Transcript the “Cold War” (1945–1991)

the “Cold War” (1945–1991)
• worldwide debate:
which system is better? capitalism or communism?
• between:
– capitalists: U.S. & its allies (France, Britain, western Europe)
– communists: Soviet Union (USSR) & its allies
• not actual military conflict
• fought as “proxy wars”
– examples: Korean War (1950–1953),
Vietnam War (1956–1975), Berlin Wall (1961),
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), Afghanistan (1979–1989)
– nuclear weapons stockpiling
– competition to travel to space & the moon
– cultural wars (sports, arts)
Communist world after World War II
• Soviet Union wanted Communist buffer from
western (capitalist) Europe
– Communism imposed on:
• Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria
• German territory occupied by Soviet Union
at end of World War II
– became East Germany / German Democratic Republic
= places of proxy wars
divided Germany (1945–1990)
divided Berlin (1945–1990)
Berlin Wall under construction (1961)
Berlin Wall (1961–1989)
history of Cuba (part 1)
• colony of Spain (1500s–1898)
– Spain lost to U.S. in Spanish-American War (1898)
• independent country,
but strong U.S. control & investment (1902–1959)
• Fidel Castro led revolution (1959)
– seized foreign-owned property
(JFK campaign speech)
– embraced Communism,
accepted Soviet economic & military aid
“At the beginning of 1959
United States companies owned
about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar
lands, almost all the cattle ranches,
90 percent of the mines and mineral
concessions, 80 percent of the
utilities—practically all the oil
industry—and supplied two-thirds
of Cuba’s imports.”
—John F. Kennedy,
campaigning in Cincinnati,
October 6, 1960
history of Cuba (part 2)
• U.S. seemed weak in Cold War in 1961
– U.S.-led invasion of Bay of Pigs, Cuba (Apr. 1961)
to overthrow Castro failed
• 1,500 in invasion force; 100 killed, 1,200
captured; imprisoned in Cuba until Dec. 1962
– Soviet Chairman Khrushchev unimpressed by
Kennedy in summit meeting in Vienna
(June 1961)
• discussed Vietnam War, divided Berlin,
nuclear disarmament
– Soviets erected Berlin Wall in (Aug. 1961),
U.S. didn’t stop it
history of Cuba (part 3)
• Cuban missile crisis (October 1962)
– example of “proxy war” in Cold War
– U.S.S.R. building missile sites in Cuba
for launch against U.S.
– U.S. demanded U.S.S.R. stop, set up blockade in
Caribbean to keep U.S.S.R. shipments from reaching
Cuba
– poor communication btw. U.S. & USSR
– world on brink of nuclear war for 2 weeks
– compromise reached: U.S.S.R. removed missiles;
U.S. promised not to invade
• has to tolerate a Communist country 90 miles away
“fallout” from
the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) : U.S., U.S.S.R., & Britain
• U.S. & U.S.S.R.
– set up hotline for instant communication
between the countries’ leaders
– spent more!! on nuclear weapons
• MAD (mutually assured destruction) doctrine
– more weapons, but less likely to use them
• contributed to U.S. escalation in Vietnam
Robert F. Kennedy,
Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
• written in 1967, based on
diary & recollections
• never re-edited it
• Robert Kennedy
– Attorney General of U.S.
(1961–1964)
– senator from New York
(1965–1968)
– presidential candidate in
1968
• assassinated June 1968
• book published in 1969
Robert F. Kennedy,
Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
• online exam:
Tuesday, April 21
• read:
– Foreword, pp. 7–15
– main text, pp. 19–98
– (don’t have to read Afterword
& Documents)
• reading guide on
Blackboard
• copy on reserve in
Cunningham Mem. Library