tour to promote Soviet superiority

Ironically, he later died in a plane crash

Project Mercury 1959 – 1963 NASA’s first

program designed to put an American in space

Capsule could carry only a single astronaut

Cost $384 million, but succeeded at getting the US’ manned space program off the ground

Kennedy Targets the Moon

“[We] commit … before this decade is out, to landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth … But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? …We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win”

Project Gemini 1965 – 1966 Could carry 2

astronauts 10 manned flights

cost $5.4 billion Purpose was to

develop the technologies that would be needed to make longer space flights possible (such as a trip to the moon and back)

Apollo Program Series of 6 manned

missions to the moon between 1969 and 1972

Each Apollo craft carried 3 astronauts

Suffered two major accidents: during the Apollo I training exercise in 1967, 3 astronauts died in an oxygen fire, and an explosion onboard Apollo 13 forced the crew to abort the mission

Cost $25.4 billion

“The Eagle has landed”

July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 became the

first manned-mission to land on the moon after a 4 day journey

Represented a major victory for the US, since we had finally surpassed Soviet achievement in space (to this day, no other nation has landed astronauts on the moon)

“That’s one small step for a man …”

“… one giant leap for mankind.”

After the success of the Apollo program, Americans tired of the “space race” – we had clearly beaten the Soviets and Americans were now distracted by more “down to earth” matters such as the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, and Watergate

Détente & Nixon Visits China

Nixon looked to improve relations with both communist China and the Soviet Union

In 1972, Nixon became the first US president to visit China, hoping to exploit a rift between the Chinese and Russians and gain influence

The Soviets responded by welcoming Nixon to Moscow just 3 months later

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

SALT I (1972) US and Soviets

agreed to limit the number and type of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) held by each nation

Led to dramatically improved relations with the Soviet Union

Helsinki Accords 1975 meeting of

NATO and Warsaw Pact leaders

Soviets promised to uphold basic human rights, but when they did not keep that promise, American enthusiasm for détente began to fade and the Cold War began to deepen once again

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

In December 1979, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan to help the communist government put down a rebellion

US responded to this “invasion” with a grain embargo against the Soviet Union, by boycotting the 1980 Olympic Games which were being held in Moscow, and by refusing to ratify the recently agreed to SALT II treaty

Détente completely collapsed

Reagan & The Cold War

US President Ronald Reagan abandoned all efforts at détente and negotiation with the Soviets, declaring them an “evil empire” and set out to win the Cold War by forcing the Soviets to deplete their economy through military spending

Military Buildup Reagan spent $1.5

trillion on defense, forcing the Soviets to match with their own military buildup or run the risk of losing global influence

The idea was to break the Soviet economy and thereby win the Cold War – it worked, but it would not be until after Reagan had left office that the Soviet economy failed

“Star Wars” Strategic Defense

Initiative (SDI) Reagan called for the

development of a space-mounted weapons platform which could be used to destroy Soviet nuclear missiles before they could reach the US

The US spent about $100 billion trying to develop such a system (with no success), forcing the Soviets to spend money on how to counter such a system

The Reagan Doctrine

Reagan believed that that the US had a moral obligation to show support for guerrilla groups who were fighting communist or pro-Soviet governments

This policy would lead to US intervention in several conflicts

Afghanistan Reagan provided

over $570 million in military aid to the mujahadeen rebels fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, allowing them to drag the fight out for 9 bloody years

In 1988, the Soviets withdrew after losing nearly 15,000 men

Mikhail Gorbachev 1931 – Present Became new leader of

the Soviet Union in 1985

Believed that economic and political reform was necessary to the survival of the USSR and pursued an arms reduction agreement with the US

Signed an agreement with Reagan in 1987 to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, leading to a new détente

Perestroika & Glasnost

Gorbachev instituted new programs to try to save the Soviet economy

Perestroika (“restructuring”): allowed some small private businesses to operate outside of government control

Glasnost (“openness”): allowed Soviet citizens new freedoms of religion and speech and to have a voice in Soviet politics

The Wall Comes Down Nov. 9, 1989 East Germans

guards opened the gates in the Berlin Wall, removing the barrier between East and West; within days the wall was completely dismantled

The next year, East and West Germany reunited into one country for the first time since 1945

Collapse of Communism

The Soviet’s inability to financially support communist states in Eastern Europe led to mostly peaceful overthrows of their unpopular governments

In 1989, the old communist bloc collapsed as communist regimes fell one after another

In late 1991, the Soviet Union itself collapsed after an attempted coup by communist hardliners failed to unseat Gorbachev and the communist party was banned in Russia – the Cold War was over and the US had won