Transcript to the United States…….

coldwar
•Uneasy peace between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
•Competition for world dominance and global power.
•Fought on political and economic fronts rather than on military
battlefields---------Even though the threat of war was always present.
•Defined America’s foreign policy from 1946 to 1989.
•It affected domestic politics and how Americans viewed the world
and themselves.
•Constant state of military preparedness and arms race
Propaganda war----Democracy vs Communism
US policy: Support nations threatened by Communism
Differences between Capitalism and Communism
CAPITALISM
COMMUNISM

System of government: democratic

System of government: totalitarian

Property is privately owned

Property is owned by the state

Driven by free enterprise (gov’t not interfering in economy)

No free enterprise is allowed (gov’t controls economy)

Wealth distributed unevenly

Wealth distributed equally

Most education and health care provided by private entities

Education and health care provided by the state

Freedom of the press

Press controlled and owned by the state

Class distinctions: upper class, middle class and working class

Classless society: all members of society are considered to be equal

Focus is on the individual and his/her own progress in life

Focus is on the progress of the community as a whole
Ideology Differences
CAPITALISM
COMMUNISM

People need freedom

People need one another

Competition  great accomplishments

Cooperation  great accomplishes

Some people have more than others because they make better use of their

No-one should have more than anyone else - everybody's needs are equally
abilities


important
Governments should not interfere with the rights of individuals to make

Governments should make sure that everyone's needs are being met
their own living

There is central control of the economy
The government should interfere in the economy as little as possible
map/cold war
1950’s
Containment:
Stop the
expansion of
Communism in
Asia and
Europe
US, Allied Nations
and Allied colonies.
Soviet Union/China and
Allies……..
Focus on Berlin
• After World War II,
Germany was divided
into four zones,
occupied by French,
British, American, and
Soviet troops.
Occupation zones after
1945. Berlin is the
multinational area
within the Soviet zone.
Soviet blockade:
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.
· In response, the
Soviets cut off West
Berlin from the rest of
the world with a
blockade.
Eventual site of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Airlift
· President Truman
decided to avoid the
blockade by flying in
food and other supplies to
the needy people of West
Berlin.
· At times, over 5,000
tons of supplies arrived
daily.
Satellite State
When a nation is under the control of
another.
Ex. Part of Germany was under the control of
the Soviet Union.
Other examples: Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria
Truman Doctrine [1947]
Civil War in Greece.
Turkey under pressure from the USSR for
concessions in the Dardanelles.
1. 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.
The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400 million in
aid.
Marshall Plan [1948]
“European Recovery
Program.”
Secretary of State,
George Marshall
1. 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.
 $12.5 billion of US aid to Western Europe
extended to Eastern Europe & USSR, [but
this was rejected].
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(1949)
intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty
Military alliance to counter Soviet expansion.
 United States
 Luxemburg
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 Britain
 Norway
 Canada
 Portugal
 Denmark
 1952: Greece &
Turkey
 France
 Iceland
 Italy
 1955: West Germany
 1983: Spain
Warsaw Pact (1955)
was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of
Central and Eastern Europe
Soviet Union and satellite states rival alliance to NATO
}
U. S. S. R.
}
East Germany
}
Albania
}
Hungary
}
Bulgaria
}
Poland
}
Czechoslovakia
}
Rumania
•Red Scare was Americans
response to the fear of
Communism
•Senator Joseph McCarthy
accused 205 US Govt. officials
of being Communist.
•McCarthyism to destroy or
assassinate one’s character
without proof and it ruined the
careers of many Americans.
Became a witch hunt that led to Americans
pledging a “loyalty oath” to the United States…….
red scare
•Soviets detonate their
first atomic bomb…..
•The question is raised,
where did they get the
technology the bomb?
•Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg would be
accused of giving away
atomic bomb secrets.
•Charged with espionage
they would be found
guilty and executed in
1953.
NATO
Effects of Russian Launch of
Sputnik on United States
Atomic Anxieties:
“Duck-and-Cover Generation”
Atomic Testing:
Between July 16, 1945 and Sept. 23, 1992, the
United States conducted 1,054 official nuclear
tests, most of them at the Nevada Test Site.
Americans began building
underground bomb
shelters and cities had
underground fallout
shelters.