HIST 112 Lecture 24

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HIST 112Lecture 24

• The Cold War

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What was the Cold War?

• Intense political, ideological and economic
  struggle between the United States and its
  allies, and the Soviet union and its allies
• included military struggle (more casualties than
  during WWI) but no direct struggle between the
  two superpowers
• the Cold War period was overshadowed by the
  threat of nuclear war and global annihilation

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When was the Cold War?

• Began after the end of WWII in 1945
• Disputed end date
• 1970s détente?
• 1989 destruction of the Berlin Wall?
• 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union?

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Origins of the Cold War

• debate about whose fault it was
• orthodox American view blamed USSR
• revisionist historians in 1960s and 1970s blamed
  the United States and NATO
• since the 1980s most agree that a variety of
  circumstances made the Cold War unavoidable
• note the long history (since 19thC) of fear of
  communism in western Europe and USA

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WWII and the Cold War

• divided control of Berlin after 1945
• note strained alliance between the US/Britain and
  the Soviets
• Yalta conference of 1945
• Stalins broken promises in Poland
• Roosevelt agrees to give Stalin territory in east
  Asia
• Potsdam conference of 1945
• President Truman confronts Stalin

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Early years of the Cold War

• two speeches in 1946
• Churchill refers to the iron curtain in Europe
• Stalin accuses Churchill of declaring war
• The US Truman Doctrine
• Britain hands over control of Greece in 1947
• The US Marshall Plan
• Czechoslovakia applies in 1948 and Stalin orders
  a pro-Soviet coup
• Berlin Blockade of 1948

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The Cold War goes global

• formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
  (NATO) in 1949
• COMECON also formed in 1949
• the Truman Doctrine and containment
• Stalins successors less openly confrontational,
  but competition for influence continues around
  the world
• Nikita Krushchev, Soviet leader from 1955, took
  advantage of decolonisation

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The Cuban Missile Crisis

• Fidel Castro launches pro-Soviet coup in Cuba in
  1959
• failed attempt to outst Castro in 1961 Bay of
  Pigs invasion by US
• US blockades Cuba to prevent nuclear missiles
  from being delivered by USSR
• Krushchev agreed not to install the missiles
  President Kennedy promised not to invade Cuba