Transcript 4. The Hot Spots of the Cold War

A Jewish State is Created
 British Balfour Declaration –
Arthur Balfour, British Foreign
Secretary declares that he favors the
establishment of a Jewish state in
Palestine
 Following the Holocaust, many
Europeans felt the Jews should return to
their homeland in remembrance of the 6
million victims
 Arabs, consider the Jews invaders and
violent conflict emerges
 The United Nations Resolution – 1947
–the United Nations partitioned the
Palestine area into two (one Arab and
one Jewish)
 May 14, 1948 – independence of a Jewish state,
Israel is declared with the support of U.S.
President Harry Truman
 first prime minister was David Ben-Gurion
 Arab nations; Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt,
and Iraq immediately invade Israel but are
defeated in 1949, as Israel expands its borders
 Cold War implications – United States and Israel
become firm allies, while the Soviet Union
supports the Arabs
Left map: Israel (1947)
Right map: Israel (1949)
The Six Day War (1967)
 Israel was invaded by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
 Israel defeated the Arab nations and took claim to the West
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Bank (Jordan), the Golan Heights (Syria), and the Gaza
Strip and the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt)
A UN resolution forced Israel to withdraw and return all
lands back to the Arab nations.
Religious and cultural differences still the root of conflict
in the area.
Many experts believe if a World War III would occur it
would happen here.
The U.S. still backs Israel while Arab countries like Iran feel
Jews are intruding on Muslim Holy Land
Map 29–4 ISRAEL AND ITS NEIGHBORS IN 1949 The
territories gained by Israel in 1949 did not secure peace
in the region. In fact, the disposition of those lands and
the Arab refugees who live there has constituted the core
of the region’s unresolved problems to the present day.
Possible Easing of Cold War
Tensions
 armistice in Koreas, the death of Stalin, and a summit
in Geneva over nuclear weapons and Germany seem to
indicate an easing of the Cold War
 Geneva meeting provides little agreement and the
Cold War soon resumes
Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964)
 Replaced Stalin after his mysterious
death in 1953
 In “The Secret Speech,” Khrushchev
condemned the vicious rule of Stalin
 Started “de-Stalinization”—reducing
the power of the secret speech
 Allowed more intellectual freedom
 BUT, Hungarian uprising of 1956
was crushed by the Red Army
 Retreated from Stalin, but not from
Communism or authoritarian gov’t
Timeline: Tensions increase
 1956 the US and SU began to talk about “peaceful
coexistence”
 1957SU launches Sputnik, first satellite to orbit the
earthSIGNIFICANCE?
 1958Negotiations began to limit nuclear testing
 1959U.S. leaders (VP Nixon) visited Moscow and
Khrushchev toured the U.S.
Paris Summit Conference
 A meeting was scheduled for the leaders of several
countries to meet in Paris
 Just before the SU shot down an American U-2 spy
plane
 Khrushchev demanded an apology from Pres.
EisenhowerHe refused
 Khrushchev was in Paris but did not attend the
conferenceBack where we started NO TRUST!
The Berlin Wall
 In 1961 a large number of
Germans were leaving
East Germany to escape
communism and
entering West Berlin
 Aug. 1961 a concrete wall
was built to separate
West and East Berlin
 U.S. does not respond to
the wall while West
Berliners plea for help
Effects of the Cuban Missile Crisis
 A U.S. spy plane discovered the SU was building
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missile silos in Cuba
JFK and Khrushchev came as close to WWIII as any
point after WWII until Khrushchev backed down
The Soviet Union removes missiles from Cuba
The United States removes missiles from Turkey
The United States and Soviet Union avoid nuclear war
Kennedy and Khrushchev establish a “hot line”
telephone system to keep communications
openMoscow to Washington D.C.
 In 1963, the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union
signed the Nuclear Test Ban which ended aboveground
nuclear tests
 Khrushchev lost prestige in the SU and will be
removed from power in 1964
The Brezhnev Era
 On Oct. 16, 1964 Khrushchev
was forced to resign
 CMC fiasco, rebellions by
Hungary and Poland during
the 1950s
 Poor agricultural production
 Leonid Brezhnev emerged as
the dominant figure in SU
Communist Party
 Was considered a hardline
communist
1968: Invasion of Czechoslovakia
 “Prague
Spring”Alexander
Dubcek began to
experiment with liberal
communism
freedom of discussion
 SU and Warsaw allies
sent troops and
replaced Dubcek
In the summer of 1968, Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia, ending that country’s
experiment in liberalized communism. This picture shows defiant flag-waving Czechs on a
truck rolling past a Soviet tank in the immediate aftermath of the invasion.
Hulton Archive Photos/Getty Images, Inc.
 Brezhnev Doctrine declared the right of the SU to
interfere in communist countries to sustain
communist gov’ts of Eastern Europe
Détente with the United States
 Nixon’s “détente” or cooling off
relations with the Soviets
during the late 60s and early
70s
 Nixon, Henry Kissinger and
Brezhnev conclude agreements
on trade and reduction of
nuclear arms
 1972—Nixon visits Moscow and
China—1st in U.S. History
 President Gerald Ford, SU
and other European nations
sign Helsinki Accordthe
Soviet sphere is Eastern Europe
as long as human rights are
protected
1979:Invasion of Afghanistan
 Brezhnev gov’t invaded to ensure SU influence in
central Asia
 U.S. embargoed grain shipments to SU, boycotted 1980
Olympics in Moscow, sent aid to Afghan rebels
 CIA directed rebel forces of whom were radical
Muslims
 Conflict will last for 10 years resulting in about 20,000
SU deaths
Reagan Ends Détente
 Ronald Reagan elected in 1980 and
1984 and begins presidency by
calling the Soviets the “Evil Empire”
 Reagan begins a massive military
buildup and pushes for “Star Wars”
 The Soviets unable to keep pace will
begin to feel the financial crippling
of their country
 REVOLUTION IS COMING!!!
Mikhail Gorbachev
 Becomes Soviet leader in 1985
 Introduces “glasnost” (openness)
and “perestroika” (restructuring)
with the SU
 Will be the leader when the
Revolutions of 1989 engulf
Eastern Europe and the Berlin
Wall is torn down
Reagan Ends Détente
 P. 1133
 Read last section on Reagan and answer the following
question.
 How did Ronald Reagan change the path of the Cold
War ending détente and pushing the SU towards its
financial downfall?