The Cold War An overview 1945-1960

I’m takin’ you down,

Freedom!! You and all

your “Western Friends!”

Neeeiiigggghhhh!!

We’re going to

“stamp” you out,

you and all your

“Commie cronies!”

What is the Cold War?

• A state of political tension and military

rivalry between nations that stops short of

full-scale war .

– However, 50 million people died in “proxy”

wars across the globe

• How is a Cold War different from other

wars we have studied this trimester?

Why was there a Cold War?

• Which two countries were involved in the

Cold War and why? What was the ultimate

goal of the Cold War?

Prior to the end of WWII…

• The Big 3 (remember who they are?) met at

the Yalta and Potsdam conferences.

What did they want…

• From the Yalta Conference?

– The USSR wanted pro-Soviet governments

established along the border of the Soviet

Union

– The U.S. loved the idea of self-determination;

in other words he wanted the countries of

Europe to be able to chose which democratic

government they wanted based on free

elections.

What actually came out of

the…

• Yalta Conference

– Both the USSR and the U.S. agreed that the USSR would aid the U.S. in a war against Japan (This agreement occurred prior to the decision to drop the atomic bomb)

– Both countries also agreed upon the creation of the United Nations

– The idea to split Germany into four zones which would be governed by the military forces of the U.S., Great Britain, France and the USSR also came about at the Yalta Conference

The Potsdam Conference

• The Big 3 had changed, Roosevelt had died and Harry Truman had replaced him.

• The conference started under a cloud of mistrust.

• Truman went in demanding free elections and Stalin came out demanding the presence of pro-Communist governments in Europe which would not be formed by allowing free elections.

The War is over!

• Shortly after the Potsdam conference

Mussolini is killed and Hitler kills himself.

Germany surrenders.

• Although the war in the European Theatre is

now over the mistrust between the USSR

and the U.S. is just beginning to grow…

After World War II

• It was time for a new world order

• The fight would be between the United

States and the Soviet Union

• Democracy vs. Communism

– Popular sovereignty vs. united workers

The Iron Curtain Has Fallen Churchill gives the speech in 1946

Find more on page 836

Disagreement The United States believed

• other democracies would be more apt to trade with us

• communism should be contained

• we should financially support countries that need it so they don’t turn communist (Truman Doctrine, ‘47)

• we should help all countries that need it (Marshall plan, ‘48)

• That we should stop any aggressive nation

The USSR believed

• They deserved land in Eastern Europe due to the destruction of WWII, and to balance US influence in Western Europe

• Felt the US was being deceptive, as they had kept the A-bomb a secret

• Keep Germany weak

The Arms and Space Race… • In 1949 the USSR set off its

first atomic bomb.

• By the early 1950’s both the

USSR and the U.S. had

intercontinental ballistic

missiles, now both countries

were capable of sending

bombs anywhere.

• The U.S. and the USSR

continued to build up their

arsenals of weapons

including atomic bombs.

They both thought that their

large arsenals would prevent

war from occurring.

• Space Race…thanks to them we got a man on the moon!

• The Space Race began when the USSR launched its first human made space satellite, Sputnik I into space.

• Americans feared Sputnik I and the idea behind it. They thought that the USSR had a massive lead in building missiles. They feared a “missile gap” had developed between the USSR and the U.S.

Space Race Arms Race

I guess we made

it after all…

Space Race vid clip (7 mins)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkUSceAt

CIE

Out of the Cold War…

• Came the “Iron Curtain” speech, The

Truman Doctrine, The National Security

Act of 1947, The Marshall Plan, The

Containment Policy, and the changing role

of women in Communist Countries.

• Take a few minutes with a partner to finish

the first page of your Cold War Timeline.

New Organizations (alliances)

were formed…

• NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

• NATO was formed in 1949 when Belgium, Luxembourg, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and Iceland signed a treaty with the U.S. and Canada.

• All powers agreed to provide mutual help if any one of them was attacked.

• Later West Germany, Turkey and Greece also joined.

• How do you think the USSR felt about NATO?

Communism spreads-1949

• Remember the last thing we talked about in China? The Communists had taken control.

• After WWII civil war broke out in China again, Communists had again taken control of Northern China under the leadership of Mao Zedong.

• The United States supported the Chiang Kai-shek (anti-communist) government in Southern and Central China.

• By 1949 Mao Zedong and his armies had defeated the Nationalists and Chiang and his people fled to Taiwan.

1949 was the same

year the USSR tested

its first atomic

weapon…the West

grew more fearful.

Korean War

• USSR: Fought to help the North Koreans spread communism to the South

• US: Fought to keep communism out of the South

• 1st war involving the UN

– Truman was against the war spreading to China, fired McArthur for his aggressive plans!

– In the end, no land was gained on either side (38th parallel)

Show Korean War clip (U/S 8 min.)

The Warsaw Pact

• In 1955 the Soviet Union joined with

Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East

Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania in

a formal military alliance called the Warsaw

Pact.

• After the Warsaw Pact was created Europe

was once again divided into hostile alliance

systems. MAIN ANYONE???

Can you

see the

“iron

curtain”?

Stalin dies..and

wants to be

remembered…

Enter Nikita

Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev

• Khrushchev took power of the USSR in 1955.

• De-Stalinization (no more totalitarianism or genocide)

• When Khrushchev took over one of the biggest problems within the USSR was the issue of East Germans escaping into West Germany through West Berlin.

• Khrushchev made a decision…build a wall (not not for a few more years)

When Germany

was divided

Berlin was also

divided

amongst the

four big nations

(France, Great

Britain,

America, and

the USSR).

West Berlin was

given aid by the

Western

countries while

East Berlin was

poverty-

stricken

West

Berlin

East

Berlin

Sputnik I • Sputnik I was the

first human satellite

put into orbit.

• Def of a satellite: a

body that revolves

around a planet; a moon.

• On October 4, 1957, the

Soviet Union launched a

basketball-sized satellite

called (Sputnik 1), and a

second Soviet satellite

(Sputnik II) carrying a

living dog (named Laika)

soon followed.

China’s Great Leap Forward

• When Communists took control of China Mao

Zedong took land from wealthy land holders and

gave a lot of it back to poor peasants. Most

private farmland was collectivized (remember

what that means?) and most industry and

commerce was nationalized-he wanted to

modernize quickly!!.

• When food production did not increase people did

not move into working in industry.

Chairman Mao

• Mao Zedong decided to start a new program- The

Great Leap Forward in 1958. Under this program

he took existing collectivized farms normally the

size of a village and were combined into vast

communes.

• Each commune contained more than 30,000

people who lived and worked together.

• Mao hoped that the Great Leap Forward would

enable China to become a classless society.

• The government slogan promised the following:

“Hard work for a few years, happiness for a

thousand.

The actual outcome of the GLF

• The Great Leap Forward was actually a

disaster. Bad weather and peasants’ hatred

of the new system drove food production

down.

• As a result almost 15 million starved to

death.

• The government eventually started to break

the communes down to return them to

collectivized farms and some private plots.

At-a-glance: History of the Chinese economy

Great Leap Forward

• Mao orders a return to the countryside and the creation of small rural factories in a push to drive through industrialization more quickly. Between l958-61, rural communes were encouraged to produce industrial products like steel and iron to the neglect of agricultural production. The result was widespread famine, with per capita grain consumption falling by 22% and millions of deaths.

See video: GLF

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efBQKH

OfW60&feature=PlayList&p=5C5AF41713

834C6A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL

&index=18

• (4 minutes)

The Berlin Wall • The Berlin Wall was built by Nikita

Khrushchev, his goal in building the wall was to keep people from escaping East Germany.

• The wall was started in 1961separating East and West Berlin. The wall eventually was guarded by barbed wire, floodlights, machine-gun towers, minefields, and vicious dog patrols.

• Answer #3 map Q on the back-Why did East Berliners try to escape to the West? Who controlled the West?

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• We will now watch a clip about the Cuban

Missile Crisis.

• Fill in the Soviet and the U.S. side of your

timeline as you watch.

It’s Venn diagram time…Oh

YEAH!

• You will be paired with 2 other people. In your group you will need to do 2 things.

• 1- Complete the Venn diagram on the back of your Korean/Vietnam War assignment

• 2- Complete the boxes for the Vietnam War (Soviet and U.S. boxes including the Domino Theory.)

Civil Rights Movements in the

U.S. • The Civil Rights movement started early

with the comings of WWII when African

Americans moved North to help work in

industry.

• When JFK was assassinated and Lyndon

Johnson took over- one of his passions was

the civil rights movement or equal rights for

African Americans.

• MLK Jr. called for racial equality-passive

disobedience (Gandhi)

Civil Rights continued…

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 enabled the

United States to end segregation and

discrimination in the workplace and all

public places.

• The Voting Rights Act followed the

following year and made it easier for

African Americans to vote in southern

states.

http://www.youtube.com/watch

?v=iEMXaTktUfA

Time to finish it up…

• You have the next few minutes to finish up

1950s-1960s: Revolts against Communism

in Eastern Europe, and the Great Proletarian

Cultural Revolution (China).

1950s-1960s: Revolts against

Communism in Eastern Europe

• Communism did not stick in E. Europe

• They felt exploited (used) by the USSR, and

began to fight back after Stalin’s death

• Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary

began to fight for reform and independence!

• USSR resisted this new movement…

An example…

• In Hungary, Imre Nagy brought some new

freedoms to the people

• Tried to leave the USSR

• Soviet armies marched into Budapest (the

capital)…Nagy later executed

• The lesson? Do not defy the USSR!

1966 The Great Proletarian

Cultural Revolution in China • When the GLF failed, Mao still wanted a classless

society

• Needed a “permanent revolution”

• CR was meant to create a new working class culture (proletarian)

• Mao’s thoughts, “Little Red Book”

• Red Guards-destroyed all things religious and foreign (remember Chinese nationalism???)

• Red traffic lights now- “GO!” instead of green

• People began to resist the movement…it ended in 1976

Predictions:

• What do you predict the Cold War will be

like in the 1970s and 1980s?

• Is it slowing down or speeding up?

Map time!

• Finish the back page of your Cold War

timeline now.

This is you

guys, at the

thought of

finishing your

maps!