HISTORY

TERM 2
GRADE 9
 THE NUCLEAR AGE AND COLD
WAR (1945 – 1990)
■ Nuclear age started at the end of the World War II when bombs
were dropped on Japan.
■ The Soviet Union joined the Allies to beat one mutual enemy –
Hitler;
■ When Germany was beaten the Allies divided among
themselves;
■ America, Britain and France wanted to be independent and
practise capitalism and democracy;
■ The Soviet Union (known as Russia) wanted a communism state.
■ Competition and tension developed between the two sides and
LEADERS OF THE WEST:

Britain – Winston Churchill France – Charles de Gaulle USA – Franklin D. Roosevelt

LEARDER OF THE USSR
Joseph Stalin
INCREASING TENSION BETWEEN THE
ALLIES AFTER THE END OF WORLD
WAR II World
■ During IN EUROPE
War II the West (America, Britain and France)
and the USSR (Russia) joined in a ‘friendship’ to destroy a
mutual enemy – Germany.
■ After the war when Germany was defeated, these two sides
had a disagreement about what should happen to Germany.
■ The USSR wanted Germany to be a communism state where
there is no individual freedom, and the government must own
all the properties and businesses.
■ The West wanted a democratic, capitalism and freedom and
rights to everyone.
■ During the war the USA has developed an atomic bomb which
they kept as a secret from the USSR even when they were
Allies in the war.
■ In May 1945 the tension increased when the West thought that
the USSR was trying to spread communism over Europe and
the USSR thought that the West was trying to dominate
Europe.
■ The USSR strengthened their control in Eastern Europe by
influencing post war elections and intimidated voters and even
changed votes.
■ The USA launched the Marshall Plan that states that Europe
will be assisted after the war to prevent the spread of the USSR
in countries like Greece and Turkey.
■ Both countries has different ideologies and tension increased
between the countries.
Comparison between the West and the USSR:
USA and the West USSR
Capitalism and democracy Communism
Free elections Government control elections
Free trade State controls everything
Private ownership of properties State owns everything
Many political parties Dictatorship
Wanted to improve Germany Wanted to control Germany after the
after the war war and make them suffer for all the
damage that they have caused
Freedom of speech No freedom
THE START OF THE NUCLEAR
WAR:
■ World War II in Europe ended on 8 May 1945 when
Germany surrendered, but the war with Japan
continued in the Pacific ocean.
■ Japanese refused to surrender as they believed that it
is a disgrace;
■ Japan continued with war even after the peace
agreement (Potsdam Declaration) were signed and
Japan had to face utter destruction from the Allies.
■ Japan cities were attacked and people were killed and
cities were destructed. Citizens suffered as there
were no food.
■ On 6 August 1945 the USA decided to drop an atomic bomb
on a Japanese city called Hiroshima. This city had all the
weapon factories.
■ Japan still did not surrender after the first atomic bomb and
the armies decided to continue with the war.
■ On 9 August 1945 a second atomic bomb were dropped on
Nagasaki where the devastation was worse than the first
bomb.
■ On 15 August 1945 the Japanese decided to surrender and
this day was known as the V-J Day (Victory in Japan).
■ The official surrender document were signed on 2 September
1945.
 WHY DID THE USA DROP THE
■ BOMBS?
Most important reason given by Truman (USA president) was to end
World War II in the Pacific as the Japanese believed it is honourable
to die for their country and refused to surrender.
■ The USA wanted to save lives as the war already killed thousands of
people.
■ The USA feared that the USSR would invade Japan and thus
prevented more land grabs.
■ It increased the USA’s power and demonstrated to the USSR that
they have power and they can destroy the USSR.
■ The USA used the atomic bombs to test their weapons effectiveness
during war.
■ Japanese was hated due to their barbaric violent wartime behaviour.
■ The USA wanted to revenge Japan after the bombing at Pearl
Harbour.
WAS DROPPING THE ATOMIC
BOMBS JUSTIFIED?
 REASONS WHY THE DROP OF THE
ATOMIC BOMBS CAN BE
JUSTIFIED:
■ The war would have continued until millions of
Americans and Japanese would have been killed as the
Japanese wouldn’t surrender on their own.
■ It was a method of ending the hardship and suffering
experienced during the war.
■ People believed that the war should have ended with a
“bang”.
■ The USA needed to show other countries, especially
 REASONS WHY THE DROP OF THE
ATOMIC BOMBS CAN NOT BE
JUSTIFIED:
■ Some people reasoned that Japan’s military was weak
already by August 1945 and that the war would have
stopped eventually.
■ Other reason that the Japanese were ready to surrender
but were not given enough time.
■ The bombing was inhumane and a criminal act as it
targeted innocent civilians.
■ It caused tremendous damage and long after the
bombing people die due to the radiation in Japan. It
caused birth defects and cancer.
 THE SUPERPOWERS
A superpower is a country:
■ with a dominant position in the world;
■ that has the ability to influence world events, further its own interest
and project its power on the rest of the world;
■ that has a large population, a strong economy and abundant supply of
natural resources;
■ with nuclear capacity and is independent.

World had TWO superpowers:

■ The USA – called the capitalist West (USA and Western Europe)
■ The USSR – called the communist bloc (the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe)
 DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN
THE USA AND THE USSR:
USA USSR (RUSSIA)
GEOGRAPHIC Fourth largest country in the Largest country in the world with
world with an area of 9,37 an area of 22,27 million square
million square kilometer. kilometer.
CULTURAL • Freedom of speech, religion, • Freedom of speech and
movement and economy. expression was restricted.
• Press was protected by the • Press was controlled by the
constitution. government.
• Civilians was influence through
propaganda.
POPULATION Population of 248,7 million in Population of 286,7 million in
1989 that was the fourth 1989 that was the third largest in
largest in the world. the world.
 USA USSR (RUSSIA)
POLITICAL • Strong and stable capitalist country. • Strong communist country.
• Strong ties with Western Europe. • Strong ties with Eastern Europe.
MILITARY • Highest military expenditure in the • Largest armed forces in the world.
world. • Second largest air forces.
• Second largest army in the world. • One of the world’s largest navies.
• Largest air force. • Largest stockpile of nuclear
• World’s largest navy. weapons.
ECONOMI • Largest in the world • Second largest in the world.
C • Large farming industries and other • Enormous mineral energy and fuel
industries. supply.
• Large imports and exports. • Use few imports but has a lack of
• High standard of living with access to resources.
many manufactured goods. • Industrial production is controlled
• Home to many of the world’s largest by the state.
corporations. • Economic benefits: employment,
free health care, free education for
all.
THE COLD WAR:
A Cold War is a war when to aggressive countries do not actually fight
in a war against one another but they take part in supporting countries
that support their ideologies during wars.

The USA FEARED – the actions of the USSR after the war as they
land grabbed Eastern Europe and made sure that these countries had
a communist government. They believed that the USSR wanted to
spread communism.

The USSR FEARED – that the USA want to dominate Europe. USA
gave money to European countries and the USSR believed they
wanted to promote capitalism. The USSR did not trust the USA as
they formed alliances with Western Europe and rebuilt their armies in
a military base in Europe.
IRON CURTAIN:
A non physically barrier between Western and Eastern Europe
that prevented the alliances of the USSR and the USA to be in
contact with one another. This divided Europe into two parts.
 THE ARMS RACE
The arms race was a race between the USSR and the USA to accumulate
weapons and nuclear weapons. They believed that the more nuclear weapons
you had the more powerful you are.
■ The USA were the first country that had atomic bombs that they used to
end World War II.
■ In 1949 the USSR discovered Uranium and they used it to develop their first
atomic bomb.
■ The USA developed a hydrogen bomb in 1952 and later the USSR developed
the same bomb in 1953.
■ By 1957 the USSR has won the arms race when they launched their first
Inter-continental Ballistic missile.
■ By 1960 the arms race was known as the MAD (Mutual Assured
Destruction) as these countries had the ability to blow up the world six times
over and again.
■ By 1970’s economic problems led to the banning of nuclear technology and
weapons in space.
THE SPACE RACE
■ The space race was a race to the moon between the Soviet Union and the
United States;
■ The Soviet Union started the race when they’ve sent the first satellite into
space. The satellite named Sputnik 1 was launched on 4 October 1957;
■ In November 1957 the Russians sent the first dog called Laika to space. The
aim of this was to understand whether people will survive in space;
■ After Russia launched their satellite the US government changed the
education system to focus on Maths and Science to produce rocket scientist;
■ In 1958 the Americans launched their first satellite called the Explorer 1;
■ The US realised that they could cross the borders of other countries without
the military’s knowing;
■ The first Russian man called Yuri Gagarin landed in space with a spacecraft
called Vostok 1;
■ The first women in space was Valentina Tershkova in 1963
■ On 20 July 1969 the Americans landed the first man on the
moon in a spacecraft called Apollo 11;
■ Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon and said: “That is one small
step for a man, a giant leap for mankind.”
■ The Apollo 11 team had to undergo training where they did
simulated moonwalking and had to undergo three weeks of
quarantine before the launch.
■ The space race ended in 1975 when an American and Soviet
astronaut shook hands in space. The Apollo-Soyuz mission
symbolised the end of the space race competition and the
beginning of an era of co-operation in space;
 DIVISION OF GERMANY IN 1946
AND THE BERLIN WALL
■ After the World War II Germany was divided into four different zones and
controlled by different Allies.
– British zone
– American zone
– Russia (Soviet) zone
– French zone
■ The British, American and French zone was Capitalist while Russia was a
Communist;
■ The division of the zones lead to the construction of the Berlin Wall
between the East and the West.
WHY WAS THE BERLIN WALL CONSTRUCTED?
■ By 1961 more than 3.5 million people living in Eastern Germany started
leaving for the West;
■ In Eastern Germany they faced the following problems:
– No political freedom;
– No freedom of movement and speech;
– Poor quality of goods
– Poor life quality
– Unavailability of goods
■ Eastern Germany lost many of their professionals (teachers, lawyers,
doctors, engineers and skilled people) to a better life in Western Germany;
■ When the Eastern Germany Soviet president noticed the great loss of
people to the West he decided to build a wall to prevent people to escape
to the Western side.
■ A two to three meter high wall were build for 43km long which
divided the West and East Berlin;
■ The wall continued around the Western side for 156km long;
■ Guards were employed at 302 stations and people who tried to
escape were shot;
■ The Soviet Union claimed that the wall were built to protect the
people in Eastern Germany as they claimed that people
practised terrorism and espionage against the East in Western
Germany;
 THE END OF THE COLD WAR
■ In 1989 a civil unrest started in anger as the food prices were no longer
subsidised by the government;
■ People also wanted independence and insisted that the Berlin Wall must
be broken down;
■ Hungary opened its borders via Austria. When the people realised that
they could travel to freedom to Western Germany 50 000 people left
Eastern Germany within three weeks;
■ The Red army was unable to deal with all the protesters and refused to
shoot at them and end up allowing people to just walk trough the border
checkpoints;
■ Germans on both side sang, danced and celebrated the fall of the Berlin
Wall. They made holes in the wall with hammers and bits of iron.
■ On 8 December 1991 the USSR declared independence and the USSR
ended its existence the next day.