Transcript The Cold War

The Cold War
USH&G
Boyers Chapter 28
02.12.08
K. Argus & F.H. O’Hara
Begin
The Cold War
1947-1989
Western Democracy
vs
International Communism
Europe After World War II
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Creating the United Nations
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The United Nations
• There are currently 189 Members of the United
Nations.
• They meet in the General Assembly, which is
the closest thing to a world parliament.
• Each country, large or small, rich or poor, has a
single vote.
– none of the decisions taken by the Assembly
are binding.
• Nevertheless, the Assembly's decisions become
resolutions that carry the weight of world
governmental opinion.
The United Nations
• Decision making Bodies of the U.N.
– The General Assembly: makes general policy
• All member nations have one vote
– The Security Council: Decides diplomatic,
economic and military disputes
• 15 members - 5 permanent; Britain, China, France,
Russia, United States - victorious Allies of WW II
– Each nation has absolute VETO power over Council actions
• Remaining 10 members chosen from other U.N. nations
• Security Council has power to impose military and
economic sanctions against member nations
– The League of Nations did not have this power
United Nations Headquarters
New York City
U.N. General Assembly
meeting hall
U.N. Security Council
meeting hall
The United Nations
• Decision making Bodies of the U.N.
– Secretariat: Executive branch of the U.N.; carries
out the decisions of the General Assembly and the
Security Council.
– Secretary General: Chief Executive of the U.N.;
supervisor of the Secretariat and ceremonial head of
the U.N.
• Has no real power, but has international
influence.
• Current Secretary General is Ban Ki-Moon of the
Republic of Korea
Germany After the War
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Occupation Zones - Post War Germany
Germany After the War
• The Four Victorious Allies: Britain, France, The Soviet
Union (Russia), and the United States divided
conquered Germany into 4 zones of occupation.
• Each of the Allies were TOTALLY responsible for the
peoples in their zones of occupation.
– Government
– Economy
– Safety and welfare
• Food, clothing, housing, jobs, education
Occupation Zones - Post War Berlin
Germany After the War
• Berlin, the capital of Germany, was also divided
into 4 zones of occupation by the victorious Allies.
• Just as for Germany as a whole, each of the Allies
were TOTALLY responsible for the governing,
economy, safety and welfare of the peoples in
their Berlin zones of occupation.
• Berlin was 100 miles within the Soviet zone of
occupied of Germany.
Nuremberg Trials (1945–46)
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Nuremberg Trials (1945–46)
• Trials of Germans accused
of war crimes during World
War II, held before a
military tribunal.
• The tribunal was established
by the USA, Britain, France,
and the Soviet Union.
• Outcome
– Ten Nazi leaders were
executed
– One committed suicide
before the death sentence
could be carried out
– Six men sentenced to life
imprisonment.
The Iron Curtain
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The Iron Curtain is a
phrase applied after
World War II to the
economic, social, and
military barriers
created against the
West by the USSR and
the Communist
countries of Eastern
Europe.
Former Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill said
(Mar. 5, 1946), in a speech at Westminster College in Fulton,
Mo., "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the
continent."
The Iron Curtain
The metaphor, and its physical
equivalent, remained valid until
the collapse of communism in
Eastern Europe beginning in 1989.
Greece and Turkey
• An unstable area of the
world during the
1940’s
• If one of these
countries fell to
Communism the other
would have a hard time
holding off the USSR
on their own.
Bosporus Strait –
USSR’s only way
out to the
Mediterranean Sea
The Truman Doctrine
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Truman Doctrine
• President Truman stressed the
duty of the United States to
combat totalitarian regimes
(Communism) worldwide.
• His March 12, 1947, speech
called for $400 million in aid
to be delivered to Greece and
Turkey, which were threatened
by possible communist
takeover.
• Congress promised aid to any
country who faces possible
Communist takeover.
“The free peoples of the
world look to us for
support in maintaining
their freedoms.
If we falter in our
leadership, we may
endanger the peace of the
world -- and we shall
surely endanger the
welfare of our own
nation.”
The Marshall Plan
In 1947 the Marshall Plan was created to give aid to countries
trying to recover from World War II and to Contain the spread
of Communism.
The Marshall Plan
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The Marshall Plan
• Much of the aid was in the form of food, fuel, and
farming equipment.
• The plan lasted from 1947 until 1952, during which
time the United States sent about $13 billion in aid.
• Although all European countries were offered aid,
those countries associated with the Soviet Union
refused any form of help.
• The Marshall Plan offered humanitarian aid. Its real
purpose was to improve European economies to
combat the appeal of Communism.
The Berlin
Blockade and
Airlift
June 24, 1948
to
May 11, 1949
The Berlin Blockade
June 24, 1948 to May 11, 1949
• First major crises of the new
Cold War
• Soviets blocked land and water
access for the Americans,
British, & French to the
Western-occupied sectors of
Berlin from western Germany
• The Soviets believed the
Western nations would abandon
Berliners for humanitarian
reasons because they could not
supply their basic needs.
Loading planes bound
for Western Berlin
The Berlin Blockade
June 24, 1948 to May 11, 1949
• The Western powers bypassed the blockade
by establishing the Berlin Airlift.
• Berlin’s daily needs would be supplied by
around the clock cargo plane deliveries.
• The western democracies demonstrated
both their dedication to the cause of
supplying their zones in Berlin, and
combating the spread of Communism.
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The Berlin Blockade
June 24, 1948 to May 11, 1949
– The massive effort to supplied the 2 million West
Berliners with food and fuel for heating
– Around-the-clock airlift some 277,000 flights were
made, many at 3-min intervals.
– By spring 1949, an average of 8,000 tons was being
flown in daily.
– More than 2 million tons of goods—of which coal
accounted for about two thirds—were delivered.
The Cold War
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NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• A military alliance
established by the signing
of the North Atlantic Treaty
on April 4, 1949.
• With headquarters in
Brussels, Belgium, the
organization established a
system of defense where
its member states agree to
mutually defend each other
in response to an attack by
any external party.
The 19 member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance:
Belgium
CanadaCzech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
NATO's essential purpose is to ensure the freedom and security
of its members by political and military means, in accordance
with the principles of the United Nations Charter. It is dedicated
to protecting democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
The Cold War
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• AKA Warsaw Treaty of
Friendship, Cooperation and
Mutual Assistance May 14,
1955
• Was a military alliance of
communist states in Central
and Eastern Europe.
• Served to counter the
potential threat from the
NATO alliance
• Also to retaliate against
NATO sponsored
re-militarized West Germany
Warsaw Pact
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Jewish-American
Communists who believed
that Americans should not
be the only nation with the
Atomic bomb.
Rosenberg Crimes and Trial
The Red Scare
•
Passed information to the USSR about the A-bomb and
are accused of aiding USSR in developing a bomb.
•
Evidence of notes typed by Ethel were obtained and the
couple was tried on charges of Espionage.
•
The couple were the only two American civilians to be
executed for espionage-related activity during the Cold
War.
• The conviction helped to fuel Senator Joseph
McCarthy's investigations into anti-American
activities.
• While their devotion to the Communist cause was
well documented, the Rosenbergs denied the
espionage charges even as they faced the electric
chair.
The House Un-American
Activities Committee (HUAC)
• Established (1938) as a special committee by the
U.S. House of Representatives. HUAC
investigated pro-Nazi organizations, and the
U.S. Communist party.
• In 1947 HUAC presented evidence that ten
Hollywood writers and directors had
communist affiliations.
• The Hollywood Ten, as they were called, refused
to affirm or deny the charges made against
them and were jailed for contempt.
Sen. Joseph McCarthy
• In 1948, HUAC's
investigation of
communists in the higher
levels of the State
Department led to its
famous hearings on Alger
Hiss, conducted by
Richard Nixon.
• In 1950 Sen. Joseph P. McCarthy, Republican of
Wisconsin, sponsored a bill requiring U. S.
communists to register as foreign agents
• Denying Communists passports, and excluding
them from government and defense-industry.
McCarthyism
• McCarthy was shrewd at public relations and
media manipulation.
– He bullied his opponents and evaded
demands for tangible proof that there were
Communists in the U.S. government.
• 1952, McCarthy leveled similar charges that
members of President Eisenhower’s
administration were communists from his new
post as head of the Senate's Government
Operations Committee.
Sen. Joseph P. McCarthy attempting to
expose Communists in the General Staff
of the U.S. Army to Joseph Welch,
attorney for the Army
McCarthyism
• McCarthy’s failure to substantiate claims of
Communist penetration of the army in the
nationally televised Army-McCarthy hearings in
1954 discredited him.
• In December 1954 the Senate voted to condemn
him, 67-22.
Attorney Joseph
Walsh confronts
Senator McCarthy
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Korean War (1950-53)
Korean War (1950-53)
• A U.S.-dominated United Nations coalition
came to the aid of South Korea in responding
to an invasion by North Korea.
• North Korea was aided by the USSR and allied
with Communist China.
• The war ended in a military stalemate and the
restoration of the political status quo.
Korean War (1950-53)
• Politically and militarily the war was
inconclusive. Korea was no closer to
unification; the war only served to
intensify bitterness between North and
South.
• The Korean War contributed to the
strained relations between the United
States and Communist China.
• It added a military dimension to the
U.S. foreign policy of containment of
communism, which led to U.S. military
involvement in Vietnam during the
1960s.
The Nuclear Threat
Preparedness at Home
• “Duck and Cover”
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The Cuban Missile Crisis
• October 1962, after U.S. intelligence
reconnaissance flights verified reports that the
USSR was constructing launching sites for
medium-range and intermediate-range nuclear
missiles on the island of Cuba.
• The USSR apparently hoped to achieve a more
favorable balance of power, to protect the Cuban
Communist government of Fidel Castro.
– which the United States had attempted to
overthrow in the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion
of 1961.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• President John F. Kennedy rejected military
advice for a full-scale surprise attack on Cuba
and instead delivered a public ultimatum to
the USSR on October 22.
– Kennedy declared a "quarantine,”
or naval blockade, of
Cuba and demanded
withdrawal of all
offensive missiles.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• After nearly two weeks of unprecedented
tension, the Soviet government of Nikita
Khrushchev yielded.
• Kennedy agreed to refrain from attempting an
overthrow of Castro.
• Despite this concession, all sides regarded the
outcome as a substantial victory for the U.S.
– Kennedy won a reputation as a
formidable international statesman.
The Cold War USH&G
Boyers Chapter 28
K. Argus & F.H. O’Hara
Fin
02.12.08