3. Cold War
A state of extreme unfriendliness existing between countries, especially
countries with opposing political systems, that expresses itself not through
fighting butt through political pressure and threats. The expressions is usually
used of the relationship between the US and the Soviet Union after the secon
world war.
4. Causes of Cold War
The long-term causes of the Cold War are clear. Western democracies had always been hostile to the
idea of a communist state.
The United States had refused recognition to the USSR for 16 years after the Bolshevik takeover.
Domestic fears of communism erupted in a Red Scare in America in the early Twenties.
American business leaders had long feared the consequences of a politically driven workers'
organization.
World War II provided short-term causes as well.
There was hostility on the Soviet side as well.
Twenty million Russian citizens perished during World War II.
Stalin was enraged that the Americans and British had waited so long to open a front in France.
This would have relieved pressure on the Soviet Union from the attacking Germans.
Further, The United States terminated Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union before the war was
complete.
Finally, the Soviet Union believed in communism.
5. Causes of Cold War
Stalin made promises during the war about the freedom of eastern Europe on
which he blatantly reneged.
At the Yalta Conference, the USSR pledged to enter the war against Japan no
later than three months after the conclusion of the European war.
In return, the United States awarded the Soviets territorial concessions from
Japan and special rights in Chinese Manchuria.
.
When the Soviet Union entered the war between the bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the United States no longer needed their aid, but Stalin was there to
collect on Western promises.
All these factors contributed to a climate of mistrust that heightened tensions at
the outbreak of the Cold War.
For most of the second half of the 20th century, the USSR and the United States
were engaged in a Cold War of economic and diplomatic struggles. The
communist bloc, as it appeared in 1950, included countries to the west and
southeast of the Soviet Union.
6.
7. Superpowers at War:
After World War II,the United States and the Soviet Union were the world’s strongest nations.
They were called superpowers.
They had different ideas about economics and government.
They fought a war of ideas called the Cold War.
The Soviet Union was a communist country.
In communism, the government controls production and resources.
It decides where people live and work.
The United States is a capitalist country.
In capitalism,people and businesses control the production of goods.
People decide where they live and work.
The Cold War began in Europe after World War II.
The Soviet Union won control of Eastern Europe.
It controlled half of Germany and half of Germany’s capital,Berlin.
The United States,Britain,and France controlled western Germany and West Berlin.
In June 1948,the Soviet Union blocked roads and railroads that led to West Berlin.
The United States,Great Britain,and France flew in supplies.
This was called the Berlin Airlift.
9. Cold War Conflicts
After World War II,Korea was divided into North and South Korea.
North Korea became communist.
South Korea was a capitalist country.
North Korean army invaded South Korea.
The United Nations sent soldiers to help South Korea.
China sent soldiers to help North Korea.
The war ended in 1953. Neither side won.Korea is still divided.
The United States and the Soviet Union were in a nuclear arms race.
In 1959,Cuba became a communist country and the Soviets secretly put missiles there.
President Kennedy was afraid the Soviet Union would attack the United States.
He sent warships to surround Cuba.He hoped a blockade would force the Soviet Union
to remove its missiles.
This conflict was called the Cuban Missile Crisis.For six days, nuclear war seemed
possible.
Then the Soviet Union removed the missiles.