The Cold War

1
The Cold War

• Origins of the Cold War

2
1945- A Critical Year

• US and Soviet Union were Allies as a temporary
  arrangement during WWII.
• At the Yalta Conference- Feb. 1945 Roosevelt,
  Churchill, and Stalin met to discuss the
  arrangements of Germany and Poland Post WWII
  including free elections.
• Churchill and FDR rejected Stalins demand that
  Germany pay 10 billion in war damages
• Disputes over Poland caused
• stress on US Soviet relations

3
The United Nations

• The United Nations was a new international
  peacekeeping organization.
• League of Nations failed because the United
  States refused to join
• UN stated they were going to try and stop wars
  from starting, end the ones that broke out, and
  settle differences peacefully
• Members included US, SU, GB, China, and France

4
Truman takes Command

• FDR passed away in April 1945, VP Harry Truman
  took over as president
• Truman met with Stalin at the Potsdam Conference-
  July 1945. Occupation Zones were determined post
  WWII and Truman mentioned the new Atom Bomb that
  had just been tested in New Mexico, which
  instilled fear in Stalin.

5
Postwar Goals

• US fought to bring democracy and economic
  opportunity to the conquered nations of Europe
• Soviet Union wanted to rebuild after loosing a
  tremendous amount of people.

6
Soviets Tighten Hold

• Satellite Nations- countries subject to Soviet
  domination on their borders.
• Soviets took over Albania, Bulgaria,
  Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and East
  Germany.
• Stalin installed communist governments in all
  nations while he slowly took power.

7
IRON CURTAIN

• Winston Churchill gave an Iron Curtain Speech.
• An Iron Curtain laid across the continent
  dividing communism from capitalism and if nothing
  was done communism would take over all of Europe.
  American was called on to help
• Stalins speech and Churchills speech set tone
  for the COLD WAR

8
COLD WAR

• Cold War- competition that developed between the
  United States and the Soviet Union for world
  power.
• Lasted for over forty years until1991 the
  collapse of the Soviet Union.
• Rivalry stopped just short of a hot war between
  the two nations.

9
Containment

• American policy for resisting further expansion
  of communism around the world (George Keenan,
  American Diplomat)

10
The Truman Doctrine

• A declaration by president Truman that the United
  States would support nations that were being
  threatened by communism.
• The Truman doctrine is a policy of containment
  which gave the US power and dominance

11
Marshall Plan

• Secretary of state George Marshall created this
  plan which called for all European nations to
  draw up a program of economic recovery from the
  war and the US would then support the program
  with financial aid.
• The plan would help European economic recovery
  and create strong democracies while opening new
  markets for American goods.
• Soviet Union refused to participate
• Marshall Plan was the turning point in the war!!!
• Marshall Plan European Recovery Program

12
Molotov Plan

• 1949 Soviet Union plan of economic aide to
  Eastern Europe. Established a new organization
  COMECON- Council for Mutual Economics Assistance
• Named after Soviet Union foreign Minister
  Vyacheslav Molotov

13
Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift

• Stalin was not going to allow the reunification
  of West Germany, so western allies prepared to
  merge
• Soviets created East Germany
• Westcapitalists
• East Communist
• Stalin cut off supplies with a BLOCKADE which
  created severe shortages of food and supplies for
  2.5 million people
• Berlin Airlift- Truman moved supplies into West
  Berlin for 15 months by plane and soviets finally
  gave up blockade
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vjqHqsYiUEwYfeature
  related

14
NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  (NATO)-association of the democratic peace-loving
  states and an armed attack against one or more
  of the nations, shall be considered an attack
  against them all.
• Canadian Foreign Minister St. Louis St. Laurent
• Countries include United States, Canada,
  Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland,
  Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and
  Portugal
• Collective security- principal of mutual military
  assistance

15
Warsaw Pact

• Soviet Union responded to NATO and created the
  Warsaw Pact- a military alliance with satellite
  nations in Eastern Europe

16
Communist Advances

• Truman announced that we have evidence that
  within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred
  in the USSR.
• This was scary for the American people they could
  not imagine the thought of Hiroshima or Nagasaki
  on American soil.
• Americans started to make advances in nuclear
  weapons (hydrogen bomb) which was many times more
  destructible than the atomic bomb
• 1952 hydrogen bomb tested and declared US the
  worlds leading nuclear power
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vDkvfcAlujZ0
• People were planning how to survive a nuclear
  attack! (bomb shelters)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vC0K_LZDXp0I

17
Bomb Shelter
18
The struggle in China

• China fell to communism under
• leadership of Mao Zedong
• Chiang Kai-shek- Leader of Chinese government and
  the Nationalists
• Mao Zedong- Communist leader in China who
  overthrew their government
• 1949- US did not aid and Chinas capital,
  Beijing, fell to communist.
• Chiang and followers withdrew to a small island
  of Chinas mainland, Taiwan and continued
  practicing democracy as the Republic of China.
• (There was a fear of China and the SU becoming
  allies)

19
The Cold War at Home

• A new Red Scare- many people had joined the
  communist party but with increasing distrust in
  Stalin many people quit
• People who had been remotely involved in a
  communist party were swept up in the wave of
  persecution
• Loyalty Program- Truman headed this program so
  that all employees hired by the federal
  government were to be investigated with suspicion
  of overthrowing the government

20
HUAC

• House Un-American Activities Committee-
  investigate disloyalty of Communist infiltration
  of government agencies and the Hollywood movie
  industry b/c movies had strong influence of the
  public
• Hollywood ten- actors, writers, directors, and
  producers cited for contempt of congress and were
  blacklisted where other employers would not hire
  them.

21
McCarran-Walter Act

• Congress passed 1952 McCarran-Walter Act- which
  discriminated against potential immigrants from
  Asia, Southern and central Europe.
• The President vetoed the bill- stated one of the
  most Un- American acts he had ever witnessed

22
Spies

• A real communist threat in the United States
• Alger Hiss- high ranking government official
  convicted of perjury for lying in slander case.
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - (a married couple)
  were members of the communist party were accused
  of passing atomic secrets to the soviets. They
  were convicted of espionage and executed in 1953.

23
Korean War

• South Korea- had a pro-American government formed
  (US occupied)
• North Korea- had a Communist regime (USSR
  occupied)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-fnnqTAsS48feature
  related
• In June 1950 the Korean War broke out when North
  Korean troops streamed across the 38th parallel-
  latitude line dividing the two nations
• North Korea was aiming at unification by force

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Douglas MacArthur

• Anti-communist general chosen to lead UN forces
  in Korea by Truman
• MacArthur helped establish Japans new democratic
  constitution
• Successful in implementing democracy in South
  Korea
• Disliked by politicians but loved by the public
  and military!

26
The Cold War 1950s

• 1953 Eisenhower became president succeeding
  Truman
• Eisenhower had kept his promise to bring the
  Korean War to an end and the sudden death of
  Stalin helped the war come to an end in March of
  1953.
• In Southeast Asia a conflict developed in Vietnam
  (French Colony in SouthEast Asia that had fallen
  to Japan during WWII)
• Ho Chi Minh, head of Vietnamese Communist Party
  declared Vietnams Independence after Japan fell
  in 1945.
• France rejected Vietnams independence and an
  ugly war began to unfold

27
Domino theory

• Domino Theory is a belief by Eisenhower which
  held that if any one country fell to communists,
  its neighbors soon would follow (like a row of
  dominos).
• By 1954 US was providing aid to help with the war

28
Vietnam Divided

• Just like Korea, Vietnam was divided into
  communist North and Anti Communist south.
• The US provided aid to South Vietnam but resisted
  any greater involvement

29
The Middle East

• 1930s anti-Semitism in Germany and Eastern
  Europe forced Jews to seek safety in Palestine.
• Arab and Jewish conflict turned to the United
  nations for the creation for a Jewish state
  called Israel (1948).

30
The Middle East Continued

• The Suez crisis- Egypt ruler, Nasser, sought
  soviet support, US and Britain cut off their aid.
• Nasser seized the British owned Suez canal, a
  vital waterway for oil to reach Europe
• Eisenhower Doctrine- the US would use force to
  safeguard the independence of any country or
  group of countries in the Middle East requesting
  aid against Communist-inspired aggression

31
Latin America

• US exercised power in Central and Latin America
• After WWII US feared spread of Communism to Latin
  American Countries
• Rio Pact- regional defense alliance between 18
  countries in Latin America
• OAS- Organization of American States which
  increased cooperation with states in the Western
  Hemisphere
• Crisis began when Fidel Castro overthrew the
  Cuban Dictator in 1958. US did not support
  Castro because his movement was infiltrated by
  Communism
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vKL4cb0zuoFg
• Castro seized Cuba (American property), US cut
  off all aid and supplies, and Castro turned to
  the Soviet Union for aid.

32
The Arms Race

• Arms Race- The struggle to gain weapon
  superiority
• Whenever one side would seem to be gaining the
  upper hand in the cold war the other would
  respond with new programs and policies
• The growth of Nuclear Arsenals was increasing in
  US and Soviet Union.
• 1953 US exploded their first thermonuclear device
  and at the same time the Soviet Union
  successfully tested a hydrogen device of its own.
• Between 1954 and 1958 US conducted 19 hydrogen
  bomb tests at Bikini Island in the Pacific
• This explosion was 750 times more explosive than
  the atomic bomb

33
Brinkmanship

• Brinkmanship- is the policy of risking war to
  protect the nations interests (Russian roulette
  with the life of our nation)
• MAD- Mutual Assured Destruction- combination of
  deterrence and willingness to use nuclear
  weapons, may have helped prevent the cold war
  from turning hot.
• Soviet Union used ICBMs (Intercontinental
  Ballistic missiles)- long range rockets as their
  delivery system
• US lagged behind soviet Union in Missile
  development

34
Sputnik

• First artificial satellite to orbit Earth
  launched by the Soviets.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vTbAXkWPasYw
• This scared Americans
• US tried to launch a satellite and it came
  tumbling down
• U-2 incident- shooting down of American Spy plane
  by the soviets with a guided missile