The Cold War

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The Cold War

• c. 1945-1960

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The Cold War

• Introduction Avoiding World War III
• The United Nations (est. 1945)
• Balance interests of great powers against those
  of weaker nations
• May have prevented Cold War crises from
  escalating into war
• The Balance of Terror
• United States and Soviet Union as superpower
  rivals
• Nuclear weapons as a deterrent to aggression

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• Origins of the Cold War
• The Yalta Conference, February 1945
• Soviet Expansion into Eastern Europe
• Soviets wanted a buffer zone against invasion and
  desired to extend influence into other parts of
  Europe
• Stalin agreed to endorse free elections, which
  did not occur Soviets tightened hold on Eastern
  Europe
• The German Question
• End militarism and Nazism
• Temporarily divide and occupy division became
  permanent
• Eastern zone dominated by Soviet Union
• Western zone occupied by France, England, US

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• Containment in Europe
• Containment American policy toward Soviet
  expansion hold Soviet power within its current
  boundaries
• Real Soviet threat was economic and political
• Influence must be contained
• Make Europe prosperous to thwart communism

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• Truman Doctrine, 1947
• Communist pressure in Greece Turkey
• to support free people who are resisting
  attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by
  outside pressures.
• U.S. provided 400 million of economic and
  military aid to Greece Turkey
• Marshall Plan, 1947-1952
• Help revive western European economy
• Provide expanded trade opportunities for US
  business
• Stop spread of communism in western Europe

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• Berlin Blockade Airlift, 1948-1949
• Western powers began reunification of their
  occupied zones, creation of West Germany
• Soviets cut off land water access to West
  Berlin
• Airlift began, July 1948, to keep Marshall Plan
  aid flowing
• Soviets lifted blockade, May 1949 (airlift
  continued until September)

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• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 1949
• US, Britain, France, 11 other nations (26
  nations are currently members)
• If member threatened or attacked by Soviets or
  Soviet-backed enemy, others obligated to come to
  its aid defense
• Soviets responded by creating Warsaw Pact
  defensive alliance, 1955

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• Berlin Wall, 1961
• West Germany West Berlin prosperous
• East Germany East Berlin struggling
• Wall constructed to prevent East Germans from
  leaving
• Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
• Placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba
• Kennedys demand for removal
• Soviets agreed to remove missiles in exchange for
  US promise not to invade Cuba and removal of
  missiles from Turkey

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• Decolonization and the Cold War
• India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim) granted
  independence by Britain, 1947
• Hindu-Muslim bloodshed
• Assassination of Gandhi, 1948

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• Mao Zedong (1893-1976) and the Peoples Republic
  of China
• Communist victory over Nationalist government
• Western containment policy in Asia based on two
  assumptions
• Communism a world-wide movement controlled by
  Soviet Union and China
• US allies obligated to confront communism
  wherever necessary

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• Korean War, 1950-1953
• Russian-trained North Korean troops invaded South
  Korea, June 1950
• US United Nations troops fought to keep South
  Korea independent
• Chinese communists entered war on side of North
  Korea, November 1950
• Armistice signed, June 1953
• Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), 1954

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• Indochina
• Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)
• Communist leader of Vietnamese nationalists
  fighting the French
• Dien Bien Phu, 1954
• French defeated by Vietnamese
• Geneva Convention, 1954
• Independence for Laos and Cambodia
• Vietnam split at 17th parallel
• U.S. assumed growing responsibility for
  preventing communist takeover of Vietnam

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• The Middle East
• Israel, 1948
• UN resolution to create Jewish and Arab states in
  Palestine, 1947
• Declaration of independent state of Israel, 1948,
  and first war between Israel and Arab states
• US became Israels ally, Soviets aided Arab
  states
• Suez Crisis, 1956
• Suez Canal nationalized by Egypt (formally
  controlled by British French)
• War between Egypt Israel intervention by
  Britain and France, but not the US or USSR

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• Africa regional conflicts became part
• of Cold War rivalry
• Abandonment of European empires
• and establishment of new African
• Nations
• Violent resistance in many areas
• by both colonized and colonizers
• (brutal fighting between French
• Algerian nationalists led to terrorism,
• collapse of French Fourth Republic
• in 1958)
• US Soviet Union competed for
• influence in former colonies

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Europe in the Era of Cold War

• Recovery in the West
• European Coal Steel Community (ECSC), 1951
• Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg (Benelux)
• France
• West Germany
• Italy
• European Economic Community (EEC), 1957
• Common Market
• Elimination of tariffs
• Free movement of capital, labor, goods services
• Common social economic policies

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• Political Developments
• Socialist policies in capitalist countries
• Nationalization of industries
• Railroads
• Mines and heavy industry
• Public transportation and utilities
• Banks and insurance
• Radio and television
• The Welfare State economic planning to
• Redistribute wealth
• Create social security

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• The Soviet Bloc
• Soviet Leadership and Policies, 1945-1960
• Stalin (died 1953)
• Increasingly ruthless and paranoid
• More collectivization, Five-Year Plans, and
  purges in USSR and Eastern Europe
• Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)
• Freed political prisoners
• Criticized Stalin in The Secret Speech

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• The Satellites
• Stalinism
• COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance)
  coordinated economic relations between Moscow and
  satellites
• Repression, Russification, de-Christianization
• Hungarian uprising, October 1956
• Communist reformers called for western-style
  democracy withdrawal from Warsaw Pact
• Crushed by Soviets

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Cultural Life on the Brink of Nuclear War(Hunt,
pp. 1097-1106)

• Restoring Western Values
• Holocaust and Resistance Literature
• Albert Camus (1913-1960)
• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
• Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), The Second Sex
  (1949)
• Existential Philosophy
• Race and Human Rights
• Rising Consumerism and Shifting Gender Norms
• The Culture of Cold War