Transcript Cold War - US History

The Cold War
1945-1989
Postwar
outcomes
• Soviet occupied
territory
– Eastern and
Central
Europe
– Eastern
portion of
Germany.
Germany was DIVIDED
• West Germany democratic and
resumed selfgoverned after
Allied
occupation
• East Germany
controlled by
the Soviet Union
Japan after WWII
• Temporarily occupied by
American forces.
– adopted a democratic form
of government
–resumed self-government
– became a strong ally of the
United States.
Europe
Rebuilds
• Europe lay in ruins
• The United States
launched the
Marshall Plan
– provided massive
financial aid to
rebuild
European
economies and
prevent the
spread of
communism.
United Nations
• Political union formed on October 24,
1945
• Formed to create a body for the nations of
the world to try to prevent future global
wars
• Emblem: the world in the
olive branches of peace
Origins of the Cold War
• The Cold War lasted from the end of World War
II until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.
United States
Soviet Union
• represented
DEMOCRATIC
political institutions
• free market
economy (no
government
interference)
• represented a
TOTALITARIAN
government
• command economy
(everything controlled
by the government)
Nuclear Weapons
• The Soviet Union matched the United
States in nuclear weaponry in the
1950s
• The threat of a nuclear was everpresent throughout the Cold War.
• President Eisenhower, adopted a
policy of “massive retaliation” to deter
any nuclear strike by the Soviets.
U.S. Responds
Truman Doctrine
• “containment of
communism”
– NOT concerned with
rolling it back or
destroying it all
together
– Concerned with
preventing
communism from
spreading and
resisting the
aggression of
communist nations
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO)
• Political alliance
• Members: U.S. and
western European
nations
• Purpose: prevent a
Soviet invasion of
western Europe
FOR PROTECTION AGAINST COMMUNISM!!
Warsaw Pact
• Members: Soviet
Union and
eastern
European allies
• Purpose: provide
protection
against threat
from western
democracies
FOR PROTECTION
AGAINST WESTERN
POWERS!!
Communist China
• China’s fall to communism
increased American fears of
communist domination of most of
the world.
• HOWEVER, China and the Soviet
Union become RIVALS not allies
• U.S. fear of the spread of
communism increases to the point
of paranoia
Are there SPIES in the U.S.?
• Soviet Spies
– Alger Hiss, and Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg
– Convicted of spying for the Soviet Union
– the construction of nuclear weapons by
the Soviets was made possible by the
technical secrets obtained through spying
• Discovery of spies increased domestic fears
of communism in the U.S.
The
Rosenbergs
are
convicted
and
executed
McCarthyism
• Senator Joseph McCarthy
• played on American fears
of communism
• recklessly accused many
American governmental officials and
citizens of being communists based on
flimsy or no evidence
• The term McCarthyism means making
false accusations based on rumor or guilt
by association.
• Many people were convicted
of being communists with
little or no evidence.
Can you detect a communist?
Major events of
the Cold War that
increased U.S.
fear of
communism.
Sputnik I (1957)
The Russians have beaten America
in space—they have the
technological edge!
U-2 Spy Incident (1960)
Col. Francis
Gary Powers’
plane was
shot down
over Soviet
airspace.
The Berlin Wall Goes Up (1961)
Checkpoint
Charlie
Ich bin ein Berliner!
(1963)
President
Kennedy tells
Berliners that
the West is
with them!
Khruschev Embraces Castro,
1961
The Soviet Union and Cuba
become ALLIES.
Fidel
Castro
• Led a communist
revolution in Cuba
in the late 1950s
• Many Cubans fled
to Florida
• Bay of Pigs
Invasion
–Attempt to invade
Cuba and
overthrow Castro
Bay of Pigs Debacle (1961)
U.S.
invasion to
try to
overthrow
the
communist
government
of Fidel
Castro
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
• The Soviet Union stationed nuclear
missiles in Cuba
• President Kennedy ordered the
Soviets to remove their missiles
• The world was on the edge of nuclear
war
• The Soviet Union “blinked” and
removed their missiles
Thirteen Days
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
We went eyeball-to-eyeball with
the Russians, and the other man
blinked!
The Korean War: A “Police Action” (19501953)
Kim Il-Sung
Syngman Rhee
“Domino Theory”
The Korean War
• Reflected the American policy of
containment
• North Korea invades South Korea
– U.S. leads a counterattack into
North Korea
– Communist Chinese come to the aid
of North Korea
• Ends in STALEMATE
Korean
War
• North Korea =
communist government
• South Korea = democratic
government, free market,
industrializing economy
• Divided along the 38th
parallel
Vietnam War: 1965-1973
President Kennedy
• The U.S. will “pay any price,
bear any burdern, meet any
hardship, support any friend,
oppose any foe, in order to
assure the survival and the
succes of LIBERTY.”
»John F. Kennedy
“ask not what
your country
can do for
YOU, but what
you can do for
your
COUNTRY.”
»JFK
President Kennedy
• Began American military buildup
in Vietnam
• Kennedy was assasinated in 1963
in Dallas, Texas.
• Shook the nation’s confidence
and began a period of internal
division over U.S. involvement in
Vietnam
A Limited War
• President Lyndon Johnson
increased American presence
in Vietnam
• American forces continually
defeated the Vietnamese on the
battlefield
• BUT COULD NOT END THE
WAR
A Limited War
• America was unwilling to fully
commit.
• Fighting a LIMITED war
–Limited manpower
–Limited supplies
America Divided
• Some Americans supported the
military and fighting the war
• Others actively opposed the
war, especially on college
campuses
Kent State University
Richard Nixon
• Johnson did not run for reelection
• Nixon pledged to bring the war to
an honorable end through
VIETNAMIZATION
–Withdrawing American troops and
replacing them with Vietnamese
forces
• This strategy FAILED
Pentagon Papers
• 7,000 page document revealing plans
of entering Vietnam even when
President Johnson was promising not
to send troops
• NO PLAN TO END THE WAR as long
as North Vietnam continued its
aggression
• The government had betrayed its
citizens
Watergate Scandal
• Nixon resigned after
the Watergate Scandal
• In 1975, North and
South Vietnam
merged under a single
COMMUNIST
government.
Vietnam Veterans
• Unlike WWII veterans, Vietnam
veterans faced indifference
and even hostility upon their
return to the U.S.
• Several years later, they
received the recognition they
deserved
The Cold War at HOME
• American schools held
regular drills incase of
nuclear attacks
• Americans urged to build
bomb shelters in their
basements
“Duck and Cover”
• http://molotovdigital.com/files/clip/1/18/Mai
n/DuckandCover.htm
U.S. Military
• Millions of Americans defended
freedom in wars and conflicts
that were not always popular at
home
• As a result, the U.S. and
American ideals of democracy
and freedom ultimately prevailed
U.S. Government
• Foreign policy became the
dominant issue in every
presidential election
• Military expenditures benefited
the Virginia economy (home to
many naval bases in Hampton
Roads, Pentagon, etc.)
Problems in the Soviet Union
• Increased military spending
to compete with the U.S.
• Economic inefficiency
• Rising nationalism in the
Soviet republics
• Fast-paced reforms (market
economy)
President
Gorbachev
• “glasnost” – openness
–Management of the country
open to debate
–FREEDOM of SPEECH
• “perestroika” – economic
restructuring
President Ronald Reagan
• Challenged the moral legitimacy o9f
the Soviet Union
• “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”
• Increased U.S. military and economic
pressure on the Soviet Union
The Berlin Wall
is torn down
The Soviet Union
collapsed in 1989
and the Cold War
was over.