The Cold War Overview

What is a Cold War?

• A conflict with no real fighting of any kind

• A 50 year stand-off between the USA and the USSR

After WWII

• USSR wanted to keep control of the areas they liberated (Eastern Europe)

• US and England wanted these areas to be able to select their own governments

• US and USSR both wanted power and influence, and they couldn’t come to an agreement

Conflict

• Why didn’t the US and the USSR get along?

– There was a distrust between the 2 – each was trying to get power

– US didn’t like communism – felt it took away freedom

– Communists didn’t like the excesses of Capitalism

– As communism spread, US tried to stop it

The Beginning

• Eastern Europe – both sides tried to use these countries for their own benefit

• 1946 – civil war in Greece

– Communist and anti communist groups fought for control

– USSR and England helped

Truman Doctrine

• 1947

• Created by Truman

• Said that the US would give $$ to countries (like Greece) that were threatened by communism

• Created to battle the spread of communism

Marshall Plan

• 1947

• Created by Gen. Marshall

• Aka European Recovery Program

• Goal: rebuild the economy of European countries

• $13 billion to help

• In theory, if a country was secure economically, they won’t be tempted by communism

• Soviet countries refused to help

COMECON

• Soviet answer to Marshall Plan

• Designed to help Eastern European states

• Didn’t work

– USSR didn’t have enough money to really help

What happened to Germany?

• After the war, divided into 4 zones, controlled by the 4 Allied countries: England, US, France, and the Soviets

• Berlin, the capital, was in the Soviet zone

– It was divided into 4 as well

• US, England, and France combined theirs to create the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)

• The Soviets made theirs the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

Berlin

• 3 of the 4 zones in Berlin were capitalist and democratic, but they were located deep in communist East Germany

• USSR started a blockade – no supplies or transportation could get into West Berlin

• Berlin Airlift (1948) – supplies were flown in and dropped

– The Soviets finally stopped the blockade in 1949

Berlin Wall

• West Berlin was a democratic area in the middle of a communist country. The Germans didn’t get to choose what side they were in, and many didn’t want to be stuck in a repressive communist state, so they tried to escape

• They would flee to West Berlin, where they were safe

– People in trade jobs, like electricians& plumbers were often the first to go because they could make way more $$ in WB

• To stop the flood of refugees to WB, Khrushchev had a wall built around West Berlin

• The people in WB could leave as they pleased, but no one from EB or Eastern Germany could get in

– It was patrolled by guards

– Minefields, guard dogs, machine gun towers, and barbed wired discouraged people from trying to cross it

New Alliances

• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

– 1949

– Provided mutual help in case one of them was attacked

• SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization)

– To stem Soviet growth in the East

• CENTO (Central Treaty Organization)

– To prevent the USSR from moving south

– Middle east + England and the US

• Warsaw Pact

– Alliance of Soviet countries: USSR, Albania, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, & Romania

– These alliances divided the world up into Communist and Non communist

• After the Koran War, Seato and Cento spread it outside of Europe

Arms Race

• USSR and the US were in a race to see who could get more weapons and a bigger army

• 1949 – USSR detonated its first atomic bomb

• Nuclear power became the new weapon of choice

– Both sides had weapons capable of reaching the other, and these weapons could destroy a country

– Neither wanted to risk being the first to attack, because retaliation would destroy their country too

Space Race

• In addition to trying to get the most weapons, the USSR and the US were also trying to be the first into space

• Sputnik 1 – 1st satellite to orbit the earth

• The Soviets sent up a dog, we sent up a monkey

Defining Events of the Cold War

• Truman Doctrine &Marshall Plan

• Berlin Blockade

• Creation of the Berlin Wall

• Arms & Space Races

• Korean War

• Cuban Missile Crisis

• Vietnam War

Korean War

• 1950-1953

• Communists were trying to take over Korea

• Divided into 2= north (pro communist) and south (anti-communist)

• The North was helped by the Soviets and China

• The South was helped by the US

• In 3 years of fighting, neither side ended up gaining any land

• Called the “Forgotten War”

Cuban Missile Crisis

• 1959 – Castro takes over Cuba

• He is supported by the communists

• JFK is worried about Communists being that close to the US, and decides to help start a revolution

• Bay of Pigs (1961) – invasion of Cuban exiles

– It failed miserably