Transcript The Cold War - Cobb Learning

The Cold
War
The Cold War
What was the Cold War?
• Following World War II relations between the Soviet
Union and the western allies deteriorated rapidly
with neither side trusting the other.
• The term used to describe the struggle for power
between the world’s two biggest superpowers; The
U.S. and the Soviet Union.
• Each superpower sought to extend its world
influence through political, military and economic
support from other countries
• This created a divide between communist and
democratic nations.
The Cold War
The Iron Curtain
• Symbolic of the political division
between western and eastern Europe.
• Winston Churchill first made reference
to this symbolic Iron Curtain in a 1946
speech.
Policy of Containment
A policy proposed by American diplomat
George F. Kennan to provide economic and
military aid to vulnerable countries as a
way to prevent them from falling under
Communist rule.
The Cold War
The Truman Doctrine
Established U.S. policy of Containment by adopting
Kennan’s policy of containment.
Aided Greece and Turkey to defeat Communist insurgents
and promised to help other countries to defeat communism
It guided U.S. policy for the next 4 decades.
The Cold War
The Marshall Plan
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vital part of the
 Developed in 1947 by U.S.
Secretary of State George
Marshall to provide massive
relief to European nations
devastated by the war.
 The U.S. provided European
countries with funds needed to
purchase supplies to rebuild their
economies.
 It benefitted U.S. by reopening
markets to U.S. goods.
The Cold War
The Berlin Blockade
and Airlift
In June 1948 it was announced that France, Britain, and the
U.S. were going to unify their occupational zones in
western Germany, plus those of Berlin, which was deep
within Soviet held eastern Germany.
Stalin responded by sending troops to blockade the western
border of Berlin. This halted supplies to 2 million people.
In response, British and American cargo planes began an
around-the-clock airlift of food, fuel and other essentials to
West Berlin known as the Berlin Airlift.
The Berlin airlift lasted 10 months until Stalin ended the
blockade.
The Cold War
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO)
 A 1949 alliance between the
U.S. Canada, Great Britain,
France and several other
European nations
 Members agreed to mutual
military assistance if any
member was attacked.
 Communist nations
responded by forming the
Warsaw Pact.
The Cold War
Communist Takeover of China
and the Korean War
In 1949 Mao Zedong led a communist
takeover of China.
The U.S. feared that country after country
would fall to communism in Asia, “domino
theory”.
This led to the Korean War to prevent the
takeover of South Korea by Communist
North Korea.
The war began when North Korea Troops
crossed into South Korea and ended there 3
years later.
The Cold War
The Space Race
 On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union
launched the world’s first artificial
satellite into space, which was known
as Sputnik, a basketball-sized satellite.
 Americans were alarmed that the
Soviets could spy on the U.S. from
satellites and wanted to keep any
hostile powers from dominance in
space.
 In response, in January of 1958, the
U.S. launched Explorer I and the space
race had begun.
The Cold War
The Berlin Wall (1961-1991)
By 1961, millions of East Germans were fleeing to the west as they sought
better lives in the west.
In response Soviet Premier Khrushchev demanded that President Kennedy
withdraw U.S. troops from West Berlin. Kennedy refused.
Late in the year, Khrushchev ordered a hundred mile, 12 foot high wall to be
erected to keep East Germans from fleeing to the west.
East German guards were ordered to shoot to kill anyone attempting to flee.
This settled the Berlin issue that had plagued the city since the start of the
Cold War. However, the Wall became a hated symbol by easterners and
westerners
The wall finally fell in late 1989 as the Soviet troops were pulled out of
Eastern Europe and the USSR began crumbling.
The Cold War
Cuban Missile Crisis
 In 1962, the Soviets installed
missiles in Cuba that could reach
the United States. This began the
Cuban Missile Crisis.
 The U.S. launched a naval
blockade of Cuba and for a time it
appeared the Soviet Union and
the U.S. would go to war over the
Soviet Missiles
 Intense negotiations led to the
withdrawal of the missiles.
The Cold War
The Vietnam War
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After World War II, France tried to regain control of
Vietnam
It split into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
North Vietnam was Communist and was supported
by China. The U.S. and its democratic allies
supported South Vietnam.
The War was primarily a civil war over the
attempted re-unification between the communist
north and democratic south.
The war was widely unpopular in the United States
and in 1975 the U.S. withdrew its troops and South
Vietnam surrendered to the communist North.
In 1976 Vietnam was reunited as the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam
The Cold War
Effects and Results
of The Vietnam War
 Over 58,000 U.S. soldiers died.
 Nearly 2 million Vietnamese civilians, 1 million North
Vietnamese fighters and 200,000 South Vietnamese fighters
were killed.
 The Vietnam War became unpopular in the U.S. which led
to a large anti-war movement and multiple, sometimes
violent protests at universities across the nation.
 In 1975, after the United States withdrew from the conflict,
the South Vietnamese surrendered to the North Vietnamese
 Today Vietnam is transitioning to capitalism.
The End of the Cold War
President Ronald Reagan
“The Great Communicator”
• In 1980 Republic nominee Ronald Reagan defeated
President Jimmy Carter and called for a return to
basic American values.
• He also emphasized the rebuilding of America’s
armed forces after the years following the “Vietnam
Syndrome”. This meant escalating the arms race.
• The federal deficit soared as America fought to stay
ahead in the arms race because of the continuing
Cold War costs… but
• The Soviet government couldn’t keep up with the
cost of the arms race and had to discontinue.
• The Soviet Union eventually collapsed in 1991 and
its 15 republics abandoned communism and gained
independence.
The End of the Cold War
Collapse of the Soviet Union
• The Soviet Union eventually collapsed in 1991 and
its 15 republics abandoned communism and gained
independence.