ppt on the cold war

1. The cold war

2. Public Use
Introduction
 The cold war was a non-conventional war between the two major superpowers
which emerged at the end of world war II,USA and USSR. It was a battle of two
ideologies – communism and capitalism and competition for global political and
economic influence.
 The United states were a capitalist where almost everything was privately owned
and run for profits whereas the soviets were a communist where everyone owns
the means to create common wealth all based around a central ideology.
 The conflict between the two countries began during the late 1940s and lasted
until the early 1990s.It took place in multiple arenas and locations, including
through proxy wars and through propaganda and information warfare.

3. Public Use
Causes of the cold war
1.TENSIONS BETWEEN SUPERPOWERS
 The first principal reason of the Cold War was the various tensions between America
and the Soviet Union on the stop of World War II. During the Second World War, the
Soviet Union under the rule of Joseph Stalin, became allied with Britain, France, and
America in opposition to Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan.
 At the time, the allies were wanting to destroy the fascist regimes in the Europe and
Japanese expansionism in the Pacific. However, by 1945 the primary combating in
both the European Theater and Pacific Theater started to come to an end. For
example, World War II in Europe basically ended with the demise of Adolf Hitler on
April 30th, 1945. Japan was defeated quickly after in August of 1945 with the atomic
bombing of each Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
 During those very last tiers of World War II, the partnership between the Soviet
Union and the other Allied countries commenced to fall apart which is evidenced by
the Allied wartime meetings in Yalta and Potsdam.

4. Public Use
2. NUCLEAR ARMS RACE
 The subsequent motive of the Cold War became the emergence of nuclear weapons on
the cease of World War II. As said previously, World War II ended in Europe by May of
1945 with the defeat of Nazi Germany through the Allied Powers, however the conflict
did now no longer formally stop withinside the Pacific Theater till the atomic bombing
of Japan in August of 1945. The United States had evolved its atomic weaponry at
some point of the very last years of the conflict via its secretive project known as the
Manhattan Project. With the atomic bombing of Japan, the USA had began the
technology of nuclear weapons and the nuclear arms race.
 At the outset of the Cold War, the USA changed into the most effective country in the
international to include atomic weapons, together with the ones used in opposition to
Japan in 1945. As such, the Soviet Union was now no longer capable of militaristically
challenge the USA and labored to expand their personal atomic weapons. However, on
August 29th, 1949, the Soviet Union carried out a check of their first atomic bomb
codenamed ‘First Lighting’.
 These early years had been essential to the developing tensions and anger among the 2
superpowers. Because of the improvement of nuclear weapons, the 2 countries did now
no longer agree with each other. As a result, they each spent the first few decades of
the Cold War growing massive arsenals of nuclear weapons. By the 1950’s, united
states had evolved sufficient nuclear weapons to break the other. This improvement
changed into an essential component of the Cold War, because the stockpiles of nuclear
weapons acted as a method of defense.

5. Public Use
 Essentially, every country became deterred from going to battle with other, or
from escalation tensions, because of the concern of a nuclear battle. Historians
refer to this concept as Mutual Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) due to the fact that
any escalation to conflict may want to bring about the overall destruction of each
countries.
 Regardless, this nuclear arms race among the 2 countries confirmed the
developing divide among the 2 countries. As such, the preliminary improvement
of nuclear weapons withinside the 1940s and 1950s is taken into consideration to
be a motive of the Cold War as it accelerated the tensions among the USA and the
Soviet Union and triggered them to go right into a risky nuclear arms race.

6. Public Use
3. SPREAD OF COMMUNISM
 Thus, the ultimate cause of the Cold War was Americans' fear of the spread of
communism around the world. The United States, headed by Harry S. Truman,
feared that communism ideology would spread throughout Europe and the rest of
the world.
 For instance, at the end of World War II , Greece and Turkey faced financial crises.
Due to the proximity to Soviet territory and the rise of communism in recent
decades, there were concerns that the two countries would fall into the Soviet
sphere of influence and turn into communists. Truman stated that “United States
should financially support the two nation to avoid them turning to communism” in
one of his speeches.
 This method through Truman shaped the idea of American overseas policy in the
course of the rest of the Cold War in the shape of containment, which historians
refer to as the Truman Doctrine. Essentially, the Truman Doctrine became the
concept that the USA must try to incorporate the Soviet sphere of affect and the
unfold of communism. This overseas policy prompted the USA to go into battle
with the Soviet Union because it tried to foil Soviet expansionism in activities.

7. Public Use
Major events of cold war
 1.Potsdam conference
The Potsdam conference was held in 1945 immediately after the end of world war-II
at berlin. The major participants of the conference were USA,USSR and UK and the
major agenda of the conference were
• Division and administration of the defeated Germany
• Differentiation of boundary of Poland.
• Occupying of Austria.
• Role of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe

8. Public Use
o The USSR wanted small portion of Poland (bordering Soviet Union) to be
maintained as a safeguard zone. However, the USA and UK didn’t agree to this
idea.
o Also, the United States did not inform the USSR about the precise nature of the
atomic bomb, which was dropped on Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This
created unwanted tensions in Soviet Union about the intents of western
countries, embittering the alliance.

9. Public Use
 2.Truman's Doctrine
• Truman Doctrine was announced on 12th of march in 1947 by the then US
President Harry S Truman.
• The Truman Doctrine was nothing but a policy to prevent the Soviet Union’s
communist and Imperialist actions, through various ways like providing economic
aid to other countries.
• For example, US provided financial aid to support the economies and militaries of
Greece and Turkey. An aid of around 400 million dollars was given to Greece and
Turkey. This new doctrine provided a genuine basis for the United States’
involvement during the Cold War.
• Enforcing the doctrine of containment, the Americans encouraged Turkey to fight
against Soviet claims to rights over naval bases in the Bosphorus. They also helped
in the eliminating of Russian troops from Iran.

10. Public Use
• In the meantime, efforts were made to crack down on Soviet espionage and it had
been coordinated by the United States by setting up its Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA).
• These changes to foreign policy marked a real shift in the history of the USA,
which had in the past remained on the sidelines of European disputes. For the
United states, remoteness was no longer an option.
• Historians believe that the announcement of this doctrine marked the beginning of
the Cold War.

11. Public Use
 3. Iron Curtain
• Iron Curtain is the political, military, and ideological imaginary demarcation
erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to cutoff itself and its eastern and
central European allies from any kind of communication with the West and other
non-communist areas.
• On the eastern side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to
or influenced by the USSR, while on the western side were the countries that were
allies of the US And UK.
• States established their own international economic and military alliances: Member
countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact,
with the USSR as the leader. Member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) with the US the leader
• Churchill stated in his speech that areas under the USSR’s control were expanding
their power without any restriction. He proclaimed that to put a stop on this
phenomenon, strong unity between the UK and the U.S. was necessary.

12. Public Use
 4.Berlin Blockade 1948
• As the strain between USSR and Allied countries grew, USSR constructed Berlin Blockade
in 1948. It was an attempt by the USSR to limit the ability of Allied countries to travel to
their controlled areas of Berlin.
• Further the Communist government of the Germany began building a barbed wire and
wall (Berlin Wall) between East and West Berlin. The main objective of the wall was
stemming mass emigration from East. Travelers from East and West Berlin were not
allowed across the border.
• USA and UK began to supply the city with food and other essentials by air. They also
prepared a similar “airlift” in the opposite direction of West Berlin’s which reduced
industrial exports.
• This Berlin Wall served as an important symbol of the Cold until its fall in 1989.
.

13. Public Use
 5. The Marshall Plan vs The Cominform
 The Marshall Plan
• In 1947, American Secretary of State George Marshall, initiated European
Recovery Program (ERP), which offered economic and financial help wherever it
was needed. One of the aims of the ERP was to encourage the economic recovery
of Europe.
• However, this was just an economic extension of the Truman Doctrine.
• The Marshall Plan was quite successful. The western European countries involved
saw a rise in their GDP of 15 to 25 percent during this period. This helped in the
rapid renewal of the western European chemical and steel industries. Truman
extended the Marshall Plan to lesser developed nations also.
• The Marshall Plan was estimated to cost the United States around $22 billion, but
it was later brought down to $13 billion after the plan was initiated.

14. Public Use
 The Cominform
 The Soviet Union criticized the whole idea of Marshall Plan as 'dollar imperialism’.
Therefore, the Cominform (the Communist Information Bureau) was set up in 1947,
as the Soviet reply to the Marshall Plan.
 It was an organization to bring mainly Eastern Europe countries together.

15. Public Use
 6. NATO vs Warsaw Pact
 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
• The Berlin blockade showed the West's military unreadiness and frightened them
into creating definite preparations. Thus, in 1948, principally the countries of
western Europe signed the Brussels Defence treaty, promising military
collaboration just in case of war.
• Soon Brussels Defense treaty was joined by the USA, Canada, Portugal, Denmark,
Iceland, Italy and Norway. This led to the formation of the North Atlantic treaty
Organization (NATO) in april 1949.
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries united to take associate attack on
anyone of them as associate attack on all of them, and putting their defence
forces beneath a joint command.

16. Public Use
 Warsaw pact
• The Warsaw Pact ( 1955) was signed between Russia and her allies just after
West Germany joined NATO.
• The Pact was a mutual defense agreement, which the Western countries saw as
a retaliation against West Germany’s inclusion in NATO.

17. Public Use
 7. space race
• Space exploration was another dramatic arena for Cold War competition.
• In 1957, Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the world’s first artificial satellite and
the first man-made object to be put into the Earth’s orbit.
• In 1958, the U.S. launched its own satellite called Explorer I. However, this space
race was won by the United states as it successfully landed, the first man (Neil
Armstrong) on the surface of the moon in 1969.

18. Public Use
Cold war in other countries
 1. Cuba
( Cuban missile crisis)
• The USSR positioned nuclear missiles in Cuba(also a communist nation) which
were ready to be launched onto the cities of the USA. The USA reacted with a
naval blockade of Cuba and both superpowers were on the brink of war. The
deadlock ended after 13 days when the USSR withdrew the missiles from Cuba.

19. Public Use
 2.Vietnam
{Vietnam War (1960s – 1975)}
• In 1965, US sent troops to help south Vietnam in its war against communist north
Vietnam, which was supported by USSR and the Chinese.
• The US equipped with heavy weapons, tanks, the most powerful bombers of that
time B-52 and chemical agents such as napalm, agent orange destroyed many
villages which killed many civilians.
• When US troops left in 1973, 58k Americans had died. War ended in 1975 with
communist forces capturing the south.
 3. CzechoSlovakia
(Prague spring 1968)
Leaders of Czechoslovakia’s communist party tried to introduce new reforms including
reducing control over media and implementing multiparty democracy. Soviet troops
invaded and the reforms were halted.

20. Public Use
 4. Afghanistan
(Afghan invasion 1979)
• Soviet troops attacked Afghanistan in support of Marxist government, which was
battling the mujaheddin (aided by US & Pakistan). After 10 years of wars soviet
troops retreated in 1989.
• Later a part of mujaheddin formed a terrorist organization called Al-Qaeda which
was responsible for the attacks of 9/11 on the USA.

21. Public Use
Legacy of the cold war
 The USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan drained them financially and there economy
began collapsing. With policies implemented by Mikhail Gorbachev, the last
leader of soviet union, the USSR began disintegrating. Gorbachev resigned from
his position. Finally in 1991, due to various factors, the soviet union
disintegrated which marked the end of cold war. The US had won the war and
the world turned back into unipolar.
 The cold war was one such war where the entire world came so close to a
devastating nuclear war. Negotiations to reduce holding stocks of atomic bombs
and nuclear weapons continued till late 90’s and continued into the 20th century.
 One of the major legacies can be seen in central Asia where the
mujahedeen(supported by the US) split into various terrorist organisations and
caused political instability in countries like Iran, Iraq and Syria.
 The Cold War had caused heavy militarization of the World that there was no
national or international security to the nations around the world.