The Cold War

What was the Cold War?

• Superpowers after WW2: USA
and USSR.
• Cold War: Long era of tension
between the superpowers that
avoided direct war.
• War fought through competition
in technology, espionage, sport
and indirect wars, e.g. Vietnam.
 Political Differences
Communism
- State control of property and
business with limited rights
Capitalism
- Acquire wealth and make profit
- Private property
- Less gov. interference
Democracy
- People elect their leaders
- Free press and speech
 World War II
• Stalin believed the Western Allies (US
& Britain) delayed the Normandy
landings to hurt the Soviets.
• The US refused to share the secret
technology of the atomic bomb.
 The Iron Curtain
• Stalin wanted to protect Russia from future
invasion.
• Countries acquired in Eastern and Central
Europe during the War became satellite
states under Moscow control.
• These countries formed that protective
barrier (buffer zone) called the Iron
Curtain.
• Western powers feared Soviet aggression
might expand further west.
 Containment
• Truman Doctrine: US would provide
military aid to countries fighting
communist forces.
• Domino Theory: if a country became
communist, neighbouring countries
would do the same.
• Marshall Plan: money to help rebuild
Western Europe after WW2. Idea of
wealthier countries being less
communist.
• Containment: limiting communism to
where it was, e.g. USSR.
 Cold War Berlin
• After WW2, Germany and Berlin
itself were divided into four sectors
(American, Soviet, British and
French).
• Germany was devastated after the
war and the superpowers disagreed
over its future.
• The Soviets wanted a permanently
weakened Germany while Western
powers wanted a strong democratic
Germany with a good economy.
 The Berlin Airlift
• 24 June 1948: Stalin wanted Western
powers to leave Berlin so he had
road, rail and water routes
blocked to West Berlin.
• In response, Western powers
supplied West Berlin by air.
• Operation Vittles: cargo planes
bringing food, clothing, medical
supplies and fuel to West Berlin.
• Western powers brought more than
enough supplies and the Soviets
ceased the blockade.
 Consequences of the Airlift
• Permanent division of Germany between
the Federal Republic of Germany
(western) and the German Democratic
Republic (eastern).
• Berlin Wall divided East and West
Berlin.
• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation): military alliance of North
America and Western Europe.
• Warsaw Pact: Soviet military alliance
with satellite states.
• Arms race: competition to make more
powerful nuclear weapons.
 The Korean War
• Korea was divided by the 38th
Parallel between a communist
north and a pro-western south.
• Communists, under Mao Zedong,
took over China, increasing tension
in the Far East.
• June 1950: North Korean Army,
equipped by the Soviets, invades
South Korea.
• Seoul (southern capital) fell to the
North and the US, backed by UN
forces, intervened to help the South.
 Korean War continued
• Sep. 1950: US/UN forces under
General MacArthur drove the
communists back up north.
• Thinking MacArthur would invade
China, the Chinese sent 500,000
men to aid North Korea.
• MacArthur wanted to use nuclear
bombs to win the war but Truman
refused.
• The war became a stalemate
(inconclusive) with fighting ending
in July 1953.
• Korea permanently divided:
the North became a brutal
communist dictatorship and
the South became a prosperous
Consequences
of Korea
capitalist country.
• Considered a success by US:
communism contained and
direct war avoided.
• The Cold War spreads to
Asia: USSR and China
become allies while Japan,
Aus., New Zea. and the
Philippines side with the West.
 The Cuban Revolution
• 1959: Fidel Castro leads a communist
revolution in Cuba that toppled the
country’s US backed government.
• Under Castro, the Cubans took over US
owned businesses in the country and the
US responded by cutting off trade.
• Cuba received aid from the USSR
through trade and the supply of weapons.
 The Bay of Pigs
• April 1961: a CIA planned invasion of
Cuba by Cuban exiles is approved by
JFK.
• The Cuban exiles were quickly
defeated and Castro sought further aid
(e.g. weapons) from the USSR.
• USSR leader, Nikita Khruschev, offered
to build nuclear missile sites to
counteract US missiles based in
Europe.
 The Cuban Missile Crisis
• Oct. 1962: American U2 spy plane
photographs a Soviet missile base being
built in Cuba.
• Realising missiles launched there could
reach most US cities, JFK announced a
naval blockade of Cuba.
• While the US would block any Soviet
vessel, Soviet ships continued to sail
towards Cuba.
 Missile Crisis continued
• To alleviate the situation, both sides
compromised.
• Publicly, the US would not invade Cuba while
it privately committed to removing missiles
from Turkey.
• The Soviets agreed to dismantle and remove
their missiles from Cuba and to send their
ships home.
 Proxy Wars
• To avoid further direct confrontation such as
with the missile crisis, the superpowers
decided to oppose each other more indirectly.
• This led to proxy wars: conflicts in which
the superpowers gave support to opposing
sides but did not engage each other directly,
e.g. Korea.
• 1954: independence from France with
a communist north and anti-
communist south.
The Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh, the North’s leader,
wanted a unified country and ordered
attacks on the South.
War
• US armed the South and sent its
own troops into the fighting.
• The Vietcong (pro-communist)
employed guerrilla tactics,
ambushing US and South Vietnamese
forces and using the jungles for
concealment.
• The Vietcong had a lot of support
from rural people who hid weapons
and supplies.
• US response to the Vietcong: aerial
bombardment, burning villages and
chemical destruction (e.g. Agent Vietnam War
Orange) of jungles.
• TV war: the war was widely covered in continued
America and around the world, showing
the horrors of war.
• US tactics and people’s exposure to the
war created a large anti-war
movement.
• America withdraws its forces in 1973
and the South falls in 1975 to a northern
invasion.
• CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) helped
overthrow pro-Soviet governments such as
in Guatemala (1954) and Chile (1973).
Intervention in the
• It also backed anti-communist guerrilla
fighters in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Developing World
• Similarly, the USSR backed a military
takeover in Ethiopia (1974).
• 1979-89: As with Vietnam, the USSR sent
troops to support a pro-communist
government in Afghanistan fighting against
Islamists (Mujahideen) who were backed by
the US.
• Collectively, communist satellite
states in Eastern and Central
Europe became known as the
Eastern Bloc.
Soviet Europe
• Comecon: co-ordinated economic
and trade development of the Bloc.
• Warsaw Pact: military alliance
between the USSR and Eastern
Bloc states.
• Cominform: co-ordinated
communist parties in Eastern Bloc
states.
• Eastern Bloc states were not always
happy with communist rule.
• 1956: mass protest among Hungarians
Soviet Europe
who appealed to the West but are ignored
and crushed by Soviet forces.
continued
• 1968: Czech government tries to give
Czechs greater freedom (Prague Spring)
but is suppressed by Soviet forces.
• 1980-81: Solidarity trade union in
Poland demands greater rights and pay.
USSR threatens invasion and union
leaders are arrested.
 Ronald Reagan
• US President (1981-89) who called the USSR
an “evil empire”.
• Significantly increased defence spending to
pressure the USSR who could not afford such
an increase in spending.
• This would, as intended, force the Soviets to
negotiate a de-escalation in the arms race.
 Mikhail
Gorbachev
• Appointed leader of the USSR in 1985.
• Wanted to reduce military spending and
repurpose that money to improve people’s
lives.
• Glasnost (openness): policy to open up
society with the release of political prisoners,
less censorship and an openness to new ideas.
• Perestroika (restructuring): opening up the
Soviet economy allowing limited private
ownership in business and property.
 The Cold War Ends
• During the latter half of the 1980s,
Reagan and Gorbachev met several
times and built trust between the
West and the USSR.
• Building on this, Reagan and
Gorbachev signed agreements such
as the INF (Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces) Treaty in 1987.
• This significantly reduced the
number of weapons and, in turn,
tension between East and West.
 Communist Collapse in Europe
• 1988: Soviet troops would no longer keep
communist governments in power in the
Eastern Bloc.
• Nov. 1989: Berlin Wall no longer used to
divide East and West Berlin.
• Soviet economy declined with debt soaring
with the population demanding an end to
communism.
• 1991: Soviet socialist Republics (Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania) leave the USSR,
Gorbachev resigns leadership and the USSR
is dissolved (brought to an end).