The Cold War: 1940s – 1950s Mr. Bach Hudson High School United States History

Cold War Chess Game The Cold War is much like a game of chess. One side makes a move and the other side makes a strategic decision to counter that move. Chess is game that can take hours to play; the Cold War will last through five decades.

So Let’s Begin the Game! To review what we have covered so far in the Cold War, we will play the Cold War Chess Game. See if you can remember the moves and countermoves for each side.

1945 American Move #1 –Americans detonate atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki –Powerful weapon is threatening to the Soviets given the hard anti-communist stance of the Americans. Soviet Countermove #1 –Soviets use spies within the United States to obtain atomic secrets.

1946 Soviet Move #1: –Iron Curtain descends on Eastern Europe –Soviets ignore American requests for free elections; install puppet governments –Justification: Buffer zone needed because of World War I and II. American Countermove #1: –George Kennan’s Containment Policy –Truman Doctrine (Greece and Turkey) –Marshall Plan (Western Europe)

1948 Soviet Move #2: –Soviets block supply routes into West Berlin American Countermove #2: –Berlin Air Lift –Within one year, Soviet Union backs down

1949 American Move #3 –United States heads a new military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Soviet Countermove #3 –Soviet Union heads a new military alliance, the Warsaw Pact (1955)

1949 Soviet Move #3 –Soviet Union detonates an atomic bomb. –China falls to communism (communist nations’ population is now more than double that of the NATO alliance) American Countermove #3 –Second Red Scare –Loyalty Oathes –Spy Cases (Rosenbergs Executed) –McCarthyism

1950 Soviet Move #4 –Kim Il Sung’s North Korean Communists invade Democratic South Korea American Countermove #4 –The United Nations declares a “police action” to expel the North Korean invaders from South Korea

The UN Security Council 5 nations with permanent veto power

The Korean War

Truman vs. MacArthur

North Korea Today Cease fire in effect since July 27, 1953

Leadership Change in 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower Premier Nikita Khrushchev

Spy vs. Spy Americans develop the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Soviets develop the Committee for State Security (KGB)

The Arms Race AmericansSoviets October 1952 Hydrogen Bomb August 1953 December 1957 ICBMsAugust 1957 January 1958SatelliteOctober 1957 Brinkmanship added to Containment under Eisenhower

Reaction to Sputnik National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) formed in 1958 National Defense Education Act (1958)

Eisenhower’s Farewell Address A Warning – “The Military-Industrial Complex”