Transcript File

The Cold War
1947 - 1991
Potsdam Conference
Where:
Potsdam, Germany,
Europe
When: July 17 – August 2, 1945
Stalin, Churchill (replaced by Atlee
on July 26) and President Harry
Truman (after death of FDR) meet
to discuss the end of WW2 and the
fate of Germany.
Stalin wanted reparations, but
Truman said no – why?
Decided on 4 zones of Allied
occupation of Germany, along with
de-militarization and re-defining of
borders.
Division of Germany
Where:
Germany, Europe
West Germany is formed after UK, France and the US
agree to join their occupation zones together
East Germany (German Democratic Republic) was
formed by Stalin (U.S.S.R.)
COLD
WAR
HOT
SPOT
Berlin is surrounded!
Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift
The city of Berlin was also divided, but lay within the
borders of East Germany
West could only get in through certain highways,
railways and corridors
Western powers decided to introduce a new currency
into W. Germany. Soviets refused to accept it in Berlin
Soviets blockaded the corridors, so no supplies could get into W. Berlin
Allies countered with a massive airlift that supplied Berlin for 15 months!
Soviets realized blockade wasn’t working.
Results:
-Two separate gov’ts for Berlin
-Western Allies created NATO
Statistics
Cargo (short tons)
Flights
USA
UK
France
Total
Total
Food
Coal
Other
189,963
1,783,573
296,319
1,421,119
66,135
87,841
541,937
240,386
164,911
136,640
424
896
Unkown
unknown
unkown
278,228
2,326,406
This battle, and one of the greatest humanitarian
aviation events in history saved over 2.5 million
people without firing a single shot.
What: Berlin Wall, 1961
this barrier was built by
the Soviets, intended to
stop the massive migration
of East Berliners to the
West (for jobs, defections,
etc)
it became one of the
biggest symbols of the Cold
War, and didn’t come down
until 1989
defectors trying to get
“over the wall” would often
be shot
•Created in 1945
•Four goals:
Keeping World Peace and
preventing new wars,
encouraging cooperation,
defending human rights,
improving the standard of
living for all countries
United Nations (UN)
Structure of the U.N.
• General
Assembly
• Security
Council
Canada’s contribution
• Canada helped
draw up the
Charter for the
U.N.
• Has been involved
in numerous
peacekeeping
operations
• Actively supports
the United
Nations
Cold War
•Bipolar World emerges
•Struggle of ideas between the United
States and the Soviet Union
NATO and Warsaw Pact
•North Atlantic Treaty
Organization
– Democratic, capitalist
countries
– “first world”
•Warsaw Pact
– Communist countries
Arms Race
• Nuclear Arms
race
• Space Race
• Nuclear Parity –
made it less
likely that one
country would
use its nukes
against the
other (MAD)
Gouzenko Affair, 1945
• Igor Gouzenko,
clerk at Soviet
embassy
• Gave up
information on
spy rings
• Police
Protection
Red Scare
• Scared of the big
bad commies
• RCMP conduct
illegal activity
The Korean War (1950-53)
Where:
North and South Korea
What:
Korea was divided after
Japan’s defeat in WWII
North became communist
South became democratic
In 1950, the North invaded the South
Kim II-Sung (leader in the North)
Syngman Rhee (leader in South)
The UN sent in a force of troops
representing 32 countries, including
Canada
Over 26 500 Canadians served, 1 000
wounded and 400 were killed
Even when armistice was signed in
1953, the two sides remained divided
What it meant for Canada:
Loss of troops
Showed our support of the UN and our willingness
to fight to support those goals
The Suez Crisis, 1956
Where:
Suez Canal, dividing Egypt from Saudi Arabia
What: The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, was strategically important as a
trade route to India, but eventually more important as a link to the valuable
oil countries of the Middle East.
Egyptian president Gamel Abdel Nasser seized this trade
route from Britain and France
Israel saw this as a direct threat from Egypt
Britain and France joined with Israel to attack Egypt
Soviet Union sided with Nasser
What it meant for Canada:
Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent refused
to side with Britain and France
Canada’s Minister of External Affairs,
Lester B. Pearson, went to the UN and
suggested the creation of an emergency
body
The United Nations Emergency Force
went to the Suez to keep the
combatants apart while a settlement to
the crisis was worked out
Egypt’s Nasser with U.S.S.R.s
Khrushchev
Pearson won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in 1957
• Keeping the
Peace
• United Nations
Emergency
Force (UNEF)
• Battle forces
replaced by
peacekeeping
Forces
• Pearson
awarded Nobel
Peace Prize
Lester B.
Pearson
John F. Kennedy
•President of the
United States
•Helped avert
nuclear war in
1962
•Wrote letter to
the Soviets
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Where: island of Cuba, Caribbean Sea
What: Cuba’s leadership changes when Castro’s rebels
overthrow the government.
The US backs an anti-Castro invasion which fails (“Bay of
Pigs”),
Encourages Cuba to turn to the USSR for support
US and USSR were stockpiling their nuclear weapons.
US spotted Soviet missiles in Cuba through aerial
surveillance
This now gave the US only a few minutes of advance
warning from a Soviet attack
US set up a naval blockade around Cuba, defying Soviet
ships to continue bringing their missiles into Cuba
Soviets continued on their path, protected by submarines
Everyone was sure this would lead to nuclear war
From left to right: Cuba’s Fidel Castro, US’s J.F. Kennedy and U.S.S.R.’s Nikita Kruschev
At the last minute, Khrushchev agrees to dismantle missile
bases in exchange for a US promise not to invade Cuba and
for the US to dismantle missile sites in Turkey.
What it meant for Canada:
-- US expected Canada to support its stance against USSR and Cuba
-- PM Diefenbaker did not “jump on board”
-- US planes armed with nuclear weapons were not allowed to land at Canadian bases
-- The prime minister’s stance harmed the relationship we had with the U.S.
NO US
PLANES IN
MY CANADA
The Vietnam War, 1954-1975
Where: North and South Vietnam
What: The Indochina War between France and the Communist Vietminh ended with the
defeat of the French in 1954.
The country was divided between Communist North
and the anti-communist (partly democratic) South
North Vietnam leader – Ho Chi Minh
South Vietnam leader Ngo Dinh Diem
The US supported the South, USSR supported the North
The US believed that if the North won, the “domino theory”
would result, nearby nations would fall to communism
Lyndon B Johnson increased the number of US troops in
Vietnam from 15 000 (1963) to 543 000 (1969)
“Hey, hey LBJ… how many kids did you kill today?”
This was the first
televised war, and protest
in America grew as they
witnessed the failures in
Vietnam
The Tet Offensive
US soldiers had massacred
women and children in the village of
My Lai
The Viet Cong launched a
massive offensive, attacking
cities throughout South Vietnam
US presidency changes hands, as Nixon promised
to remove troops out of Vietnam
The US completely withdrew by 1973
Vietnam was taken over by the communists of
the North
President Richard Nixon
What it meant for Canada:
*Some Americans did anything they
could to avoid the “draft”… so they
fled to Canada. (“Draft Dodgers”)
*Many anti-communists fled Vietnam
and arrived as refugees in Canada
*Some Canadians profited from sales
of goods for the war
*“Better dead than RED” was a
popular saying a the time, but not
widely agreed upon
*During the war, PM Pearson publicly
criticized the war and was publicly
scolded by then president Johnson
(See Page 145 of Counterpoints)