Transcript Slide 1

STD: 10-9
STD: 10-9
At the end of WWII two countries emerged as the most
powerful military nations on earth: US and USSR.
Yalta Conference: - Divide Germany into zones of
occupation.
- USSR compensated by Germany for loss.
- Eastern Europe to have free elections.
United Nations – 50 nations sign on to “save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war.”
- New peacekeeping organization to stop
aggression
- 50 member General Assembly
- 11 member Security Council – power to investigate
and settle disputes.
- 5 permanent members to Sec. Council , GB, China,
Fr, US,USSR have veto power over the council.
Superpower Agendas
US
-Encourage democracy to
prevent the spread of
communism.
USSR
Encourage communism and
the worldwide worker’s
revolution.
- Gain access to raw material - Rebuild its economy using
and markets to fuel
East European factories and
economies.
raw materials.
- Rebuild European gov’t to
promote stability and create
new markets for the US.
-Control East Europe to
protect its borders from the
“west.”
-Reunite Germany to stabilize -Keep Germany divided to
Europe.
prevent it from waging war
again.
STD: 10-9
Stalin broke his promise at Yalta to have free
elections in East Europe. He installed Communist
gov’ts in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech.,
Romania, Poland and Yugoslavia. Germany is split
into East and West.
POTSDAM (July 1945) – Stalin refuses to free these
countries from Soviet hegemony.
1946 – Stalin declares that communism and capitalism could not
exist in the same world and war was certain. Europe is now divided
into East and West.
Winston Churchill- while visiting the US says that ..”an iron curtain
has descended across the continent”.
Containment Policy - 1946-47 relations worsen. Truman says its time to
stop “babying the Soviets.” The west must block Soviet influence by
preventing communist expansion. The west must create alliances and help
weak countries resist Soviet advances.
Truman Doctrine – Support countries that reject communism even if we
support dictators.
Marshall Plan - $12.5 billion to rebuild Europe. The Eastern bloc refuses
aid as a capitalist plot. The west builds economic infrastructure. The plan
achieved spectacular success.
Berlin Airlift
June 24, 1948, Stalin halted all traffic into and out of the Russian sector
of Berlin. He also cut off all electricity to the city of Berlin claiming
"Technical Difficulties". General Curtis LeMay (Commander of the U S Air
Forces in Europe) asked if they could start flying food supplies into
Berlin. The Berlin Airlift was actually started without President Harry S
Truman's permission.
At the beginning of the airlift the only route into Berlin was by means of
three twenty mile wide corridors across the Soviet zone of Berlin.
The American name for the Berlin Airlift was first called " The LeMay
Coal and Feed Delivery Service".
July 2, 1948, U.S., British and French leaders demanded that the
Russians lift the entire blockade.
Berlin Airlift
July 14 Russia informed the west that they no longer had any right to be in
Berlin and that the blockade was invoked to protect "The economy of the
soviet zone". Moscow asserted that West Berlin "is in the center of the
Soviet zone and is part of that zone". The Western reaction was that no
"Threats, pressure or other actions" could squeeze the U S out of Berlin.
July 17, 1948 "The place to make a stand against Russia is right here in
Berlin. This in not a Cold War. It is Hot as Hell
December 31, 1948 the 100,000th airlift mission was flown since it's
beginning.
May, 1949 Russia finally announces to end the blockade after 328 days.
After WWII, Korea is divided at the 38th Parallel. The industrial North Korea was backed by
the communist Soviets. The Agricultural and democratic South was backed by the US.
South Korean President
Syngman Rhee
North Korean Leader
Kim Il Sung
January 1950 - Sec. Of State states that the western defense perimeter of the US stops short of
the Korean peninsula. This gives is interpreted by the North Koreans that the US would not
defend the South.
June 25, 1950 – North Korean
People’s army invades South
Korea with seven assault
divisions.
June 1950 – Under US pressure, the UN asks members countries to aid The Republic of Korea.
President Truman the orders US ground forces into Korea and the Air Force to bomb North
Korean targets.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur is selected to lead the UN forces
where he quickly stabilizes the Pusan Perimeter. MacArthur’s
next step was a bold amphibious landing in central Korea at the port
of Inchon. This move cut off and surrounded most of the invading
North Korean Army.
UN forces quickly seize momentum and chase to North Korean Army to that Yalu River that
borders China.
October 1950 – China feels threatened and sends 300,000 “volunteers’ to help the North Koreans.
The UN troops are greatly outnumbered and are chased out of North Korea and finally recapture
the South Korean Capitol of Seoul.
Chinese volunteers attack at Chosin Reservoir
After these huge setbacks, MacArthur called for the use of nuclear weapons. Truman thought this
proposal was “reckless.” After taking his case to the press and Congress, Truman fired
MacArthur.
Over the next two years, both sides fought back and forth over the 38 th parallel.
July 1953 – UN forces and North Korea sign an armistice at
Panmunjom ending the fighting.
The fighting ended with the border almost where it had begun. 5 million soldiers and civilians
died during the conflict.
North Korea established collective farms, increased industry and continued to build
its massive military similar to the Chinese and Soviet model. Under Kim Il Jong, the North
has developed nuclear weapons but has very serious food shortages and energy problems.
South Korea, thanks to US aid, concentrated on developing industry and foreign
trade. In 1987, after a succession of dictators, a democratic constitution was adopted. Currently,
South Korea has one of the highest economic growth rates in the world.
The two Koreas are separately by a de-militarized zone. The US still has a military presence
of 37,000 troops as a deterrent to any North Korean aggression
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1950’s – The US supported dictator
Fulgencio Batista. A lawyer named Fidel
Castro led a revolution overthrowing the
dictator. At first Castro made many
economic reforms. But, later suspended
elections and individual rights. Castro also
nationalized US owned businesses.
When the US placed a trade embargo
against Cuba. Then Castro sought aide from
the USSR. At this time the US supported
exiled Cubans in an attempt to re-take Cuba
at the Bay of Pigs. This ill fated invasion
was a great defeat and embarrassment for
the US.
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
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After the Bay of Pigs, Castro sought further
assistance from the USSR. The Soviets
secretly built 42 nuclear missile sites in
Cuba. Now the USSR could attack the US
without much warning. President Kennedy
demanded that the missiles be removed and
placed a quarantine around Cuba. After
great tension, the USSR dismantled the
missile sites thus avoiding WWIII.
The Cuban missile crisis left Castro totally
dependent upon the USSR. The USSR even
pressed for the use of Cuban troops in an
anti-imperialist revolution in Angola.
1950’s The USSR gains influence in Afghanistan. As its
influence began to increase and as the Iranian Islamic
revolution spread, a Muslim revolt threatened to topple
the Afghani Communist regime.
Dec. 1979 – The USSR finds it necessary to invade
Afghanistan to prop up its Communist gov’t.
The USSR though that this would be a quick war but, found themselves stuck and
“quagmire” like the US was in Vietnam.
Afghan rebels (mujahideen) out-maneuvered and and overpowered the Soviet
superpower. The Soviets use helicopter gun ships to take the cities while the
rebels held the countryside in Afghanistan's rugged mountain terrain.
US President Jimmy Carter feared the Soviet invasion as a threat to Middle eastern
oil supplies as an attempt to gain access to the Persian Gulf. Carter approved
weapons shipment to the mujahideen, embargoed grain shipments to the USSR
and boycotted the Olympic Games held in Moscow.
By the 1980’s and after a 10 year occupation Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev
order his forces to withdraw. By this time economic problems were tearing the
USSR apart.
Before WWII, France held control of French Indochina.
Nationalist independence movements were underway
to free Indochina of French hegemony.
One nationalist group was the Indochinese Communist
Party led by
Ho Chi Minh. Ho led revolts and strikes against the
French. The French in turn jailed and executed
nationalist leaders. Ho fled and went into exile.
When Japan conquered French
Indochina in 1941,
Ho returned to Vietnam and founded
the Vietminh (Independence)
League.
In 1945, with the Japanese defeat, Ho expected Vietnamese independence.
Instead France intended to regain the colony. War broke out between the French
and Vietminh. The Vietminh used guerilla tactics to fight and eventually defeat the
French at Dien Bien Phu.
The US supported the French because the Vietminh were communists. The US
policy of containment and a belief in the domino theory led to a fear of a
threat to national security.
After France’s defeat, an international peace
conference was held in Geneva. It was decided
that Vietnam would be divided into half at the
17th parallel. The North was led by Ho and his
communists. The South was led by Ngo Dinh
Diem and an anti-communist government.
North Vietnam – Ho began a popular land redistribution program while in the
South Diem cancelled elections and his government became corrupt.
Viet Cong – Opposition grew due to Diem’s rigid policies. The Communist
supported Viet Cong gained control of the countryside where a bitter civil war
erupted in SVN.
Coup d’etat – Diem generals saw his corruption and unpopularity. Diem was
assassinated in 1963. New leaders of SVN were still as unpopular.
The US saw that a lack of leadership in SVN would lead to a communist takeover.
In 1964, President Johnson began so send US ground troops to halt Viet Cong
successes. By 1965, 185,000 troops were in-country. At the height of the war over
550,000 troops were committed to the conflict.
Unable to gain an upper hand in the
ground war. The US started a bombing
campaign against the North. More bombs
were dropped on NVN than in all of WWII
This bombing campaign destroyed millions of acres of farmland and forests. This
drove the rural peasants to further oppose the SVN gov’t.
Vietnamization -In the US, anti-war protests and the disillusion with the war
forced a political solution rather than a military one. Under President Nixon, a
policy of increased material support and training allowed the SVN take a more
active role in the war. This allowed US troops to be withdrawn at a gradual rate.
Cambodian Incursion – In order to secure communist infiltration routes on
the Ho Chi Minh trail, Nixon ordered raids into Cambodia and Laos to destroy
their hiding places.
By 1973 most US combat troops had left SVN. In two years, the SVN gov’t could
not fend off the communist attacks. In April, 1975 NVA troops entered the capitol
of Saigon and the war was over.
1.5 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans had been killed. SVN trying to
escape the communist “blood bath” left by the thousands. Many refugees in boats
arrived in the US. More than 200,000 of these “boatpeople” died at sea.
Khmer Rouge, (Cambodian
communist guerrillas) led by Pol Pot, took power of
April 17, 1975 the
Cambodia. They forced all city dwellers into the
countryside labor camps. During their rule, an
estimated that 2 million (30%) Cambodians died by
starvation, torture or execution.
The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia to year zero. They banned all institutions,
stores, banks, hospitals, schools, religion, and the family. Everyone was forced to
work 12 - 14 hours a day. Children were separated from their parents. People
were killed if they were not like them, if they didn’t work hard enough, if they
were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups, or if they showed
sympathy when family members were taken away to be killed. Everyone had to
pledge total allegiance to Angka, the Khmer Rouge gov’t. It was a campaign
based on instilling constant fear and keeping their victims off balance.
The Vietnamese liberated the Cambodian people from the Khmer Rouge. 600,000
Cambodians fled to Thai border camps. 10 million landmines were left in the
ground. The UN installed the largest peacekeeping mission in the world in
Cambodia to ensure free and fair elections after the withdrawal of the Vietnamese
troops.
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization – USSR
actions during the Berlin Airlift crisis heightened
western fears. 10 European countries, the US and
Canada form a defensive military alliance.
Warsaw Pact – in response the USSR forms a
similar alliance with its satellite nations (USSR,
Poland, East Germany, Czech, Hungary, Romania,
Bulgaria and Albania.)
H Bomb -1949 – The USSR
successfully tests a nuclear
weapon. Both superpowers are
now nuclear powers. With this
news Truman authorizes the
development of thermonuclear
weapons (Hydrogen bomb.)
This is a fusion bomb that
combines atoms rather than
splitting them. By Nov. 1952 the
US successfully tested its first
H Bomb. By the next August,
the USSR did the same.
Brinkmanship- 1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is
elected president. His Sec. Of State John Foster
Dulles says that “if the USSR attacks US
interests…(we) would retaliate instantly, by
means and a place of our choosing.” This is the
willingness to go to the brink of nuclear war on
important issues.
Cold War in the Sky- the USSR pulls ahead
of the US in technology
ICBM – The USSR announces in 1957
that they have developed a rocket that
can go great distances.
Sputnik I – USSR launches the first
artificial satellite outside of earth’s
atmosphere. The US feels that they
can create a nuclear platform from
space.
U2 Incident – A US spy plane is shot down
over Soviets territory and pilot Francis Gary
Powers is captured. The Eisenhower
administration is caught in a lie.
1972 - Nixon visits Superpowers. As part of
détente. Nixon first visits China then the USSR as
a sign of goodwill.
SALT – Strategic Arms Limitation Talks – limit the quantity of nuclear
arms each side could have in its arsenal.
1981 – Ronald Reagan becomes president and immediately retreats from détente.
He announces SDI – Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) to protect
the US from enemy missiles. Though the weapons system is never deployed, its
possible existence forces the soviets into financial chaos. By 1989, soviet satellite
countries begin to free themselves of communist hegemony. Finally, the break up
of the USSR occurs.
March 5, 1953 – Stalin dies. Nakita Khrushchev assume
control over the USSR. Khrushchev publicly denounced Stalin’s
policies towards soviets citizens. This speech launched a policy of
destalinization. Though life was better for Soviets, their satellite
countries suffered under old Stalinist rules.
1956 – Hungary Imre Nagy promises free elections and demands the removal of
USSR troops. The USSR quickly invaded Hungary and brutally suppressed any
hope for rebellion.
1959 – China would not follow Soviet style communism. China exported their
version to Africa and other parts of Asia. Soon both countries stopped sharing
nuclear secrets. The split became so serious that border skirmishes occurred.
Today they maintain an fragile peace.
1964 – Czechoslovakia – Alexander Dubcek promises a “human face” on socialism.
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev quickly invades Czechoslovakia claming the right to
prevent satellites from rejecting communism.
Détente and realpolitik – After the Vietnam War Richard Nixon lessened
tension with the USSR. Under Sec. of State Henry Kissinger the US started to deal
with other nations in a real and practical manner.