Transcript The Cold War and European Recovery

- Due to the horrific events of the Holocaust, high ranking Nazi officials
were put on trial for crimes against humanity (war crimes)
- During 1945 and 1946, an international Military Tribunal representing
23 nations put 24 Nazi war leaders on trial in Nuremberg, Germany.
-14 Nazi leaders were sentenced to death due to their involvement in the
Holocaust.
-12 were executed (hung) on October 16, 1946. The other two committed
suicide before the execution
-The Nuremburg trials had a great influence on the development of
international criminal law and international court system.
-In 1947, the UN and the British wanted to combat the ills of the
Holocaust and help the Jewish people attain the goal of having their own
independent country
-The British, who controlled the Palestine region, agreed to give it to the
Jewish people which marked the establishment of Israel.
-In 1949, Israel was able to draw its own borders taking additional lands
that were home to the Muslim Palestinians.
-The creation of Israel would begin a series of conflicts between the
Jewish people and the displaced Palestinians that still exists today.
-After the war, leaders from the Soviet Union, France, Great
Britain, and the U.S met to discuss the future of eastern
Europe met in Yalta, USSR.
-The Soviet Union wanted to set up Pro-Soviet governments
in the eastern European countries they took over at the end
of World War II.
-The Soviet Union wanted these countries Pro-Soviet in
order to create a buffer zone that would shield itself from
another invasion from the west.
-The U.S, Great Britain and France wanted democracy and
free elections to take place in these countries.
-This difference in opinion would lead to the Cold War.
-After the war, the eastern European countries governments
were dominated by the Pro-Soviet Communist parties
-The countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania became part of
the Soviet Union
-The countries of Poland, Hungary, Czech, Hungary,
Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania established
Pro-Soviet Communist governments.
-These nations became known as Soviet Bloc Countries.
-Europe was now divided into Pro-US democratic countries
and Pro-Soviet Communist countries.
-Winston Churchill described this division as an “Iron
Curtain”
- At the Yalta Conference, Germany was divided into
American, British, French and Soviet Union occupations
zones.
-The division of Germany was meant to be temporary,
however, the differences between the Soviet Union and the
U.S made the reunited Germany appear less and less likely.
-The Soviet Union wanted to punish Germany for the
terrible losses the Soviet Union had suffered.
-The U.S, Britain, and France wanted to rebuild rather than
punish Germany.
-The U.S and Britain thought that a unified German nation
was their best guarantee against the rise of another Hitler.
-Also a strong Germany would deserve better as a buffer
against the Soviet Union.
-The Allies set a goal of Denazification or removing of
Nazism in Germany.
-In 1949, Britain, the U.S and France combined their zones
into one nation, The German Federal Republic, or West
Germany. (Pro-Capitalism
-The same year, the Soviet zone became the German
Democratic Republic, or East Germany (Pro-Communism)
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Cold War tensions began to heat up in Berlin, Germany.
Just like the rest of Germany, Berlin was also divided
into sections. The U.S, Britain, and France controlled
West Berlin, while the Soviet’s controlled East Berlin.
Stalin ordered a blockade of West Berlin. He hoped that
this blockade would force western powers to give up West
Berlin.
The U.S began to airlift food and supplies into West
Berlin. In 1951, the Pro-Soviet east Berlin built a wall
between east and west to stop the flow of people and
supplies.
This wall became known as the Berlin Wall and would
divide the city for over 28 years.
- Weakened by war, Britain and France were concentrating
on rebuilding rather than stopping the expansion of the
Soviet Union.
-Only the United States had the military and economic
resources to counter the Soviet Union.
-The U.S introduced the foreign policy of Containment to
stop the spread of communism
-Two plans were introduced in order to stop other countries
from establishing Pro-Soviet Communist governments
A. Marshall Plan
B. Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan
- introduced by US Sec. of State George Marshall
- Provide aid to European countries trying to rebuild
after the War (established Pro-US ties with countries
on the edge of aligning with the Soviet Union)
-The countries of West Germany, Greece and Turkey
received aid under the Marshall Plan
B. Truman Doctrine
-Additional aid to European countries threatened
by Communism
A.
-In 1949, the U.S and 10 western European countries signed a
mutual defense treaty known as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization).
-Members of NATO agreed to aid any member nation attacked by
an outsider.
-When West Germany joined NATO, the Soviet Union created it’s
own alliance known as the Warsaw Pact with seven eastern
European countries.
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In April 1945, 50 countries met in the United States and
adopted the United Nations Charter.
United Nations (U.N) became an international
organization devoted to world peace and security.
Member nations agreed to submit disputes to the U.N for
peaceful settlements.
They also agreed to work together to solve world
problems such as disease and world hunger.
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In the 1920’s, Chinese intellectual founded the Chinese
communist party.
They were inspired by the Russian revolution and the
ideas of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
As the communist party grew stronger the nationalist,
who controlled China, became alarmed.
Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of the nationalists, led a series of
military operations to eliminate the Chinese communists.
The Chinese communists fled from northern China to
southern China to escape from Chiang’s nationalist
army.
Chiang Kai-Shek
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This escape became known as The Long March.
Many communists died during this 6000 mile journey.
On this journey, Mao Zedong established himself as the
leader of the communist party.
By the end of World War II, China was plunged into civil
war.
From 1945 to 1949, the nationalist party battled a
takeover plot by the Chinese communists led by Mao
Zedong.
The U.S., in support of their containment policy, gave the
nationalists nearly $2 Billion in aid.
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In 1949, the communists gained control of mainland
China. Chiang Kai-Shek and his supporters fled to
Taiwan.
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the
people’s republic of China.
In 1950, China and the Soviet Union signed a treaty
of mutual friendship.
The new government in China became a dictatorship
under Zedong and the communist party.
Under Mao’s reign, Chinese troops expanded into
Tibet. The Dalai Lama, Buddhist leader of Tibet,
Fled to India. India welcomed many Tibetan
refugees.
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The communist government won the support of the
peasants by introducing land reform.
In 1958, Mao launched a new program called The Great
Leap Forward to increase agricultural production and
industrial output. The program ultimately failed.
By the mid 60’s, Mao Zedong introduced the Cultural
Revolution.
Mao feared the communism was losing strength so he
launched a program to instill communist thinking
throughout China.
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When Stalin died in 1953, a power struggle took place
among party leaders.
The communist announced their new leader would be
Nikita Khruschev.
Khruschev shocked the world by denouncing Stalin to
the Soviet communist party congress.
He accused Stalin as being a tyrant who committed
terrible crimes against the Soviet people.
The Soviet Union entered a period known as deStalinization. Despite the changes the Soviet Union
remained a totalitarian state.
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The U.S policy of containment was tested in the southeast
Asian country of Korea. Korea, which was a Japanese
territory was split into two sections after World War II.
The country was divided around the 38th Parallel. North
Korea became under control of the Soviet Union.
The U.S took control of South Korea. In 1950, the Sovietbacked North Koreans invaded South Korea. South
Korea appealed to the United Nations for help.
The U.N security council decided to send troops to South
Korea under the command of U.S general Douglas
MacArthur.
The Korean War Pg. 2
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The North Koreans continued to advance through South
Korea. By September 1950, North Korea controlled most of
the Korean peninsula except a small portion in the southeast.
Gen. Macarthur ordered a sneak attack in northern South
Korea in an attempt to trap North Korean troops stationed in
South Korea.
This attack caught the North Koreans by surprise and led half
of the North Korean army to surrender.
The UN troops decided to pursue the other half of the North
Korean army that retreated across the 38th parallel to North
Korea.
The UN forces mostly made up of US troops, pushed almost to
the Chinese border in North Korea. The Chinese felt
threatened by the un troops so close to the border and decided
to send 300,000 Chinese troops into Korea.
The Chinese greatly outnumbered UN and South Korean
forces and eventually pushed them out of North Korea
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The Chinese eventually moved into South Korea and
took over the capital city of Seoul.
Gen. Macarthur wanted US president Truman to
authorize a nuclear attack against China. When Truman
declined, Macarthur went over Truman’s head and took
his case to congress and the press.
In response, president Truman removed Macarthur from
his position. over the next two years, UN forces drove the
Chinese back to North Korea.
Finally, in 1953, the UN and North Korea signed a peace
treaty ending the Korean war. North and South Korea
would remain divided.
A demilitarized zone was established to separate the two
nations. These two nations are still divided, North Korea
being a communist state while South Korea is
democratic.
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The United States policy of containment was also tested
in the southeast Asian country of Vietnam. In the early
1900s, France controlled much of southeast Asia
including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
During the 1920s and 1930s, nationalist revolts began to
spring up throughout southeast Asia. a young Vietnamese
nationalist, Ho Chi Minh, turned to the communists for
support in his quest for freedom for Vietnam.
After World War II, Ho Chi Minh and his communist
nationalists led a revolt against France.
The United States supported the French in order to
defeat Ho Chi Minh. the US described this communist
threat to Vietnam in the terms of a domino theory.
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This meant that the smaller southeast Asian nations were
like dominos and if one fell to communism then
eventually all would fall to communism.
Eventually, the communist nationalists defeated France.
according to the peace agreement Vietnam would be
divided into to two countries at the 17th parallel.
North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh would be a
communist nation, while south Vietnam would be
democratic. However, the leader of south Vietnam ruled
as a dictator and soon opposition groups such as the
Vietcong, communist revolutionaries backed by north
Vietnam, began to gain strength in south Vietnam. in
august 1964, north Vietnamese patrol ships attacked two
us destroyers.
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In 1975, communist rebels known as the Khmer
Rouge led by Pol Pot took over Cambodia and
established a brutal communist government.
In order to transform Cambodia into a communist
nation, Pol Pot slaughtered nearly 2 million people.
In 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and overthrew
the Khmer Rouge and established a less repressive
government.
In 1989, the Vietnamese withdrew from Cambodia.
Finally, in 1993, under the supervision of the UN,
Cambodia established a democratic state.
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After World War II, rapid industrialization, population
growth and a lingering gap between the rich and poor led
Latin American countries to seek help from the two
superpowers.
In the 1950s, Cuba was ruled by an unpopular dictator,
Fulgencio Batista, who had US support. In 1959, a young
lawyer named Fidel Castro led a revolution against Bastista’s
regime.
At first, Castro was praised for bringing social reforms and
improving Cuba’s economy.
However, Castro was a harsh dictator. He suspended elections,
jailed or executed his opponents and tightly controlled the
press.
When Castro took control and nationalized the Cuban
economy, he took over US owned sugar mills and refineries. In
response, the US ordered an embargo on all trade with Cuba.
Fidel Castro
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When Castro took control and nationalized the Cuban
economy, he took over US owned sugar mills and
refineries. In response, the US ordered an embargo on all
trade with Cuba.
Then, Castro turned to the Soviet Union for economic
and military aid. In 1960, the US began to train antiCastro Cuban exiles to start a revolution in Cuba. In
April 1961, they invaded Cuba landing at the Bay of Pigs.
Castro quickly stopped the invaders, humiliating the US.
The failed Bay of Pigs invasion convinced Soviet leader
Krushchev that the US would not resist Soviet expansion
in Latin America.
In July 1962, the Soviet secretly began to build nuclear
missile sites in Cuba.
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In October 1962, US spy planes discovered the sites.
president John F. Kennedy demanded the removal of
the sites because they were so close to the US.
Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba to
prevent the Soviets from installing new missile sites.
For 12 days, people around the world feared this
event would cause a nuclear war between the Soviet
Union and the US.
Fortunately, the soviets backed down from the US
and agreed to remove the missile sites if the US
promised not to invade Cuba. This event became
known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded their first atomic
bomb. With that, US president Truman was determined
to develop a more deadly weapon before the Soviets did.
The hydrogen or h-bomb began to be tested by American
scientists. The h-bomb would be thousands of times more
powerful than the a-bomb.
A hydrogen bomb power came from the fusion, or joining
of atoms, rather than the splitting of atoms with the abomb.
In 1952, the US tested their first hydrogen bomb. the
Soviets exploded their first in 1953. In strengthening their
army against any communist attacks, the US began
stockpiling nuclear weapons.
The Soviets responded by stockpiling nuclear weapons
and building up their military. This would be the start of
the nuclear arms race that would last till the late 1980s.