Transcript Cold War The Early Years

Cold War
The Early Years
The Ideological Struggle
Soviet &
Eastern Bloc
Nations
[“Iron
Curtain”]
GOAL  spread worldwide Communism
METHODS:
 Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]
 Arms Race [nuclear escalation]
 Ideological Competition
 Economic Aid
US & the
Western
Democracies
GOAL  “Containment”
of Communism & the
eventual collapse of the
Communist world.
Cold War Strategies
Foreign Aid
Espionage
Multinational
Alliances
Win allies by providing
them with money
Fear of the enemy
gaining the advantage,
so they spied on each
other
Gaining support of
other nations through
NATO and the Warsaw
Pact
Propaganda
Brinkmanship
Surrogate War
Used to win support
overseas
Going to the Brink of
war to make the other
side back down
Fighting indirectly
through other country’s
wars.
Post-War Germany
Germany was
divided among
the allies.
Divided into
two pieces,
Eastern
Germany
(Communist) &
West Germany
(Democracy)
• The world became divided into
two camps, democracies versus
communist nations (Bi-polar)
• Non-aligned Nations (Egypt,
India) tried to play both sides
off each other
– Non-aligned nations were usually
in the “Third World” – former
colonies
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949)
 United States
 Luxemburg
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 Britain
 Norway
 Canada
 Portugal
 Denmark
 1952: Greece &
Turkey
 France
 Iceland
 Italy
 1955: West Germany
 1983: Spain
Warsaw Pact (1955)
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U. S. S. R.
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East Germany
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Albania
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Hungary
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Bulgaria
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Poland
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Czechoslovakia
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Romania
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]
•
The U. S. will support people who
are resisting Communist takeovers
•
[ aka: We will help you fight the
dirty red commies]
•
”We must assist free peoples to
work out their own destinies in their
own way.”
Domino Theory
• Theory of Democratic
Governments
• Believed if one nation became
Communist, its neighbors would
follow.
Marshall Plan [1948]
1. “European Recovery
Program.”
2. 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.
3. ACTUALLY…TO STOP THE SPREAD OF
COMMUNISM!
4. $12.5 billion of US aid to Western
Europe extended to Eastern Europe &
USSR, [but this was rejected].
Berlin Crisis
First Showdown of the Cold War
• USSR tries to cut off
all of Berlin from the
West
• US and British planes
drop supplies to West
• The Soviets backed
down
• 1961 - the Soviets
began building a wall
to prevent migration to
the West. Berlin was
split in two.
Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49)
The Arms Race
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The Soviet Union
exploded its first
A-bomb in 1949.
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Now there were
two nuclear
superpowers!
During the Cold War,
I guess
the U.S.S.R and the
it made
sense at
U.S. followed a policy
the
of Mutual Assured
time.
Destruction (MAD).
MAD = military strategy in which a
full scale use of nuclear weapons
by one of the opposing powers
would result in the destruction of
both.
The U.S. and U.S.S.R
had enough nuclear
bombs to destroy the
world about 400
times.
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: A “Police Action” (19501953)
Kim Il-Sung
Syngman Rhee
“Domino Theory”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Hungarian Uprising: 1956
Imre Nagy, Hungarian
Prime Minister
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Promised free
elections.
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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!
Nixon-Khrushchev
“Kitchen Debate”
(1959)
Cold War --->
Tensions
<--- Technology
& Affluence
U-2 Spy Incident (1960)
Col. Francis Gary
Powers’ 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
controlled.
The Berlin Wall Goes Up (1961)
Checkpoint
Charlie
Ich bin ein Berliner!
(1963)
President Kennedy
tells Berliners
that the West is
with them!
Castro’s Cuba
• 1950’s- Cuba ruled by an
unpopular dictator, Batista- who the
U.S. supported.
• Cuban resentment led to an
overthrow led by Fidel Castro.
• Castro ruled Cuba harshly:
– Suspended elections
– Jailed/Executed opponents
– Censored press
– Took over U.S. sugar mills located in
Cuba.
• U.S. ordered an embargo on all trade with
Cuba.
– Castro asks for assistance for Soviet Union.
Khrushchev Embraces Castro,
1961
• 1960- CIA begins to train anti-Castro
Cuban exiles.
• April 1961- Exiles invade Cuba
landing at the Bay of Pigs hoping
that fellow Cubans join them in
regaining Cuba.
Bay of Pigs (1961)
What do you think happens?
• President Kennedy withdraws air
support for the Cubans
– Believes the U.S. is becoming too
involved.
• Why would this matter?
• Was if fair to do this to the exiles without
their knowledge?
• Castro’s forces crushed the
invaders within two days.
• U.S. failure at the Bay of Pigs
convinced Khrushchev that the U.S.
could not resist Soviet expansion
into Latin America.
• July 1962- Khrushchev began to
secretly build missiles sites in Cuba.
• October 1962- U.S. spy planes
discovered 42 missile sites in Cuba.
– Just 90 miles south of Florida
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the
Russians, and the other man blinked!
• Kennedy demands the removal of
the Soviet Missiles.
• He demands a naval blockage of
Cuba to prevent more installing of
Soviet missiles.
• Meanwhile in the country of Turkey, right outside
of the Soviet Union, the United States had
missiles pointed toward Moscow, the Soviet’s
capital.
• This was the Soviet’s way to play the Cold War
fair.
• October 22nd-Preparations were made for an air
attack on the missile sites.
• How do you think the American people felt
during this crisis?
• On October 26th Kennedy received a message
from the Soviet Premier Khrushchev implying
that the Soviet’s would remove the missile
bases as long as America didn’t invade Cuba.
• President Kennedy agreed.
• Was it fair for the Soviet’s to have to remove
their nuclear weapons, but the United States
didn’t have to remove their missiles from
Turkey?
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Vietnam War: 1965-1973
“Prague Spring” (1968)
Former Czech President,
Alexander Dubček
Communism with a human face!
“Prague Spring” Dashed!
Dissidents/playwrights arrested [like
Vaclav Havel—future president of a free
Czech Republic].
The End of Empires
6. Europe is in a big debt!
7. Most former colonies establish
independence. For example:
 India – 1947
 Palestine – 1948
 Kenya  Mau Mau
uprising - 1955