Billy Joel condenses the Cold War in under five minutes

“We Didn’t Start the

Fire”

(1949-1989 This period in history will be remembered for many events:

• The space race• Nuclear anxiety• Cuban Missile Crisis• Fear of Communism• Iron Curtain• Korean war• Vietnam

Joel explained that he wrotethis song due to his interest in

history.

He commented that he wouldhave wanted to be a history

teacher had he not become arock and roll singer.

BILLY JOEL

1949• Harry S. Truman• Doris Day • Red China• Johnny Ray• South Pacific • Walter Winchell• Joe Dimaggio

1950

• Joe McCarthy• Richard Nixon• Studebaker• Television• North Korea• South Korea • Marilynn Monroe

1950

1951• Rosenburg• H-Bomb• Sugar Ray• Panmunjom• Brando• The King and I• The Catcher in the Rye

1952• Eisenhower• Vaccine• England’s got a new

Queen• Marciano• Liberace• Santayana good-bye

ChorusWe didn't start the fire

It was always burning, Since the world's been turning.

We didn't start the fire Well we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.

1953• Joseph Stalin• Malenkov• Nasser• Prokofiev• Rockefeller• Campanella • Communist Bloc

1954• Roy Cohn• Juan Peron• Tosconini• Darcon• Dien Ben Phi falls• Rock around the

clock

1955• Einstein• James Dean• Brooklyn’s got a

winning team• Davy Crockett• Peter Pan• Elvis Presley• Disneyland

1956• Bardot• Budapest• Alabama• Kruschehev• Princess Grace• Peyton Place• Trouble in the Suez

ChorusWe didn't start the fire

It was always burning, Since the world's been turning.

We didn't start the fire Well we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.

1957• Little Rock• Pasternok• Mickey Mantle• Kerouac• Sputnik• Chou En-Lai• Bridge on the River Kwai

1958• Lebanon• Charles de Gaulle• California Baseball• Starkweather

Homicide• Children of the

Thalidomide

1959• Buddy Holly• Ben Hur• Space Monkeys• Mafia• Hula Hoops• Castro• Edsel is a no go

1960

• U-2• Syngman Rhee• Payola• Kennedy• Chubby Checker• Psycho• Belgians in Congo

ChorusWe didn't start the fire

It was always burning, Since the world's been turning.

We didn't start the fire Well we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.

1961

• Hemingway• Eichmann• Stranger in a Strange

Land• Dylan• Berlin• Bay of Pigs Invasion

1962

• Lawrence of Arabia• British Beatlemania• Ole Miss• John Glenn• Liston beats

Patterson

1963• Pope Paul• Malcolm X• British Politician Sex• JFK blown away

ChorusWe didn't start the fire

It was always burning, Since the world's been turning.

We didn't start the fire Well we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.

1964-1989• Birth Control• Ho Chi-Minh• Richard Nixon back again• Moonshot• Woodstock• Watergate• Punk Rock• Menachem Begin• Reagan• Palestine• Terror on the airlines• Ayatollahs in Iran

• Russians in Afghanistan• Wheel of Fortune• Sally Ride• Heavy Metal• Suicide• Foreign debt• Homeless vets• AIDS• Crack• Bernie Goetz• Hypodermics on the shore• China’s under Martial Law• Rock and Roller Cola Wars

Guiding Purpose

• Learning Target: We will introduce the tensions in the post WWII era.

• Closing Task: I will describe the division in Europe after World War II.

• Preassessment Questions Covered: 11, 31

Vocabulary

• 4. Iron Curtain - term coined by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe an imaginary line dividing Communist countries in the Soviet bloc from countries in Western Europe during the Cold War.

•Despite the agreement at Yalta and presence on the Security Council of the UN, the Soviet Union and United States split after the war

•The war had affected each country differently

•The U.S. suffered less deaths, and maintained their status as the richest and most powerful country in the world

•The damage the Soviet Union faced was almost unbearable

•Most Soviet cities were demolished, they had 50 times more casualties, and their economy destroyed

•These contrasting situations, as well as political and economic differences, impacted the two countries’ postwar goals

• “An economic system in which all means of production are owned by the people• land, factories,

railroads, and businesses private property does not exist

• all goods and services are to be shared equally

• No social classes

Peasants Communists Military leaders Business managers

Totalitarianism- form of government in which the national government takes control of all aspects of both public and private life

There still are social classes

How was the idea of communism different from

reality?•Although there weren’t supposed to be classes, there were in the Soviet system.•People are supposed to be in power, but in reality they were oppressed.

• America is a democracy that has:• a capitalist

economic system

• free elections • competing

political parties

• “An economic system in which money is invested with the goal of making more money (profit).”

“One million dollars!”

The choice isnot yours

What is the difference between the U.S.S.R.’s Totalitarian Communism and the U.S. Capitalist Democracy?

•U.S.S.R.-Totalitarianism: Government controls all aspects of private and public life•Communism: An economic system in which all means of production are owned by the people land, factories, railroads, and businesses private property does not exist

•U.S.- Democracy: Free elections, competing political parities, freedoms•Capitalism: investment of money into business to make a profit

• A major goal of the Soviet Union was to shield itself from another

invasion from the west• Throughout history they feared

invasion because they lacked natural western borders

• Had been attacked by Poland, Sweden, France (Napoleon), and

Germany

• Stalin installed “satellite” communist governments in the Eastern European countries of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and East Germany after WWII

• Justified taking over Eastern Europe as a buffer against German aggression

• This after promising “free elections” for Eastern Europe at the Yalta Conference (So… he lied)

In a 1946 speech, Stalin said communism and capitalism

were incompatible – and another war was inevitable

• Truman, Stalin, and Churchill met in Potsdam, Germany in July 1945

• President Truman expressed Stalin’s reluctance to allow free elections in satellite nations was a clear violation of those countries’ rights

• Truman continued to press Stalin to permit free elections in Eastern Europe

• Stalin refused and declared that “communism and capitalism could not exist in the same world.”

What promise did Stalin break in Eastern Europe?

•He promised to hold free, democratic elections but instead

appointed communist leaders

• Europe was now divided into two political regions; a mostly democratic Western Europe and a communist Eastern Europe

• Germany was also split into two sections

• Soviets controlled Eastern Germany, including half of the capital, Berlin while the other half was free

• The phrase “iron curtain” came to stand for the division of Europe

(Churchill Speech)

P R I M A RY SO U R C EFrom Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended acrossthe continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central andEastern Europe. . . . All these famous cities and the populations around them lie in theSoviet sphere and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influencebut to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow.--------WINSTON CHURCHILL, “Iron Curtain” speech, March 5, 1946

•No physical barrier was created that separated the continent

•Term Iron Curtain was just a symbolic divide between Communist and Non-Communist countries

Page 532 in your book• Label all and color all communist

countries in 1948• Label and color all non

communist countries• MARK the “Iron Curtain”• Color code your map and label in

the Key Box

Guiding Purpose

• Learning Target: We will introduce the tensions in the post WWII era.

• Closing Task: I will describe the division in Europe after World War II.

• Preassessment Questions Covered: 11, 31