Transcript Cold War Part II

An
Overview
of the
Cold War
Bell Ringer:
Finish Cold War
Atlas Work
during CNN.
10 Minutes
Post WWII
• Allies emerged victorious but at a horrible
price.
• Fifty million lives lost.
• European landscape devastated.
• Bombs laid waste to large portion of
continent.
• Only shells of buildings left in major cities.
Superpower Nations Emerge
• USSR and USA “fight” for supremacy
• USSR has puppet governments
throughout Eastern Europe
• USA briefly occupies conquered nations
but leaves them to self-rule.
• Both nations have enough weapons to
destroy the planet. (Mutually Assured
Destruction) MAD
After World War II the Cold War
began and caused tension
throughout the world.
• Politics caused tension:
• The USA was a market
economy with a democracy.
• The USSR was a command
economy with communism
government.
• Both wanted to be the most
powerful nation in the
world.
Germany is Divided
• Germany had been ruled by
Hitler and the Nazis until
their defeat in 1945.
• It became split.
• The western side became
West Germany. (democratic)
• East Germany became
another communist country
under USSR influence.
Post-War Germany
After World War II, the
world changed!
• Many countries became communist after
World War II including:
- Czechoslovakia (1948)
- Poland (1947)
- Hungary (1947)
- China (1949)
- Cuba (1959)
- North Korea (1945)
Nuclear tensions
• The USA had shown its atomic power
when it exploded the A-bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of
World War 2.
• The USSR was also developing atomic
weapons/bombs.
• The USA and the USSR were in
competition with each other to have the
best, most powerful weapons in the
world – this was called the Arms Race.
The Arms Race:
A “Missile Gap?”
}
The Soviet Union
exploded its first
A-bomb in 1949.
}
Now there were
two nuclear
superpowers!
Cold War?
• The tension and rivalry between the USA
and the USSR was described as the Cold
War (1945-1990).
• There was never a real war between the
two sides between 1945 and 1990, but they
were often very close to war .
• Result? Both sides got involved in other
conflicts in the world to either stop the
spread of communism (USA) or help the
spread communism (USSR).
The domino effect
• The USA was very worried that the
USSR’s influence over some European
countries was making the USSR and
communism more powerful.
• The USA did not want communism to
spread any further – they were worried
about the domino effect.
After Stalin? Premier Nikita Khrushchev
“About the capitalist
states, it doesn't
depend on you
whether we
(Soviet Union) exist.
If you don't like us,
don't accept our
De-Stalinization
invitations, and don't
Program
invite us to come
to see you. Whether you like it our not,
history is on our side. We will bury you.” -1956
Tensions Rose Further:
Result?
The Berlin Wall 1961