Global%20Conflicts%20during%20the%20Cold%20War:%201945-1989

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Chapter 16 Global Conflicts during the Cold War
1945-1989
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• Nationalist Struggles for Independence
• Act of Westminister, 1931
• De facto independence of Canada, Australia, New
  Zealand, and South Africa
• British Empire in Asia Collapses
• Independence of India, August 15, 1947
• Jawaharlal Nehru sought industrial development
• Indira Nehru Gandhi, 1966-77, 1980-1984
• Pakistan and East Pakistan, August 15, 1947
• Pakistan dominated by the military
• Bangladesh, 1971
• British colonies in Southeast Asia secure
  independence

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Africa Becomes Independent 1. The first
independent black African state to emerge out of
European colonialism was the British colony of
the Gold Coast which became free in 1957. It
renamed itself Ghana. 2. Perhaps the most
serious problem for the European governments
granting independence to the African states was
how to deal with the permanent white settlers.
Wherever the whites were numerous, European
states sought to preserve white privileged
status. Thus, for Britain granting independence
to black dominated states was fairly easy but
more difficult when there was a substantial white
population such as in Kenya and Rhodesia. Kenya
received independence in 1963 only after a
guerrilla war was subdued and the whites were
safe. In Southern Rhodesia, whites split from
Rhodesia and illegally declared independence from
Britain in 1965. A long Civil war lasted until
1980 before the whites surrendered power. The
country was renamed Zimbabwe. 3. France divided
up its West Africa and Equatorial Africa
possessions into thirteen separate governments,
thereby creating a French commonwealth.
Plebiscites were to be called in each to approve
the new arrangement. If this was ratified, the
association with France would continue. A
negative vote would mean independence. In 1958
Guinea rejected the French offer for commonwealth
status and chose independence. Shocked, France
withdrew every official and piece of equipment as
punishment. France expected Guinea to collapse
but it did not. In 1960 Mali joined Guinea in
seeking independence. Other French territories
followed suit though many retained their close
ties with France. 4. Tunisia and Morocco were
granted independence by France in 1956. With a
sparse European population, the separation was
easy. However, this was not the case for
Algeria. Not only did it have about one million
French speaking Europeans in a total population
of eight million but it was France's source for
oil. When Muslim nationalism stirred, the
Europeans responded and a bloody and violent
civil war broke out. Finally, Algeria was
granted independence in 1962. 5. Violence also
characterized Belgium's withdrawal from the
Congo. Having fostered neither development nor
education, there was no loyalty to the colonial
master. In 1959 riots broke out and with no
warning Belgium proclaimed in 1960 the Congo's
independence. What followed was a violent tribal
conflict and civil war. The new state was
christened Zaire (renamed in 1997 the Democratic
Republic of Congo). Civil war and political
instability has plagued the nation since
independence. 6. Like Belgium, Portugal did
nothing ta prepare its African states for
independence. Facing a guerrilla war, Portugal
granted Angola and Mozambique independence in
1975. Independence in Angola brought a civil war
with the involvement of the United States, Cuba,
and China. Political stability was finally
established in 1997. 7. The nation later named
Namibia was originally called South West Africa
and colonized by Germany in 1884. During World
War I it was seized by South Africa. After the
war, the territory was mandated to South Africa
by terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty. In
1946, South Africa sought to incorporate the
territory into its own. The U.N. rejected this
but did allow closer association. In 1969, South
Africa to extended its own laws, including
apartheid, to the land. When the Security
Council demanded that the laws be rescinded,
South Africa refused. In 1974, a Security
Council resolution required a transfer of power.
Slowness to act resulted in a war in which
various guerrilla organization were supported by
Cuba, Angola, and South Africa. Finally, an
agreement was made for elections to take place in
1989. The new president, Sam Nujoma, took
office in 1990 when Namibia became
independent. 8. Throughout the period of African
imperialism, only two states managed to remain
independent, Liberia (colonized by the United
State to send back to Africa freed slaves) and
Ethiopia which routed an Italian invasion in
1896. Italy achieved revenge in 1935 with
conquest and annexation to Eritrea from 1936 to
1941. Question 1. How was the British and
French approach to independence different?
Africa Becomes Independent
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• Dutch reluctant to give up Indonesia
• Achmed Sukarno wins independence in 1949
• Philippines gain independence, 1946
• Ferdinand Marcos
• Independent Africa
• French determination to hold Algeria
• Bloody war
• Independence,1962
• French West and Equitorial Africa
• Félix Houphouet-Boigny
• French African colonies granted independence, 1960

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Freedom (Uhuru) monument at Dar es-Salaam, the
capital of Tanzania Duiker slides, 9
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• British African Colonies
• Ghana independence, 1957
• Nigeria independence, 1960
• Revolt of Biafra, 1967-1970
• Kenya independence, 1963
• Mau Mau rebellion
• Belgian Congo
• Portugal refuses independence for Angola and
  Mozambique
• Guerrilla revolts, independence, 1975
• Namibia
• Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia
  (Zimbabwe)
• Non-alignment and neutrality of new African and
  Asian states

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The People's Republic of China 1. By 1948 the
demoralized Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek
were disintegrating. In 1949 Chiang and one
million mainland Chinese fled to Taiwan. In
victory, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's
Republic of China. Within three years the
Communists succeeded in consolidating their rule.
It was not accomplished without cost. In 1957
Mao admitted 800,000 "enemies' had been
liquidated. 2. With a large army at its
disposal, China sought to re-establish its
jurisdiction over the important areas lost with
the decline of the Manchus. Mongolia became a
separate republic with ties to the Soviet Union,
but China retained Xinjiang. China also sent its
forces into Tibet. 3. Mao and Joseph Stalin
established a close relationship in the early
1950s and China followed Russia's lead in world
affairs. In 1950 a thirty-year treaty of
friendship was signed. China began to go its own
way, however, as it initiated the Great Leap
Forward in 1958 to achieve accelerated
development. When Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet
Union criticized Chinese policy, Mao reacted
angrily in 1960 and relations between the two
states deteriorated. Russian economic aid was
abruptly cut off and scientists helping to build
a Chinese atomic bomb were withdrawn. In 1969
fighting between China and Russia occurred along
the northern border of Xinjiang and over an
island in the Ussuri River in the northeast.
Both deployed about a million troops along their
5000 mile mutual border. 4. Sino-Indian
relations took a tumble when Chinese troops
suppressed a revolt in Tibet in 1959 and India
gave asylum to the Dalai Lama. When it was
learned the Chinese were building a road in a
region of Tibet claimed by India, troops were
sent to the area in the summer of 1962. A brief
border war was fought in which Indian troops were
routed when Chinese forces crossed the
border. 5. In 1975 a unified Vietnam became an
ally of the Soviet Union and thus an enemy of
China. The Soviets gave economic and military
aid in return for a naval base at Cam Ranh Bay.
Relations with China deteriorated in the late
1970s in part due to ill treatment of ethnic
Chinese in the country and belief that Vietnam
was not sufficiently grateful for the aid it had
given during the war. In 1979 China sought to
teach Vietnam a lesson by invading its four
northern provinces. Vietnam repulsed the
invaders but with heavy losses for both
sides. 6. In 1997 Hong Kong was returned to
China. Questions 1. What problems existed
between China and Russia? 2. What were the
sources of conflict between China and India?
The People's Republic of China
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Gate of Heavenly Peace with portrait of Mao at
Tiananmen Square
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• Cold War in Asia
• Communist China
• Sino-Soviet split
• Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969
• Gang of Four
• Korean War, 1950-1953
• North Korean invasion, 1950
• South Korea, buffer to protect Japan
• U.S. policy of containment

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The Korean Peninsula 1. Following the victory
of the Japanese over Russia in the Russo-Japanese
War (1904-1905), Russia had to recognize Japan's
paramount interest in Korea. In 1910 Japan
annexed Korea. 2. At the Cairo Conference in
late 1943, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Chiang
Kai-shek declared that in due course Korea shall
become free and independent. As part of the
Yalta agreement in February 1945 Russia agreed to
enter the war against Japan after the defeat of
Germany. On August 9, 1945, six days before the
Japanese surrender, Soviet troops entered North
Korea. American troops arrived on September 8.
By agreeing to accept the Japanese surrender
north and south of the 38th parallel, the fate of
a divided Korea had been set. 3. In 1946, after
the Soviet Union and the United States failed to
agree on a means for reunification, elections
were held in the North resulting in a communist
victory. Centered in Pyongyang, the head of the
new government was the Soviet nominee, Kim
Il-sung. In the South, the Americans created an
independent, self-governing nation. In 1948 a
president and assembly was elected for the new
Republic of Korea thereby ending the American
military government. 4. On June 25, 1950, North
Korean troops staged a surprise attack on the
South. The United States immediately called for
a meeting of the United Nations Security Council
that ordered in troops when North Korea refused
to withdraw. Fifteen member nations sent troops
though forty percent of the ground forces were
South Korean and fifty percent were Americans.
The North Koreans forced the Korean-American
forces back to the southeast around Pussan. On
September 15, 1950, an amphibious landing was
made at Inchon (the port for the capital, Seoul).
Seoul was recovered and the invasion broken. In
October the UN force crossed the 38th parallel.
As the forces pushed north toward China, Chinese
Communist "volunteers" began crossing the Yalu
River into North Korea to defend Chinese
interests. By late November there were about
300,000 Chinese volunteers and they forced an
American retreat to south of Seoul. 5. Truce
talks began in July 1951 at Panmunjom. An
armistice was finally signed July 27, 1953. All
totaled, the United States suffered 142,000
casualties, 300,000 for South Korea, 520,000 for
the North Koreans, and perhaps 900,000
Chinese. Questions 1. How did Korea become a
divided land? 2. What were the objectives of the
North Koreans in their invasion and why did the
Chinese get involved?
The Korean Peninsula
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Post-War Conflicts in East Asia 1. On July 4,
1946, the United States fulfilled its long ago
promise to grant independence to the Philippines.
In 1965 Ferdinand Marcos subverted the
constitution and ruled as a dictator until 1986
when ousted in a spectacular electoral victory
for the presidency by Corazon Aquino. The
Anericans, however, maintained military bases in
the Philippines until 1992 when the last was
closed. 2. Burma (Myanmar) received its
independence from the British in 1948. The army
seized power in 1962 and has remained in control
since then. 3. In Malaysia, the native people
feared and disliked the Chinese who had
immigrated in the nineteenth century. Local
Chinese communists launched guerrilla activity
after Britain indicated it would give the Malays
a dominant voice in government. The communists
were defeated and in 1957 Malaysia became
self-governing. Independence was granted in
1961. Four years later, largely Chinese Singapore
withdrew from the Federation of Malaysia. 4.
Dutch efforts to reconquer the Netherlands East
Indies after World War II failed and independence
was granted for Indonesia in 1949 under Achmed
Sukarno. Beginning in 1957, he initiated a
"guided democracy." In reprisal for a communist
uprising in 1965, the army killed a half million
or more Indonesian communists, radicals, and
non-communist Chinese. Sukarno, whose communist
ties angered the army, was eased out by General
Suharto in 1967. Suharto permitted a return to
representative government and was elected
president. Suharto's government collapsed in
1998. In 1999 the Indonesia came under world
criticism for its actions in East Timor which
sought independence (the Portuguese half of the
island of Timor had been annexed by Indonesia in
1975). 5. After World War II, the French sought
to reimpose their rule over Indochina. At the
time of the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Ho
Chi Minh, leader of the Indochinese Communist
Party, launched a general uprising and seized
power throughout most of Vietnam. By fall, the
French had regained the southern area followed by
all out war in December 1946. Despite American
aid, the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in
1954. Subsequent peace brought Indochina
independence. Laos and Cambodia became
independent while Vietnam was divided into two
sections at the 17th parallel. The United States
opposed any settlement involving loss of the
whole territory to communism. In 1959 Ho
returned to war in the south. With the southern
government on the verge of collapse in 1963, the
South Vietnamese military seized power. United
States troops were rushed in to preclude total
defeat in 1965. Unwilling to engage in all-out
war for fear of provoking a larger conflict, the
war became a stalemate. In 1969 withdrawal of
U.S. troops began. A peace treaty was signed in
January 1973 that would remove of American forces
and require the north to seek a political
settlement with the south. Negotiations failed
and in early 1975 communists resumed the
offensive. At the end of April, South Vietnam
surrendered and Vietnam was unified. 6. Britain
acquired Hong Kong from the Chinese by the Treaty
of Nanking in 1842 that ended an opium war. It
was returned to China, by treaty, in 1997. 7.
Defeated by the forces of Mao Zedong, Chiang
Kai-shek and about one million Chinese fled to
Taiwan where they proclaimed the Republic of
China. Worried about the communist threat in
Asia at the beginning of the Korean War, the
United States promised to defend the island from
mainland China. In 1954 this was formalized into
a mutual defense treaty. In 1972, the U.S.
began removing troops from Taiwan. Diplomatic
relations were ended in 1978 when relations were
opened with China. The following year the mutual
defense treaty was ended. 8. On the eve of the
Japanese surrender, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. agreed
to divide Korea into two zones at the 38th
parallel. As U.S.-Soviet relations
deteriorated, two separate governments emerged.
On June 25, 1950, with Soviet approval, North
Korea invaded the south. The United States and
the U.N. responded immediately. The conflict
lasted until an armistice was signed July 27,
1953. Question 1. Why did the U.S. get involved
in Southeast Asian affairs? Consequences?
Post-War Conflicts in East Asia
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• Vietnam
• Dien Bien Phu, 1954
• Ho Chi Minh
• Ngo Dinh Diem
• Domino Theory
• Attack of American warships in Gulf of Tonkin
• Armistice, 1973
• North defeat South Vietnam, 1975
• Cold War in Africa
• Zaire (Congo)
• Horn of Africa

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Latin America Population Density and Guerrilla
Warfare 1. On April 1, 1964, Brazils civilian
government was displaced by the military. A
military junta was appointed and a democratic
revolution proclaimed. The military maintained
direct and indirect power until 1990 when it was
discredited and isolated due to failed economic
policies. Resistance to the military took the
form of urban guerrilla warfare. The military
responded with use of systematic torture by the
military police and the rise of "death squads"
against the leftists. The military permitted in
1982 a general election for Congress as well as
state and municipal elections. The military,
however, retained the presidency. In 1990
presidential elections were held and a civilian
was elected. 2. In Uruguay a Marxist urban
guerrilla movement called the Tupamaros was
organized in Montevideo in 1963. In the late
1960s similar guerrilla movements appeared in
Guatemala, Argentina, and Brazil. The Tupamaros
sought a violent overthrow of Uruguay's mixed
economy and the establishment of a completely
socialist state. Their tactics included robbery,
kidnapping, and murder. In 1971, after failing
to stem the guerrillas, the government turned to
the military. The following year a state of
internal war was declared. A counterinsurgency
campaign (with U.S. aid) broke the movement but
at the cost of brutality and repression. In
1981, a general was appointed the head of state.
Democratic elections were finally held in
1984. 3. In 1955, the Argentine military brougbt
down the government of President Juan Per6n who
had served since 1946. The military surrendered
power in 1958 but again in 1962 removed the
president. National elections were held in 1963
but the government was overthrown by the military
in 1966. Free elections were permitted in 1973,
opening the way for the return of Per6n.
Elected, he died a year later and was succeeded
by his wife Isabella who became the first female
head of state in Latin America. As the left and
right sought political advantage, the right
resorted to death squads (created by the Ministry
of Social Welfare) and the left to guerrilla
activity. Civil war seemed immanent in 1976
when the military once again seized power.
Civilian rule was restored in 1982 after war
against Britain over the Malvinas (Falkland)
Islands. 4. In 1970 Salvador Allende was elected
president of Chile when moderates split their
votes. His objective was to create a
Marxist-socialist state. Allande also sought to
continue a program of nationalizing the copper
industry begun by his predecessor. His attempt to
accomplish this without compensation angered the
Nixon administration that aided opponents of the
government. With the economy faltering, the army
under General Augusto Pinochet reacted with a
coup d'etat in 1973 resulting in Allende's
murder. A brutal regime under Pinochet followed
until 1989 when he was defeated by 55 percent of
the vote in a presidential election.
Nevertheless, Pinochet remained in command of the
army and was appointed senator for life. In
1999, he was arrested in England at the behest of
Spain that seeks extradition to try him for
crimes during his regime. 5. In 1979 a guerrilla
group called Sandistas launched an offensive
against President Anastasio Somoza Debayle whose
family had ruled Nicaragua since 1936. After
only seven weeks of fighting, Somoza fled and the
Sandanistas assumed power. Charging that the new
government, Cuba, and the Soviet Union were
supplying arms to rebels in El Salvador, the
United States cut off aid to Nicaragua and began
aiding guerrillas called "contras" who sought to
overthrow the Sandinista government. In 1984,
Daniel Ortega Saavedra, leader of the Sandinista
junta, was elected president with 63 of the
votes. The contra war lasted until 1989 when it
was agreed to call a general election in 1990, a
year early. In the election, Violetta Chamorro
won the presidency. Her term was plagued by
charges of corruption and dismantling the
achievements of the Sandinistas. Fearing
insurrection, in 1991 she brought the army under
her direct command. In 1996 there was a peaceful
transition of power to a new president. 6. Civil
war formally ended in 1992 after twelve years in
El Salvador. Guerrillas, drawing upon the
peasantry and their grievances, had been
fighting a rightist government backed by the
United States. A few years later, 1996, the
civil war in nearby Guatemala was brought to an
end after thirty-six years. Question 1. How did
the military and the right affect the region's
politics?
Latin America Population Density and Guerrilla
Warfare
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Barrio, Rio de Janeiro. Famous slum site south
of Copacabana Beach in Rio
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• Latin America
• High birthrate
• Rapid urbanization
• Dictators
• Rise of Marxism
• Cuba
• Fidel Castro drives out Fulgencio Batista, 1959
• Missile Crisis, October 1962
• Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961
• Soviet missiles in Cuba
• Soviet-U.S. agreements

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• Chile
• Salvador Allende
• Augusto Pinochet
• Central America
• El Salvador
• Nicaragua
• United States since 1960
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Richard M. Nixon and Watergate
• 1960s

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• Soviet Union from Khrushchev to Gorbachev
• Leonid Brezhnev, 1964-1982
• Agricultural production low, standard of living
  slowly improving, arms race
• Mikhail Gorbachev, 1985-1990
• Glasnost
• Perestroika
• Restlessness of religious minorities
• European Political Trends
• Konrad Adenauer in West Germany
• Charles de Gaulle in France
• Margaret Thatcher in Britain
• The Greens

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• Economic Recovery and Prosperity
• European Economic Community
• Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
• Impact of rising petroleum prices
• Rise of unemployment in 1970s and 1980s
• Competition for world markets
• Japanese economy
• Superpower Confrontation and Détente
• Détente in 1960s
• Rapprochment with China
• Tiananman Square, 1989
• Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
• Soviet Union as evil empire

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• Arms Race and Disarmament
• Stockpiles of weapons
• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 1963
• Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, 1972
• Space activity
• Strategic Defense Initiative, Star Wars, 1980s
• Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, 1988