Transcript The Cold War

Critical Intro:
 Name and briefly define the ideology
behind the U.S. policy during the Cold
War.
The Cold War
Warm Up: Write a description/caption for each of the pictures.
Soviet Premier – Nikita Khrushchev
U.S. President – John F. Kennedy
Cold War Characteristics
 A political, strategic and ideological struggle
between the US and the USSR that spread
throughout the world.
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:

- The establishment of the United Nations.
- Germany to be divided into four zones.
- Free elections allowed in the states of eastern Europe.
- Russia promised to join the war against Japan.
1.
Although they could not agree about what should
happen to Poland, relations between the leaders were
good, and the Conference was a success.
Yalta Conference Feb 1945
The “Big Three”:
Churchill, FDR, and Stalin
Iron Curtain Speech
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
- Soviet “Satellite States”
Countries formally independent; but fall under heavy
Soviet pol., econ., & milt. Influence/control.
The “Iron Curtain”
Truman Doctrine [March 12, 1947]
1.
Civil War in Greece.
2.
Turkey under pressure from the
USSR for concessions in the
Dardanelles.
3.
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.
4.
The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400
million in aid.
Marshall Plan [1948]
1.
“European Recovery
Program.”
2.
Secretary of State,
George Marshall
3.
The U. S. should provide
aid to all European nations
that need it. This move
is not against any country or doctrine, but against
hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.
4.
$12.5 billion of US aid to Western Europe extended
to Eastern Europe & USSR, [but they rejected the
funds].
Post-War Germany
Berlin Blockade
 Blockade of Berlin
began on June 24, 1948
 Road, rail and canal
links with West Berlin
were cut, hoping to
starve them into
submission.
Berlin Airlift
 In 11 months, U.S. and British
planes airlifted 1.5 million
tons of supplies to the
residents of West Berlin.
 On its biggest day, the "Easter
parade" of April 16, 1949, the
airlift sent 1,398 flights into
Berlin -- one every minute.
 After 200,000 flights, in May
1949, the Soviet Union
admitted defeat and lifted the
blockade.
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (1949)
 United States
 Luxemburg
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 Britain
 Norway
 Canada
 Portugal
 Denmark
 1952: Greece & Turkey
 France
 1955: West Germany
 Iceland
 1983: Spain
 Italy
Warsaw Pact (1955)
U. S. S. R.
East Germany
Albania
Hungary
Bulgaria
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Romania
NATO vs. Warsaw Pact
The Arms Race: A “Missile Gap?”
The Soviet Union exploded its
first A-bomb in 1949.
Now there were two nuclear superpowers!
- MAD Theory of deterrence = Mutually Assured
Destruction
1949: Fall of China
 In June, Chiang Kai-shek defeated
by Mao Zedong
– Kai-shek flees to island of
Taiwan
 Oct 1, Mao proclaims People’s
Republic of China (PRC)
 Two months later, Mao travels to
Moscow
– negotiates the Sino-Soviet
Treaty of Friendship,
Alliance and
Mutual Assistance.
- “Two Chinas” – Communist
mainland; Nationalist Taiwan
Korean War, 1950-1953
 On June 25, North Korean
communist forces cross the
38th parallel and invade South
Korea.
 On June 27, Truman orders
U.S. forces to assist the South
Koreans because of “Domino
Theory” fear.
 The U.N. Security Council
condemns the invasion.
 Chinese troops enter the
conflict by year's end.
 Cease fire eventually brings
war to close by 1953.
1953: Stalin dies,
Khrushchev takes over
1956: Khrushchev's secret speech
 In a speech, February 14,
Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev denounces the
policies of Stalin.
 He rejects the Leninist idea
of the inevitability of war
and calls for a doctrine of
"peaceful coexistence"
between capitalist and
communist systems.
Sputnik
 On October 4, the Soviet
Union launches Sputnik,
the first man-made satellite
to orbit the Earth.
 In 1958, the U.S. creates
the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration,
and the space race is in full
gear.
Laika
“Pilot” of
Sputnik II
1959: Castro takes power in Cuba
 January 1, 1959 leftist forces
under Fidel Castro
overthrow Fulgencio Batista
 Castro nationalizes the sugar
industry and signs trade
agreements with the Soviet
Union.
 The next year, Castro seizes
U.S. assets on the island.
1961: Bay of Pigs
 U.S.-organized invasion force of 1,400 Cuban
exiles is defeated by Castro's government forces
on Cuba's south coast at the
Bay of Pigs.
 Launched from Guatemala in
ships and planes provided by
the United States, the invaders
surrender on April 20 after
three days of fighting.
 Kennedy takes full responsibility for the disaster.
1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
 After Bay of Pigs invasion, the Soviet Union
installed nuclear missiles in Cuba.
 After U-2 flights Kennedy ordered a naval
blockade of Cuba on October 22 until the
Soviet Union removed
its missiles.
 On October 28, the
Soviets agreed to remove
the missiles, defusing one
of the most dangerous
confrontations of the
Cold War.
Cuban Missile Crisis
We went eyeball-toeyeball with the
Russians, and the
other man blinked!
1960 - The U-2 Affair
 On May 1, an American high-altitude U-2 spy plane
is shot down on a mission over the Soviet Union.
 After the Soviets announce the capture of pilot
Francis Gary Powers, the United States recants
earlier assertions that the plane was on a weather
research mission.
The U-2 Affair
Suffering major
embarrassment, Eisenhower
was forced to admit the truth
behind the mission and the U2 program.
Powers was sentenced to ten years in prison,
including seven years of hard labor,
following an infamous show-trial.
He served less than two years, however, and was released
in 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
1961 - Berlin Wall
 On August 15,
communist authorities
begin construction on the
Berlin Wall to prevent
East Germans from
fleeing to West Berlin.
 Wall comes down – 1989
 Germany Unified - 1990
Ich bin ein Berliner!
(1963)
President Kennedy
tells Berliners that the
West is with them.
1968: Prague Spring
On January 5, reformer Alexander
Dubcek came to power as general
secretary of the Communist Party
in Czechoslovakia, pledging
reforms and democratization
The Prague Spring
movement swept across
the country.
Soviet and Warsaw Pact leaders
sent 650,000 troops in August.
Dubcek was arrested and hardliners were restored to power.
1964: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
 North Vietnamese
patrol boats fired on
the USS Mattox in the
Gulf of Tonkin on
August 2.
 On August 7, the U.S.
Congress approves
the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution, granting
President Johnson
authority to send U.S.
troops to South
Vietnam.
Vietnam War: 1965-1973
Vietnam War
 After a long siege, Vietnamese communists under
Ho Chi Minh defeat French colonial forces at
Dien Bien Phu on May 7.
 In July 1954, the Geneva
Accords divide the
country at the 17th
parallel, creating a
North and South Vietnam.
 The United States
assumes the chief responsibility of providing
anti-communist aid to South Vietnam.
1968: Tet Offensive
 Viet Cong guerrillas and North
Vietnamese Army troops launched
attacks across South Vietnam on
January 30, the start of the lunar
new year Tet.
 In Saigon, guerrillas battle Marines
at the U.S. Embassy.
 In March, Johnson orders a halt to
the U.S. bombing of North
Vietnam and offers peace talks.
1969 - Vietnamization
 1968, Richard Nixon elected President, defeating
Hubert Humphrey
 On June 8, 1969 U.S. President Nixon announced
his "Vietnamization" plan, designed to withdraw
U.S ground forces from Vietnam and turn control
of the war over to South Vietnamese forces.
1973: Vietnam War agreement
(Paris Accords)
 January 27, 1973, the United States, South
Vietnam, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong sign
the Paris Peace Treaty, establishing a cease-fire.
 The United States is allowed to continue
providing aid to South Vietnam.
 Saigon falls in April 1975.
1969: SALT
 On November 17, the
1st phase of Strategic
Arms Limitation Talks
began in Helsinki, Finland.
 The finished agreement, signed in Moscow on
May 26, 1972,
placed limits on
both submarinelaunched and
intercontinental
nuclear missiles.
Détente – 1969-79
 Détente = a thawing
of the on-going Cold
War.
 Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan would
end Détente.
6 countries surrounding Turkey:
Greece, Bulgaria, Soviet Union, Iran, Iraq, Syria