Transcript The Cold War, NATO, NORAD

The Cold War, NATO,
NORAD
•What was the Cold
War?
The Cold War
• The Cold War is the name given to the
relationship that developed primarily between
the USA and the USSR after World War Two.
The Cold War
• The Cold War was to
dominate international
affairs for decades and
many major crises occurred
- the Cuban Missile Crisis,
Vietnam, Hungary and the
Berlin Wall being just some.
• For many the growth in
weapons of mass
destruction was the most
worrying issue.
The Cold War
• USSR in 1945 had the same
borders as Russia post-1917
• This included all the various
countries that now exist
individually (Ukraine,
Georgia etc)
Europe, 1945 - 1989
Europe, 2012
The Cold War
• Logic would dictate that as the USA and the
USSR fought as allies during World War Two,
their relationship after the war would be firm and
friendly.
• This never happened and any appearance that
these two powers were friendly during the war is
illusory.
Winston Churchill, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin
at the Yalta Conference in February
1945.
The Cold War
• The Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin,
was also distrustful of the
Americans after Truman only told
him of a “new terrifying weapon”
that he was going to use against
the Japanese.
• The first Stalin knew of what this
weapon could do was when reports
on Hiroshima got back to Moscow.
Europe Post WWII
• The scene after WWII
– Both sides distrusted the other.
– One had a vast army in the field
(the Soviet Union with its Red
Army supremely lead by Zhukov)
while
– the other, the Americans had the
most powerful weapon in the
world, the A-bomb and the
Soviets had no way on knowing
how many America had.
What exactly was the Cold
War?
• In diplomatic terms there are three
types of war.
1. Hot War : this is actual warfare. All
talks have failed and the armies are
fighting.
2. Warm War : this is where
talks are still going on and
there would always be a
chance of a peaceful
outcome but armies,
navies etc. are being fully
mobilised and war plans
are being put into
operation ready for the
command to fight.
3. Cold War : this term is used to describe
the relationship between America and the
Soviet Union 1945 to 1980.
• Neither side ever fought the other - the
consequences would be too appalling - but
they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client
states who fought for their beliefs on their
behalf.
The Cold War
• e.g. South Vietnam was anticommunist and was supplied by
America during the war while North
Vietnam was pro-Communist and
fought the south (and the
Americans) using weapons from
communist Russia or communist
China.
• In Afghanistan, the Americans
supplied the rebel Afghans after the
Soviet Union invaded in 1979 while
they never physically involved
The Cold War
• The one time this process nearly broke
down was the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Cold War
• Handouts:
– Canada and the Cuban
Missile Crisis
–Causes of the Cold War
Cold War Defences
NATO
• In 1949, Canada and the
United States joined with
ten western European
countries to form the North
Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO).
• Its purpose was to defend
Europe and the North
Atlantic from Soviet
aggression.
NATO
• Although primarily a defensive alliance, NATO
had an economic advantage for Canada as well,
since such an arrangement binds together all of
Canada's trading partners.
• NATO was a real threat to the Soviets.
NATO
• In 1955, they formed their own alliance, the
Warsaw Pact, with the Soviet satellite countries
of Eastern Europe. In the event of attack by
NATO countries, the Warsaw Pact members
agreed to come to each other's defence.
Countries involved in the
Warsaw Pact, 1955
NORAD
• In 1957, Canada signed a treaty with
the United Sates that created the
North American Air Defence System
(NORAD)
• Aimed at protecting North American
from Soviet attack - NORAD joined
Canadians and American fighter,
missile and radar units under a single
command center.
NORAD
• NORAD headquarters are located deep inside a
mountain in Colorado. The commander in chief
is an American general.
• A Canadian general serves a deputy
commander. Both are always in direct contact
with the American president and the Canadian
prime minister, whose approval would be
necessary for an attack or counterattack.
NORAD and Santa
• The program began on December 24, 1955 when
a Sears department store placed an advertisement
in a Colorado Springs newspaper which told
children that they could telephone Santa Claus
and included a number for them to call. However,
the telephone number printed was incorrect and
calls instead came through to Colorado Springs'
Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD)
Center.
NORAD and Santa
• Colonel Shoup, who was on
duty that night, told his staff to
give all children that called in
a "current location" for Santa
Claus. A tradition began
which continued when the
North American Aerospace
Defense Command (NORAD)
replaced CONAD in 1958.
NORAD and Santa
• Today, NORAD relies on volunteers
to make the program possible. Each
volunteer handles about forty
telephone calls per hour, and the
team typically handles more than
12,000 e-mails and more than 70,000
telephone calls from more than two
hundred countries and territories.
DEW
• Canada's geographical
position between the
United States and the
Soviet Union makes it
vital to North American's
defence.
• Canada worked closely
with the U.S. to monitor
northern airspace and
warn off aircraft that
intruded there.
DEW
• In 1957, the United States and Canada built a line
of long-range warning stations, known as Distant
Early Warning (DEW) stations, to monitor
airspace activity.
• If any station - there were fifty in total - detected
missiles or aircraft of unknown origin, it sent a
message to NORAD headquarters in Colorado.
DEW
• Although both Canada and the United
States were involved in the creation of
DEW stations, the $250 million cost of
building these radar stations was paid for
solely by the United States.
• Reading Impact on Society page 293294 and answer questions 1-3.
– The Debate of Nuclear Warheads