Early Years of the Cold War 1945 - 1970. 1945 Yalta Conference –Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt...
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Transcript of Early Years of the Cold War 1945 - 1970. 1945 Yalta Conference –Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt...
Early Years of the Cold War
1945 - 1970
1945• Yalta Conference
– Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt– Germany divided– Poland “free elections”
• United Nations Formed– April 1945 – San Francisco (50 nations)– 2 parts
• General Assembly – all countries• Security Council – 11 countries
– U.S., U.S.S.R., Great Britain, France, and China permanent members with veto power
• Potsdam Conference– Truman and Stalin meet to discuss end
of the war– Beginning of the Nuclear Arms Race
Expansion of the Iron Curtain• Stalin pro-Soviet governments in
Eastern Europe to both protect the U.S.S.R. and to expand the empire
• Satellite Nations by 1955– Poland, Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, East Germany
• Yugoslavia– Led by Josip Broz (Tito)– Communist dictatorship, remained
outside Stalin’s control
Containing Communism
• Containment – Secretary of State George Kennan’s idea to prevent war by stopping the spread of communism
• Truman Doctrine– Promised to provide economic and military
aid to nations threatened by Communism– $400 million to Greece and Turkey in 1947
• Marshall Plan– U.S. provides economic aid to Western
European nations to help recover from World War II
– Stalin refuses to let Eastern European countries to join (COMECON)
Germany Divided• 1945 – divided into 4 zones occupied
by Great Britain, France, the U.S. and the Soviet Union– Berlin divided as well (but
completely in Soviet controlled area)
• West Germany and West Berlin -democratic nations
• East Germany and East Berlin under Communist control
• Berlin Airlift – Stalin attempts to end aid to West Berlin, U.S. drops supplies; blockade ends
• Berlin Wall – 1961, put up to stop East German from escaping to West Berlin (symbol of the Cold War)
New Alliances
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)– Western European,
Canada, and & U.S.– 1949 - Military alliance
• Warsaw Pact– 1955 - Soviet Union and
Eastern European nations sign military agreement
Nuclear Arms Race
• 1945 – U.S. drops atomic bombs on cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• 1949 – Soviet Union tests its first Atomic Bomb
• 1952 – U.S. tests first Hydrogen Bomb
• 1953 – Soviet Union tests Hydrogen Bomb
• Mid 1950’s – both create intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)
• 1957 – Soviets launch Sputnik
Cold War Spreads• China
– 1949 – Mao Zedong wins Chinese Civil War and creates Communist nation
• Korean War – 1950-1953– Communist North Korea leads
troops into South Korea– U.N. forces (led by the U.S.) help
South Korea– Douglas MacArthur pushes NK
almost to China; recommends a nuclear weapon; fired by Truman
– Ends in stalemate – 38th parallel
Cuba• 1959 – Fidel Castro
overthrew Fulgencio Batista to control Cuba
• Bay of Pigs Invasion – U.S. tries to overthrow Castro (JFK), failed, embarrassed US
• Cuba becomes Communist• Soviet leader Khrushchev
sends missiles to Cuba in 1962
• Cuban Missile Crisis – almost resulted in nuclear war
Vietnam
• Domino Theory – if one nations falls to Communism, the next will
• 1965 – U.S. begins war against Communist North Vietnam (NVA) and the Vietcong (Communists in South Vietnam)
• 1968 - Tet Offensive & My Lai Massacre; long, bitter war
• U.S. forced to withdrawal in 1973