The Cold WarA struggle between Super Powers

What was the Cold War?

• The US and the Soviet Union came out of World War II in 1945 as superpowers. They were the two strongest countries in the world. Although they fought together against the Nazi Germany, they soon became hostile rivals.

• Between 1945 and 1989 these Superpowers were involved in a conflict called the “Cold War”. Like two friends who argued, they gave each other the “cold-shoulder”. There were confrontations, but they never used weapons against each other. That was too dangerous because they both had nuclear weapons.

• The Cold War was a conflict fought without weapons between the US and the USSR.

How did the Cold War start?

Yalta Conference

YALTA CONFERENCE

• At the beginning of 1945, Germany was on the verge of defeat. Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met at Yalta to discuss what would happen at the end of the war. They decided:

YALTA CONFERENCE

• That Eastern Europe would hold free elections to decide what type of government they wanted.

• A United Nations would be formed to stop future wars.

• Germany and its capital, Berlin, was to be divided into four zones – French, British, US and Soviet.

Josef Stalin

1879-1953

Stalin became the leader of the Soviet Union by 1928. He turned the Soviet Union into a powerful industrial nation, but his policies were unpopular with many people. In the 1930’s, people who opposed Stalin were arrested and put on trial. An estimated 18 million were sent to labor camps, half of those were executed.

The Iron

Curtain

The USSR suffered badly during WWII. Over 27 million Soviets died and 32,000 factories were destroyed. Stalin did not want the Soviet Union to ever be invaded again. He was determined to have friendly countries bordering the USSR. He ordered the Red Army to stay in the Eastern European countries and put communist governments in place. This broke the Yalta Agreement and began the Cold War.

Western leaders felt deceived and the feelings of mistrust deepened. Winston Churchill made a speech stating that Europe was now separated by an “iron curtain” that divided democratic countries from the communist East.

In March 1949 the Western powers formed NATO to defend themselves against attack. They said if one member was attacked, the others would help them fight back. In 1955, the USSR formed a similar alliance with Eastern European countries called the Warsaw Pact.

Truman Doctine

and Marshall

Plan

In February 1947, communist guerrillas were trying to take over Greece and the USSR had placed troops on the Turkey border waiting to invade. Truman, President of the US, feared that communism would spread across the world unless the US took a stand. President Truman said that the U.S. had to support free people from being taken over by “armed minorities” or “outside pressures”. The US had to stop communists from taking control of democratic countries, a policy that was known as the Truman Doctrine.

Marshall, Secretary of State, visited Europe and was shocked at the destruction caused by WWII. Many of these countries had communist parties and the U.S. was worried that the communists would be voted into power hoping for an improved life. The US decided to give money to Europe to help them rebuild.

The offer was open to the USSR and Eastern European countries but they refused thinking that it was an effort to get these countries to become democracies. Both the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan put a deeper wedge between the US and the USSR.

Democracy vs. Communism

Democracy vs. Communism

Both sides had a deep mistrust in each other because they believed in two different types of government. Communist governments ran Eastern Europe and the West had democratic governments. They both believed that the other wanted to spread their type of government and dominate the world.

Democracy vs. Communism

USA - Capitalist and Democratic

USSR - Communist

Democracy vs. Communism

USA - Free elections, people choose the government

USSR - Rule by one party

Democracy vs. Communism

USA - Industry privately owned; the people make profits

USSR - Industry owned by the government; no individual can make a profit

Democracy vs. Communism

USA - Freedom of Speech

USSR -Radio, television & newspapers censored by the government

Democracy vs. Communism

USA - Extremes of wealth and poverty but a higher standard of living overall

USSR - Wealth more evenly shared, but a lower standard of living in general

Berlin Airlift

WWII destroyed Germany. The US, France and Britain wanted to help their zones recover and life began to improve. Stalin wanted compensation for the damage done to the USSR. He wanted to ensure that Germany would never again invade the USSR. In the Soviet zone, life remained hard.

Stalin was worried that people in East Berlin would want the same standard of living as those in West Berlin. He decided to try and force the Western powers out of Berlin by starving the people of West Berlin. He closed all roads and railways running from West Germany. Western powers began airlifting supplies into West Berlin. Stalin realized the West was determined to keep their part of Berlin and he reopened the land routes.

Berlin Wall

After Stalin lifted the blockade in 1949, Berlin remained a divided city. West Berlin received large amounts of money under the Marshall Plan and was rebuilt and prospered.

East Berlin was a harsh place. Many buildings remained abandoned and there was little to buy in stores.

The borders in the city were open and people could travel between the east and west. Soon more than 200,000 people a year were defecting to the West and East Germany was losing most of its skilled workers.

Khrushchev had to put a stop to the flood of people defecting. Khrushchev and the East German leader, Ulbricht, decided to build a wall that would seal East Berlin off from the West.

In the early hours of August 13, 1961, East German workers started to erect a barbed-wire fence while armed guards protected the workers.

When the wall was built, it divided friends and families. Before the wall, people could go across the border at will. Now they were permanently separated. Until 1963, they could not even exchange letters.

In the first days there were many escapes. A car was driven through the barbed wire, people escaped by swimming across a canal, some jumped out of high windows into blankets held by West Berliners. Later these buildings were torn down. On August 24, 1961, Gunter Litfin became the first person to be shot dead while trying to escape.

During the 60’s, the wall was reinforced. The barbed wire was replaced with concrete. Behind the wall on the Eastern side was a piece of open ground, which was known as “death strip”. Tall watchtowers and floodlights overlooked this. Guards with dogs patrolled.

People continued to try to escape. Some hid in special compartments built in cars, but the guards soon wised up to this. Escape organizations were formed. One dug 7 tunnels under the Wall through which about 500 people escaped.

How the East and West Fought the Cold War

SPYING

USA - CIAUSSR - KGB

During the Cold War, both sides spied on each other to try and gather military secrets and other information.

In 1947, President Truman set up the CIA. The Soviets set up the KGB to spy on the west in 1953. Both the CIA and the KGB recruited spies.

At the height of the Cold War each side had up to 4,000 secret agents working for them.

NUCLEAR ARMS RACE

NUCLEAR ARMS RACE

USA - Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs

USSR - Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

• When the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, it began the arms race. Stalin ordered his scientists to come up with an atomic bomb and by 1949 they did.

• In 1952, the US developed the first hydrogen bomb. It was 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb.By 1953, the Soviets had also developed the hydrogen bomb.

• In 1957, the Soviets had built the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). These rockets were able to carry nuclear warheads and could be launched at targets thousands of miles away. The US matched this by 1958.

The Arms Race

Both sides had enough nuclear arms to destroy the world several times over. They hoped they would never have to use them. They were to deter the other side. If one side attacked, the other would retaliate and the result would be mutually assured destruction.

Missile sites were built in NATO countries and pointed at the USSR.

When the USSR tried to put a missile site in Cuba in 1962, it almost brought about a nuclear war. People lived in fear of a nuclear war. Americans built bomb shelters in their yards. US school children were taught fallout drills, called duck and cover.

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

• Since 1898, US firms had controlled most of Cuba’s economy. In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the government and took control of all industry and businesses, most of which were owned by Americans.

• In 1961, the US supported an invasion of Cuba by exiled Cubans to overthrow Castro. However, the mission was unsuccessful and Castro’s dislike of the US deepened. He made friends with Khrushchev and announced that Cuba was now a communist country.

On October 14, 1962, a U-2 spy plane flew over Cuba and saw Soviet missile sites being built. The threat to the US was obvious. Cuba was just 93 miles away and missiles more powerful than the atom bomb dropped in Japan were now 20 minutes away from Washington DC.

On October 22, 1962, Kennedy told Americans of this danger. He warned that the U.S. would attack the _Soviet Union if the Cuban missiles were launched. Kennedy also ordered Soviet ships to stay out of Cuban_waters.

Many Americans and Soviets thought the end of the world was near when one Soviet ship continued on to Cuba.

The Soviet ships turned back, but what about the missiles already there? Khrushchev said he would remove them if Kennedy promised not to invade Cuba. Kennedy agreed and a nuclear war was averted.

SPACE RACE

SPACE RACE

USA - First man on the moon

USSR - First man in orbit

In 1957, the Soviets launched the first satellite into space and in 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.

On 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth and in 1969, the Americans put the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.

OLYMPIC GAMES

• Each side tried to gain prestige by beating the other in the Olympics.

• Munich 1972

Olga Korbit – gymnastics - USSR

Mark Spitz – swimmer - USA

PROXY WARSKorean Conflict

Vietnam WarArab-Israeli Conflict

Korean War

• In 1950, the Cold War heated up with a conflict called the Korean War. After World War II, the Korean Peninsula was divided into two nations. The northern part of Korea was communist and the southern part was democratic.

• When Northern Korea attacked Southern Korea, the United states sent thousands of troops to help prevent the spread of communism. The Chinese helped the North Koreans. The war lasted three years and neither side clearly won.

Detente

• From 1968-1979 there was a period of détente between the US and USSR. Both sides tried to be more friendly toward each other and there was less tension. Also during this period, the two agreed to limit the number of nuclear weapons they would produce.

• Another breakthrough came in 1975, when the US and USSR had a joint space mission and agreed that all people had the right to freedom of thought, religion and belief.

Arab-Israeli War• However, the old mistrust was still there and in the Arab-

Israeli war of 1973, the Soviets sent aid to the Arabs and the US supported Israel. Each side became suspicious of the other because they would not allow weapons inspectors and they wondered whether the other was really destroying weapons as agreed upon. In 1979, the USSR sent troops into Afghanistan during a civil war and put a communist government into power. The US was furious and détente ended.

• President Carter began new production of missiles and increased the size of the US military. Under President Reagan (1981), cruise missiles were placed in NATO countries and he introduced a system known as “Star Wars” aimed to interrupt foreign missiles, using lasers fired from satellites in space.

How did the Cold War end?

Gorbachev

• In 1985, Gorbachev became the Soviet leader. He thought people should be given more freedom. He introduced “perestroika” a rebuilding of the Soviet economy and “glasnost” more openess and freedom of speech. This would take money and the USSR would have to spend less money on weapons. In order to do this, the USSR would have to make friends with the US again. Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Geneva and trust began to replace mistrust. Both sides later agreed to destroy missiles that had a range of 310 and 3441 miles. Teams of inspectors were allowed to count the number of weapons. Gorbachev’s efforts to end the Cold War made him very popular in the West. In the satellite countries of Eastern Europe, the people saw this as a chance to break free from the USSR.

1989 Year of Revolutions

• The countries of Eastern Europe had been under Soviet control since 1945. Attempts to break free had always failed. In 1989, Gorbachev said the USSR would never again use force to impose its will on the Eastern European countries. The leaders were dismayed but the people knew it was time to end communism. In May the Hungarian government took down the barbed wire fence that separated them from non-communist Austria. People from East Germany traveled to Hungary, crossed in to Austria and then West Germany. No one could stop them.

Fall of the Berlin Wall• The East German leader wanted

to hold on to power. Gorbachev told the people to take democracy if they wanted it. A new leader, a moderate communist, was put in power. He said that the people were free to travel to the West. The Germans took this to mean the Berlin Wall was opened. On November 9, thousands of people flocked to the Wall and demanded to be let through to West Berlin. Hundreds climbed onto the Wall and began to hack it to pieces. Berlin was no longer a divided city.

• In December 1989, President Bush and Gorbachev met and announced the Cold War was over. By 1990, Gorbachev had become very unpopular in the USSR. Perestroika was not working. The republics that made up the USSR demanded their independence. By December 1991, the USSR had broken up. All of its 15 republics had declared independence and Gorbachev resigned as Soviet President. As Russia was the most powerful republic in the old USSR, its president, Yeltsin, was now in control of the nuclear weapons.

The World Since the end of the Cold War

• The world is not free of nuclear weapons. US, Russia, Britain, France, India and Pakistan all have them.

• East and West Germany unified into one Germany.

• In the old communist countries, democracy had not brought an end to poverty.

Russia’s Nuclear Legacy

When the Soviet Union broke up, world leaders were concerned about who would now control the nuclear weapons and how secure they would be.

Political Tensions

• The United States said that the possibility of Russian nuclear materials being stolen or misused is “the most urgent unmet national security threat” facing the US. The task force recommended a $30 billion program to help ensure the safety of Russia’s nuclear weapons

What does the illustration in the center of the cartoon represent?

Russia falling apart and its nuclear missiles about to topple over

What is the point of the cartoon?

Russia’s collapse creates a nuclear danger for other countries.

“The Russians” by Sting

• Listen to this song and illustrate in your spiral