Transcript The Cold War

The Cold War
1945-1990
The Cold War
• Definition:
– A state of hostilities between the United
States and the Soviet Union without
actually fighting between the two nations.
• The Cold War defined United States
Foreign Policy for most of the time
period between 1945-1991
• The Cold war ended in 1991 when the
communist government in the Soviet
Union collapsed.
Origins of the Cold War
The Cold War
United States
Soviet Union
Capitalist- private citizens control
almost all economic activity
Communist- the state controlled all
property and economic activity
People elect the president and
congress from competing political
parties
The Communist Party establishes a
totalitarian government with no opposing
parties
Wanted to create a new world order
in Europe after WWII, in which all
nations had the right to selfdetermination
Encouraged communism in other
countries as a part of the worldwide
struggle between workers and the
wealthy
Wanted to rebuild European
governments to ensure stability and
create new markets for American
goods.
Wanted to control Eastern Europe to
balance U.S. influence in Western Europe
Origins of the Cold War
• The Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945):
– Meeting between Churchill, FDR, and Stalin
The Yalta Conference
•
Goals:
1. Make Post War Plans
2. Get Russia to fight
Japan
3. Decided Germany
would be divided into 4
zones
4. Free elections would
be held in captured
territories; new
governments would be
determined by the
people.
Occupation zones after 1945. Berlin
is the multinational area within the
Soviet zone
Stalin Takes Eastern Europe
• Stalin kept his
troops in Eastern
Europe
– Cancels elections
– Sets up communist
governments in
territories captured
by the Russians
The Iron Curtain
• Described an
imaginary line that
divided the
communist countries
of Eastern Europe
with the free
countries of
Western Europe
The “Iron Curtain”
Term created by
Winston Churchill
“From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an
iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that
line lies the ancient capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.”
-- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946
Peep under the
Iron curtain
March 6, 1946
U.S. Response
• The Marshall Plan:
– Developed by Sec.
of State George
Marshall
– the United States
would provide
economic aid to war
ruined countries in
Europe to rebuild
and create
economic and
political stability
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan
The Truman Doctrine/
Containment:
• Foreign policy created
by President Truman;
stated the U.S. would
work to stop the spread
of communism anywhere
it appeared and limit
Soviet influence in the
world
Truman Doctrine (1947)
1.
George Keenan , an American
diplomat, developed the idea
that the United States must try
to “contain” Soviet expansion
2.
Civil War broke out in Greece
when communists attempted to
overthrow the government.
3.
Turkey was under pressure from
the USSR to allow them to build
naval bases in the Dardanelles.
4.
“The U. S. should support free
peoples throughout the world
who were resisting takeovers by
armed minorities or outside
pressures…We must assist free
peoples to work out their own
destinies in their own way”Harry Truman
5.
The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey
$400 million in aid.
The Truman Doctrine
NATO
• The North Atlantic
Treaty Organization
(NATO)
– Mutual defense pact
between U.S. , Canada,
 United
and free nations in
States
Western Europe formed
in 1949
 Belgium
 Britain
 Canada
 Denmark
 France
 Iceland
 Italy
 Luxemburg
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Portugal
 1952: Greece &
Turkey
 1955: West
Germany
 1983: Spain
Soviet Response to NATO
•
Warsaw Pact (1955):
–
mutual defense pact
between the Soviet
Union and its satellite
countries in Eastern
Europe
U. S. S. R.
East Germany
Albania
Hungary
Bulgaria
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Romania
Crisis Over
Germany
East Berlin
West
Germany
East
Germany
West Berlin
In June of 1948, the
French, British and
American zones were
joined into the nation of
West Germany after the
Soviets refused to end
their occupation of
Germany.
Blockade of Berlin
•
Stalin blocked all road
and rail traffic into the
sectors of Berlin
controlled by the U.S.,
France, and G. Britain
The Berlin Airlift
•
The U.S. responded with
the Berlin airlift
– 2,250,000 tons of
goods, including food
and coal were delivered
by airplanes
The Berlin Airlift
Stalin was forced to
lift the blockade
The Fall of China (1949)
•
Civil War between Nationalists led by
Chiang Kai Shek and the communists
led by Mao Zedong
Chiang Kai
Shek
Mao Zedong
• The U.S. supported Chiang Kai-shek.
•The communists win the war and mainland
China becomes communist
China
• The Nationalists flee to the island of
Formosa now known as Taiwan
The Korean War (1950-1953)
•
•
•
•
•
After WWII Korea was
divided into North and
South at the 38th parallel
North Korea was aided by
the Soviet Union
South Korea was aided by
the United States
The country was to be
reunited after elections
North Korea invaded the
South before the elections
could held.
The Korean War
•
•
The United Nations
sent troops led by Gen.
D. MacArthur to stop
the North Koreans.
U.N Troops pushed the
N. Koreans all the way
to Chinese border
The Korean War
•
The Chinese Army joins the war
on the side of the North and
pushes U.N. Forces back to the
38th parallel.
The Korean War
• President Truman
removed MacArthur
from command after
the general publicly
criticized Truman for
not being more
aggressive with the
Chinese
The Korean War
•
•
A cease fire agreement
was signed in July 1953.
Korea was divided into 2
countries at the 38th
parallel. A Demilitarized
zone separates the two
countries
The war cost 54,000
American lives
The Korean War
• American troops are still located in
South Korea along the demilitarized
zone