COLD

1. COLD WAR

2. Introduction: • The cold war was a time of tensions between two ideologies. • Economically speaking: • Communism and Capitalism • Politically speaking: • Communism and Democracy • This tension lasted from the end of WWII till about 1991.

3. Origins of the Cold WAR

4. Before the end of WWII… • Russia already had mistrust for its allies. • These uneasy relationship dated back to the Russian Revolution when the White Army (backed by Britain, France, Canada and the USA) started a civil war in Russia and tried to overthrow Lenin. (Do you remember when we talked about this?)

5. Lack of trust! • Russia didn’t trust its allies. Why would they? • Russia originally was not going to fight for the Allies. • In 1939 they signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact also known as the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

6. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact • This was an agreement between Germany and Russia stating that they wouldn’t fight each other. • It was also an agreement that Germany would not become allies with Japan (whom Russia was currently fighting).

7. The Pact Continued: • The pact was also a secret plan to divide up Poland and other nations between Russia and Germany. The Pact remained in place until 1941 when Hitler decided he could invade Russia. Russia then dropped its alliance with Germany and joined the Allies.

8. Capitalists Don’t Trust Communists • Because of the pact the capitalist countries did not trust the Russians. • They also didn’t trust communism since it began.

9. POTSDAM • The Allies gathered together at Potsdam Germany to discuss post-war measures to take place in Germany. What was to be done with this aggressive nation? “There is not one piece of territory or one thing of a monetary nature we want out of this war. We want peace and prosperity for the world as a whole” -President Harry Truman July 20, 1945

10. POTSDAM • Russia had other plans. They wanted revenge. Russia wanted Germany to pay war reparations, they also wanted a buffer zone between them and the rest of Europe.

11. Truman’s Hammer • Truman had an ace up his sleeve. He had an atomic bomb. • The atomic bomb was a brand new invention. Nothing like it had ever existed before. Truman was going to use it to end the war with Japan and to intimidate Russia. The Manhattan Project

12. THE BOMB • The Manhattan Project took place on the first day of the Potsdam conference. • The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 , the second on Nagasaki August 9th, 1945.

13. RUSSIAS REACTION • Russia wasn’t surprised about the bomb, they had spies who informed them about it long before. • Russia was surprised that the United States actually used it. This is what everyone was scared of for the next 45 years.

15. Duck and Cover

16. Marshal Plan • In January 1947, Truman appointed General George Marshall as Secretary of State. He came up with a plan that the democratic allies all agreed with. • The democratic allies felt that a prosperous German nation would benefit all of Europe and the world. It would also lead to lasting peace. • Why would they think this?

17. The Marshall Plan • 1947-1951: The US provided $9.4 billion in economic assistance to Western Europe to help Europe rebuild after WWII. • This aid was provided, in part, so that western European nations could resist the pull of communism.

18. Russia’s Response • Russia disagreed. They wanted to return Germany to a primitive state of peasant farmers, incapable of starting a war or a rebellion.

19. The Division of Germany • The Big three agreed at Potsdam on the division of Germany. • Britain, France, the US, and the USSR each controlled one zone of occupation. • The western powers wanted to see the economic and political restructuring of Germany, while the USSR wanted to maintain Germany as a communist buffer state.

20. Division of Germany

21. Division of Berlin

22. Crisis in Germany • Spring, 1948: The western powers introduced a new currency into their zones and requested the reunification of the zones. • Stalin refused to allow a democratic Germany and withheld his zone from the German constitutional convention. • The western powers decided to proceed without him and continued to help Germany construct a new constitution.

23. The Berlin Blockade • Stalin responded to western actions by blockading the city of West Berlin. • The allies responded to the blockade with a massive airlift which supplied the city for 321 days. • Stalin was forced to withdraw his blockade in 1949--a major defeat for the Soviets.

24. The Berlin Blockade/Berlin Air Lift This created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

25. Military Alliances • The lines between the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc were formally drawn with the creation of two alliances. • 1949: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): designed to protect W. Europe from Communist aggression • 1955: Warsaw Pact (which we will mention again) : designed to protect E. Europe from capitalist influence.

26. Two Germanies • In response to the Berlin blockade, the western powers joined their zones into a free nation: the Federal Republic of Germany. • Stalin later made his zone into the German Democratic Republic, another Soviet puppet state.

27. The Iron Curtain 1946: Churchill called the Soviet domination of E. Europe the “Iron Curtain.”

28. Brinkmanship Brinkmanship is the practice of pushing dangerous events to the verge of—or to the brink of—disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome.

30. Expansionism • Stalin held a series of unfair elections and coups to install communist puppets in most of the E. European nations. • Poland: 1947 • Czechoslovakia: 1948 • Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia: 1946-47

31. Expansionism The People's Republic of China was established on October 1, 1949. This was a major blow to NATO’s attempt at containment. Chairman Mao Zedong became China’s communist dictator, replacing Chiang Kai-shek who was friendly to the NATO countries.

32. The West Takes a Stand • The USSR was supporting communist rebels in Greece & Turkey. • President Harry S Truman told Congress the Doctrine was “the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” • This became the Truman Doctrine, stating that the US would provide aid to any free nation fighting off communism. • The Truman Doctrine became the basis of the US policy of “containment.” Link

33. Crisis in Eastern Europe Examples: post WWII to Bosnian Crisis

34. The Eastern European Satellites • Following WWII, the USSR set as a priority the establishment of a system of satellite states in E. Europe. • The USSR created the Warsaw Pact in 1955 to establish military control of its satellites. • Economic conditions remained poor in most E. European nations, due to a lack of capital for economic development.

35. The Soviet Union Under Khrushchev • Soviet Communist leader Nikita Khrushchevwanted to keep the dominance of the Communist Party but does reform some of Stalin’s policies • decentralized economic planning and removed restrictions on private cultivation of wheat • The Secret Speech of 1956 – Khrushchev denounces Stalin’s policies and purges and removes Stalin supporters from the government without executing them (destalinization)

36. Poland • 1956: Economic and political conditions set off a series of strikes in Poland. • The Polish government, working with the USSR, sent its troops into the streets to stop the strikers. • This protest brought a slight raise in workers wages and was viewed as a success by the people, despite the bloodshed.

37. Hungary • 1956: Inspired by the Polish revolt of 1956, Imre Nagy of Hungary encouraged a variety of reforms. • Reforms included the creation of a multi-party state with Nagy as premier, a call for respect of human rights, the ending of political ties with the USSR, the release of many political prisoners, the creation of Hungary as a neutral nation, and the removal of Hungary from the Warsaw Pact.

38. Hungary, continued • In response to Nagy’s demonstrations, the Soviets decided to make an example of Hungary to prevent it from threatening their control of their whole system of satellite states. • The Soviets invaded Hungary, killing thousands and setting up a police state. Reprisals were brutal.

39. American-Soviet Tensions • Despite a visit to the US in 1959, tension was high between the superpowers. • 1959: Sputnik • 1960: U-2 Incident • 1961: Bay of Pigs Invasion • 1961: Berlin Wall • 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis

40. Sputnik • It was a key Cold War event that began on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite. • This was a crisis because: • The same rocket that launched Sputnik could send a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes, breaching the oceanic moat that had successfully protected the continental United States from attack during both World Wars.

41. U-2 Spy Plane Incident • Why the U-2 was special • Plane shot down over Soviet territory • Russians kept quiet, let the Americans lie about the incident • Then produced the wreckage and pilot, Gary Powers • Americans publicly humiliated, relations deteriorated between the two superpowers

42. U-2 Spy Plane Incident • Gary Powers pleaded guilty and was convicted of espionage on 19 August and sentenced to three years imprisonment and seven years of hard labor. He served one year and nine months of the sentence before being exchanged for Rudolf Abel (a Soviet spy) on 10 February 1962

43. The Berlin Wall • Political and Economic conditions in E. Germany and many other Eastern bloc nations remained so poor that millions were fleeing through West Berlin to freedom in western nations. • The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop the flow of refugees to the west. • This was seen and publicized as a barbaric move and became a visible symbol of the cold war conflicts.

44. Bay of Pigs/Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

45. Know that… • USA had long considered Central America to be within the American sphere of influence. • The Americans and American corporations had large investments in Cuba.

46. Know that… • American corporations in Cuba and the USA gov’t had supported an unpopular, corrupt, military dictatorship led by General Fulgencio Batista. Castro and his forces overthrew him.

47. Know that… • Castro's policies and his growing relationship with the Soviet Union threatened American interests in Cuba and the region.

48. Map

49. Nationalization of America-owned Companies • Cuban friction with the USA developed as Castro began nationalizing American businesses and their property in Cuba. • Consequently the USA wouldn’t buy Cuban sugar and cut trade with Cuba, including supplies of oil.

50. Nationalization of America-owned Companies • In February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy oil from the USSR. When the U.S.-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process the oil, they were nationalized and the United States broke off diplomatic relations with the Castro government afterward. • Soon after the Cubans and Soviets established economic and military ties.