The EarlyCold War:1947-1970

Yalta- February 1945• Russia Agrees to help us end

the war with Japan• Germany is divided up

(berlin too)• Eastern European countries “

given” to Stalin ( he has to allow them to have free elections- we call these areas BUFFER STATES

• Korea is divided among the 38th parallel

Potsdam Conference:July, 1945

P.M. Clement President Joseph Atlee Truman Stalin

y FDR dead, Churchill out of office as Prime Minister during conference.

y Stalin only original.y The United States has

the A-bomb.y Allies agree Germany

is to be divided into occupation zones

y Poland moved around to suit the Soviets.

What is the point of these meetings?

• We start to see USA and USSR emerge as the superpowers

• We see them both making decisions for post war Europe

• We see post war Easter Europe and North Korea under Soviet Control

• We see the US has nuclear weapons and USSR doesn’t

Hiroshima – August 6, 1945

© 70,000 killed immediately.

© 48,000 buildings. destroyed.

© 100,000s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later.

Nagasaki – August 9, 1945

© 40,000 killed immediately.

© 60,000 injured.© 100,000s died of

radiation poisoning& cancer later.

The De-Colonization of European Empires

The Emergence of Third World Nationalist

Movements

• While the 1st world countries ( Europe, USSR and USA) were fighting the World Wars their colonies were fighting to get free

• The result was lots of brand new baby countries…

• What do you need when you start off as a country?

The Creation of the U. N.

The U.S. & the U.S.S.R. Emerged as the Two

Superpowers of the later 20c

The Ideological StruggleSoviet &

Eastern Bloc Nations[“Iron

Curtain”]

US & the Western

Democracies

GOAL spread world-wide Communism

GOAL “Containment” of Communism & the eventual collapse of the Communist world. This guy coined the term[George Kennan]Here is how it went down:

Espionage [KGB vs. CIA] Arms Race [nuclear escalation] Ideological Competition for the minds and

hearts of Third World peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist economy] “proxy wars”

Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]

The Bipolarization of Europe

The “Iron Curtain”

From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lies the ancient capitals of Central and Eastern Europe. -- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946

George Kennan [“X Article”]: CONTAINMENT

Goals 1.Restoration of the balance of

power to the West- making Europe strong again

2.Reduction of Soviet ability influence other countries

Truman Doctrine [1947]The U. S. should support free

peoples throughout the world who were resisting takeovers by armed minorities or outside pressures…We must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.

Which means?

Marshall Plan [1948]1. The U. S. should provide

aid to all European nations that need it. This move is not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.

2. $12.5 billion of US aid to Western Europe

Post-War Germany

Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49)

The Arms Race:A “Missile Gap?”

} The Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb in 1949.

} Now there were two nuclear superpowers!

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949)

United States Belgium Britain Canada Denmark France Iceland Italy

Luxemburg Netherlands Norway Portugal 1952: Greece &

Turkey 1955: West

Germany 1983: Spain

Warsaw Pact (1955)

} U. S. S. R.} Albania} Bulgaria} Czechoslovak

ia

} East Germany

} Hungary} Poland} Rumania

Premier Nikita Khrushchev

About the capitalist states, it doesn't depend on you whether we (Soviet Union) exist.If you don't like us, don't accept our invitations, and don'tinvite us to come to see you. Whether you like it our not, history is on our side. We will bury you. -- 1956

De-Stalinization Program

Mao’s Revolution: 1949

Who lost China? – A 2nd } Power!

Korean War

[1950-1953]

The Korean War: A “Police Action” (1950-1953)

Syngman Rhee

Kim Il-Sung

“Domino Theory”

The Shifting Map of Korea[1950-1953]

Sputnik I (1957)

The Russians have beaten America in space—they have the

technological edge!

U-2 Spy Incident (1960)

Col. Francis Gary Powers’ plane was

shot down over Soviet airspace.

Paris, 1961

Khrushchev & JFK meet to discuss Berlin and nuclear proliferation. Khrushchev

thinks that JFK is young, inexperienced, and can be rolled.

The Berlin Wall Goes Up (1961)

Checkpoint

Charlie

Ich bin ein Berliner! (1963)

President Kennedy tells Berliners that

the West is with them!

Khruschev Embraces Castro,1961

Bay of Pigs Debacle (1961)

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the Russians, and the other man blinked!

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

Vietnam War: 1965-1973

Gulf of Tonkin August 4, 1964 ish

• Vietnam War? Never happened

US Troops

The Ground War 1965-1968

• Viet Cong supplies over the Ho Chi Minh Trail

• List difficulties with a jungle war

Air War

1965: Sustained bombing of North Vietnam Operation Rolling Thunder (March 2, 1965)

1966-68: Ongoing bombing of Hanoi nonstop for 3 years! Esp. targets the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Downed Pilots: P.O.W.s Carpet Bombing – napalm

Napalm

• Burning vegetation and children

Tet OffensiveJan 31, 1968

• What did it prove?