Transcript The Cold War 1945-1990 US vs Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The Cold War 1945-1990
USA vs Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Define Cold War
• The strategic and political struggle that
developed after WWII between the United
States and it’s Western European allies and
the Soviet Union and Eastern European
allies
• Democracy vs. Communism
Causes of the Cold War
• Different political systems
-US is based on democracy, capitalism and
freedom
-USSR is based on dictatorship,
communism and control
• Both thought their system was better and
distrusted the others intentions
• Stalin despised capitalism
Yalta Conference Feb 1945
Yalta Conference Feb 1945
Before the end of the World War II, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt
met at Yalta to plan what should happen when the war ended. They
agreed on many points:
1.
The establishment of the United Nations.
2.
Germany to be divided into four zones.
3.
free elections allowed in the states of eastern Europe.
4.
Russia promised to join the war against Japan.
5.
Although they could not agree about what should happen to
Poland, relations between the leaders were good, and the
Conference was a success.
Truman Doctrine
•
In 1947 the British were helping the
Greek government fight against
communist guerrillas.
•
They appealed to America for aid, and the
response was the Truman Doctrine.
•
America promised it would support free
countries to help fight communism.
•
Greece received large amounts of arms
and supplies, and by 1949 had defeated
the communists.
•
The Truman Doctrine was significant
because it showed that America, the most
powerful western country, was prepared
to resist the spread of communism
throughout the world.
Marshall Plan
•
In 1947, US Secretary of State Marshall
announced the Marshall Plan.
•
This was a massive economic aid plan
for Europe to help it recover from the
damage caused by the war.
•
There were two motives for this:
– Helping Europe to recover
economically would provide
markets for American goods, so
benefiting American industry.
– A prosperous Europe would be
better able to resist the spread of
communism. This was probably the
main motive.
The Berlin Crisis(June 1948-May 1949)
•
In 1948, the three western controlled zones of Germany's
(US,France, UK) were united, and grew in prosperity due
to Marshal Aid.
• The west wanted the east to rejoin, but Stalin feared it
would hurt Soviet security.
• In June 1948, Stalin decided to try to gain control of
West Berlin which was deep inside the eastern sector.
• He cut road, rail and canal links with West Berlin,
hoping to starve it into submission.
• In May 1949, Russia admitted defeat and lifted the
blockade.
Berlin Airlift
The west responded to blockade by
airlifting in the necessary supplies to allow
west Berlin to survive.
Korean War
The conflict arose from the attempts of the two Korean powers to re-unify
Korea under their respective governments. The period immediately before the
war was marked by escalating border conflicts at the 38th Parallel and attempts
to negotiate elections for the entirety of Korea.[23] These negotiations ended
when the North Korean Army invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Under the
aegis of the United Nations, nations allied with the United States intervened on
behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack,
North-allied Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the
balance of the war and ultimately leading to an armistice that approximately
restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.
Alger Hiss Trial
On Aug. 3, 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a
senior editor from Time magazine and
self-admitted ex-communist, appeared
before the House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC) identifying Alger Hiss
and several other federal officials of
having been members of a Communist cell
whose purpose had been to infiltrate the
U.S. government. Hiss served five years in
prison.
NATO
•
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In 1949 the western nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization to co-ordinate their defense against Russia.
It consisted of:
America, Canada, Britain, France, Holland, Belgium
Luxembourg, Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Italy
»
se
SEATO
•
•
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Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
France, the United Kingdom, and the United States represented
the strongest Western powers
Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, and New Zealand
CENTO
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Central Treaty Organization
Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom
Senator Joe McCarthy
• Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) was a
Republican Senator from Appleton, Wisconsin,
who did the most to whip up anti-communism
during the 1950s.
• On February 9, 1950, he gave a speech where
he claimed to have a list of 205 Communists in
the State Department.
• In the spring of 1954, however, the tables
turned when McCarthy charged that the
United States Army
• the Senator as a blustering bully and his
investigations as little more than a misguided
scam
US Test Hydrogen Bomb-1952
• 1000 times more
powerful than the
Hiroshima atomic
bomb
• Set off on Bikini
Island in the Marshall
Islands
Nikita Khrushchev Takes Over
• Talks of peaceful coexistence and destalinization.
USSR Launches Sputnik
Fidel Castro Overthrows Batista
Francis Gary Powers Shot Down in
USSR
The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on
May 1, 1960 (during the presidency of Dwight D.
Eisenhower) when an American U-2 spy plane was shot
down over the Soviet Union. At first, the United States
government denied the plane's purpose and mission, but
was forced to admit its role as a covert surveillance
aircraft when the Soviet government produced its
remains (largely intact) and surviving pilot, Francis
Gary Powers. Coming just over two weeks before the
scheduled opening of an East-West summit in Paris, the
incident was a great embarrassment to the United
States[1] and prompted a marked deterioration in its
relations with the Soviet Union.
Kennedy vs. Nixon
First Televised presidential Debate
Yuri Gagarin
On 12 April 1961, he became the first human in outer space and
the first to orbit the Earth
Berlin Wall-1961
Wall built by Soviets to keep East Germans from crossing over.
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known
as La Batalla de Girón in Cuba),
was an unsuccessful attempt by a
U.S.-trained force of Cuban exiles
to invade southern Cuba with
support from U.S. government
armed forces to overthrow the
Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
Professor and the first postrevolution Prime Minister José
Miró Cardona was chosen to lead
the planned provisional
government.
Cuban Missile Crisis
Range of Soviet Missiles Launched
From Cuba
Fidel Castro and Soviet premier
Nikita Khrushchev agreed to
secretly place strategic nuclear
missiles in Cuba. Like Castro,
Khrushchev felt that a U.S.
invasion of Cuba was imminent,
and that to lose Cuba would do
great harm to the spread of
communism, especially in Latin
America. He said that he wanted to
confront the Americans "with more
than words...the logical answer was
missiles
JFK Killed, Johnson President
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Vietnam War
The Vietcong, the lightly armed South Vietnamese communist insurgency, largely
fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The North
Vietnamese Army engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large-sized
units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and
overwhelming firepower to conduct search-and-destroy operations, involving ground
forces, artillery and air strikes.
The United States entered the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as
part of their wider strategy of containment. Military advisors arrived beginning in 1950.
U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s and combat units were deployed
beginning in 1965. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive.
Despite a peace treaty signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued. In April
1975, North Vietnam captured Saigon. North and South Vietnam were reunified the
following year.
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was two separate
occurrences involving naval forces of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the United
States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin that prompted
the first large-scale involvement of U.S. armed forces in
Southeast Asia. Granted President Lyndon B. Johnson
the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country
whose government was considered to be jeopardized by
"communist aggression," including the commitment of
U.S. forces without a declaration of war
Kent State University protest
Massacre
Abruptly, the troops marched
off the field and back up the
shallow hill. When they
reached the hill's crest, at
about 12:24 P.M., about two
dozen members of the guard
turned around and began
firing.
The firing lasted for thirteen
seconds, and when it was
over, four students--Jeffrey
Miller, Allison Krause, William
Schroeder, and Sandra
Scheuer--were dead or dying,
and nine others were
wounded.
SALT I TREATY
SALT I is the common name for the
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Agreement, also known as Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks. SALT I froze the number
of strategic ballistic missile launchers at
existing levels, and provided for the
addition of new submarine-launched
ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers only
after the same number of older
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
and SLBM launchers had been
dismantled.
Nixon Resigns, Ford is President
Watergate Scandal
The scandal began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the
Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office complex in
Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. Investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) and later by the Senate Watergate Committee, House Judiciary
Committee and the press revealed that this burglary was one of many illegal activities
authorized and carried out by Nixon's staff. They also revealed the immense scope of
crimes and abuses, which included campaign fraud, political espionage and sabotage,
illegal break-ins, improper tax audits, illegal wiretapping on a massive scale, and a secret
slush fund laundered in Mexico to pay those who conducted these operations. This secret
fund was also used as hush money to buy the silence of the seven men who were indicted
for the June 17 break-in. President Nixon resigns because of this scandal
Berlin Wall Comes Down
Nov. 9, 1989