best slides on cold war

1. Cold War;
Rise of United States and Soviet
Union, Era of Tight Bipolarity,
Détente and Loose Bipolarity, Revival
of Cold War.

2. Concepts
Communism
 A system where government owns natural and capital
resources of a nation by controlling production for classless
and stateless society.
Socialism
 A social and economic system characterized by
social/collective owner ship and democratic control of
resources.
Capitalism
 A system based on private ownership of resources, goods
and services.

3. Outcomes of WWII
 Emergence of Two Superpowers – USA & USSR
 Incompatibilities b/w two Ideologies.
 Containment policy of USA Vs. USSR
 Marshall Plan (5 $Bil. 16 European countries)– first move
towards NATO

4. Cold War
 Why Cold? – neither war nor peace b/w US capitalist and
Soviet communist blocs after WWII.
 Great power rivalry stopped short of war.
 Arms race, ally-seeking, ideological antagonism,
interventionism etc.

5. Roots of Cold War
 Communist Revolution of November 1917 was viewed as
challenge to American Exceptionalism.
 USA also tried to prevent the revolution in Russia.
 First ‘red-scare’ 1919-1920 in USA.

6. Roots of Cold War
 “Soviet states would not co-exist with capitalist states”,
Lenin 1919.
 After WWII USSR & USA became super powers.
 During WWII, Stalin, Roosevelt, & Churchill discussed the
future of the world in the aftermath of WWII.

7. Roots of Cold War
 After WWII, Germany was to be divided into two;
1. East Germany under USSR
2. West Germany under USA
 Berlin into four sectors – USA, France, UK and USSR.
 Germany was also to be de-militarized & de-nazify.

8. US, British and Soviet views;
 FDR wanted economic supremacy through – Bretton
Wood System and victory in Asia.
 Churchill wanted to maintain colonies.
 Stalin wanted to retain East Europe and Germany
divided.

9. Roots of Cold War
 These Soviet goals brought mutual suspicions.
 Overall world was also transforming – decolonization,
Chinese awakening, Indo-Pak independence etc.

10. Cold War – shaped the world
 Cold War (1945-1991) was the centre point of world
politics.
 It dominated the FPs of the whole world – affecting their
societies, politics, economies, and military institutions.
 Education, literature, and philosophy as well.

11. Who Started the Cold War – two
interpretations
Traditional view:
 Former allied within few months, engaged in a global —
military, political, economic, and ideological struggle.
 Creeping sovietisation of the region b/w 1945-1948 was
the source of Cold War.
 Josef Stalin was an evil dictator, guided by evil
Communist ideology for world domination.

13. Who Started the Cold War –
interpretations?
Revisionist View:
 In the 1960s, a new generation of historians — sceptical
about the Vietnam War — offered a different
interpretation;
 Economic expansionist policies of Washington were
responsible.
 “Stalin was more interested in protecting the Soviet Union
than in dominating the world.”

14. Who Started the Cold War –
interpretations?
 Americans erroneously interpreted Stalin’s concerns for a
security buffer in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania
as a desire for global conquest.
 American efforts to contain Soviet influence, soviet
intimidation with atomic bomb, and to pursue American
economic interests around the globe were primarily
responsible for starting the Cold War.

15. Stages of CW : Tight Bipolarity (1946-
1969)
Iron Curtain (1946)
 Churchill used this phrase in his 1946 speech, speech,
“from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an
iron curtain has descended upon the continent”.
 He called for a Western alliance against communist
threat.
 Effectively requested and welcomed US diplomatic and
military support and protection.

17. Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-
1969)
 The cold war in Europe reflected the failure to implement
the principles agreed at the wartime conferences of Yalta
& Potsdam of 1945.
 The future of Germany and Poland were issues of
growing tension between USA & USSR.

18. Containment Policy
Truman Doctrine 1947 and Containment Policy of US
 “to support the free people who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures.”
 Truman requested congress 400 million US$ for Turkey and
Greece so they could fight against communism.
 The largest US aid program in peace time history.

20. Containment Policy
 It was the beginning of US invention into other
countries.
 Under this doctrine, US was committed to oppose the
spread of communism and to intervene, even by military
force if necessary.
 NATO & Marshall Plan - two elements of containment
strategy, “Two halves of the same walnut” said Truman.

21. Containment Policy
Truman Doctrine and Containment Policy of US
 US elite had divided the world into “good” and “bad”
states – based on human rights record….
 Whoever was in communist camp - fell into the bad
category and a target of US.

22. Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-
1969)
 In East, nationalists and socialists were also considered as
Marxists, loyal to Moscow. e.g. ZA. Bhutto
 First confrontation between US and USSR came when in
June 1948 Stalin cut road and rail communications.
 West Berlin’s population was kept alive by a massive
airlift.

23. Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-
1969)
 Blockade prompted the deployment of US long-range
bombers in Britain, described as ‘atomic-capable’,
though not.
 US consolidated its military commitment by forming
NATO in April 1949.
 USA took the responsibility of the protection of the
Europe.

24. Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-
1962)
 In 1949, thirty-year-long Chinese civil war ended with
victory for the communists under Mao Zedong.
 USSR also broke the nuclear monopoly of USA in 1949.
 1950 North Korea attacked SK, USA intervened so did
communist China.

25. NATO 1949

26.  NATO & west German armament of 1954 resulted in
Warsaw Pact in 1955.
 By the 1960s, there were some 7,000 nuclear weapons in
Western Europe alone.
 NATO deployed nuclear weapons to balance Soviet
conventional superiority, Soviet deployed ‘theatre
nuclear’ to counter US nuclear superiority.

27. Warsaw 1955

28. Cold war and the Middle East
 Israel came into being in 1948 - Nazi genocide.
 Both USSR and USA supported the creation of a Jewish
state on Arab lands.
 But, in 1950s, Soviets supported Arabs Vs. Pro US Israel.
 Though Jamal Nasser was a nationalist not communist.

29. Suez Canal Crisis, 1956
 On July 26, 1956 Jamal Nasser announced to nationalize
Suez Canal.
 Britain, France, and Israel attacked Egypt.
 This brought a serious rift in the ‘special relationship’
between Britain and the US.

30. Suez Canal crisis 1956

31.  Eisenhower strongly opposed and forced UK abandon the
operation and support of French and Israel.
 In those days, US compromised their commitment
democracy and national self-determination because of Cold
War.
 Supported Dictators instead of democrats, e.g. Gen. Ayub
and Gen. Zia in Pakistan and Arab Monarchs.

32. Cuban missile Crisis, 1962
 In October 1962 the world was about to witness a nuclear
Armageddon.
 Soviets has deployed Nuclear missiles in Cuba aiming at
US cities.
 Britain in 1952, France in 1960, and China in 1964 became
nuclear powers.
 Concerns about the spread or nuclear proliferation led to
the negotiation of the NPT in 1968.

33. Détente - Loose Bipolarity, 1969 - 1979
 Easing of tensions between US and USSR, tentatively
started from Nixon/Kissinger initiative in 1972/1973.
 A shift from animosity to a flexible diplomacy.
 Change was being observed in post WWII super power
relations.
 Causes – communist China, and consensus b/w USA &
USSR to keep the status quo in Europe.

34. Détente Loose Bipolarity. 1969 - 1979
 America was stuck in Vietnam, China-Soviet war in 1969.
 Détente helped reconciliation between China & US.
 Both Washington and Moscow also looked towards
Beijing while making their calculations.
 The question of how far the superpowers could control
their friends.

35. Détente - Loose Bipolarity. 1969 - 1979
 After 1973 Arab-Israel war both USA and USSR helped
create Egyptian-Israeli rapprochement.
 Egypt switched its allegiance from Moscow to
Washington.
 For Israel, fear of a war was lifted.

36. Détente - Loose Bipolarity. 1969 - 1979
 Americans viewed Moscow’s support for communists in
Ethiopia in 1975 and in Angola in 1978 killed détente.
 The overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979 resulted in the
loss of an important US ally in the region.
 Dec. 1979, USSR invaded Afghanistan, US supported
Mujahideen.

37. Revival of the Cold War 1980 - 1988
Carter Doctrine ( January 1980)
 “Any attempt by outside force to gain control of the
Persian Gulf will be regarded as an assault on vital US
interests and such an assault will be repelled by any
means necessary, including military force”.
 Doctrine was a response to Iranian Revolution and Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan.
 It was a mini Monroe Doctrine in its essence.

38. After 1980
 Reagan was not in favour of arms control agreements.
 He initiated ‘Star Wars’, a research programme for space -
based defence against ballistic missiles.
 Reagan claimed to regain the nuclear monopoly of the
1950s.
 In Western Europe and the Soviet Union, there was real fear
of nuclear war.

39. Reagan Doctrine 1980-1988
 Reagan viewed Détente as a bad policy, that
strengthened USSR.
 The essence of the doctrine is – the active
destabilization of selected target states following
soviet ideologies.
 Reagan called Détente period as “decade of neglect”.

40. Reagan Doctrine
 Its purpose was to stop the expansion of USSR.
 This was reflected in Afghanistan & Nicaragua to suck
Soviet military in Vietnam style.
 Reagan’s policy lost its relevance as in last years both
superpowers moved towards better relations.

41. Conclusion
 There are disagreements about when and why the cold
war began, and who was responsible.
 Distinct phases can be seen in East-West relations, during
which tension and the risk of direct confrontation grew
and receded.
 Some civil and regional wars were intensified and
prolonged by superpower involvement; others may have
been prevented or shortened.
 The end of the cold war has not resulted in the abolition
of nuclear weapons.

42. Conclusion
 Nuclear weapons were an important factor in the cold war.
How far the arms race had a momentum of its own is a
matter of debate.
 Various international crises occurred in which there was the
risk of nuclear war.
 Judging how close world came to nuclear war at these
times remains open to speculation.

43. Questions
 Throughout the history of the Cold War the US used and
manipulated the soviet threat to secure its leadership
over the Western world. Discuss.
 To what extent was US foreign economic policy of a case
of ‘containment by other means’?
 What impact did the end of Cold War have on US
foreign policy?