The Cold War Continues 1940’s and 1950’s

The Reign of Stalin WWII had devastated the SU The people of the SU had it bad Severe housing shortage An average family lived in a one room apartment Stalin continued to be a totalitarian ruler Anti-intellectual campaign Govt. decreed that all literary and scientific work must conform to the political needs of the state Political terror came w/ this campaign

Forming West Germany US, Britain, and France merge their zones of Germany (1948-1949) Allow the Germans to have their own govt. New nation – Federal Republic of Germany, known as West Germany Independent, except not allowed to have a military Keep economy separate from SU zone

East Germany and Berlin The SU zone of Germany b/c known as East Germany Regarding Berlin… SU zone of Berlin = East Berlin US, French, and British zone of Berlin merged together = West Berlin Both sections of Berlin located in the SU zone of Germany = East Germany

Berlin Crisis Creation of West Germany convinced SU they would never get the reparations they wanted SU cut all road and rail traffic to West Berlin Truman sends long-range bombers w/ atomic weapons to bases in Britain The challenge Keep West Berlin alive w/o starting war w/ SU

Berlin Air Lift June 1948 - Truman ordered the Berlin Air Lift to begin For more than 10 months cargo planes supplied West Berlin w/ food, medicine, and coal Stalin finally lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949 America was determined to stand by Berlin

NATO (1949) April 1949 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Mutual defense alliance - agreed to come to the aid of any member who was attacked Alliance of anti-communist nations NATO… 1st time America had committed itself to maintaining peace in Europe Allowed West Germany to rearm themselves and join the organization Makes the SU mad!!!

Warsaw Pact (1955) SU was upset by the actions of NATO SU responds by organizing the Warsaw Pact Alliance b/w Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, etc Now Europe was once again divided into hostile alliances

The Khrushchev Era 1953 Stalin died  Khrushchev enters Khrushchev tried to undo some of the worst features of Stalin’s regime Known as de-Stalinization Khrushchev condemned Stalin for… His administrative violence Mass repression Terror

The Khrushchev Era Khrushchev’s Soviet Union… Loosened govt. controls on literary works Increased agricultural output Was not successful and damaged his reputation w/ the Communist Party Increased military spending Hurt the economy Industry b/g to decline Last straw  he decided to put missiles in Cuba (Cuban Missile Crisis) Soviet leaders voted him out of office

The H-Bomb 1949 – SU had their own atomic bomb Truman is determined to have a more deadly weapon than the SU 1952 – US successfully tests H-bomb H-bomb = hydrogen bomb Thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb 1953 – SU had their own H-bomb

The Red Scare in the US Red Scare – fear of communist subversion Subversion – the effort to secretly weaken a society and overthrow its government Led by Senator Joseph McCarthy McCarthy heightened everyone’s fear by… Accusing hundreds of supposed communists and SU spies in high govt. positions This created a massive “Red Scare” in the US Conducting irrational investigations Like a witch hunt, he had no evidence

McCarthy Goes Down Finally, McCarthy was condemned by the Senate when he b/g attacking alleged communist conspirators in the US Army The America public also b/g to lose faith in him once his trials were shown on TV They saw him badgering witnesses and not allowing them to respond Everyone got to see how irrational McCarthy and his trials were!

Arms Race Arms race – building up a countries armies and weapons (bombs, planes, etc.) B/w the US and the SU This arms race will continue for 4 decades Deterrence – policy that huge arsenals of nuclear weapons on both sides prevented war B/l neither side would launch a nuclear attack b/c the other side would be able to strike back w/ devastating power

ICBM 1957 the SU announced the development of an ICBM ICBM – intercontinental ballistic missile ICBM – a rocket that could travel great distances The SU would use their ICBMs to push Sputnik above Earth’s atmosphere

Sputnik 1957 – SU sent up Sputnik 1 into space First unmanned satellite to orbit the earth Sends the US into PANIC MODE!!!! Did the SU have a massive lead in building missiles??? US starts pouring money into science and education 1958 – US launches its own satellite into space

Space Race US and SU competed for dominance not only on Earth, but also in the sky Both superpowers had… ICBMs to deliver nuclear warheads Aircraft that could be used for spying missions They began to develop technology that could be used to explore and ultimately control space After two decades and a lot of money invested the two superpowers began to cooperate with each other in space exploration