Transcript Potsdam Conference

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1984-1991
Museum Entrance
1974-1983
1955-1963
Back Wall
Artifact
1964-1973
1945-1954
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1945-1954
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Yalta conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference
and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11,
1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of
the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union,
represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister
Winston Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the
purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization. The
conference convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta in
Crimea.The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the reestablishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. Within a few
years, with the Cold War dividing the continent, Yalta became a
subject of intense controversy. To some extent, it has remained
controversial. Yalta was the second of three wartime conferences
among the Big Three. It had been preceded by the Tehran
Conference in 1943, and was followed by the Potsdam Conference
in July 1945, which was attended by Stalin, Churchill (who was
replaced midpoint by the newly elected British Prime Minister
Clement Attlee and Harry S Truman, who had replaced the late
President Roosevelt.
Later WWII Ends in Europe.
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Potsdam conference
After U.S drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home
of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied
Germany, from 17 July to 2 August 1945. (In some older
documents it is also referred to as the Berlin Conference of
the Three Heads of Government of the USSR, USA and
UK)Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom
and the United States. The three powers were represented by
Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime
Ministers Winston Churchill, and, later, Clement Attlee, and
President Harry S. Truman.
Stalin, Churchill, and Truman—as well as Attlee, who
participated alongside Churchill while awaiting the outcome
of the 1945 general election, and then replaced Churchill as
Prime Minister after the Labour Party's defeat of the
Conservatives—gathered to decide how to administer
punishment to the defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed
to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier, on 8 May (V-E
Day). The goals of the conference also included the
establishment of post-war order, peace treaties issues, and
countering the effects of the war.
Later the First East European Communist government set up
in Albania.
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Truman doctrine
After Communists seize power in Poland.
The Truman Doctrine was an international relations policy set forth by the U.S.
President Harry Truman in a speech on March 12, 1947, which stated that the U.S.
would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent them
from falling into the Soviet sphere. Historians often consider it as the start of the
Cold War, and the start of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion.
Truman pledged the US to contain in Europe and elsewhere and impelled the US to
support any nation with both military and economic aid if its stability was
threatened by communism or the Soviet Union. The Truman Doctrine became the
foundation of the president's foreign policy and placed the U.S. in the role of
global policeman. As Foner reminds us, the Truman Doctrine "set a precedent for
American assistance to anticommunist regimes throughout the world, no matter
how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed
against the Soviet Union" (1st edition, p. 781; 2nd edition, p. 844). President Harry
S. Truman told Congress that "it must be the policy of the United States to support
free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by
outside pressures." Truman reasoned, because these "totalitarian regimes" coerced
"free peoples", they represented a threat to international peace and the national
security of the United States. Truman made the plea amid the crisis of the Greek
Civil War (1946–1949). He argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the
aid that they urgently needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with grave
consequences throughout the region. Because Turkey and Greece were historic
rivals, it was necessary to help both equally, even though the threat to Greece was
more immediate.
Later the Berlin Airlift begins (ends May 19, 1949).
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)also called the (North) Atlantic
Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty
which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective
defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by
any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member
states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia,
joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for
Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs.
The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the
global total. Members' defense spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. NATO
was little more than a political association until the Korean War galvanized the
organization's member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the
direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry
with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. Doubts over the strength of the
relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along
with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defense against a prospective Soviet
invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent
and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966 for 30 years.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization was drawn into the breakup of
Yugoslavia, and conducted its first military interventions in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995
and later Yugoslavia in 1999. Politically, the organization sought better relations with
former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004.
After that the Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb. Which was followed by the
Communists win Chinese Civil War. Which was followed with U.S. and other U.N.
members fighting North Korean forces. (the Korean War ends July 27, 1953)
Which the U.S Sponsored In Overthrowing of foreign Governments Leading to (SEATO).
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Cuban Missile Crisis
Nikita Khrushchev built 42
missile sites in Cuba in
July 1962. President John
F. Kennedy declared them
as a threat and a deal was
made to remove them only
if the U.S. promised not to
invade Cuba.
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Bandung Conference
Nonaligned nations, or
independent nations were
formed at this conference.
Several nations remained
neutral while others joined
sides between the Soviet
Union or the United States.
The nations that joined
amongst the Superpowers
mainly did it for assistance.
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Great Leap Forward
By expanding success of the
Five Year Plan, the Great
Leap Forward called for
communes, or collective
farms. About 26,000
communes were created and
supported about 25,000
people. It ended up being a
huge leap “backward” due to
the famine that killed about 20
million people.
Linked citation goes here
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Sputnik
Soviets use a ICBM to
launch Sputnik, a
satellite, into space.
This pushed back U.S.
technologically which
led the U.S. to launch
their own satellite in
1958.
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President Nixon
Richard Nixon gained presidency in
1969, and his first goal was to get
American troops out of Vietnam.
Later on in1969 Nixon passed the
Nixon Doctrine that said that America
had to limit its involvement in the
other countries, especially the Pacific
Rim. The Doctrine represented a
change in the United States’
involvement in foreign affairs; when
a “communist rebel group” appears,
the U.S troops will not be sent out to
that country to attempt and gain
complete control of that country.
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China’s Red Guards
The Red Guards were young Chinese men led
by Mao Zedong. These guards served as
“soldiers” during China’s Cultural Revolution.
The Guards defaced almost anything that
belonged to the bourgeois and had beaten and
killed millions of Chinese people. In 1967 the
Guards were told to return home, but most of
the refused and continued on travelling
throughout China, closing and destroying
museums and other archeological artifact
areas. One of these acts that took place in
August of 1967, the British Embassy in Beijing
was destroyed. On July 28, 1968 Mao Zedong
met with leaders of the Red Guard and ended
their reign on China.
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America in The Vietnam War
In August of 1964 fighting broke out in the Gulf
of Tonkin between the nationalist Vietnamese
and Communist Vietnamese oppressor. In
1965 as the battling continued, America
became involved and began drafting soldiers.
The Viet Cong had continued to refuse to
surrender, despite the presence of American
soldiers up to 1967. The fighting continued on
for several more years, but on January 23,
1973 the Vietnam War ended and resulted in
the signing of the Paris Peace Accords as a
temporary cease-fire between the North and
South of Vietnam. Later on American troops
were removed from Vietnam in March of 1973.
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Signing of the Four Power Agreement
On June 3, 1972 Britain, France, the
United States, and the Federal Republic
of Germany met to establish a peace
agreement between East and West
Germany. This served as both sides of
Germany acknowledging each other as
separate entities as well as eased
communication and travel between East
and West Berlin. The next year (1973)
the Basic Treaty between both halves of
Germany was signed. Under agreement
of this Treaty, both German states had
joined the United Nations- this
eventually led to the reunification of
Germany later in 1990.
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U.S. supported coup overthrows
Chilean government.
On the morning of September 11, 1973, all branches
of the Chilean Armed Forces had conspired to wrest
control of the country from democratically-elected
leader Salvador Allende. Allende, having been tipped
about the military’s activities, held his ground in his
Presidential palace, La Moneda. After Allende refused
to negotiate or surrender, General Augusto Pinochet
ordered a siege on the compound accompanied by
military helicopter gunships and Air Force bombers.
Salvador Allende died during the melee, apparently by
his own hand, and a military junta took power headed
by General Pinochet. t is well documented that the US
government, through the CIA, played a key role in the
overthrow of the Allende government.
The new order in Chile saw massive economic
reforms take effect. An alarming number of people
were imprisoned and tortured under his rule. Over
three thousand people are estimated to have been
killed during Pinochet’s 17 year reign.
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South Vietnam Falls to Communist
Forces
The South Vietnamese 18th Division had fought a valiant battle at
Xuan Loc, just to the east of Saigon, destroying three North
Vietnamese divisions in the process. However, it proved to be the
last battle in the defense of the Republic of South Vietnam. The
South Vietnamese forces held out against the attackers until they ran
out of tactical air support and weapons, finally abandoning Xuan
Loc to the communists on April 21. Having crushed the last major
organized opposition before Saigon, the North Vietnamese got into
position for the final assault. In Saigon, South Vietnamese President
Nguyen Van Thieu resigned and transferred authority to Vice
President Tran Van Huong before fleeing the city on April 25. By
April 27, the North Vietnamese had completely encircled Saigon
and began to maneuver for a complete takeover. When they attacked
at dawn on April 30, they met little resistance. North Vietnamese
tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace and the
war came to an end. North Vietnamese Col. Bui Tin accepted the
surrender from Gen. Duong Van Minh, who had taken over after
Tran Van Huong spent only one day in power. Tin explained to
Minh, "You have nothing to fear. Between Vietnamese there are no
victors and no vanquished. Only the Americans have been beaten. If
you are patriots, consider this a moment of joy. The war for our
country is over."
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U.S. and China Establish
Diplomatic Relations
Following the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China and the
United States had a long period of estrangement. In February 1972, U.S.
President Richard Nixon visited China at the invitation of Premier Zhou
Enlai, starting the process of normalization of China-U.S. relations. In May
1973, China and the United States opened liaison offices in each other’s
capital. On January 1, 1979, the two counties officially established diplomatic
relations at the ambassadorial level. The United States announced that it
would sever its “diplomatic relations” with Taiwan, withdraw U.S. military
forces from Taiwan, and terminate the Mutual Defense Treaty.
Based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, China and the U.S.
issued the Joint Communiqué of the People's Republic of China and the
United States of America (Shanghai Communiqué) on February 29, 1972, the
Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the
People's Republic of China and the United States of America on December
16, 1978, and the August 17 Joint Communiqué of 1982. The three joint
communiqués are the foundation for China and the U.S. to develop stable,
sound and normal bilateral relations.Since the establishment of diplomatic
ties, China-U.S. relationship has been moving forward steadily despite some
twists and turns. The two sides have conducted extensive exchanges and
cooperation in political, economic, military, cultural, people-to-people and
sub-national areas as well as on international affairs. China-U.S. relationship
is assuming greater global implications and strategic dimensions. It has
become one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world.
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Soviet Red Army Invades
Afghanistan
At the end of December 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of
troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete
military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the
country. This event began a brutal, decade-long attempt by
Moscow to subdue the Afghan civil war and maintain a friendly
and socialist government on its border. It was a watershed event of
the Cold War, marking the only time the Soviet Union invaded a
country outside the Eastern Bloc—a strategic decision met by
nearly worldwide condemnation. While the massive, lightning-fast
military maneuvers and brazenness of Soviet political objectives
constituted an “invasion” of Afghanistan, the word “intervention”
more accurately describes these events as the culmination of
growing Soviet domination going back to 1973. Undoubtedly,
leaders in the Kremlin had hoped that a rapid and complete
military takeover would secure Afghanistan’s place as an exemplar
of the Brezhnev Doctrine, which held that once a country became
socialist Moscow would never permit it to return to the capitalist
camp. The United States and its European allies, guided by their
own doctrine of containment, sharply criticized the Soviet move
into Afghanistan and devised numerous measures to compel
Moscow to withdraw.
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Poland and Hungary Reform
The recent communist rulers of Europe
didn’t want reform. Poland and Hungary
was among one of the first countries in
Europe to embrace reform.
Lach Walesha became the leader of
solidarity in Poland. He tried to revived
Poland's bankrupted by using shock
therapy to move Poland to a more free
– market economy. First inflation and
unemployment shot up, but by the mid
1990s, the economy was improving.
Soon the Polish wanted Walesha out of
office, and so he resigned.
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Mikhail Gorbachev
Gorbachev realized that an economy could
not run without a free flow of information. In
1985; he announced a policy known as the
glasnost, or openness. This allowed
churches to open, dissidents freed from jail,
and allowed the publication of books by
previously banned authors. In 1985,
Gorbachev introduce d the idea of
perstroika or economic restructuring. He
made many changes that helped the Soviet
Union in 1986. In 1987, he unveiled a third
new policy, called democratization. This
would be a gradual opening of the political
system.
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Richard M. Nixon
Nixon wanted to spread his détente policy
as the president of the United States. This
policy meant the tensions of the Cold War
tensions. His policy has prevented any
future World Wars. Nixon visited many
communist countries to spread the détente
policy. He also wanted to spread Real
politik ,which was realistic politics. This
meant a nation had to deal with other
nations in a practical and flexible manner.
Ultimately, this policy improved the
relationships of China and the Soviet
Union.
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Ronald Reagan
He was a fierce anti- communist
U.S president. When he took office
in 1981, they didnt know he would
start the biggest military project in
peacetime history. It cost nearly 2
trillion dollars. He then, signed the
Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty
(INF) with Gorbachev. This treaty
banned nuclear missiles with 300
to 3,400 miles.
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Intermediate Nuclear Forces
The Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty
(INF) was a major milestone in arms
control. For the first time in history the
U.S. and Soviet Union agreed to eliminate
an entire class of nuclear weapons. The
INF required the destruction of both
nations’ ground-launched ballistic and
cruise missiles with ranges of between 300
and 3,400 miles, their launchers and
related support structures. The treaty
included an on-site inspection regime for
the European region. By the spring of
1991, nearly three-thousand intermediate
range nuclear warheads from U.S. and
Soviet arsenals had been permanently
dismantled.
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