Transcript The Cold War

The
Cold War:
1947-1991
The Cold War: “Big Three” at Yalta
“Big Three” at Potsdam: Atlee, Truman, Stalin
The Ideological Struggle
Soviet &
Eastern Bloc
Nations
[“Iron Curtain”]
GOAL  spread worldwide Communism
METHODOLOGIES:
US & the
Western
Democracies
GOAL  “Containment”
of Communism & the
eventual collapse of the
Communist world.
 Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]
 Arms Race
 Ideological Competition for the Third World
peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs.
democratic govt. & capitalist economy]  “proxy
wars”
 Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]
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
Truman Doctrine [1947]
1. The U. S. should support free peoples
throughout the world.
2. The U.S. gave $400 million in aid.
Marshall Plan [1948]
“European Recovery Program.”
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 Europe.
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan countries (blue)
Recipients: Marshall Plan aid
Marshall Plan
political cartoon: Stalin’s decision
Post-War Germany
Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(1949)
Warsaw Pact (1955)
NATO and Warsaw pacts (1950)
The Arms Race:
A “Missile Gap?”
}
The Soviet Union
exploded its first
A-bomb in 1949.
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Now there were
two nuclear
superpowers!
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't
De-Stalinization
invite us to come
Program
to see you. Whether
you like it our not, history is on our
side. We will bury you. -- 1956
Mao’s Revolution: 1949
Who lost China? – A 2nd } Power!
The Korean War
(1950-1953)
Kim Il-Sung
Syngman Rhee
“Domino Theory”
The Suez Crisis: 1956-1957
Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty
The Hungarian Uprising: 1956
Imre Nagy, Hungarian
Prime Minister
}
Promised free
elections.
}
This could lead to the
end of communist rule
in Hungary.
Sputnik I (1957)
The Russians have beaten America in
space—they have the technological edge!
U-2 Spy Incident (1960)
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
Construction of Berlin wall, 1961
Berlin Wall
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
“Prague Spring” (1968)
Former Czech President,
Alexander Dubček
Communism with a human face!
Decolonization of the British
Empire
•
Britain is in a big debt!
•
The beginning of the end of the
British Empire.
 India – 1947
 Palestine – 1948
 Kenya  Mau Mau
uprising - 1955
Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991)
• ‘Socialism with a human face’
– Tries to ease tensions with US
– Allowed internal reforms, but didn’t help!
– Created Perestroika and Glasnost
– P= restructure the economy to produce
more consumer goods
– G= openness to discuss problems to
improve future. Also allows some personal
freedoms.
» Sparked revolutions throughout USSR
and its satellites
• 1990- eliminate Stalin’s one party system
….starts revolutions…..in Eastern Europe!!!
Eastern European Revolts
• Why?
– Forces toward change and lack of muscles to stop it!
– Huge debt and lack of competition
– People wanted freedom w/o admitting it!
– Perestroika and Glasnost …caused liberalization of
satellites
• So….what happened? (1989-1991)
– POLAND- 89- Solidarity still popular and asked for
free elections…got them after Gorbachev’s
perestroika reforms! All but one communist got voted
out!
– HUNGARY- 80’s, practiced ‘communism with a
capitalistic facelift’
– 89- Social Democrats take charge and decentralize
economy and opened borders…flood occurs!
Eastern European Revolts
• GERMANY- Gorbachev called for more freedoms
and open travel…caused mass rioting & protests
– 1990- Berlin Wall falls….Unification of Germany
• Czechoslovakia- 89- Velvet Revolution
– non-violent mass revolts in Prague, led by
playwright Vaclav Havel.
– Movement created a free market and multiparty
political system, like in its past. Havel and
Dubcek became government leaders
– Velvet Divorce-93- split of Czech Republic and
Slovakia
“Prague Spring” Dashed!
Dissidents/playwrights arrested [like
Vaclav Havel—future president of a free
Czech Republic].
Fall of the USSR
– Late 80’s and early 90’s Gorbachev tried
constitutional reforms, but it was too little
too late.
– 91 Coup, led by hardliners, tries to
overthrow government, fails. People
revolt, led by Boris Yeltsin.
– 12/91, Communist party collapsed due to
public pressure.
– 12/91- USSR collapsed and the
Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) was created.
– Marxist era in Europe ended (1870-1991)
Yugoslavia
• Yugoslavia- most violent revolt due to its
large ethnic diversity.
– 1991-Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia got indep.
….Serbs lived in all areas.
– 1991-Slobodan Milosevic- leader of Yugoslavia
(now only Serbia & Montenegro) attacked Bosnia
to recapture territory. Used ethnic cleansing
against Muslims
– 1996- Dayton Peace Accord- by UN peace
treaty that divided Bosnia. Milosevic now wanted
Kosovo, but US intervened w/ bombings
– 2001- Milosevic put on trial at Hague for war
crimes…died before complete.
Creation of the
Welfare State
1. Limited socialist program.
 Natl. Health Care &
Insurance Acts
2. Social insurance legislation:
“Cradle-to-Grave” security. Clement Attlee
3. Socialized medicine  free national health care.
4. Nationalized coal mines, public utilities, steel
industry, Bank of England, and trains.
5. U.K. adopted this between 1945-51, and
eventually most of Europe.
6. ‘SOCIAL SAFETY NET’…VERY POPULAR!!!!
7. Prospered under Keynesian economics.
8. Thatcher and Reagan said bad economy is due to
over regulations.
European Economic Integration
1. 1952  European Coal & Steel
Community [ECSC]

HQ in Luxembourg.

“Inner Six”  Benelux nations, France,
Italy, and W. Germany.
2. 1957  European Economic Community
[EEC] or ‘Common Market’
 HQ  Brussels
France, W. Germany, Italy,
Benelux.
NO ENGLAND
allowed at first!!!
 Created:
-A larger free trade area without trade
barriers.

European Economic Integration
3. 1967  combined the ECSC & EEC to form
the European Community [EC]
HQ  Brussels.
 European Parliament.
 “Eurocrats.” 518 members elected with limited
legislative power.
 Court of Justice.
4. 1991-92  Maastricht Agreements creates
European Union [EU].
One currency (euro)
one culture
one social area (free frontier- one
passport)
one environment (common market)
*High tariffs placed on them