12-2, 12-3 Europe & North America

Rebuilding

• After the war, the soviet economy was down – all $ was used for production, not given to the workers

• New factories were created, and a focus on heavy industry began.

• Focus: building military strength and becoming a world power

• This came at the expense of the workers – small apartments, bad pay

• 1946 – all scientific and literary work has to follow communist policy

• Stalin is about to begin another purge when he dies in 1953

Khrushchev

• De-Stalinization: his attempt to undo some of Stalin’s worst policies

– Allowed more freedom in literature

– Produced more consumer goods

– Tried to make more crops for food

• Unfortunately, this part failed and led to a downturn in the economy

– His policies hurt the economy, and production decreased.

– After his plan to place missiles in Cuba led to the Cuban missile crisis, the other members of the party voted him out in 1964

Communist Europe

• East Germany

• Romania

• Poland

• Hungary

• Czechoslovakia

• Albania and Yugoslavia were communist, but independent of the USSR

• These countries imitated Stalin’s policies: the 5 year plan, industrialization, elimination of other political parties, creation of the secret police

• After Stalin’s death, several countries tried to move away from the USSR, but the Soviets used military force to keep control over them

Western Europe & North America

France

• New president: Charles de Gaulle

• Used president/parliament model

• Entered arms race, created nuclear weapons

• Economy improved, imports grew

• Cost of living was high and led to protests

West Germany

• 1949 – 1963: Konrad Adenauer, leader

– Works with the US and western Europe

– “economic miracle” – unemployment goes down to .4% - they have to bring in workers from turkey to fill the jobs

• Late 1960’s – Social Democratic party takes control

Great Britian

• After the war, it loses its position as the world power

• Labour party takes over and creates a welfare state ( when the government gives you necessary services like health care)

– Gave $ to the unemployed, sick, and old

– Nationalized health care

– The $$ needed to do all this, and rebuild the country, forced England to abandon their colonies abroad

European Economic Community

• A free-trade area: no tariffs (import taxes)

• France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, West Germany, and Italy

• The world’s largest exporter and purchaser of raw materials

• A bloc: a group of countries with a common purpose

United States

• After WWII, there was an economic boom

– Wages went up, people had more $ to spend

• The government created a “red scare”, a fear of communism

– Many people were targeted as suspected communists; communist supporters were blackballed

– Led by Senator Joe McCarthy

After Kennedy was killed, Johnson took over and worked to improve welfare and social security

Civil rights movement: began in 1954 – worked to end segregation and gain equal rights and treatment

leader: Martin Luther King, Jr

Civil Rights Act of 1964 – ended segregation

• 1965 – race riots in Watts

• 1969 – MLK was assassinated

• When the US entered Vietnam, anti-war protests began

– 1970 – students killed at Kent state

Canada

• After the war, worked on developing chemical, electronic, aircraft, and nuclear industry

• Didn’t just want to be “America’s hat” – tried to make their own identity by joining alliances and the United Nations