The Cold War

1945-1989

What is the Cold War

It was an intense rivalry between

the United States and Russia –

between West and East and

between capitalism and

communism that dominated the

years following WW II.

Words of Wisdom

Winston Churchill;

“Germany is finished.

The real problem is

Russia. I can’t get

Americans to see it.”

-- 1945

Cold vs. Hot

It is called the

“Cold” War

because there

was never any

direct attack

made by the U.S.

or Soviet Union

on each other.

Yalta ConferenceThe Big Three meet –Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin

Divided Germany into four zones

Problem: Poland!Roosevelt wanted a guarantee of free elections and Stalin wanted complete control of Poland

The issue of Poland would not go away

The United NationsThe Big Three all agreed on establishing this international peace keeping organization following WWII

Goal: to promote justice and cooperation

Permanent headquarters established in New York in 1953.

FDR dies; Truman Takes

Command

FDR died on April

12, 1945

Truman, his Vice

President for only a

few months,

became the leader

of our country

Conflicting Postwar

GoalsAmericans: wanted democracy and economic opportunities for the countries of Europe and Asia

Soviets: Wanted to rebuild their nation in order to protect their own interests. They wanted to establish satellite nations, countries controlled by the Soviets along the western boundaries of the Soviet Union. Stalin wanted to overthrow capitalism around the world and install Communist governments.

Satellite Nations

Like dominoes, one

by one countries in

Eastern Europe fell

to Stalin and

communism

Poland, Romania,

Bulgaria, East

Germany,

Czechoslovakia,

Hungary, Albania.

The Iron Curtain

A phrase coined by Winston Churchill in 1946 it refers to the division between Communist and non-Communist nations

Became symbol of division between East and West

ContainmentU.S. policy developed

by George Kennan

The U.S. could not do

anything in Eastern

Europe where Russia

already took over, but

that it should attempt

to stop the formation

of Communist

governments any

where else in the

world.

There’s

communism

in there!

Don’t let it

out!!

The Truman Doctrine

“I believe that it must be the policy of the U.S. to support free peoples who are resisting (conquest) by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” –President Truman, 1947

And what outside pressure

are we talking about?

The Marshall Plan

U.S. wanted to help war-torn nations recover so they could create stable democracies.

Seventeen nations applied for aid. Total aid given from 1948-1952 = $13 billion

Germany: A Land Divided

By 1949 there were two

Germany’s in

Europe:

1. West Germany:

democratic

2. East Germany:

communist

The capital of Berlin was

also later divided –

by a wall!

Berlin Airlift

Many Eastern Europeans who did not like living under Soviet communist rule fled their homes and escaped to West Berlin.

Stalin wanted to stop this escape route by forcing the Western Powers to abandon West Berlin.

Stalin blockaded all Allied shipments to West Berlin through East Germany.

This threatened severe shortages of food and other needed supplies in West Berlin.

Truman did not want a

war with the Soviets,

nor did he want to

give up West Berlin.

During the next 15

months both British

and U.S. aircraft

delivered food, fuel,

etc. by plane to the

city.

The Soviets finally

gave up in 1949 and

ended the blockade.

Berlin Airlift Map

NATO- North Atlantic Treaty

OrganizationBecause the Soviet Union used its veto power to block any action that stopped communism in the United Nations, the West needed another way to deal with Soviet aggression.

In 1949 12 nations formed NATO. The guiding principle of NATO is; “an armed attack against one or more…shall be considered an attack against them all.”

This is an example of collective security-mutual military assistance among nations.

Current Members of

NATO

The Soviet Union responded to the

formation of NATO by creating the

Warsaw Pact, a military alliance with

its satellite nations in Eastern Europe.

NATO WARSAW

PACT

UN

The Arms Race

The greatest area

where the Soviet

Union and the U.S.

compete for world

domination was in

the arms race - the

struggle to gain

weapons superiority.

China Falls To

CommunismA civil war had existed between the Nationalists and Communists in China since the 1920s.

1949: Mao Zedong and the Communists won and established the People’s Republic of China.

The Nationalists fled to Taiwan and claimed to be the legitimate government of China, establishing the Republic of China. The U.S. and UN recognized this Republic as the true government of China.

Many Americans wanted Truman and the government to focus not only on Europe but also on Asia in their policy of containment.

Chairman Mao Zedong

Chinese Revolution

Poster: 1949

Korean War

After WW II Japan was forced to give up control of Korea.

The Soviets accepted the surrender above the 38th parallel and the U.S. accepted it below that line.

Division was never the goal but became a reality: a communist controlled north and a democratically controlled south.

Map of Korea

Conflict in Korea

Citizens on both

sides of the parallel

wanted to reunite

their country.

War breaks out

when North Korean

troops came across

the 38th parallel to

try to unite the

country by force.

May., 1950

Sept., 1950

Sept.-Nov., 1950

Nov 1950-

Jan 1951

Jan 1951 -

1953

The Korean Conflict

The Forgotten War

The UN (mostly American) sent troops to Korea

The UN troops do well initially but are driven back close to the original 38th parallel.

The war becomes a stalemate and in 1953 an armistice is signed agreeing to keep Korea divided.

The Cold War at Home

There was a great

emphasis on loyalty to

America during the

Truman administration.

He vowed to find people

who were not loyal,

especially anyone with

ties to communism.

I LOVE

America! I

swear!! I

would NEVER

be communist!

Oh yeah!?

Prove it!

or else!

His administration instituted

FBI background checks for

government employees and

the Loyalty Review Board

to hear evidence about

anyone in the government

participating in suspicious

activities

The Rosenbergs

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were Americans and members of the Communist party.

They were accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during WW II.

They were convicted of spying and were executed in 1953.

Did anticommunist

hysteria play a role?

Hmmm…

McCarthyism: The Height of Cold War

Hysteria

Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin made himself famous by accusing hundreds of people inside the government of having ties with communists.

He set off a second period of anti-communist hysteria

He had little to no evidence to support his accusations and after a few years lost all credibility.

Joseph McCarthy

HUACThe House Un-American

Activities CommitteeHUAC was created by the House of Representatives in 1938 to investigate disloyalty before WWII.

In 1947 they began to investigate the movie industry, claiming it supported communist ideals.

“Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

The Hollywood Ten refused to answer and were cited for contempt and sentenced to jail.

Studios compiled a blacklist of directors, actors, and writers who should not be allowed to work because they seemed subversive or refused to cooperate with HUAC or refused to honor the blacklist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-1pPMliSck&feature=related

The Majestic movie trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwSk2vW1po0

The Majestic movie clip

Cold War and Space

In 1957 the Soviet Union proved that they were ahead of the U.S. in the technology war when they launched Sputnik into space.

Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.

Problem: The rocket

used to launch Sputnik

could just as easily

carry a nuclear bomb to

America’s shores!

US Response: created

NASA in 1958 and

increased spending on

science and math in

America’s school.

Sputnik

Cuba

1959 Fidel Castro Takes power in Cuba

and when he developed ties to the

USSR American officials feared that

Cuba could become an example for

revolutionary upheaval through all of

Latin America.

Bay of Pigs

Kennedy’s 1st foreign crisis!

Eisenhower had approved a plan in

1960 to overthrow Castro

CIA was training a group of Cubans to

invade Cuba and overthrow Castro

JFK and his advisers believed the people

of Cuba would join in to help the defeat of

Castro ----- THEY DID NOT!

Bay of Pigs

April 17, 1961

Airstrike failed to destroy Cuba’s air force

Cuban troops were more than a match for

the 1,500 invaders

Rather than increase forces Kennedy chose

to accept defeat

US lost prestige and faced anger from other

countries. JFK’s ability as President was

questioned.

Berlin Wall

Soviet attempt to cut off access to Berlin in

1948 failed because of the Berlin Airlift.

SOVIETS ATTEMPT AGAIN!

They demanded a peace treaty that would

make division permanent in order to stop

flow of East Germans into west Germany

through Berlin.

Kennedy feared this would lead to a larger

invasion of Europe.

Berlin Wall

Kennedy responded by increasing military

and military spending

“We do not want a fight – but we have fought

before!” JFK 1961

Aug. 1961 – Soviets built the wall to divide

Communist & Non-Communist Berlin

Soviets avoided war by stopping the flow out

of East Germany

Wall became a symbol of the Cold War

Cold War and Cuba

In October of 1962 U.S. spy

photography revealed that the Soviet

Union was building missile bases on

Cuba.

What followed, the Cuban Missile Crisis,

is the closest the world ever came to

nuclear war.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Soviets placed

these missiles in

Cuba, 90 miles from

the U.S., to counter

the missiles the U.S.

had in Turkey – very

close to the

U.S.S.R.

These missiles in

Turkey were old and

probably wouldn’t

work – but the

U.S.S.R., under

Nikita Khruschev,

did not care about

that detail.

Kennedy Decides

After much deliberation, president Kennedy decided to use a U.S. naval quarantine of Cuba to prevent any Soviet ships carrying weapons into Cuba

Disaster Avoided

After some secret negotiations the U.S.

agreed to remove its missiles from Turkey

while Russia would remove their missiles

from Cuba.

It appeared that if Russia either broke the

quarantine or refused to remove their

missiles, Kennedy would have used nuclear

weapons on Cuba and maybe the Soviet

Union directly!!!

Conclusion

The Cold War was a tense time and a time of

great uncertainty and fear

No one knew if the Soviets or the U.S. would

use one of their many weapons of mass

destruction -- they came close but never did!

The Cold War ended when the U.S.S.R.

collapsed and communism failed to make the

people happy or meet their basic needs.

Berlin Wall

falls: 1989

SU breaks

apart: 1991

Modern Day Arms Race: Pakistan

and India