Review IR Lesson 1 What is direct democracy? What is representative democracy? What is an economic and political system that pushes for the “community” to oversee and run the economy? What is a governmental system that calls for the government to own and run all business and make all economic decisions? A government run by a King or Queen is called what? Example? What is an oligarchy? What is an autocracy? What are domestic affairs? The policy of avoiding conflict with foreign nations by limiting foreign relations, is called what? What is neutrality? A statement of how the government is planning on acting toward foreign governments in certain situations is called what?

International Relations Lesson 2 - THE COLD WAR

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) The “Cold War” is the unofficial “war” that was waged between the United States and Soviet Union (and China) for over 40 years following World War II.

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) After World War II, Europe was divided up by the Allies… Western Europe was controlled by the “West” (U.S., Great Britain, and France) Eastern Europe was controlled by the Soviet Union… Freedom & Democracy vs. Communist states

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) Germany and it’s capital of Berlin became “ground zero” for this Cold War. “West Germany” (Federal Republic of Germany) was supported by the U.S. and it’s allies. “East Germany” (German Democratic Republic) was supported by the Soviet Union… FRG GDR

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) Despite being in East Germany (Soviet controlled), the city of Berlin was also divided into “East” and “West” Several attempts were made by East Germany and the Soviet Union to cut off the city to the west…

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) In 1948, East Germany and the Soviets attempted to blockade the West Berlin. In response, the “Berlin Airlift” began as the U.S. and its allies dropped over 8,800 tons of food and fuel to the residents of the city Over 200,000 flights were made between 1948 and 1949

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) In 1961, after failing to blockade West Berlin, the “Berlin Wall” was constructed dividing the city. The wall was almost 12 feet tall and completely surrounded West Berlin (96 miles) The wall was built to “save the East Berlin citizens from the evils of the West”…

The Cold War The United Nations (UN) was created after World War II in order to help prevent future wars and conflict. There are 193 member nations and they meet to coordinate peaceful solutions to global issues such as war, starvation, disease, poverty, and natural disasters.

The Cold War Communism is an governmental system in which the means of production of food and other items are owned and controlled by the “community”/ government. -Communist governments came to power in Russia (1917 becoming the USSR) China (1949) and other smaller nations after WWII. Satellite nations are countries that are controlled by another country. -During the Cold war, the Soviet Union (USSR) tried to control the countries around it and made them into communist satellite nation-states like theirs.

The Cold War Containment was the U.S. policy of stopping the spread of communism. The US worked to do this by influencing other countries to be friendly to the democratic U.S. and not the communist Soviet Union. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/communis.htm NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is the military alliance organization that was originally created to protect against the threat of the Soviet Union and the spread of communism. If one member of NATO is attacked, the other members treat it as an act of war, as well.

The Cold War The Cold War represented a struggle for a balance of power between the US and the Soviet Union. A balance of power is when countries are relatively equal in strength. The US and USSR both had powerful nuclear weapons. They use the threat of these weapons to deter the other from engaging in conflict.

The Cold War The balance of power was tested and became very tense after the Bay of Pigs Invasion, which was an unsuccessful military invasion of Cuba by the U.S. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/history/euro-hist/cold-war/v/bay-of-pigs-invasion In 1962, tensions caused an almost war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The USSR decided to put missiles in Cuba to threaten the U.S. but President Kennedy threatened military action and the tense situation ended. http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis/videos/cuban-missile-crisis

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) In 1961, the “Bay of Pigs” was an attempt by the CIA to use Cuban exiles to invade and overtake Cuba from communist dictator Fidel Castro… As word got out of the mission, the U.S. refused to send in the air support the exiles needed… Most of the exiles were captured and imprisoned, proving a huge embarrassment for Pres. John F. Kennedy…

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) In 1962, the “Cuban Missile Crisis” began as the Soviet Union attempted to place nuclear missiles in Cuba (only 90 miles away from the U.S.) Cuban dictator Fidel Castro had welcomed these into his country… For 13 days, the U.S. and Soviet Union seemed on the brink of nuclear war…

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) Pres. John F. Kennedy threatened to attack Soviet ships carrying these weapons to Cuba… Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev threatened war if he did… When the Soviet ships encountered the U.S. Navy, they turned back and ended the crisis…

Ending The Cold War After varied conflicts with the USSR and other communist nations, finally in 1985, a détente, or lessening of tensions (between the U.S. and the USSR) was announced by the Soviet Union as their empire began to collapse economically and politically. By 1991, the USSR was no more and was divided into many different nations. (Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, …)

US in the “Cold War” (1945-1991) In 1989, the “Berlin Wall” comes down after almost 30 years. Pres. Ronald Reagan gave his “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall…” speech in Berlin two years before… The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ending the Cold War between them and the U.S.