The Cold War 1945 to 1990

Introduction to The Cold War The Cold War – Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union over the 2nd half of the 20th Century Differences in ideologies: The U.S. economic system – Capitalism – Means of production are privately owned an operated and there is free trade The U.S.S.R. economic system – Communism – Means of production are controlled by the state, and there is no private property

The Beginnings The Yalta Conference – In 1945 FDR, Stalin, and Churchill decided to divide up the occupation of Germany: West Germany: Controlled by the U.S., Britain East Germany: Controlled by U.S.S.R, Communist

Post War Goals Soviet Goals American Goals Encourage Communism in other countries Using Eastern Europe for industry, new raw materials, and markets American Goals Encourage Democracy Gain access to raw materials and new markets After WWII, the U.S. was the richest and most powerful country in the world and only lost 400,000 people The USSR had to rebuild – There was a lot of fighting done on their territory The USSR also lost over 20,000,000 people – 50 times more than the US!!

The Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain – The division of Western Europe (Democratic) and Eastern Europe (Communist) This phrase was coined by Winston Churchill in a 1946 speech

American Policy President Truman adopted the policy of Containment – Block USSR influence and stop the spread of communism 1947 – Truman Doctrine – Supported countries that rejected communism – Provided $400 Million of aid to Turkey and Greece 1948 – Marshall Plan – $12.5 Billion program to rebuild countries of Western Countries – Aimed to promote democracy

More Causes Each country had a fear of each other attacking – The Atom Bomb completely changed the dynamic of war The US didn’t share nuclear secrets – USSR develops their own A-Bomb by 1950 Creation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) 1949 – attack on one member would be met by allies USSR created the Warsaw Pact in 1955 – Alliance with communist countries in response to NATO Massive military buildups, arms race, technological competition, espionage (spies) There was never a conflict directly between the US and the USSR – this is why its called the Cold War

Berlin Airlift In 1948, The US, Great Britain, and France withdrew from West Germany and USSR immediately took control Stalin tried to cut off supplies and transportation into West Berlin

Berlin Airlift From June 1948 to May 1949 the Allies constantly flew planes into West Berlin to provide food, fuel, medicine, and even some Christmas gifts

The Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and divided East (Communist) and West (Democratic) Berlin It was a great symbol of the Cold War The wall prevented people from fleeing to either side of Berlin – Many people had been trying to go to West Berlin

Berlin Wall The Wall had an average height of 12 feet and 96 miles of barbed wire In 1989, the wall was finally starting to be destroyed and represented the re-unification of Germany This was the great symbolic ending of the Cold War

The Space Race Beginning in the Late 1950s the Cold War turned to a massive competition of technology This was kicked off with the USSR’s launching of Sputnik in 1957 – It was a satellite and the first man made object in space In response, President Eisenhower created NASA in 1958 – federal agency dedicated to space exploration

Space Race Fear The launch of Sputnik created a great amount of fear in the US People were worried that if they had the capabilities of this, they could launch a nuclear attack on the US Worries of atomic bomb attack, spies, and satellites

The Space Race Both countries continued to make advances in response to each other for a decade In May, 1961 President John F. Kennedy declared that the US would be the first to put a man on the moon In 1969 the US put a man on the moon and was a symbolic victory for the U.S.

Proxy Wars The major conflicts of the Cold War were Proxy Wars – Regional conflicts where the US and USSR didn’t fight each other but supported certain sides in a war Proxy wars generally took place because the US and USSR were afraid of a nuclear war on each other – wanted to protect either Communism or Democracy in certain places Domino Theory – President Eisenhower’s that if one country falls to communism, its neighbor’s will follow

The Korean War North Korea was communist – Supported by the USSR North Korea crossed the 38th Parallel – line dividing North and South Korea – on June 25th, 1950 and launched a surprise attack President Truman’s Containment policy was put to the test

The Korean War The United Nations supporting the South Korea army led by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur By September, 1950 the North Korean army advanced and had overtaken most of the peninsula MacArthur launched a surprise attack and pushed the forces back up north of the 38th Parallel China (Communist) supplied 300,000 troops in October, 1950

The Korean War By January, 1951 China and North Korea had pushed UN forces back into South Korea MacArthur wanted to drop the A-Bomb on China, President Truman didn’t – This was a huge dispute that resulted in MacArthur’s removal By 1953, UN Forces took control of South Korea back and they agreed to stop fighting The border was set back to where it started – 4 million soldiers and civilians had died

Origins of The Vietnam War Vietnam was controlled by the French before and after WWII After WWII, Ho Chi Minh led his Communist Party against the French Imperialists in Vietnam After 9 years of fighting, the French surrender to Ho Chi Minh after their major defeat at Dien Bien Phu The US had supported France because their policy of Containment and the Domino Theory Ho Chi Minh means “He Who Enlightens”

Divided Country After the defeat of France, there was an international peace conference to decide what to do with Vietnam. They divided the country at the 17th parallel North Vietnam was controlled by Ho Chi Minh’s communist forces In South Vietnam, the US and France set up an anti-communist government under the leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem

Turmoil in South Vietnam Diem ruled South Vietnam as a dictator A group of communist guerillas – Vietcong – took over a lot of areas in the South Diem was assassinated by South Vietnamese Generals, but they weren’t like anymore than he was It appeared that the Vietcong – backed by Communist North Vietnam – would takeover

The U.S. Involvement The U.S. committed many more troops to Vietnam in 1964 after 2 U.S. boats had been hit in the Gulf of Tonkin By 1968, The U.S. had committed over 500,000 troops The U.S. faced 2 major difficulties: Fighting guerillas in unfamiliar terrain South Vietnamese government was becoming more and more unpopular The US had to start bombing which made the South Vietnamese even more upset

Bombing and Napalm

Unpopularity in the U.S. Protests were very frequent in the U.S. From 1969 to 1973, the U.S. executed President Nixon’s plan of Vietnamization – gradually pull troops out of Vietnam In 1975, the North Vietnamese overran South Vietnam – 1.5 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans died Vietnam remains communist but relations with the U.S. have been restored

Trouble in Cuba By 1959, Fidel Castro led a group of communist guerillas and overthrew the government – He became a dictator For the next two years, the US and the C.I.A. attempted to push Castro out of power The C.I.A. trained Cuban anti-revolutionary exiles for a possible invasion

Bay of Pigs Invasion On April 17, 1961 President Kennedy (JFK) gave orders to send 1300 exiles armed with US weapons to invade through the Bay of Pigs This was a very secretive operation

Bay of Pigs Invasion JFK had the option to use the Air Force to help the operation be successful, but decided against it What reason would he have to decide against it? By April 19th, 90 exiles were killed, the rest were imprisoned This was a major embarrassment for the U.S.! Fear was increased on both sides

The Cuban Missile Crisis On October 16th, 1962 a spy plane took photos over Cuba, which revealed nuclear missiles being stored – These missiles were only 90 miles from the U.S. coast

Cuban Missile Crisis On October 17th, JFK was informed by the C.I.A. these missiles had a range of 2,000 miles and would only take 17 minutes to get to the U.S. Military intelligence also reported that 20 USSR ships carrying missiles were headed to Cuba JFK presented this information to the American public on October 22nd The world was on the brink of destruction…

Brink of Nuclear Destruction On October 22nd, JFK decided to put a naval blockade on Cuba and declared they would be ready to use military force JFK received two letters from Khruschev- Russian leader – with conflicting statements One was threatening and said the US needed to remove missiles from Turkey One said the USSR would remove missiles if they ended the naval blockade on Cuba

JFK’s Offer JFK offered that if the USSR removed the missiles, the US would end the blockade and promise not to invade Cuba Khruschev had until Oct. 29 to respond or else the US would use military force on Cuba Khruschev accepted on Oct. 28th and nuclear war was avoided Great success for the US – opened a line of communication with the USSR Nuclear Test Ban Treaty – neither would explode a nuclear bomb into the atmosphere – signed in 1963