Transcript Chapter 17-4

Chapter 17-4
• Cold War Around the World
– I) Confrontations over Developing Nations
– II) Postwar Face-off in Latin America
– III) Confrontations in the Middle East
I) Confrontations over Developing
Nations
• After World War II the world was divided into three
parts; The first Word was the US and its allies, the
Second World was the Soviet Union and its allies, and
the Third World consisted of developing nations, often
newly independent who were not aligned with either
superpower.
• Because these 3rd World Countries in Latin America,
Africa or Asia experienced terrible poverty and political
instability, and they desperately need assistance.
• They could choose to get help from Soviet style
communism or US style free market democracy.
I) Confrontations over Developing
Nations
• Both superpowers competed for influence in the
3rd World, often supporting wars of revolution.
• The US and Soviet spy agencies (CIA and
KGB) enjaged in a variety of secret (covert)
activities, ranging from spying to assassination
attempts.
• Not all 3rd World nations wished to play such a
role, and vowed to remain neutral. They met to
form a group known as non-aligned nations
II) Postwar Face-off in Latin
America
• The United States had long dominated Latin America
politics, often backing dictators who oppressed their
people to protect American business interests.
• The large gap between the rich and the poor led to
revolutionary movements which the Soviet union was
more than eager to support.
• A young lawyer named Fidel Castro led a successful
revolution in Cuba, and he turned to the Soviet Union
for economic and military aid.
• President Kennedy decided to send CIA trained
Cuban exiles to invade Cuba, but Castro’s forces
defeated them at the Bay of Pigs.
II) Postwar Face-off in Latin
America
• Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev responded by
secretly building 42 missile sites in Cuba.
• Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba, and people
began to fear the incident (Cuban Missile Crisis) would
lead to World War III and a nuclear disaster.
• Fortunately the USSR agreed to remove the missiles
in exchange for the US pledge not to invade Cuba.
• In Nicaragua the communists backed Sandinistas
under their leader Daniel Ortega fought the United
States backed Contras (counterrevoluctionarios)
III) Confrontations in the Middle
East
• With its rich supplies of oil, the Middle east lured both
the United States and Soviet Union
• Wealth from the oil industry fueled a growing conflict
between traditional Islamic values and modern
Western materialism.
• Iranian leader Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi created
much resentment by embracing the West.
• Iran's conservative Muslim leaders, known as
ayatollahs, bitterly opposed him, and Ayatollah
Ruholla Khomeini returned from exile to lead a revolt
against the US backed Shah.
• The Shah was forced to flee, and Khomeini
established an Islamic state that banned Western
influence and reinstated traditional Muslim values
III) Confrontations in the Middle
East
• With its rich supplies of oil, the Middle east lured both
the United States and Soviet Union
• Wealth from the oil industry fueled a growing conflict
between traditional Islamic values and modern
Western materialism.
• Iranian leader Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi created
much resentment by embracing the West.
• Iran's conservative Muslim leaders, known as
ayatollahs, bitterly opposed him, and Ayatollah
Ruholla Khomeini returned from exile to lead a revolt
against the US backed Shah.
• The Shah was forced to flee, and Khomeini
established an Islamic state that banned Western
influence and reinstated traditional Muslim values
III) Confrontations in the Middle
East
• With its rich supplies of oil, the Middle east lured both
the United States and Soviet Union
• Wealth from the oil industry fueled a growing conflict
between traditional Islamic values and modern
Western materialism.
• Iranian leader Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi created
much resentment by embracing the West.
• Iran's conservative Muslim leaders, known as
ayatollahs, bitterly opposed him, and Ayatollah
Ruholla Khomeini returned from exile to lead a revolt
against the US backed Shah.
• The Shah was forced to flee, and Khomeini
established an Islamic state that banned Western
influence and reinstated traditional Muslim values
III) Confrontations in the Middle East
• Hatred of America was at the heart of Khomenei’s policies and
when the US admitted the Shah for medical treatment in 1979 a
group of young Islamic revolutionaries seized the US embassy
in Tehran, taking more than 60 people hostage for 444 days.
• Khomeini also encouraged other Muslim fundamentalists to
overthrow their governments, and war broke out between the
Iranians, who were Shi’a, and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, who was
Sunni.
• When a Muslim revolt threatened to topple Afghanistan's
communist regime, the Soviets invaded in December of 1979.
• Like the US earlier in Vietnam, despite far superior manpower
and weapons, the USSR got mired in Afghanistan, as they
failed to dislodge the US backed rebels (mujahideen) in the
mountains.
• After a 10 year occupation the Soviet regime acknowledged
the war’s devastating cost and withdrew.