Transcript Early Years of the Cold War

Early Years of the Cold War
1945 - 1970
1945
• Yalta Conference
– Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt
– Germany divided
– Poland “free elections”
• United Nations Formed
– April 1945 – San Francisco (50 nations)
– 2 parts
• General Assembly – all countries
• Security Council – 11 countries
– U.S., U.S.S.R., Great Britain, France, and
China permanent members with veto
power
• Potsdam Conference
– Truman and Stalin meet to discuss end
of the war
– Beginning of the Nuclear Arms Race
Expansion of the Iron Curtain
• Stalin pro-Soviet governments in
Eastern Europe to both protect
the U.S.S.R. and to expand the
empire
• Satellite Nations by 1955
– Poland, Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania,
East Germany
• Yugoslavia
– Led by Josip Broz (Tito)
– Communist dictatorship, remained
outside Stalin’s control
Containing Communism
• Containment – Secretary of State
George Kennan’s idea to prevent war by
stopping the spread of communism
• Truman Doctrine
– Promised to provide economic and military
aid to nations threatened by Communism
– $400 million to Greece and Turkey in 1947
• Marshall Plan
– U.S. provides economic aid to Western
European nations to help recover from World
War II
– Stalin refuses to let Eastern European
countries to join (COMECON)
Germany Divided
• 1945 – divided into 4 zones occupied
by Great Britain, France, the U.S. and
the Soviet Union
– Berlin divided as well (but
completely in Soviet controlled
area)
• West Germany and West Berlin democratic nations
• East Germany and East Berlin under
Communist control
• Berlin Airlift – Stalin attempts to end
aid to West Berlin, U.S. drops
supplies; blockade ends
• Berlin Wall – 1961, put up to stop East
German from escaping to West Berlin
(symbol of the Cold War)
New Alliances
• North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO)
– Western European,
Canada, and & U.S.
– 1949 - Military alliance
• Warsaw Pact
– 1955 - Soviet Union and
Eastern European nations
sign military agreement
Nuclear Arms Race
• 1945 – U.S. drops atomic
bombs on cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
• 1949 – Soviet Union tests its
first Atomic Bomb
• 1952 – U.S. tests first Hydrogen
Bomb
• 1953 – Soviet Union tests
Hydrogen Bomb
• Mid 1950’s – both create
intercontinental ballistic missiles
(ICBMs)
• 1957 – Soviets launch Sputnik
Cold War Spreads
• China
– 1949 – Mao Zedong wins Chinese
Civil War and creates Communist
nation
• Korean War – 1950-1953
– Communist North Korea leads
troops into South Korea
– U.N. forces (led by the U.S.) help
South Korea
– Douglas MacArthur pushes NK
almost to China; recommends a
nuclear weapon; fired by Truman
– Ends in stalemate – 38th parallel
Cuba
• 1959 – Fidel Castro
overthrew Fulgencio
Batista to control Cuba
• Bay of Pigs Invasion – U.S.
tries to overthrow Castro
(JFK), failed, embarrassed
US
• Cuba becomes Communist
• Soviet leader Khrushchev
sends missiles to Cuba in
1962
• Cuban Missile Crisis –
almost resulted in nuclear
war
Vietnam
• Domino Theory – if one nations
falls to Communism, the next will
• 1965 – U.S. begins war against
Communist North Vietnam (NVA)
and the Vietcong (Communists in
South Vietnam)
• 1968 - Tet Offensive & My Lai
Massacre; long, bitter war
• U.S. forced to withdrawal in 1973