 Years of tension & hostility between

Superpowers



U.S. Vs. USSR

 War of ideas 

Communism Vs. Democracy



Capitalism Vs. command

 Arms Race, Space Race, etc.

 Democracy restored to nations of

Western Europe

 Aided by

U.S. & G. Britain



Eastern Europe

of

USSR

occupied by armies  Stalin supported the establishment of pro communist governments in the Region

 Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin •Germany would be divided into zones of occupation 

Stalin promises Eastern European countries will have free elections



Stalin, Truman,Attlee

 Stalin refuses free elections in Eastern European countries •Establishes

satellite

nations (pro communist governments) in occupied countries



“An Iron Curtain has descended

across Europe”- W. Churchill

1946



Western Europe – Democratic



Eastern Europe- Communist

 U.S. policy of blocking further

Communist expansion

 Limiting Communism to regions already under Communist control •Creating alliances,aiding weak countries, military action  Ex. Vietnam, Korea, Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine

 U.S. sent military & financial aid to

Turkey Greece

&  Dictated US foreign policy for years to come •$400 Million •Helping them resist communist forces 

Proved successful

 U.S. Secretary of State

George Marshall

 Massive economic aid package for

European Recovery

 12.5 Billion in loans  Strengthened Democracies in Europe 

Lessened the appeal of communism

 Germany is divided into 4 occupational zones  US, France, Britain USSR  Division is supposed to be temporary  Tensions grew between East & West  Stalin feared a strong united Germany



Berlin

the divided capital was located in the Eastern sector  1948- three western zones unified 

Stalin

responded by attempting to to force the allies out of Berlin  Closed of all land routes to city  Shut off supplies to city



American & British

response to blockade  Yearlong

airlift

of food, fuel & medicine into Western Berlin  Planes fly around the clock missions 

The Soviets end blockade in 1949

 Planes took off & landed every 3 minutes  277,000 flights  2.3 million tons of supplies

 1949-

German Democratic Republic

(East Germany) Communist  1949-

German Federal Republic

(West Germany) Democratic 

Division would last until 1990

 1961-

East Germany

constructed a wall that separated East from West Berlin  Known as the

“wall of death”

 The Wall’s destruction in communism

1989

symbolizes the fall of

 1949-

NATO Atlantic Treaty Organization North

•Defensive alliance  10 Western European nations w/ US & Canada  Pledged to support each other if attacked



1955 Warsaw Pact

•Soviet Response to

NATO

 Also a defensive alliance  Alliance between USSR &7 of its Eastern European satellites countries



Stockpiling

&

development

of the deadliest weapons 

Atomic bomb

USSR 1949 US 1945/ 

Hydrogen Bomb

1952/ USSR 1953 US  Construction of Missiles

ICBM’s

Intercontinental Ballistic

 Arms race raised the level of tension for over

40 years

•Raised fears that conflict would destroy the world 

Brinkmanship-

willingness to go to the brink or edge of destruction

 1957USSR launched first satellite

Sputnik

 US founds NASA  1961USSR launch

first man in space

 1969 US

lands on moon



US & USSR

military use of spy satellites explored



US & USSR

Never clash head to head  They clashed through

surrogate

or representative states

 Following WWII Korea is divided @

38 th Parallel

 North (

Communist),

South

( non-communist

)  1950- N. Korea invades South  US

Containment

to the test put



UN forces Macarthur

led by prevented communist takeover •Three years of Back & forth fighting (

Ping Pong

) 

Armistice

signed in 1953 •Border is reset @

38 th Parallel



Korea remains divided

 US troops patrol

DMZ

  Hot spot in the world today

North Korean

construction of Nuclear weapons



1959-

Cuban revolutionary

Fidel Castro

overthrows the government  Becomes Communist state dependant upon

USSR

 Still rules today as

dictator



1961- Bay of Pigs Invasion

•Exiled Cuban Nationalists backed by US attempt overthrow of Castro  Invasion is crushed 

Kennedy

administration is humiliated



The Cuban Missile Crisis

•USSR installs missile bases in Cuba  Threat to US security •US blockades Cuba 

US & USSR

brought to the brink of war (

Brinkmanship

)

 Crisis is avoided after 13 days  USSR dismantles nuclear missiles

 1954 forces

France

loses control of its colonies in

Indochina

to Communist/ Nationalist  Vietnam is divided @ the 17 th Parallel  Communist (North)  Led by

Ho Chi Minh

 Anti-communist (South)

 US forces sent in to prevent Communist from uniting Vietnam  Eisenhower’s

“Domino Theory”

•US pulls out in 1973/

Saigon

falls in 1975 

Vietnam remains communist today

 USSR kept a tight grip on its

satellites

 Any revolts were put down with extreme force •

East Germany& Poland

1950’s •1956

Hungary

•1969

Czechoslovakia

 Soviet leader following Stalin 1953-1964 •

Destalinization

 Purged the USSR of Stalin’s memory •Policy of

peaceful coexistence

with Capitalist states  Maintained strict control over satellites

 Adopted repressive measures @ home & in

Satellites

•

Brezhnev Doctrine

 Initiated

Détente

with the US •A cooling down of tensions between East & West •

SALTI & II-

1972,1979 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties  Limited # of

ICBM’s

 Drastically reformed the Soviet government & failing economy  Withdrew Soviet Troops from Afghanistan  Encouraged

Glasnost

(openness) •Ended

censorship free flow

of ideas & encouraged  Allowed open criticism of the government



Perestroika

 Movement towards a

free market economy

(Capitalism) NEP?



Democratization

 Voters could choose candidates for office

 Allowed pro-democracy in the Satellites movements  Repealed

Breshnev Doctrine

 Without threat of Soviet force, communism crumbles in E. Europe 

EX. The Berlin Wall 1989

 1991 Baltic States Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania declare independence  Shortly after all other 15 Soviet Republics gain independence  1991 The USSR ceases to exist

 1989

Berlin Wall

down comes  1990

Germany

is reunited  Financial strain on West Germany  Unemployment rises in East



1980

Independent trade union

Solidarity Lech Walesa

led by calls for a change  Polish government outlaws union & arrested members 

1989 Lech Walesa

elected President of Poland is



Czechoslovakia

breaks apart 

Czech Republic & Slovakia



Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia Herzegovina, & Macedonia

separate from

Yugoslavia



Bosnia

1990’s becomes crisis point in  Genocide of Non- Serbs



1991 Communist hardliners

attempt to overthrow Gorbachev  Attempts failed but

Gorbachev

resigns

 Succeeds

Gorbachev

after failed coup  1 st popularly elected President of Russia  Adopted policy of

Shock Therapy

 Abrubt shift to a free market economy  Living standards declined/ economy faltered/ corruption rampant  Resigned 1999 due to poor health

 Current

President

of Russia  Continues market reforms  Former

KGB

administrator  Problems still exist today with rebel Province of

Chechnya

 Improved relations w/

U.S., E.U., NATO & China

 US & USSR attempted to gain influence over

Third World

countries  Underdeveloped countries of Africa & Latin America  Military, technical, & financial assistance  Backed revolutions (Cuba, Nicaragua, Afghanistan)