Transcript Document

Division of Germany
• As Determined at the
Yalta Conference,
Germany and Berlin
were divided into 4
zones (despite Berlin
being located in the
USSR zone).
• Each zone was
controlled by one of the
Allies:
–
–
–
–
USA
Great Britain
France
USSR
The Division of Germany
• Western powers (USA,
GB, France) joined their
zones together to form
the Federal German
Republic. (West
Germany/BIZONIA)
• Russians responded by
turning their zone into
the German Democratic
Republic. (East
Germany)
• West Germany
prospered under the
Marshall Plan.
Berlin Blockade (1948)
•
•
Stalin was convinced this was a capitalist plot to eventually reunite
Germany. In 1948 the USSR blocked all land routes into the western sector
of Berlin.
The Soviet’s aim was to prevent the west from sending supplies to West
Berlin causing West Berlin to fall under Soviet control.
BERLIN AIRLIFT
• Allies did not want to use force
• USA, Great Britain, & France fly into West
Berlin and drop supplies from airplanes.
– 13, 000 tonnes / day
– One plane every 3 minutes
– Airlift lasts one year
• Stalin couldn’t shoot planes down and reopens
Berlin to the Allies.
– USSR needed atomic bomb to stand up to US.
Consequences of Blockade
• To the Allies the blockade was proof of
USSR intention to take over Western
Europe.
• Allies create NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization)
• Stalin sees NATO as threat and creates
Warsaw Pact (1955)
• As a method of war—a Cold War,
rather than a “hot war” of troops
and battles—deterrence is a
method of building up one’s
capacity to fight such that neither
opponent will fight because of the
expected outcomes
• The term for this situation of an
unwinnable, nuclear war is
Mutually Assured Destruction
(MAD) and Weapons of Mass
Destruction (WMDs)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
US develops H-Bomb
• In 1952 America developed an
even stronger nuclear weapon
called the H-Bomb. Soviet
technology however followed
suit and had one by 1953.
De-Stalinization
• After Stalin died in March
1953, he was succeeded by
Nikita Khrushchev.
Khrushchev believed that
with or without war
communism would spread
and started an era of
De−Stalinization. This
spelled an end to the role of
large-scale forced labor in the
economy, and was a major
act promoting less tension.
Nikita Khrushchev
September 7, 1953 - October 14, 1964
Khrushchev calls for
“peaceful co-existence”
Cause: Khrushchev was the new leader, he won the power
and carried out his policy of “de-stalinization”
1956 Feb: At 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev calls for
peaceful coexistence with capitalism; admits possibility
of different paths to socialism, revolution without
violence; abandons doctrine of the inevitability of war
Khrushchev expresses that capitalism will eventually
bring itself to ruin; thus waging a war against
capitalism was pointless.
Consequence: the east and west, temporarily, had better
relations
Hungarian Revolt (1956)
• The Hungarian Revolution of
1956 was a spontaneous
nationwide revolt against the
Communist government of
Hungary and its Sovietimposed policies, lasting from
October 23 until November
10, 1956. It began as a student
demonstration which
attracted thousands as it
marched through central
Budapest to the Parliament
building. While they achieved
some prisoner releases, they
did not achieve a Soviet
withdrawal. Thousands of
Hungarians were arrested,
imprisoned and deported to
the Soviet Union
NON-ALIGNMENT
• Non-alignment: position taken during the Cold War by those
countries that did not form an alliance with either the USA nor
the USSR. They pushed for more aid for the developing world.
• Many countries wanted to choose their own ideologies and
resented a history of colonization
• At the Bandung Conference, held in Java, Indonesia, in 1955,
29 African and Asian countries met to promote economic and
cultural cooperation
• This was the beginning of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM);
Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Ghana, Egypt, India, and Indonesia
officially began NAM in 1961
• However, these countries were unsuccessful in trying to use their
membership in the United Nations challenge the hegemony of
the USA and USSR
Sputnik
• On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched
the very first satellite into space. This was huge
at this time because not only did this prove the
Soviets were winning the space race but had
the upper hand on technology for warfare.
• The fear in the USA was that Soviet spy
capabilities had been increased, and the Soviet
Union would be able to pinpoint missiles
anywhere.
U-2 crisis (May 1, 1960)
• The U–2 Crisis of 1960 occurred when an American U–
2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The
U.S. denied the true purpose of the plane, but was forced
to admit it when the U.S.S.R. produced the living pilot
and the largely intact plane to corroborate their claim of
being spied on aerially.
• The Paris Summit (The East-West Summit), intended
to be a diplomatic meeting between Eisenhower and
Khrushchev, was cancelled.
• The incident worsened East–West relations during the
Cold War and was a great embarrassment for the United
States.
John F. Kennedy
January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
Brinkmanship
• Brinkmanship is the attempt to
push a dangerous situation to the
edge, to the brink—as far as
possible without conceding
anything to your opponent
• The Cuban Missile Crisis was the best example
of this during the Cold War
Cuba
• 145 km of the US coast.
• 1959 Communist
Revolution in Cuba led
by Fidel Castro.
• USA is very wary of
Cuba’s new communist
government and growing
ties with the USSR.
• A brief trade battle
ensued.
Cuba cont….
• Cuba nationalized all
industry in Cuba.
• All US business and
interests in Cuba were lost.
• US claimed they were stolen
by Cuban govt. despite
Cuba’s offer of
compensation
• US president Eisenhower
agreed to help Cubans
wishing to overthrow
Castro.
• In January, 1961 John F.
Kennedy takes over as
President and continues this
promise.
BAY OF PIGS
• April 1961, 1400 antiCastro Cubans landed at
the Bay of Pigs in Cuba
to try and overthrow
Castro.
• Castro was ready with
troops and artillery and
stopped the threat.
• HUGE American
embarrassment
Bay of Pigs cont….
• Castro scared that
Kennedy would help
other rebellions asked
Khrushchev for help,
and Khrushchev sends
weapons to Castro.
• Kennedy worried
about events keeps a
close eye on Cuba.
The Berlin Wall
• Many people living in East Germany were not as well
off as West Germans and escaped into West Germany.
• By July, 1961 approximately 10 000 East Germans were
leaving per week.
• 3 000 000 people had fled since 1945.
• On August 12th, 1961, East German troops locked down
the boarder between East Germany and West Berlin,
essentially surrounding the city.
• A second fence was later built inside East Germany,
creating a no-mans land between the two barriers
known as “The Death Strip”
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• Americans discovered Russian missile
bases being built in 1962.
• President Kennedy ordered an
American blockade (quarantine) of
Cuba to stop Russian ships from
carrying missiles into Cuba.
• Kennedy then ordered Khrushchev to
dismantle the missile bases
immediately.
• Any attack from Cuba would be treated
as a direct attack on the USA by USSR
and ordered 156 long range missiles
aimed at the USSR to be ready to fire.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• On October 29, 1961 4 days after the
blockade began Khrushchev “blinked first”
and ordered the dismantling of all missile
bases in Cuba.
• President Kennedy called off the blockade
and promised to leave Cuba alone.
During the Crisis, US
president John F.
Kennedy scribbled
notes about the conflict.
This map was created by the CIA to show missile
ranges and was used in secret meeting during the
Cuban Missile Crisis
DETENTE
“A Change in Superpower Relations”
DETENTE
• Because the Cuban Missile
Crisis brought the two
superpowers to the brink of
war, some steps were taken to
reduce the tension between
the two nations. The period of
reduced tensions, from the
late 1960s to 1979 (when the
Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan), was called
détente
Khrushchev
Reasons for Detente
• Both sides realized how dangerous the
situation had become.
• US fighting in Vietnam - needed to slow
Arms Race to reduce burden on economy.
• USSR concerned about Communist China.
• Both sides wanted to reduce economic
expenditure.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Leonid Brezhnev
November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
October 14, 1964 - November 10, 1982
The following timeline illustrates
aspects of détente between the USA
and the USSR:
• 1963: Hot-line between the White House and the
Kremlin is established; Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
restricting nuclear tests to underground explosions
• 1969: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
begin
• 1972: Richard Nixon, first USA president to visit
the Soviet Union
• 1973: Leonid Brezhnev, USSR leader, visits
Washington
• 1975: Helsinki Agreement — USA, USSR, Canada
and Eastern and Western European powers agree to
European frontiers set up after World War Two and
to work at protecting human rights
Richard Nixon
January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974
Gerald Ford
August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George Bush
January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993
Andropov
Chernenko
November 12, 1982 - February 9, 1984
February 13, 1984 - March 10, 1985
Proxy Wars and Liberation Movements
• The US and USSR never did descend into a
direct “hot war” but they did have what are
called proxy wars, substitute wars in which
one super power might fight in another land
or provide support
•
…in the postwar recovery years were opportunities for the superpowers to
advance their interests in regions around the world. Each side was willing to
provide economic or military support to a side that was sympathetic to its
ideology
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan also known as the
Soviet-Afghan War was a nine-year conflict
involving Soviet forces supporting the Marxist
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)
government against the largely Islamic
fundamentalist Mujahideen insurgents. The initial
Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan
began on December 25, 1979. The final troop
withdrawal began on May 15, 1988, and ended on
February 15, 1989. Here we can see The Soviets
trying to start a new domino line
Red Scare!
• In September 1945, a cipher clerk named Igor
Gouzenko from the Soviet Embassy in
Ottawa defected
• He carried with him files that described, in
detail, the extent of Soviet spying in North
America
• The Gouzenko affair caused tremendous
consternation in the United States and Canada
• His defection led to a significant number of
charges against Canadians and Americans for
spying on their own country
• Many felt that the Soviet spying extended
even deeper, into the heart of government
Igor Gouzenko
• An American
Senator (Joe
McCarthy) was so
convinced that
Soviet spies were
everywhere that he
began a hunt for
suspected spies and
collaborators
1947
Book
PartComic
of the scare
Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev comes to
power in the S.U. He inherits a
country where:
March 11, 1985 - December
25, 1991
A.
B.
Living conditions for the average
Soviet did not match those of
people in the West.
For too long the Soviets devoted
spending money on the arms race,
underfunding other important
government programs.
The Fall of Communism
Gorbachev introduces two new political
policies that encourage political
discussion and new communication with
the west.
A.
B.
Peristroika: economic restructuring
Glasnost: political openness
People in Soviet satellite countries see this as a relaxing of Soviet
grip on their countries. One by one they begin to replace their
Soviet backed governments and replace them with democratically
elected ones. The Soviet Union’s empire begins to crumble…
Germany is Re-united
The collapse of the Iron Curtain
was in 1989 and was symbolized
by the opening of the Berlin wall
on the 9th of November, 1989.
The dismantling of the Soviet
Union in December 1991
followed this event.
On October 3, 1990 Germany
was reunited and the areas
controlled by American, Soviet,
French, and British forces were
left in the hands of a new
Germany. This unfortunately hit
the German economy hard but
Germany did and still is
recovering.
Warsaw Pact dissolves
March 31, 1991
The Warsaw Pact crumbled for a
number of reasons, serving as a prop
for the unpopular Communist regimes
of Eastern Europe. The treaties
became increasingly obsolete once
non-Communists came to power and
although Soviet authorities showed
some tenacity in insisting on
maintaining the treaty, it was clear that
the greatest hostilities animating the
organization were internal.
Soviet Union ceases to exist
Russia declares independence
Dec 25, 1991 Gorbachev announces his resignation
and the Soviet Union ceases to exist under
international law