TOPIC 1: THE COLD WAR

TOPIC 1A: THE COLD WAR (SOURCE BASED)

INTRODUCTION TO THE COLD WAR

How did the Cold War period shape international relations after the Second World War?

After the Second World War, there was a struggle between two world powers. Why was it called the ‘Cold’ War? The
reason lies in the threat of new and even deadlier weapons of nuclear technology that prevented outright open
warfare. The Cold War was characterised by conflict through proxy wars, the manipulation of more vulnerable states
through extensive military and financial aid, espionage, propaganda, rivalry over technological, and space and
nuclear races, and sport. Besides periods of tense crisis in this bi-polar world, the Cold War deeply affected the newly
independent countries in Africa and the liberation struggles in southern Africa from the 1960s until the 1990s, when
the USSR was dismantled.

Key points that will be covered in this topic.

• The USA and the USSR ended World War II as allies.

• The two wartime peace conferences at Yalta and Potsdam managed to establish a framework for the post-
war world.
• Historians disagree about when the Cold War stared. Some believe it was as early as 1917 when the
communists came to power in Russia.
• Most historians suggest that the creation of the Soviet empire in eastern Europe by 1948, or division of
Germany in 1949 marked the start of the conflict.
• The future of Germany proved to be the most sensitive of the issues dividing the two superpowers.
• Stalin attempted to solve the German problem by forcing the West out of West Berlin in 1948.
• The Berlin airlift followed by the creation of West and East Germany ensured Germany would stay divided
until its reunification in 1990.
• The western powers set up a military alliance to defend themselves against the possibility of an attack from
the communists in the east: NATO
• Powerful personalities, suggest that President Harry Truman and Stalin Played a key role in the breakdown in
relations between the USA and USSR.
• Why America became involved in Cuba
• American and Cuban relations
• The Cuban Missile Crisis.

Spheres of influence

Introduction to the Cold War

In 1941, the last great empire of the last century joined forces with the emerging empires of the new century.
However, this alliance between Great Britain, the USA and the USSR was not to last much beyond the defeat of
Germany in May 1945.By the end of 1949, Europe was divided into two blocs: those countries that were under Soviet
control and those who enjoyed close relations with the USA. Many of the countries that were friendly with the USA
were also members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), an armed alliance of the states. The division of
Europe was symbolised by the fate of Germany after World War Two. Initially carved into four zones of occupation,
which were to initially be administered by Britain, France, USA and the USSR with Berlin in the Soviet zone but
similarly divided up, the failure of Stalin's plan to unite Berlin led to the unification of the three western zones and
the formal creation of West and East Germany.
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Both sides blamed each other for the breakdown in relations. The USA believed that the USSR, under the dictatorial
rule of Stalin, was intent on spreading its communist ideology as far across Europe, and probably beyond. Stalin
insisted the USSR was acting to guarantee its own security after a conflict which had inflicted enormous damage on
its population and landscape.

Instead Stalin pointed to the USA's desire to build a global economic empire, with the US at the center, as the major
cause of tension after the war, and was therefore forced to take extraordinary measures to protect the interests of
the USSR.

Installation of soviet satellite states

Stalin had intended to create "spheres of influence" in eastern and central Europe for some time. Indeed, his dealings
with Roosevelt and Churchill had convinced him that this would be acceptable to the western powers. By the end of
1948, the extent of the USSR's control in eastern Europe stretched, in the famous words of Winston Churchill, from
"Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic". According to Western observers, Stalin also had ambitions to extend
his influence into the Mediterranean and beyond.

The Big Three

Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of Great Britain), Franklin Roosevelt (President of the USA) and Josef Stalin
(Premier of the Soviet Union) pictured together during the Yalta conference. The three leaders met at Yalta in
February 1945 to plan a post-war settlement.

There was tension between the three leaders as ideological differences between the USSR and and the Western
Allies began to resurface.

As a result, the agreements reached ended up being temporary compromises that did not settle the bigger issues.
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Ideological differences that existed between the USSR and the USA before World War II

United States of America USSR

America was a democracy with free, multi-party elections. The Soviet political system was based on communism,
The US economy was capitalist and people were largely with one-party rule and no political opposition allowed.
free to hold any religious or political beliefs. Freedom of Although a constitution was produced in 1936, Soviet
speech was an important feature of American life. The citizens had few political rights. Millions of innocent
rights of ordinary Americans were laid out and protected people were persecuted during the 1930s and religious
by a written constitution. beliefs were not tolerated. Most of the economy was
controlled by the state and was subject to long-term
central planning.

Reasons for the Wests mistrust of the USSR Reasons for Soviet mistrust of the West

Communists believed the capitalist system was wrong

Communism threatened Western values and way of life
because rich people prospered at the expense of the poor.

They disliked the totalitarian policies of Stalin which led to In 1919 after WWI the Allies, as a result of the Paris Peace
forced labour, public trials, deaths and the purges of the Conference, gave away Russian lands to other countries
1930s. eg. Poland.

In the 1930's Stalin distrusted the policy of appeasement,

Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with suspecting that Britain and France saw the Soviet Union as
Hitler in August 1939. the real enemy when in fact it was Hitler and Nazi
Germany.

Communism
TOPIC 1: THE COLD WAR
Capitalism

Installation of soviet satellite states

Stalin had intended to create "spheres of influence" in eastern and central Europe for some time. Indeed, his dealings
with Roosevelt and Churchill had convinced him that this would be acceptable to the western powers. By the end of
1948, the extent of the USSR's control in eastern Europe stretched, in the famous words of Winston Churchill, from
"Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic". According to Western observers, Stalin also had ambitions to extend
his influence into the Mediterranean and beyond.

Reasons why Stalin became so interested in Eastern Europe

The Red Army had made major territorial gains during World War II when they liberated Eastern European countries
from the Nazis. The Red Army occupied these countries throughout the last remaining years and months of WWII.
Communist governments were installed in these liberated countries and were closely controlled by Moscow.

Stalin's total control was not achieved immediately and, as the table below illustrates, Stalin used a variety of
methods to assert his influence in each of the different countries. (Table on the next page)

Key terms defined:

Iron Curtain: Militarised border between the Communist bloc and Western Europe during the period of the Cold War.

Red Army: The army of the Soviet Union

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Country Background Status in WWII Methods used Date
established

Poland Peasant-based economy Divided between Soviet troops remained after liberation 1947
Germany and USSR,
Traditional hatred of USSR then wholly occupied New government formed in June 1945
by Germany dominated by 'Lublin' Poles
Two governments in London
and Lublin Rigged elections in 1947 gave communists 80%
of the vote

Romania Monarchy German ally Soviet troops remained after liberation 1947

Little support for communism Soviets accepted a coalition government in

1945, accepting key positions for communists

Gradually took over the police and security

forces

Rigged elections in 1946 gave the communists

and their allies 90% of the vote

'Show trial' of main opposition leader in

October 1947

King Michael forced to abdicate in December

Bulgaria Monarchy German Ally Soviet troops remained after liberation 1947

Historically close to Russia Initially joined a coalition with other parties,

'the Fatherland Front'

Purged rival groups from 'The Fatherland Front'

Hungary Agriculture-based economy German Ally Soviet troops remained after liberation 1948

Little support for communists Communists won 17% of the vote in November
1945 elections but were given control of the
Ministry of the Interior

Used secret police to discredit and persecute

rival politicians and parties

Rigged elections in 1947 gave communists

control of a coalition government

Social Democratic Party and Communist Party

merged in 1948

Czechoslovakia Established democracy before Invaded by Germany Soviet troops left after the war 1948
1939 by March 1939
Post-war elections gave communists leadership
Strong support for communists of a balanced, coalition government

President Benes prepared to Gradually assumed control of key government

cooperate with Stalin ministries allowing them to arrest political
opponents

Foreign Minister Jans Masaryk, a popular and

non-communist politician, murdered in May
1947

All non-communist members of the

government resigned in February 1948, with
communists filling vacant positions
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Stalin wanted Eastern Europe to act as a buffer between Germany and the USSR, to prevent another invasion of the
Soviet Union. Stalin saw it as vital to the development of the Soviet economy. These countries would be a source of
cheap goods and raw materials. They would also be forced to trade with the Soviet Union. Some historians believe
that Stalin's interest in Eastern Europe was part of a pattern of conquest. Others believe that Stalin would have been
happy to allow coalition governments to continue, but hostility from the West, forced him to impose a harsh regime
in this area.

Origin, Purpose, Value and Limitations Guidelines

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The more you do know about where a document is coming from, the easier it is to ascertain purpose, value and
limitation. This is where you would also identify if it were a primary or secondary source.

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others.
• Secondary Source – materials that are written with the benefit of hindsight and materials that filter primary
sources through interpretation or evaluation. Books commenting on a historical incident in history are secondary
sources.

• Who is the author?

• When was it created?
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• Where was it published?
• Who is publishing it?
• Is there anything we know

Purpose:
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must be able to think as the author of the document. At this point you are still only focusing on the single piece of
work you are evaluating.

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Limitation:
The task here is not to point out weaknesses of the source, but rather to say: at what point does this source cease to
be of value to us as historians? With a primary source document, having an incomplete picture of the whole is a
given because the source was created by one person and naturally, they will not have given every detail of the
context. Do not say that the author left out information unless you have concrete proof (from another source) that
they chose to leave information out. Also, it is obvious that the author did not have prior knowledge of events that
came after the creation of the document. Do not state that the document “does not explain X” (if X happened later).

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• What does the author leave out and why does he/she leave it out (if you know)?
• What is purposely not addressed?

The Reaction of the West to Soviet control of Eastern Europe

The West became increasingly alarmed at the situation in Eastern Europe. They saw Stalin as a dictator who easily
eliminated any opposition. After the Iron Curtain speech was made by Winston Churchill in Fulton, Missouri, it
became clear to President Harry Truman that the threat of the spread of communism had become more apparent
and that Stalin could possibly become a greater threat to Europe than what Hitler was.

Matters were brought to a head for Truman by events in the Mediterranean. In March 1947 Britain announced that it
could no longer afford to sustain its support for the Greek government in the civil war that had been going on
between royalist and Yugoslav-backed communists since the liberation of Greece in 1944. If the USA wanted to
prevent Greece, and possibly Turkey, falling into communist hands, it would have to act decisively and quickly.

There were further fears that the communist parties in France and Italy, both sponsored by Moscow, would come to
power. Both countries were experiencing terrible economic hardship after the war, made worse by poor harvest in
1946-7, and the failure of the coalition governments in both countries to deal with the situation made the possibility
of a communist takeover more likely.

In response Truman introduced a policy of containment which consisted of two main elements: commitment to help
any country threatened by totalitarian aggression known as the "Truman Doctrine" and the creation of the European
Recovery Programme or "Marshall Aid".

Harry Trumans Policy of Containment

Harry Truman's Policy of Containment dealt directly with the threat of the spread of communism. The term
containment means to keep something harmful under control. In this case, it means to stop the spread of
communism around Europe and to other places around the globe. This policy would lead to America being involved
in many different conflicts over the next 44 years in various places around the world such as in Korea, Cuba, Vietnam
and even in South Africa.

The Truman Doctrine Marshall Aid

Truman persuaded Congress to provide $400 million in The European Recovery Programme which became
economic and military aid for Greece. He described commonly known as Marshall Aid because it was
the world as divided between the free and the announced by Secretary of State (equivalent of a Minister of
oppressors and provided an open-ended commitment Foreign Affairs) George Marshall in June 1947.
to defend free countries threatened by aggressive
The aims of the plan were to stabilise the economies of
neighbours throughout the world.
Europe and prevent the growth of communism in European
democracies.

The USA offered money, equipment and goods to states in

order to aid 'free people seeking to preserve their
independence and democratic institutions and human
freedoms against totalitarian pressures either internal or
external'.

Countries that received the aid had to agree to remove

trade barriers and to cooperate economically with each
other.
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Stalin's reaction to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid
Stalin didn't appear too concerned by the launch of the Truman Doctrine but regarded Marshall Aid as a serious
threat to Soviet interests. He recognised that the programme would require recipients to bring their economic
policies into line with American interests. This would undoubtedly undermine his control over eastern Europe. More
importantly, however, he regarded it as an act of ideological warfare, through the creation of a US-dominated
capitalist alliance directed against the USSR.

In response, Stalin convened a conference of Communist Party leaders in September 1947, where the assembled
leaders were left in no doubt about how threatening the implementation of Marshall Aid could be for the future of
communism in Europe. The conference also established COMINFORM (Communist Information Bureau), whose
purpose was to maintain the unity of the assembled nations under Moscow's control. Stalin also used this as an
opportunity to tighten his control over Czechoslovakia, the only country which still retained some political
independence from the USSR.

COMINFORM held regular meetings in Moscow, which allowed Stalin to keep a firm control on the Soviet 'satellite'
countries. Independent-minded leaders were replaced by those who were completely loyal to Stalin

THE BERLIN CRISIS

What was the Berlin Crisis?

The USA's policy of containment was soon put to the test in Berlin. Nowhere were the underlying tensions of the
Cold War so close to the surface as here in the former capital of Germany, which lay deep within the Soviet zone and
and was divided into four sectors of occupation. Many in the West saw Berlin as a symbol of freedom behind the
Iron Curtain.

The division of West and East Germany with Berlin in the The division of Berlin which was divided within the Soviet
East German zone. zone of East Germany.

West = Democratic/Capitalist West = Democratic/Capitalist

East = Communist East = Communist

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As you can see in the images above, Germany and Berlin were separated into different zones of occupation. This
division was agreed upon at the the Potsdam Conference (17 July to 2 August 1945), after Germany's unconditional
surrender on 8 May 1945.

In June 1948, in an attempt to promote economic recovery in the Western zones (USA, British and French) the
Western occupying powers introduced a new currency: a new Deutschmark. The Deutschmark replaced the
worthless Reischsmark which was used by the Third Reich (Nazi Germany). Stalin and the Soviet Union took
exception to this and demanded that it went against the agreement on common economic policies, and used it as an
excuse to impose a blockade.

Because Berlin was situated deep inside the Soviet zone of East Germany, Stalin would be able to exert quite a
substantial amount of pressure on West Berlin which was occupied by the USA, Britain and France.

Stalin closed all routes - road, rail and canal - linking Berlin and the West, cutting off the two and a half million
citizens in the Western sectors.

Key terms defined.

Blockade - To seal off (a place) to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving.

The West's response to the Berlin Blockade

The Western leaders were faced with a dilemma. on the one hand, if they tried to force a route through Berlin, the
USSR would interpret this as act of war, which France in particular refused to consider. On the other hand, to do
nothing would be seen as a sign of weakness, and would probably result in a communist takeover of the whole of
Berlin. Western leaders came up with a third alternative - they crated an 'airbridge'. Stalin did not close the three air-
lanes through to Berlin from the West. The third plan involved transporting goods via the air to West Berlin so that
the citizens of West Berlin could attain their basic necessities. For nearly a year the Western allies would fly goods in
from West Germany on a daily basis. This became known as the Berlin Airlift and was codenamed Operation Vittles.

Operation Vittles lasted 11 months, involved nearly 300 000 flights and brought over two million tons of cargo to the
beleaguered (situation of great difficulty) city. Coal, food, petrol, and other resources were transported by air from
three bases in the western sectors of Germany. By mid 1949, planes were landing in West Berlin at a rate of one
every two minutes.

Although the Soviets did not fire directly on the incoming aircraft, they deployed a range of obstruction tactics which
included jamming radios and shining searchlights to temporarily blind pilots.

Stalin lifts the Blockade

Stalin lifted the blockade in May 1949, having failed in his goal of uniting the city under Soviet control. The efforts of
the British and American air forces, coupled with the remarkable determination of the two million Germans in West
Berlin, ensured that the three western powers maintained control of the city. However, the airlift had not been
achieved without significant cost. Sixty-five German, British and American lives were lost during the operation to
keep the city alive.

After this crisis, Germany was firmly divided into two separate states. In 1949 the three Western zones became the
German Federal Republic but was still commonly referred to as West Germany, with Bonn as its capital. West Berlin
was included as part of West Germany. Also, in 1949 the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic but

The Germany Federal Republic The German Democratic Republic

TOPIC 1: THE COLD WAR
was still commonly referred to as East Germany, with East Berlin as its capital.

Opposing military alliances: NATO

As part of its policy of containment, the USA formed a defence alliance - the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
(NATO - with its Western European allies). In response, the USSR and its allies formed the Warsaw Treaty
Organisation. Europe was now once again divided into two heavily armed camps.

When else did alliances play a role in a major worldwide catastrophe?

NATO - The formation of NATO

There were several reasons why NATO was formed

• The USSR had extended its control over Eastern Europe. The West believed that Western Europe was
also threatened.
• The military strength of the Soviet Union was much greater than the combined strength of the armed
forces of Western Europe, unless they had American support.
• The USSR and the West saw each other as enemies. This was demonstrated in the confrontation over
Berlin in 1948-49 (Berlin Blockade).
• The United Nations was unable to resolve problems because of the veto rights of the permanent
members of the Security Council (the USA, The USSR, Britain, France and China).

Key terms defined (NB these terms will appear throughout this section please ensure that you understand them)

Veto - The United Nations Security Council "veto power" refers to the power of the five permanent members of the
UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) to veto any "substantive"
resolution. This means that they can change a decision or vote against it and the decision will have to be changed.

What was NATO?

NATO was a defensive alliance which included a host of European countries such as France, Belgium, Holland, Britain
and then also included America and Canada. Its headquarters were set up in Paris. NATO had a small standing army
but also included the USA's nuclear capacity. The first commander-in-chief of NATO was General Dwight Eisenhower
who was a successful American General during World War II and would later become the President of the USA. Much
like Marshall Aid, America was also the main financial contributor to NATO. The states that were members of NATO
agreed on the following terms:

• Military cooperation
• They would fight only if attacked
• An attack on a member state would be regarded as an attack on all member states.
• All member states would contribute to the military complement of NATO troops
• Military force would be used to defend the interests and sovereignty of member states in the North
Atlantic region

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty stated the following: The parties agree that an armed attack against one or
more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.

The USA would later use NATO countries in Europe as places where they could construct and develop nuclear bases.
Turkey and Italy were two European countries which received nuclear weapons from America and constructed
nuclear weapons bases.

OPPOSING MILITARY ALLIANCES: WARSAW PACT

The USSR responded to the formation of NATO by forming the Warsaw Treaty Organisation, which was commonly
known as the Warsaw Pact. Eight communist countries agreed in Poland to unify their armed forces under a central
command. The Warsaw Pact consisted of pf the following states: Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
TOPIC 1: THE COLD WAR
Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union. The formation of the Warsaw Pact was a direct response to the
rearmament of West Germany, and its incorporation into NATO.

Warsaw Pact- The formation of the Warsaw Pact

Article 4 of the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance stated the following:

In the event of an armed attack in Europe on one of several states that are signatories of the Treaty by any State or
group of States, each State that is a Party to this Treaty shall in the exercise of the right to individual or collective self-
defence in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the UN Organistation render the State or States so attacked
immediate assistance...by all the means it may consider necessary, including the use of force.

• The Commander-in-Chief was always a Soviet army officer, with its headquarters in Moscow. The first
Commander-in-Chief was Marshall Ivan Stepanovich Koniev.
• The Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Chief of the Joint Staff were also Soviet officers.
• So too were the Commander-in-Chief for the three separate branches of the armed forces.

Whilst the creation of the Warsaw Pact allowed the USSR to strengthen its forces across eastern Europe, it also
provided a further mechanism to keep the eastern bloc countries in line.

An example of this was when Hungary threatened to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. The USSR used troops from
the Warsaw Pact countries as well as its own army to crush the opposition in Hungary.

What implications did the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact have on Cold War relations?

• Tension and hostility between the West and East had worsened and these two regional defense systems
hardened the divisions in Europe creating two opposing power blocs.
• The world was clearly divided by those countries who were pro democracy and capitalism and those that
were pro communism.
• Because the world was divided into two separate alliance camps there was always the risk and danger of
a third World War starting if any of the countries in the alliances attacked one another.

The Berlin Wall

With Western help, especially the Marshall Plan, the economy of West Germany and West Berlin recovered rapidly
from the war during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

On the other hand, the economy of East Germany, including East Berlin, slumped. This was the result of two factors:

1. A lack of capital [money for investment]; and

2. The Soviet demand from its German zone for reparations for losses it had suffered during World War II.
Reparations often meant the physical removal of whole factories and even railway tracks to the Soviet Union. The
result was that, over a number of years, hundreds of thousands of East German workers, especially the young and
skilled, crossed into West Germany via Berlin in search of a more prosperous way of life. This was known as the
"Brain Drain".

The "Brain Drain" made the East German economy even poorer and threatened the collapse of East Germany itself.
The Soviet Union and East Germany decided to act. On the night of 12–13 August 1961, a barbed-wire barrier was
set up between West Berlin and East Germany.

Later this was replaced by a concrete wall four metres high, with 300 watchtowers over its more than 100 km length.
This became known to the world as the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall effectively stopped the flow of refugees from
East to West Germany, although a few did manage to escape either at ground level, underground, or by means of
aircraft. Although the Berlin Wall separated families and friends for many years, it led to some stability. The Soviet
Union did not try to force the Western powers out of Berlin again, while the West accepted the permanent nature of
TOPIC 1: THE COLD WAR
the division of Berlin. The East German economy also recovered, slowly. Yet it was clear to all that a concrete wall
was necessary to keep the East Germans inside their Communist state. This, obviously, was not a good
advertisement.

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

WHY DID AMERICA BECOME INVOLVED IN CUBA?

Background to Americas initial involvement in Cuba

In the Treaty of Paris in 1898 Cuba gained its independence from Spain. Under Cuba's new constitution, the USA had
the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Cuba served an economic
purpose for America as it forced the Cubans to sell raw materials for low prices. The USA also made sure that Cuba
bought American manufactured goods, and by 1914 three-quarters of Cuban imports came from the USA. The USA
also invested heavily in the Cuban economy: the railway industry was run by the USA, the telephone system and
tobacco plantations were controlled by the USA, and two-thirds of all arable land was under American control. The
USA also took control of Guantanamo Bay and made it an important base for the US navy.

Cuba in the 1950's

After 50 years of independence but under a heavy American influence, discontent was spreading in Cuba.
Unhappiness at America involvement in Cuba was evident among the people. The USA had a huge influence over
Cuban politics. No government would be elected unless they were willing to implement policies favourable to the
USA. In return for their cooperation, government ministers in Cuba received payments from American businessmen.

Earl Smith was the American Ambassador in Cuba between 1957 and 1959

The Unites States...was so overwhelmingly influential in Cuba that... the American Ambassador was the second
most important man in Cuba sometimes even more important than the President of Cuba.

David Deter, an American Journalist who visited Cuba in the 1950s

Brothels flourished. A major industry grew up around them: Government officials received bribes, policemen
collected protection money. Prostitutes could be seen standing in doorways, strolling the streets, or leaning from
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windows...one report estimated that 11 500 of them worked their trade in Havana...Beyond the outskirts of the
capital, beyond the slot machines, was one of the poorest - and most beautiful - countries in the western world.

Detzer, D., 1979.The brink: story of the Cuban missile crisis, Crowell.

The attractiveness of Cuba to visiting Americans increased. Cuba became a holiday island for rich Americans. It was a
place where they could enjoy pleasures that were illegal in many states in North America. These included drinking,
gambling and prostitution. The relaxed government controls meant that soon the American Mafia controlled much of
the gambling, horse racing, and hotels in Cuba. Often the mafia even had agreements with the president of Cuba
himself to protect their interests.

Arthur Schlesinger wrote the following report on Cuba and was later published in the book The Dynamics of World
Power

The corruption of the Government, the brutality of the police, the government's indifference to the needs of the
people for education, medical care, housing, for social justice and economic justice ... is an open invitation to
revolution.

Tourists and Cubans gamble at the casino in the Hotel Nacional in Havana, 1957. Meyer Lansky, who led the U.S.
mob’s exploitation of Cuba in the 1950s, set up a famous meeting of crime bosses at the hotel in 1946.

Tension developed between the USA and Cuba

In 1959 Cuba underwent a revolution. The unpopular regime of President Batista was overthrown by the
revolutionary Fidel Castro. Castro promised to restore power in Cuba to its people and to end the American
corruption in the country.

Fidel Castro

Pre-political career

Born to wealthy Cuban family with American links.

Graduated as a lawyer.

Political Career

Campaigned against Batista's regime in Cuba and

managed to overthrow it with guerilla force. Gained
support by promising to give the land back to the people
and to defend the rights of the poor.

Character and outlook

A decisive figure (causes conflict), Castro gained support

and fame by being someone who managed to stand up
to America.
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Cuban Revolution - Fidel Castro, a young lawyer and activist, petitioned for the overthrow of Batista, whom he
accused of corruption and tyranny. After deciding that the Cuban regime could not be replaced through legal means,
Castro resolved to launch an armed revolution. The revolution began in July 1953, and continued sporadically until
the rebels finally ousted Batista on 31 December 1958, replacing his government.

Area Batista (USA influence) Castro

Land 75% of best farming land owned by Land redistributed to peasants and
USA rentals cut by 50%

Equality Cuba followed segregation policies Segregation abolished

Education Highly illiterate Free education for all

Health Care 6000 doctors in Cuba, over 65% work Doctors redistributed to rural areas
in Havana and healthcare is made free

Trade links America dominated Cuban industry Castro negotiated trade agreements
with Soviet Union and communist
countries

HOW DID THE USA REACT TO THE CUBAN REVOLUTION

As we have already seen, the changes made by Castro reduced American influence in Cuba. America resented its loss
of a control over the country but was also concerned about the spread of communist ideas so close to America.
American companies and individuals had lost out as Castro's redistribution of land saw land owned by American
companies being given to ordinary Cubans. Castro also nationalised a lot of industries, taking power away from
American companies who had previously dominated much of Cuba's economy.

In order to try and prevent this President Eisenhower began economic sanctions. The USA stopped trading with
Cuba and refused to buy Cuban raw materials and sugar. This was intended to undermine the Castro regime, or at
least force a change in economic policies.

On 17 March 1960, President Eisenhower approved a plan at the meeting of the US National Security Council.
America had decided to remove Castro. A budget of $13 million was agreed and plans were drawn up.

Key terms defined (NB these terms will appear throughout this section please ensure that you understand them)

Nationalised When a government takes over privately owned businesses and makes them publicly owned.

Economic sanctions When a country decides to stop trading with another. This is usually done to force a change,
usually politically

The Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Planned Invasion

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) planned an invasion of Cuba in 1961. The invasion would involve exiled
businessmen and politicians. The plan was to attack Cuban airbases and then 1400 troops which included the
business and political exiles would land at night on a remote beach in Cuba known as the "Bay of Pigs". These troops
would then receive aid from paratroopers who would be dropped to disrupt transportation and occupy any Cuban
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forces. A smaller force was to then land on the east coast of Cuba to create confusion in a second attack. The troops
would march on Havana (Cuban capital), with the Cuban exiles gaining support from the Cuban population before
overthrowing Castro and his government.

The invasion was a complete failure

The Bay of Pigs invasion was a disaster. America failed in both objectives: Castro was not removed and the USA had
to admit responsibility for the attacks.

Poor secrecy: Despite government efforts to keep the invasion plans covert (to conceal/hide or keep secret), it
became common knowledge among Cuban exiles in Miami. Through Cuban intelligence, Castro learned of the
guerrilla training camos in Guatemala and was therefore prepared for an attack.

Failure to control the air: The plan started to unravel from the first action. The air strikes missed many of their
targets. As news broke of the attacks, photos of the repainted American planes became public and revealed
American support for the invasion. Crucially the Cuban air force was left intact.

Failure to gain support: when the invasion forces landed on the beaches along the Bay of Pigs they immediately
came under heavy fire. Some escaped into the sea, others were killed or captured. Very few, if any, of the Cuban
population joined the invaders.

Response: Castro ordered roughly 20 000 troops to advance toward the beach and the Cuban air force continued to
control the skies. Without American air support and with such small troop numbers the invasion failed.

The aftermath
The captured troops were paraded by Castro and used as propaganda. His popularity increased as he repelled an
American invasion. Eventually after 20 months in prison, the USA negotiated a deal to exchange the prisoners for
goods scarce in Cuba, with Castro receiving baby food and medicine worth $53 million.

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

What lead to the Cuban Missile Crises and why it was a turning point in the Cold War?

The attempted American invasion in Cuba showed how vulnerable Castro's new regime was to American
interference. The USA had made it clear that they wanted to remove Castro and install a more USA-friendly leader.
Castro's country was not capable of a long-term defense against American aggression, however with support from
another communist country they would be more likely to survive.

On the 15 October 1962 a U2 spy plane flew over Cuba.

The Spy plane was flying over Cuba collecting images that would be assessed by the C.I.A

The findings were terrifying: missile launches, and nuclear missiles had been spotted in Cuba. At first glance of the
images, it was hard for the C.I.A to tell exactly what type of missiles were on Cuba, but it soon became apparent that
the missiles were extremely dangerous and had the potential of reaching Washington D.C which was almost 2000km
away from Cuba.
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Key role players in the events that were about to follow

President John F Kennedy

• Pre-political career: From a wealthy and powerful

family, Kennedy entered politics after serving in the
military in the Second World War.
• Political Career: Kennedy became the US's second
youngest president in 1961, aged only 43. His brief
time in office was characterised by combating the
spread of communism and the Civil Rights
Movement. He was assassinated in 1963.
• Character and outlook: Kennedy was charismatic,
charming and glamourous. He was Americas first TV
president and drew fame and admirers for the life
he lived

Nikita Khrushchev

• Succeeded Stalin as leader of USSR in 1953

• First Soviet leader to visit USA.
• De-Stalinised Soviet Union and informed Soviet
Union of the mass number of deaths caused by
Stalin.
• He implemented the building of the Berlin Wall

Fidel Castro

• Law Graduate
• Used Guerrilla warfare to overthrow Batista
regime.
• Gained support by promising to give land back
to the people and defend rights of the poor.
• Successfully repelled and defeated the USA at
the Bay of Pigs Invasion
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REASONS WHY NUCLEAR MISSILES WERE PLACED IN CUBA.

Political Reasons

Some within the Soviet Union felt Khrushchev was not aggressive enough towards America. They felt he was weak
and in the past had appeased the Americans. A message needed to be sent out that he was strong. Cuba was an ally
of the Soviet Union. Missiles there would act as a deterrent against another attack like the one in the previous years.

Military Reasons

The Soviet Union did not have a close enough base from which to strike at America. As Cuba was only 90 miles away
missiles placed on the island would be able to reach the USA. The USA had recently placed missiles in Turkey which
bordered the Soviet Union. Placing missiles in Cuba would give the USA less of an advantage.

Options available to Kennedy

After the C.I.A had anaylsed the photographs taken of Cuba their first task was to alert the President (the President
also serves as the commander in chief of the army). The final decision on how the U.S.A would respond to the
weapons' that had been placed on Cuba would ultimately rest with President Kennedy. In order to make the right
decision, Kennedy decided to appoint trusted advisors to a special committee who would be able to advise him on
how to handle the situation. The committee became known as Executive Committee of the National Security Council
or commonly referred to as EXCOMM.

Kennedy had 6 major options available to him. It was of the utmost importance that he made the right decision
because of the risk that would be incurred if he made the wrong decision, one being World War III which would be a
nuclear war.

1. No action. Failed Bay of Pigs had shown military action towards Cuba could be difficult.
2. Use diplomatic measures to make the USSR and Cuba remove the missiles. Negotiation rather than
aggression.
3. Threaten Castro: Give a clear warning as to what will happen if they were not removed.
4. Naval Blockade: Use USA ships to stop more missiles arriving on the island
5. Air strikes: Attempt to destroy the missiles from the air.
6. Full ground invasion: Commit American troops to the invasion of Cuba to destroy the missiles.

The image below shows how Kennedys decision could have escalated from a 'cold' situation where no war or conflict
would take place to a 'hot' situation where war and conflict would take place.

Kennedy's decision

After much deliberation between Kennedy and EXCOMM, Kennedy decided to take a moderately aggressive stance
on Cuba. Kennedy decided to impose a naval blockade on Cuba and would turn around any Soviet ships attempting
to enter the island. A blockade means that the U.S navy was used to surround the island of Cuba and ensure that no
new nuclear weapons arrived in Cuba. Trade goods were allowed to enter the island but if a ship was suspected of
carrying weapons then the U.S navy were ordered to stop the ship and search it for weapons. If a ship was suspected
of carrying weapons and did not stop to be searched or inspected and continued its course to Cuba then the U.S
navy would be ordered to attack the ship. Soviet ships began turning back (implying they were carrying warheads)

Khrushchev responded by sending two separate letters to Kennedy and EXCOMM.

On 26 October Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy. It suggested that the missiles could be withdrawn if the USA
made a promise not to invade Cuba.

If the assurances were given that the President of the United states would not participate in an attack on Cuba and
the blockade lifted, then the question of the removal of the missile sites would be an entirely different question. This
is my proposal. No more weapons to Cuba and those within Cuba withdrawn or destroyed, and you reciprocate by
ending your blockade and also agree not to invade Cuba.
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On the 27th of October Khrushchev sent a second letter which was overall more aggressive in its tone.

"Our purpose has been to help Cuba, and no one can challenge the humanity of our motives aimed at allowing Cuba
to live peacefully and develop as its people desire. You want to relive your country from danger and this is
understandable. However, Cuba also wants this. All countries want to relieve their country from danger. But how can
we the Soviet Union and our government, assess your action which, in effect, means that you have surrounded the
Soviet Union with military bases, surrounded our allies with military bases, set up military bases literally around our
country, and stationed your rocket weapons at them? This is no secret, high-placed American officials
demonstratively declare this. Your rockets are stationed in Britain and in Italy and are pointed at us. Your rockets are
stationed in Turkey.

You are worried over Cuba. You say that it worries you because it lies at a distance of ninety miles across the sea
from the shores of the United States. However, Turkey lies next to us. Our sentinels are pacing up and down
watching each other. Do you believe that you have the right to demand security for your country and the removal of
such weapons that you qualify as offensive, while not recognising this right for us?

You have stationed devastating rocket weapons which you call offensive, in Turkey literally right next to us. How
does recognition of your equal military possibilities tally with such unequal relations between our great states? This
does not tally at all."

A final deal is made which concluded the crisis

A final secret deal was made between the USA and the USSR. The deal was made by Robert F. Kennedy (the
Presidents brother) the United States Attorney General and the Soviet ambassador to the U.S.A. Kennedy issued an
ultimatum, either the missiles are removed from Cuba or America would have to start a full scale ground invasion
OR if the Cuban missiles were removed, then the USA would remove their missiles that were in Europe. The Soviets
agreed to dismantle the weapon sites in exchange for a pledge from the USA not to invade Cuba. The U.S.A secretly
removed their missiles in Europe six months later.

Because this deal was made, nuclear war was completely avoided. The situation in Cuba nearly pushed the U.S.A and
its allies along with the U.S.S.R to the brink of nuclear warfare. We call this brinkmanship. The conflict involved
countries which had nuclear capacity and if these countries did decide to attack each other it would have led
to mutually assured destruction (M.A.D). This means that if the countries did attack each other using their nuclear
weapons that they would have both completely destroyed each other and probably many other countries as well.

Key terms defined (NB these terms will appear throughout this section please ensure that you understand them)

A cold war- A war where no physical fighting takes place between two countries particularly between the U.S.A and
U.S.S.R

Brinkmanship - The practice, especially in international relations, of taking a dispute to the verge of conflict in the
hope of forcing the opposition to make concessions.

Mutually Assured Destruction - When full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause
the complete destruction of both the attacker and the defender.
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TOPIC 1B: CASE STUDY - THE VIETNAM WAR

(ESSAY)
INTRODUCTION: HOW WAS A SMALL COUNTRY LIKE VIETNAM ABLE TO WIN A WAR AGAINST THE USA?

Overview of the struggle against colonial powers prior to World War II

Map of Vietnam before Vietnam the war

(Note: The details of the early history of Vietnam above are provided as background. You do not need to know them
for examination purposes. You need to know, however, that Vietnam had long periods of Chinese domination,
followed by a period of French colonialism from the late 19th century)

The Vietnamese had fought for their independence from China for many centuries. The first rising against Chinese
rule occurred in the year 40 AD (CE). It was led by the two Trung sisters, but the Chinese soon crushed the rising and
the Trung sisters committed suicide by drowning themselves. They have been revered [deeply respected] by the
Vietnamese ever since. In 248 AD (CE) another woman, Trieu Au, led another rebellion. Wearing golden armour, she
rode into battle on an elephant, leading a thousand men. However, she too was soundly defeated by the Chinese and
drowned herself. There were regular rebellions against Chinese rule down the centuries, some of which were
successful, but every time the Chinese were defeated they eventually returned. The Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan,
whose empire included Mongolia and China, invaded Vietnam three times. On each occasion his forces were
defeated by the Vietnamese general, Tran Hung Dao. The last time was in 1287, when Tran used guerrilla tactics to
defeat the Mongol Empire. After this victory, Tran declared: ‘This ancient land will live forever’. The Chinese invaded
again in the early 15th century, and this time were able to impose a brutal regime that suppressed the Vietnamese
language and culture. In 1418, Le Loi began a guerrilla war against the Chinese, defeating them in 1428. However,
once again the Chinese returned. It was only in 1802, with the help of the French, that Vietnam was finally freed
from Chinese domination. Vietnam then expelled the French. However, in 1858 the French sent an army to Vietnam
and occupied the south of the country. By 1887, the rest of the country had been taken over too. Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia were incorporated into French Indochina and the Vietnamese struggle for independence had to begin all
over again.
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At the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I (1919) a young Vietnamese
stood up and demanded his country’s freedom. He was ignored. This young man was
to become known as Ho Chi Minh (‘He Who Enlightens’). In 1930, together with his
former school friend, Vo Guyen Giap, he founded the Vietnamese Communist Party.
During World War II, in September 1940, it was Japan’s turn to invade Vietnam. In
1941 Ho founded the Vietminh, the League for the Independence of Vietnam. He was
to be its political leader and Giap its military leader. Giap formed guerrilla bands to
resist the Japanese. These would later become the basis of the North Vietnamese
Army.

EVENTS PRIOR TO THE VIETNAM WAR

The period immediately after World War II in Vietnam During World War II, the Japanese invaded Vietnam.

When the Japanese were defeated in World War II (1945), Giap led his troops into the capital, Hanoi, in the north. On
2 September1945, Ho Chi Minh declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam independent.

The British, who had occupied the south of Vietnam, now decided to hand it over to the former colonial power,
France. This would allow Britain to re-occupy its own former colonies in Asia. The French returned and tried to re-
establish their authority.

In the north, the Nationalist Chinese occupied Hanoi and began killing political opponents, such as communists. They
then agreed to hand the north back to the French, who tried to re-establish their control over this part of Vietnam.
However, fighting soon developed

between the French and the Vietminh. This became known as the First Indochina War (1946–1954). The USA, fearful
of the spread of communism in Asia, now backed the French.

However, in May 1954, the Vietminh managed to secure a crushing victory over the French at the fortress [fortified
town] of Dien Bien Phu. More than 10 000 French soldiers were captured. This was a clear and humiliating defeat for
France. The Geneva Conference between Britain, France, the USA, the USSR and China met shortly afterwards and
reached an agreement called the Geneva Accords. In terms of this agreement, Vietnam would be temporarily divided
at the 17 degrees North (17°N) parallel (line of latitude), with the Vietminh to the north and the French to the south.
A five-mile-wide demilitarised zone would separate the two sides. North of the17th parallel, Ho Chi Minh took
control of North Vietnam. South of the 17th parallel, the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) was created as a
capitalist, anti-communist state under Ngo Dinh Diem. The French withdrew from Vietnam, and the USA moved in to
support South Vietnam. From the Vietnamese point of view, the Americans had replaced the French as an effective
colonial force.

Part of the Geneva Accords laid down that countrywide elections would be held in 1956, to unite Vietnam into one,
independent state. However, these elections never took place as it became increasingly clear to Diem and the
Americans that Diem would lose and that Vietnam would therefore be united under the communist leader of the
North, Ho Chi Minh, backed by his Vietminh forces.

The American government believed in the ‘Domino Theory’ (or Domino Effect) – the idea that if one Asian country
fell to communism, its neighbours would soon follow. As USA President Eisenhower said in 1954: ‘You have a row of
dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go
over very quickly’. (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2017.)
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Vice-President Johnson of the USA remarked that ‘The battle against Communism must be joined [taken up] in
Southeast Asia with strength and determination, or the United States, inevitably, must surrender the Pacific and take
up our defenses on our own shores.’ (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus Publishing Limited,
2017.)

AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR

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1957 to 1965: Struggle in Vietnam between the South Vietnamese Army (backed by the USA) and the communist-
trained rebels (the Viet Cong).

Diem’s government in South Vietnam soon proved unpopular and repressive. It did not carry out any major reform in
favour of thepeople, for example land redistribution. Opposition to the government of the South got stronger.

Because of the poor way in which Ngo Dinh Diem was ruling South Vietnam, an opposing group called the National
Liberation Front(NLF) was created that demanded reforms as well as a united Vietnam (unite the North and South).

Diem refused to give into their demands. The NLF which was communist in orientation began a guerrilla campaign in
South Vietnam,plunging the country into civil war. The NLF’s own communist trained guerrilla force was known as the
Viet Cong.

Ngo Dinh Diem was overthrown and executed in 1963 by a South Vietnamese army coup in 1963 only to be replaced
by a number ofmilitary rulers who were also corrupt and therefore had little support from the Vietnamese people.

The Vietcong (VC) were extremely popular in South Vietnam as they provided necessary infrastructure to the local
community suchas schools. The Vietcong won the support of the local people because they treated them well.

The Vietcong were also backed by communist China and the Soviet Union.

The Vietcong received supplies, weapons, and food and reinforcement troops from North Vietnam through a route
known as the HoChi Minh Trail.

The essential tactic of the Viet Cong (VC) was guerrilla warfare. This tactic had worked for the Chinese in their civil
war and the VietCong adopted it. The only way the VC could operate successfully was with the support of the local
peasantry. They therefore tried totreat them well and promised to give them the land when the enemy had been
defeated. In return, the peasants provided theguerrillas with food, shelter and places to hide. The Viet Cong tunnel
system allowed the VC to reach the outskirts of the city without anyone seeing them during the Tet Offensive (this
will be discussed later). The narrow size of the tunnels made it difficult for the much bigger American soldiers to
crawl intothem. Only direct hits from B52 bombers could destroy the tunnels.

Using the peasant villages as their base, the guerrillas went out and attacked units of the South Vietnamese Army
and American patrols. They then disappeared back into the jungle and were either hidden by peasants in villages or
hid in specially built underground tunnels. When the Americans followed their attackers to a certain place, they often
found no sign of them. This VC war technique was very frustrating for the Americans; even if they found the tunnels
in which the guerrillas were hiding, their much larger size meant that they could not squeeze into them to follow
their enemies. The Viet Cong were supplied with men, weapons and equipment mainly via the Ho Chi Minh trail, a
supply route from the north skirting Laos and later Cambodia. It was a complex network of trails rather than a single
route. By the end of 1964, the Viet Cong were some 300 000 strong. At first, they were very poorly armed, but they
were later supplied with Soviet and Chinese assault rifles and other weapons.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was upgraded to include many useful features: roads and bridges, a system of anti-aircraft
weapons, barracks [where the soldiers lived], workshops, hospitals, warehouses and fuel depots, many of them
underground. This meant that by the time the USA decided to send ground troops to the war in March 1965, the
communists were more than ready for them. (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus Publishing
Limited, 2017.)

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was crucial to the continuation of the VC war-effort. The Americans tried to bomb the trail, but
they had difficulty in seeing it clearly from their planes. They also tried to lay mines and barbed wire across the trail,
but this exposed them to attack from the VC soldiers themselves. (Willoughby, Douglas. The Vietnam War. Reed
Educational & Professional Publishing, 2001.)

In 1962 the South Vietnamese government, with the backing of the Americans, introduced the ‘strategic hamlets
[villages]’programme. The idea was to place rural peasants in specially protected villages where they would be safe
TOPIC 1: THE COLD WAR
from Viet Cong troops and their influence. The peasants would also be given weapons and trained to use them. The
‘strategic hamlets’ were also to be developed economically, politically, socially and culturally.

However, despite great American financial support, the programme was implemented [put in place] so rapidly that
the villages were often not properly protected. Also, the policy became very unpopular among the peasants, partly
because it often involved people being forcibly removed from their villages and placed elsewhere. Leaving behind
their land in this way was a very serious problem for most Vietnamese, as they practised ancestor worship and felt
deeply unhappy at having to leave their ancestors’ remains behind. The Viet Cong occupied many of the ‘strategic
hamlets’ and captured the peasants’ weapons. By the end of 1963, it was clear that the policy was a total failure.

Although President Kennedy of the USA had increased assistance to South Vietnam, the Viet Cong managed to defeat
the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) (ARVN) at the Battle of Ap Bac in January 1963. Opposition to
the war and the corrupt and repressive government of the South intensified, and in October 1963 Ngo Dinh Diem
was removed from power and killed. After the removal of Diem, South Vietnam had a series of unstable
governments. President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, in an event that had nothing to do with the
war, and was succeeded by his vice-president, Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson was an enthusiastic supporter of
increased American involvement in the war in Vietnam. By the end of 1963, there were about 15 000American
military advisers in South Vietnam.

By 1963 the Vietcong had managed to take over about 40% of the rural areas in South Vietnam. There were over100
000 fighters in the South. America saw this happening and became very wary that communism may spread to South
Vietnam. America just needed a fully justified reason to take on the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong!

America becomes involved:

• In 1964 an American ship in North Vietnamese waters was torpedoed by a North Vietnamese torpedo boat.
• The new President in America after Kennedy was President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), he was now able to
justify to the US Congress (parliament) the need for increased American involvement in Vietnam.
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The Arrival of Ground Troops

• By early 1965 American Bombers were regularly attacking targets in the North.
• American soldiers began arriving in Vietnam to fight on the ground.
• In July 1965 President LBJ agreed to send 180 000 American troops to Vietnam.
• In the space of three years there were 540 000 American soldiers in Vietnam.

In August 1964, President Johnson claimed that North Vietnamese gunboats had
attacked American warships on two occasions in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of
North Vietnam. He used these ‘incidents’ as an excuse to pass the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution through the American Congress (Parliament). This resolution basically
gave Johnson the right to do almost anything to protect American forces in
Vietnam. Subsequent research has shown that the first incident probably did not
take place as described by the American authorities; and that the second incident
did not take place at all. (N. Cawthorne, Vietnam: a war lost and won, London:
Arcturus,2003, p.34)

In March 1965, 100 American jet bombers attacked North Vietnam. This marked
the beginning of Operation Rolling Thunder, the ongoing American bombing of
North Vietnam. The bombing was to continue, on and off, for the next three years.
The Second Indochinese or Vietnam War had begun.

USA AND VIETNAMESE TACTICS

1965 to 1969: The North Vietnamese–USA struggle

The war between the North Vietnamese and the Americans was a war of attrition. On the Americans’ side, it took the
form of the continual bombing of North Vietnam, the policy of ‘search and destroy’ (finding the enemy and
destroying him) and the use of technological weapons. These weapons were helicopters, Agent Orange, Agent Blue
and napalm.

On the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong side, it took the form of continual guerrilla attacks on the Americans and
their South Vietnamese allies, with the occasional major offensive [attack], most importantly the Tet Offensive of
January 1968.

Operation Rolling Thunder

Operation Rolling Thunder ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’ was the name given to the American bombing campaign
directed against North Vietnam. America claimed that it was aimed only at military and industrial targets, but many
thousands of civilians were killed by the bombs. The bombing campaign against North Vietnam lasted for eight years.
During three of these years, the bombing was intensive. The number of bombs dropped on North Vietnam was at
least three times the number of bombs dropped during the whole of World War II. The operation failed, partly
because North Vietnam was mainly a farming country and there were not many military or industrial targets there.
More importantly, however, the Russians and Chinese were able to replace all the military supplies that the
Americans had destroyed.

The 'search and destroy' policy.

The ‘search and destroy’ policy The purpose of this policy was simple: to find the enemy and destroy him. But this
was more difficult than it sounded. One problem was identifying the enemy. Innocent civilians were often the victims
of the bombs, while the rebels escaped. So, it was very much a ‘hit-and-miss’ policy. This led to atrocities, for
example the My Lai Massacre. More and more American ground troops were sent in to make a success of this policy.
By 1968, there were more than half a million American soldiers in Vietnam.
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Technological Weapons

The Americans used some methods that relied on the application of science to warfare. These are known as
technological weapons. The most important were as follows:

• Helicopters were used to transport troops, quickly and at short notice, to the front where the fighting
action was, and back again.
• The American 7th Fleet controlled the seas around Vietnam, sending fighter planes and bombers to attack
the North, and blockading the coast.
• A great problem for the Americans was finding the VC in the thick, tropical jungle. They therefore
developed ‘Agent Orange’ to destroy bush where VC soldiers could hide. Agent Orange destroyed more
than a million hectares of forest. It was later found to cause deformities in babies being born, and also
cancers in soldiers who had fought in the war.
• The Americans also sprayed an herbicide [a chemical that kills plants] – called ‘Agent Blue’ – over crops to
deprive the guerrillas of food. Of course, this meant that the peasants starved. Agent Blue polluted the
land, which remained infertile for many years.
• America also used chemicals that caught fire. The most infamous was napalm, a substance that burns with
an intense heat. Napalm produces a thick gel that attaches itself to the skin and burns through to the
muscle and bone. The pain alone often killed people. Photographs of napalm victims were seen throughout
the world. They did much damage to the image of the Americans and their cause in Vietnam. Phan Thi Kim
Phuc, at 9 years of age a victim of napalm bombing with others in her village. The photograph, taken on 8
June 1972, soon made its way around the world.

TET Offensive and USA reaction

The Tet Offensive January 1968

On 30 January 1968 the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army launched widespread attacks on about 100 cities
and towns, andon hundreds of villages throughout South Vietnam. These attacks were timed to coincide with the
first day of the Tet holiday (the lunar new year), although there had been an agreement between the North and the
South to observe a ceasefire during the holiday. In many of the cities in South Vietnam the streets began filling up
with young people and farmers who were apparently arriving in the cities to celebrate New Year. There were also an
unusually high number of funerals taking place with the traditional flutes, firecrackers and coffins. The coffins were in
fact used as camouflage to carry weapons for the farmers, who belonged to special Vietcong units.

As a result, the attacks came as a significant surprise to the South and its American allies. In Saigon, the capital of
South Vietnam, the American embassy itself was seized [taken] by guerrillas for six and a half hours. The American
TOPIC 1: THE COLD WAR
public watched this event on TV. One historian describes the scene thus: ‘By the end of the battle the beautiful white
walls of the six-storey Embassy building – a symbol of American power and prestige [high standing] which dominated
downtown Saigon – were riddled with bullet holes. Its green manicured [neatly trimmed] lawns were stained red
with blood, and its flower beds piled with corpses.’ (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus
Publishing Limited, 2017.)

In Hué, the old imperial capital, the Communists held out for 25 days and bitter street-fighting took place. Some 3
000 people who were seen as co-operating with the South Vietnamese government were shot, clubbed to death or
buried alive, in one of the worst atrocities of the war.

Eventually, the Communist attacks were defeated, and the USA’s military authorities decided that the Tet Offensive
was a victory for them and the South. Some 2 000 Americans and 4 000 South Vietnamese soldiers had lost their
lives, as had perhaps 50 000 North Vietnamese Army and VC soldiers. (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and
Won. Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2017.)

However, the Tet Offensive was a great propaganda victory for the Communists. No one in the USA had thought that
the Communists could stage such a well-coordinated attack across the country on such a scale. The American people
had been told by their leaders that the war was being won. Many now found this very hard to believe.
Disillusionment and opposition to the war set in. The highly trusted and influential TV anchor, Walter Cronkite,
reacted in this way when he heard the news of the assault on the American embassy in Saigon: ‘What the hell’s going
on? I thought we were winning this war!’ President Johnson responded thus: ‘If I’ve lost Walter, I’ve lost Mr Average
Citizen.’ (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2017.)

The USA responded to the TET offensive with the My Lai Massacre.
* This is a huge turning point in the war, Americans realise for the first-time what atrocities are being committed

The My Lai Massacre

On 16 March 1968 American troops belonging to a particular unit entered a village they called My-Lai 4 on their
maps. They had been told that the village was a VC base, and they massacred the entire population, which consisted
mainly of women, children and old people. They also raped many of the women before killing them. The soldiers
were under pressure from superiors to raise their ‘body count’, and many in their unit had been killed before the
massacre, by enemy sniper fire, booby traps or mines. (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus
Publishing Limited, 2017.)

Eventually, the news of the My Lai Massacre spread to the USA and was made public during 1969. In September 1969
Lieutenant William Calley was charged with several counts of murder, and 25 others were charged with related
crimes. Calley was convicted by an American military court in March 1971 and given a sentence of life imprisonment
TOPIC 1: THE COLD WAR
with hard labour. All the other accused were acquitted [found not guilty]. However, Calley eventually served only
three and a half years of house arrest, after which he was released. Some have argued that there was a compelling
reason for this – that Calley had been made the scapegoat for his commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina, and
indeed the whole American chain of command. The My Lai massacre sent waves of shock and horror around the
world and at home in the USA. In America, the anti-war movement became even stronger. In Vietnam, the shame of
the massacre demoralised American troops even more. One historian comment thus: ‘Although compared with
atrocities before or since, the numbers who lost their lives were small, because it was perpetrated by Americans, the
name of the village where it took place has taken its place in the annals [records] of infamy’. (Cawthorne, Nigel.
Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2017.)

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON THE WAR

The war from a Vietnamese and a USA perspective

How a person perceives things depends very much on his or her point of view. This is known as perspective. Naturally
the Vietnamese, both North and South, saw the war quite differently from the Americans, who came from many
thousands of kilometres away and had their own powerful, independent country there.

The Vietnamese perspective The USA perspective

The Vietnamese, especially those in the north and the For the Americans, on the other hand, the war was not a
Viet Cong in the south, saw the war as a war fought for specifically colonial one. It was fought over ideology, as
the independence of their country. They had an ancient part of the Cold War. After World War II, the Americans
civilisation and had had to fight for many hundreds, were afraid of the spread of communism, the ideology of
indeed thousands, of years to achieve their their rival superpower, the USSR. In 1949 China had
independence. First, they had had to drive out the fallen to communism, and in the following year
Chinese, then the French, and now they had to oust the Communist North Korea had invaded South Korea,
Americans. They were utterly determined to achieve this, sparking off the Korean War. The US response to the
whatever the cost. The focus of the Vietnamese in this threat of communism was the policy of containment and
war was, therefore, not so much on ideology the Truman Doctrine, and Marshall Plan. The Americans
(communism against capitalism) as on the nationalist also became concerned with the ‘domino effect’, the idea
desire to re-establish the independence of their country, that if one country fell to communism, its neighbours
which had been fought for over so many centuries. would soon follow. It was therefore necessary to stop any
Ideology was secondary, nationalism was primary. country from yielding to communism. This theory was
applied to Asia especially. Fidel Castro’s takeover in Cuba
in 1959 made the American seven more anxious about
the spread of communism. It is therefore not at all
surprising that successive American governments
involved themselves in supporting the anti-communist
regime in South Vietnam and in the war against the
communist Viet Cong and North Vietnam. Another factor
which helps to explain American persistence in the war
against the communists in Vietnam was the desire to
uphold American prestige. The USA was after all the
greatest power in the world and was not prepared to
admit defeat to what it regarded as a ‘fourth-rate power’.
Therefore, the US under Nixon looked for a ‘peace with
honour’. It would not simply withdraw.
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The war as a global issue

The Vietnam War has to be viewed against the backdrop of the Cold War, as this is the reason why it was fought by
the USA, and why the USSR and China supported and supplied the Vietnamese Communists. In other words, the war
was fought as part of the international ideological struggle between the capitalist West and the communist East.
However, when American atrocities in the war became generally known, people in many countries condemned US
actions. These countries included states that had always been sympathetic to America. Several major anti-war
protests occurred, for example in London. In 1966, the British House of Commons (lower house of Parliament), while
generally supporting US policy in Vietnam, publicly opposed American bombing of the North. In 1968, a full-scale riot
occurred in London during which 50 anti-war demonstrators were injured and 300 arrested. Such protests occurred
in many other capitals, not all of which were European. (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus
Publishing Limited, 2017.)

It is interesting to see what happened in the aftermath of the war, especially in the light of the ‘domino effect
theory’, the primary reason given by the Americans for their involvement in the war. Cambodia and Laos did indeed
fall to the Communists. But the other ‘dominos did not fall. Thailand (Cambodia’s neighbour), Malaya, Singapore,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma and India remained essentially capitalist. This made many wonder whether the
tragic war had been necessary at all. The ‘domino effect theory’ seems, in retrospect [looked at from today’s
perspective], a simplistic [oversimplified] and unproven idea. Since the end of the war, although Vietnam has
remained officially communist, it has established good economic ties with many countries, including the USA, and
has allowed for some private enterprise. Both Cambodia and Laos have moved away from socialist-type economies to
a great extent.

The anti-war movement

From the beginning of active American involvement in Vietnam, there was opposition at home. However, at first two-
thirds of American people supported the war effort. As the war intensified, though, so did opposition, especially from
students and the youth. The involvement of many students, both black and white, in the Civil Rights Movement
(CRM) had led them to believe in the power of passive resistance and civil disobedience to change things. It also gave
them a wealth of experience in organising effective protests against what they felt was wrong in their society. Soon
the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-war movement became closely linked.

Martin Luther King Jr, the most famous leader of the CRM, also spoke out against the war. Many black Americans felt
that it was not their war. Another CRM leader said, ‘We got no business fighting a yellow man’s war to save the white
man’. (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2017.)

In 1967 Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, refused to join the US armed forces on
religious grounds. He had become a Muslim, a member of the Nation of Islam. He was stripped of his title and
prosecuted as a result. There was also a sense among black people that they were being unfairly treated as far as the
war was concerned. It was harder for black men to evade the draft (conscription)than it was for middle-class white
youths.

A significantly higher proportion of black men than white men in the armed forces were killed in action. (While some
8% of the armed forces were black, 23% of those who were killed in 1965 were black.) (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a
War Lost and Won. Arcturus Publishing Limited,2017.)

Draft-card burning became a regular feature of anti-war demonstrations. Marchers often chanted words like these:
‘Hey, hey, LBJ [President Lyndon B. Johnson], how many kids did you kill today?’ The Vietnam War was the first
televised war. Every failure or mistake was featured on television news and was beamed into most homes. The
American practice of sending the country’s dead soldiers home in body bags further damaged morale.

In October 1967, more than 100 000 anti-war protesters marched on the Pentagon (the US defence headquarters).
Eventually, troops broke up the demonstration violently. The ‘hippie’ culture made the slogan ‘Make love, not war’
popular among the youth. Perhaps its high point was the famous Woodstock Rock Festival (advertised as ‘Three days
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of peace and music’) near New York in August 1969. Many anti-war artists performed at Woodstock, to the delight of
the nearly half a million people who attended.

Eventually, the anti-war movement had a political effect. An influential politician, Senator William Fulbright, declared
the war to be an ‘immoral and unnecessary war’. The Secretary for Defense, Robert McNamara, resigned in early
1968 because he believed that the war could not be won.

The Tet Offensive helped to turn public opinion against the war. Clearly, after three years of war, little progress had
been made. Nationaltelevision showed the Chief of Police in Saigon, Van Ngoc Loan, shoot a VC suspect’s brains out
on the national news, a sight that shocked TV viewers in the USA.

Execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém

At the American presidential election in November

1968, Richard M. Nixon, the right-wing Republican who
had promised Americans ‘peace with honour’, narrowly
beat the liberal Democrat, Hubert Humphrey. However,
it soon became clear that, rather than ending the war,
Nixon was expanding it into Cambodia. The result was
massive anti-war protests in Washington D.C. At the
same time, Nixon pushed the policy of ‘Vietnamisation’
really hard. This meant replacing US troops with South
Vietnamese troops and sending many thousands of
Americans home. In the meantime, the Nixon
administration [government] widened the war into
neighbouring Laos and Cambodia, from which the Viet
Cong were being supplied. However, this led to new
anti-war demonstrations in the USA.

Nixon now ordered renewed bombing of the North, which led to further protests and, specifically, to the killing of
students at Kent State University. Some anti-war protests were becoming more violent. On 4 May 1970, at Kent State
University, Ohio, a relatively quiet campus, students demonstrated against the war, singing John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace
a Chance’. A campus policeman ordered the students to disperse, but they refused. Members of the National Guard
then opened fire with live rounds, killing four students and paralysing another. No warning had been given. The
shootings at Kent State University brought the war home to white, middle-class America and to many young people
around the world. Congress soon insisted on the withdrawal of American forces from Cambodia and Laos, but Nixon
continued to bomb both countries illegally. Under massive public pressure, Nixon was forced to withdraw American
forces from Cambodia, and Congress cut funding for the war.

Kent State shootings

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One of the most powerful anti-war groups was Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). They had fought in
Vietnam, so no one could accuse them of being cowards. One of them broke into the Republican Convention
(Congress) in 1972, on the night of Nixon’s speech accepting nomination for the presidency. When guards tried to
throw him out, he declared: ‘I’m a Vietnam veteran ... I’ve got just as much right to be here as any of these delegates.
I fought for that right and was born on the Fourth of July [America’s national day]’. (This later led to the making of
Oliver Stone’s famous film, ‘Born on the Fourth of July’.) Faced with such immense public pressure, Nixon concluded
a negotiated settlement with the North Vietnamese, signed in Paris in January 1973. The US agreed to withdraw from
Vietnam, and to allow elections for a new government to be held in the South. A ceasefire was declared between the
North and the South.

THE END OF THE WAR AND HOW IT IS REMEMBERED

The Vietnam War, 1973–1975

The peace talks dragged on for four years without achieving anything. By 1972 the communists felt strong enough to
launch another all-out attack on the cities of the South, similar to the Tet Offensive. This attack was more successful
than the Tet offensive, but the communists were still not able to conquer the main centers of population. After the
offensive of the summer of 1972, neither side could see any hope of victory and the peace talks started to make
some progress. At last, in January 1973 a cease-fire was agreed, and the Americans started to take their troops home.

The American forces pulled out soon after the cease-fire agreement was signed. This ended US involvement, but it
did not end the war. Fighting soon resumed between the communists and the Southern forces. Two years after the
agreement in Paris the North launched another major offensive against South Vietnam in March 1975.

This time, relying only on South Vietnamese troops and without American air support, the Saigon government was
not able to resist. The Vietcong and the army of the North swept victoriously through the South. The war effectively
ended on 29 April 1975 when the communists captured the southern capital of Saigon. American TV viewers
watched in horror as thousands of south Vietnamese people fought to get on the last US helicopter out of Saigon.

How the war is remembered today in the USA and Vietnam

The USA:

There is still division in the USA over how the war should be remembered. Many people believe that it was a
necessary and heroic struggle; others believe that it was completely unnecessary and unjustifiable. There is a division
between those who served and those who did not (including some who actively avoided military service). In
addition, many of those who served oppose the war (for example ex-soldiers belonging to VVAW). ‘A public opinion
poll taken in 1990 showed that 57% of Americans thought that it had been wrong to get involved in Vietnam but 58%
of veterans thought it had been right.’ (Willoughby, Douglas. The Vietnam War. Reed Educational & Professional
Publishing, 2001.)

On their return home, many servicemen were treated not as heroes but as killers. Tens of thousands suffered post-
traumatic stress disorder, a condition that was not well known or understood at the time. In November 1982, those
who fought in the Vietnam War were finally given a national memorial in Washington. It is interesting that it took so
long for such a memorial to appear. Also, the memorial was paid for not by the state but by private donations.
Perhaps this also reflects the divisions in the USA on the question of the war. Listed on the memorial are the names
of 58 132 men and 8 women who died in the fighting. Thousands visit it on a daily basis to touch the names of their
deceased relatives and other loved ones.

It was also hard for the USA to come to terms with the limits of its power. It had been used to winning armed
conflicts, and the Vietnam War had resulted in its defeat by a relatively small and seemingly insignificant country (a
‘fourth-rate power’). It took a long time for the USA to regain its confidence after the war. However, perhaps this may
have been achieved if we consider American involvement in the Gulf War of 1991, and in the Iraq and Afghanistan
wars of the first decade of the 21st century. The war in Afghanistan continues and has, in fact, been compared with
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the Vietnam War. This is because the USA and its allies do not seem to be able to achieve victory there or to extricate
[remove] themselves from the conflict. Perhaps America may have to learn, all over again, the lesson of the costs of

involving itself in regions of the world where it has very limited influence.

Vietnam

For the Vietnamese, the war was terribly destructive:

• Losses in the North Vietnamese Army have been estimated to be 900 000 soldiers (15 times the number of
American losses and nearly five times the extent of South Vietnamese Army losses).
• About 430 000 South Vietnamese civilians were killed, and over a million were injured.
• Some 18 million Vietnamese lost their homes.
• About 32% of South Vietnam was severely damaged by explosives and defoliants [chemicals used to remove
leaves from trees and destroy bush cover].
• The use of defoliants such as ‘Agent Orange’ left severely handicapped babies. Napalm left many people
terribly injured.
• Eight million tons of bombs were dropped – three to four times the tonnage dropped during the whole of
World War II.
• About 27 000 tons of unexploded bombs and shells litter the country, posing a danger to civilians, especially
peasants.
• Because so much of the farmland had been destroyed, many Vietnamese faced starvation.
• Those who had supported the Americans or capitalism in the South were sent to ‘re-education camps’, where
many died.
• Hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese later fled the country to avoid punishment and in search of a
better life. Many took to the sea in unsafe open vessels, hoping to reach friendly countries. They were known
as the ‘Boat People’. Many of them died but many thousands did find permanent homes in non-communist
countries. (Cawthorne, Nigel. Vietnam: a War Lost and Won. Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2017.)

On the other hand, the Vietnamese had achieved their independence and in the process had defeated a mighty
power. This was a source of great pride in Vietnam. Eventually, with new policies and new trade with other countries,
the economy began to recover. Although it is poor, Vietnam is now a proudly independent country.
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Vietnam summary