Cold War Part 1

After WWII• Europe was in ruins – all of Europe.• The Japanese were decimated after both

Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the total destruction of the mainland.

• Russia had advanced industrially and had “conquered” fascism – but were wrecked internally.

• The United States was the only one standing without any problems.

What caused the Cold War?

• America’s fear of communism / Russia’s dislike of capitalism

• Truman’s dislike of Stalin • Russia’s fear of an atomic bomb• What Russia did in the German Soviet Zone /

Eastern Europe• Russia’s desire to create a secure Western

border.

Five Major Conferences Shape the Post WWII World

• Yalta Conference – Feb 1945 – Unconditional surrender from Germany– Demilitarization and division of Germany– Redraw lines of Poland, but let them set up own gov’t– Russia joins UN and declares war on Japan.

• Potsdam Conference – July to August 1945– Truman replaces Roosevelt, Altee replaces Churchill– Affirmed agreements at Yalta, however pushed Stalin

to change Polish government– US used bomb – scared Stalin.

Cont.

• Bretton Woods Conference – After San Francisco conference set up UN, B.W. established new monetary order.– Established the IMF and a standard monetary

measure for all countries– Established the World Bank– Led to the establishment of GATT, which becomes

the World Trade Organization

• Tokyo and Nuremburg Military Tribunals

How do the two superpowers come to blows?

• 1946– Iron Curtain Speech

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAyXXepUgrE

– Stalin declares communism / capitalism incompatible

• 1947– Truman Doctrine – US provides help for Greek Civil War– Marshall Plan announced – Stalin rejects it– Cominform – Marshall plan for Commuinist nations

Truman on Communism• The Soviet Union does not have to attack the United

States to secure domination of the world. It can achieve its ends by isolating us and swallowing up all our allies.

• The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep hope alive.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmQD_W8Pcxg

Stalin on Capitalism

• One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic. • When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the

rope we use.• World dictatorship can be established only when the

victory of socialism has been achieved in certain countries or groups of countries … [and] when these federation of republics have finally grown into a world union of Soviet Socialist Republics uniting the whole of mankind under the hegemony of the international proletariat organized as a state.

Cont.

• 1948– Russian backed communists take over

Czechoslovakia– Truman wins re-election - barely– Berlin Blockade begins – ends 11 months later

• 1949– NATO established / Radio Free Europe– Russia tests its first nuclear weapon– China falls to communism

Cont.

• 1950– McCarthy Hearings Begin in US– Russia supports North Korea’s invasion of South

Korea– U.N. (U.S.) supports South Korea

Korean War• At Potsdam Conference, decided to divide

Korea – without their consent• June 1950 – supported by Chinese, Koreans

invaded.• U.N. put a force together (really US) led by

Douglas MacArthur.• Ultimate Example of Containment• By August, the US was stuck at Pusan –

holding only 10% of the territory.

Korea Cont.• To relieve pressure, MacArthur invades at Inchon

Bay.• US successful and begins pushing into North Korea

by late 1950• Stopped by North Korea and China (People’s

Volunteer Army) at Yalu River on border of China.• By April 1951 – MacArthur was relieved of

command.• US gains cease fire in 1953 – 38th Parallel

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/korea.htm

Timeline Continued

• 1953– Korean War Ends– Stalin Dies – Nikita Krushchev – De-Stalinization

• 1954– Hydrogen Bomb Tested in U.S.– CIA helps overthrow governments in Iran and

Guatemala– KGB established– Vietnam Split

Cont.

• 1955 – Warsaw Pact Formed• 1956 – Russians put down revolt in Hungary• 1957 – First ICBM– Sputnik Launched

• 1958 – NASA begins Mercury rocket tests• 1959 – Cuba taken over by Castro– Kitchen Table Debate

• 1960 – U2 Spy plane shot down over USSR

Cont.

• 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion– Berlin Wall Constructed

• 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis– US Involvement in Vietnam escalates

http://foracitywithoutgreen.blogspot.co

m/2009/05/duck-and-cover-original-1950s-airing.html

Change of Tactics…(1964-1979)

• By 1964 – Kennedy is dead and Krushchev has been oustered.– US begins using third world nations as the battleground

for the Cold War• Vietnam• Dominican Republic• Angola – CIA takes the lead

– Russians establish the “Brezhnev Doctrine” and have bad relations with China• Czechs in 1968• Nixon in 1972 – Ping Pong Diplomacy

Détente

• Space Race replaces arms race – Moon Landing 1969

• Cooling of hostilities in the Nixon / Brezhnev Years (1969-1979)– SALT I and II Treaties limiting missile production –

1972 and 1979– Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty - 1972

Final Stage of Cold War• US ratchets up the rhetoric and pressure– Iran Hostage Crisis - 1979– Reagan and Thatcher– Star Wars– Reaganomics

• Russia tries to find a middle ground– Afghanistan - 1979– Mikhail Gorbachev – Perestroika– Glasnost

The Fall of Communism• Polish “Solidarity” movement in 1979 – Lech

Walesa• US intervened in – Lebanese Civil War– Grenada– Nicaragua– Panama

• Fall of Berlin Wall – 1989 - Revolutions of 1989• 1991 – dissolution of USSR after failed coup