The Cold War

1
The Cold War
2
The United Nations

• Chartered in April 1945
• Replaced the League of Nations
• 50 nations joined initially (today, UN has 193
  members)
• In the General Assembly, which decides general UN
  policies, each nation gets 1 vote (so all are
  equal)
• UN Security Council US, Soviet Union, France,
  Great Britain, China reserved the power to veto
  any action by the UN
• For the UN to take any military action requires a
  unanimous vote of the Security Council

3
The Potsdam Conference

• Jul. 16 Aug. 2 1945
• Stalin, Clement Atlee (who had replaced Churchill
  as British Prime Minister), and Truman met to
  decide the fate of Germany and other occupied
  territories in Europe
• All sides agreed to divide Germany and Austria
  into occupation zones and to dismantle most
  German industry, but disagreed over making
  Germany pay war reparations to the Soviets

4
Germany divided
5
The Soviets Split from the Allies

• Stalin wanted to keep territory which the Soviets
  had conquered in Eastern Europe, in order to
  protect his nation from future invasions
• Allies insisted on free elections in
  Soviet-occupied Poland, Latvia, Lithuania,
  Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
  Hungary
• Stalin refused and by 1948 all of these states
  had communist governments (Latvia, Lithuania,
  Estonia became part of the Soviet Union itself)

6
The Iron Curtain

• From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
  Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across
  the Continent. Behind that line lie all the
  capitals of the ancient states of Central and
  Eastern Europe and all are subject, in one form
  or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a
  very high and in some cases increasing measure of
  control from Moscow. - Winston Churchill, 1946
• Term iron curtain was meant to describe the
  ideological division that had risen between
  Communist Eastern Europe and Democratic Western
  Europe

7
Containment Policy

• US had little choice but to accept communism in
  Eastern Europe or enter into an unpopular war
  with the Soviets
• US instead focused on preventing communism from
  spreading into new areas and pledged to contain
  communism to the areas where it already existed

8
First Test of Containment

• Stalin supported communist rebels in Greece and
  Turkey in their efforts to overthrow US-backed
  governments
• The devastation of WWII had left these
  governments in a seriously weakened state and
  they were in serious danger of falling without US
  intervention

9
The Truman Doctrine

• 1947 Truman declared that US foreign policy
  would be to support free peoples who are
  resisting attempted subjugation by armed
  minorities or by outside pressures
• Truman essentially declared war on the spread of
  communism, launching a Cold War that would last
  into the 1990s
• After Trumans speech, Congress approved 400
  million in economic aid to Greece and Turkey

10
The Marshall Plan

• In support of the Truman Doctrine, Sec. of State
  George Marshall developed a plan to provide US
  financial aid to war-torn Europe, to help with
  rebuilding both physically and economically
• The economic prosperity in Western Europe that
  followed minimized the potential for any further
  spread of communism in that region
• The US sent 25 billion in aid to Europe in the 6
  years following the end of WWII

11
(No Transcript)
12
Stalin rejects the Marshall Plan

• The US even offered economic assistance to
  countries behind the iron curtain, including
  the Soviet Union, but Stalin would not allow any
  communist state to accept US assistance,
  believing it would weaken his control

13
The Berlin Blockade

• June 1948 May 1949
• Frustrated with US efforts to restore a unified
  Germany, Stalin tried to push the US and its
  allies out of West Berlin by blocking all
  overland access to the city through East Germany
• All road and rail lines were cut and no supplies
  could be brought into the western half of the city

14
The Berlin Airlift

• Allies decided to fly supplies into Berlin
  instead
• Soviets were unwilling to be the aggressor by
  shooting down Allied aircraft
• 1500 flights a day delivered 5000 tons of
  supplies a day everything from food to coal to
  gasoline to cloth to machinery
• After nearly a year, the Soviets lifted the
  unsuccessful blockade

15
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

• Founded April 4, 1949
• Mutual defense treaty against the Soviets
• US, Canada, and most of Western Europe were
  members
• Today, still includes most of Europe US Canada

16
The Warsaw Pact

• May 14, 1955 Soviets responded to NATO by
  creating an alliance of communist states
• Unlike NATO, which was an alliance of free
  nations, Warsaw Pact members were given no choice
  but to join by the Soviets
• Officially disbanded July 1, 1991 after the
  collapse of Soviet power

17
(No Transcript)
18
Russians Develop Atomic Bombs

• August 29, 1949 Soviets tested their first
  atomic bomb (technology they had largely stolen
  from the US through espionage)
• By 1961, Soviets were capable of detonating 100
  megaton bombs (equal to about 20 times all of the
  explosives used in WWII combined!)
• Soviets had become a much more serious threat in
  the eyes of the US

19
US and Chinese Communism

• China had been involved in a civil war between
  Nationalists and Communists since before WWII
  began
• Communists gained control of mainland China in
  1949, driving the Nationalists to flee to the
  island of Taiwan
• The US refused to acknowledge the Communists as
  the legitimate Chinese government, instead
  insisting on recognizing the Nationalists on
  Taiwan as the true China, while the Soviets
  took just the opposite stance

20
The Korean War

• June 1950 July 1953
• After WWII, Korea had been divided much as
  Germany had into a Communist-held north and a
  US-backed south
• North Korea, backed by China the Soviets
  attacked South Korea, backed by the UN (using
  mostly US soldiers)
• Dispute was eventually settled by returning to
  essentially pre-war boundaries, but no formal
  peace was ever declared

21
The H-Bomb

• Nov. 1952 The US tested its newest weapon the
  Hydrogen Bomb, a weapon 1000 times more powerful
  than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima
• Within a year, however, the Soviets also had
  H-bombs

22
Nuclear Arms Race

• Soviets and Americans rapidly built enough
  nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times
  over
• MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) was the
  theory that the more nuclear weapons both sides
  had, the safer the world was because it made a
  nuclear war unwinnable for both sides

23
Domino Theory

• US believed strongly in the idea that if you let
  even a single nation fall to communism, then you
  would set off a chain reaction where its
  neighbors would also fall to communism (like
  dominos)

24
Brinksmanship

• Brinksmanship is the practice of escalating
  international tensions to the brink of war, with
  the hope that the other side will back down at
  the last minute and thereby give you an advantage
  in future negotiations

25
Nikita Khrushchev

• 1894 1971 (life)
• 1953 64 (Soviet leader)
• Named head of the Soviet Union after the death of
  Stalin in 1953
• More liberal than Stalin in Soviet domestic
  issues, but more confrontational in foreign
  policy, pushing the Soviet Union to the brink of
  war with the US on several occasions

26
The U-2 Incident

• 1960
• Just weeks before a major peace summit, the
  Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane over
  their airspace and captured the pilot, Francis
  Gary Powers
• Marked a turning point in US-Soviet relations, as
  the peace summit was cancelled and the American
  pilot was tried as a spy and sentenced to prison
  (the Soviets later traded him back to the US for
  one of their own spies)

27
Communism in Cuba

• Many US business held large investments in Cuba
  during the 1950s, but those investments were
  jeopardized when Cubas government was overthrown
  by communist rebels under the leadership of Fidel
  Castro
• US leadership were equally alarmed by the seizure
  of over 1 billion worth of property in Cuba
  owned by Americans as they were by suddenly
  having a communist state 90 miles off the US coast

28
The Berlin Wall

• West Berlin, deep inside of communist East
  Germany, became a way for many Germans to flee
  communist oppression
• In 1961, the Soviets ordered the construction of
  a wall around West Berlin to isolate it and
  prevent future defections
• The Berlin Wall became the physical symbol of the
  Cold War

29
The Bay of Pigs Invasion

• The American CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)
  began training Cuban exiles for an invasion of
  Cuba with the purpose of overthrowing Castros
  communist govt.
• In April 1961, the exiles landed at The Bay of
  Pigs in Cuba, but were quickly defeated by Cuban
  forces when the US failed to provide any further
  invention on their behalf
• Major international embarrassment for the US

30
The Cuban Missile Crisis

• Soviets placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in Fall
  1962
• US demanded their removal and enacted a naval
  blockade of Cuba to stop Soviet ships from
  bringing more missiles
• Many thought that WWIII would result as the US
  and USSR faced off over a tense 13-day period,
  each threatening the other with nuclear force
• Soviets eventually backed down and removed the
  missiles, thanks to the US publicly promising not
  to invade Cuba and secretly agreeing to remove
  American missiles from Turkey

31
The Vietnam War

• 1959 1975
• US backed South Vietnam against Soviet-backed
  communist North Vietnam
• As tensions between the two Vietnams increased,
  the US began sending military advisors, then
  soldiers to train South Vietnamese troops and,
  eventually, hundreds of thousands of US combat
  troops

32
The Paris Peace Accords

• Signed Jan. 27, 1973
• After a decade of fighting and over 58,000
  casualties, US withdrew all troops from Vietnam
• No permanent peace was formed between North and
  South

33
The South Falls

• March 1975
• North launched a full-scale invasion of the South
• Nixon had promised US aid if the North violated
  the treaty, but Nixon had been forced to resign
  due to the Watergate scandal and Congress refused
  to approve any new involvement in Vietnam
• By April 30, the North had conquered the South

34
The Space Race

• Both the US and USSR had captured German rocket
  scientists at the end of WWII and were pursuing
  missile technologies
• Starting in 1957, these technologies were used to
  compete against each other for control of outer
  space a multi-billion dollar space race to
  see who could accomplish certain objectives or
  discoveries first

35
ICBMs

• Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
• The development of missile technologies allowed
  both sides to mount atomic warheads onto
  long-range rockets which could be launched
  against distant targets

36
Sputnik

• The first man-made object to attain orbit around
  the earth (satellite)
• Sputnik I launched by the Soviets in Oct. 1957,
  followed by Sputnik II (which carried the first
  living creature into space, a dog named Laika) in
  November
• These launches triggered a panic in the US, as
  Americans worried that the Soviets were gaining a
  technological advantage over the US

37
Yuri Gagarin

• 1934 1968
• Soviet cosmonaut who became the first man in
  space in April of 1961
• Declared a Hero of the Soviet Union, he was
  never allowed to return to space due to his value
  as an instrument of propaganda instead, he was
  sent on a world tour to promote Soviet
  superiority
• Ironically, he later died in a plane crash

38
Project Mercury

• 1959 1963
• NASAs first program designed to put an American
  in space
• Capsule could carry only a single astronaut
• Cost 384 million, but succeeded at getting the
  US manned space program off the ground

39
Kennedy Targets the Moon

• We commit before this decade is out, to
  landing a man on the Moon and returning him
  safely to the Earth But why, some say, the
  moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may
  well ask why climb the highest mountain? We
  choose to go to the moon in this decade and do
  the other things, not because they are easy, but
  because they are hard, because that goal will
  serve to organize and measure the best of our
  energies and skills, because that challenge is
  one that we are willing to accept, one we are
  unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to
  win

40
Project Gemini

• 1965 1966
• Could carry 2 astronauts
• 10 manned flights cost 5.4 billion
• Purpose was to develop the technologies that
  would be needed to make longer space flights
  possible (such as a trip to the moon and back)

41
Apollo Program

• Series of 6 manned missions to the moon between
  1969 and 1972
• Each Apollo craft carried 3 astronauts
• Suffered two major accidents during the Apollo I
  training exercise in 1967, 3 astronauts died in
  an oxygen fire, and an explosion onboard Apollo
  13 forced the crew to abort the mission
• Cost 25.4 billion

42
The Eagle has landed

• July 20, 1969
• Apollo 11 became the first manned-mission to land
  on the moon after a 4 day journey
• Represented a major victory for the US, since we
  had finally surpassed Soviet achievement in space
  (to this day, no other nation has landed
  astronauts on the moon)

43
Thats one small step for a man

• one giant leap for mankind.
• After the success of the Apollo program,
  Americans tired of the space race we had
  clearly beaten the Soviets and Americans were now
  distracted by more down to earth matters such
  as the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, and Watergate

44
Détente Nixon Visits China

• Nixon looked to improve relations with both
  communist China and the Soviet Union
• In 1972, Nixon became the first US president to
  visit China, hoping to exploit a rift between the
  Chinese and Russians and gain influence
• The Soviets responded by welcoming Nixon to
  Moscow just 3 months later

45
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

• SALT I (1972)
• US and Soviets agreed to limit the number and
  type of intercontinental ballistic missiles
  (ICBMs) held by each nation
• Led to dramatically improved relations with the
  Soviet Union

46
Helsinki Accords

• 1975 meeting of NATO and Warsaw Pact leaders
• Soviets promised to uphold basic human rights,
  but when they did not keep that promise, American
  enthusiasm for détente began to fade and the Cold
  War began to deepen once again

47
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

• In December 1979, Soviet troops entered
  Afghanistan to help the communist government put
  down a rebellion
• US responded to this invasion with a grain
  embargo against the Soviet Union, by boycotting
  the 1980 Olympic Games which were being held in
  Moscow, and by refusing to ratify the recently
  agreed to SALT II treaty
• Détente completely collapsed

48
Reagan The Cold War

• US President Ronald Reagan abandoned all efforts
  at détente and negotiation with the Soviets,
  declaring them an evil empire and set out to
  win the Cold War by forcing the Soviets to
  deplete their economy through military spending

49
Military Buildup

• Reagan spent 1.5 trillion on defense, forcing
  the Soviets to match with their own military
  buildup or run the risk of losing global
  influence
• The idea was to break the Soviet economy and
  thereby win the Cold War it worked, but it
  would not be until after Reagan had left office
  that the Soviet economy failed

50
Star Wars

• Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
• Reagan called for the development of a
  space-mounted weapons platform which could be
  used to destroy Soviet nuclear missiles before
  they could reach the US
• The US spent about 100 billion trying to develop
  such a system (with no success), forcing the
  Soviets to spend money on how to counter such a
  system

51
The Reagan Doctrine

• Reagan believed that that the US had a moral
  obligation to show support for guerrilla groups
  who were fighting communist or pro-Soviet
  governments
• This policy would lead to US intervention in
  several conflicts

52
Afghanistan

• Reagan provided over 570 million in military aid
  to the mujahadeen rebels fighting the Soviets in
  Afghanistan, allowing them to drag the fight out
  for 9 bloody years
• In 1988, the Soviets withdrew after losing nearly
  15,000 men

53
Mikhail Gorbachev

• 1931 Present
• Became new leader of the Soviet Union in 1985
• Believed that economic and political reform was
  necessary to the survival of the USSR and pursued
  an arms reduction agreement with the US
• Signed an agreement with Reagan in 1987 to reduce
  the number of nuclear weapons, leading to a new
  détente

54
Perestroika Glasnost

• Gorbachev instituted new programs to try to save
  the Soviet economy
• Perestroika (restructuring) allowed some small
  private businesses to operate outside of
  government control
• Glasnost (openness) allowed Soviet citizens
  new freedoms of religion and speech and to have a
  voice in Soviet politics

55
The Wall Comes Down

• Nov. 9, 1989
• East Germans guards opened the gates in the
  Berlin Wall, removing the barrier between East
  and West within days the wall was completely
  dismantled
• The next year, East and West Germany reunited
  into one country for the first time since 1945

56
Collapse of Communism

• The Soviets inability to financially support
  communist states in Eastern Europe led to mostly
  peaceful overthrows of their unpopular
  governments
• In 1989, the old communist bloc collapsed as
  communist regimes fell one after another
• In late 1991, the Soviet Union itself collapsed
  after an attempted coup by communist hardliners
  failed to unseat Gorbachev and the communist
  party was banned in Russia the Cold War was
  over and the US had won