The document summarizes key events in the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States from 1945 to 1989. It describes how the US helped rebuild Western Europe through the Marshall Plan to prevent communist takeover after WWII. It also discusses the rise of communist China and subsequent proxy wars in Korea and Vietnam between the two superpowers. The document outlines periods of increased tensions like the Cuban Missile Crisis and periods of détente. It concludes with the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union, marking the end of the Cold War.

1. The Cold War:
The Cold War Abroad

2. Troubles In Europe
• Because of the effects of WWII on continental
Europe they became very dependent on
foreign investment, primarily from the US.
• It took the massive influx of cash into the
European economy via the Marshall Plan to
save places like France and Italy from “turning
red” and becoming communist states.

3. China: The New Communist Front
• America had backed the Kuomintang regime
in China since before the war.
• In 1949 Mao Zedong led his revolutionaries
against the Chinese regime and beat them in a
bloody Civil War.
• He created the People’s Republic of China
which immediately allied with the Soviets.

4. Chairman Mao: 1945-1976

5. Cold War Terminology
• A Proxy War is where two powers use third parties
as a substitute for fighting each other directly.
• Balance of Power, as it relates to the Cold War, is
where the Soviets and the Americans would continue
adding to their nuclear armaments in order to offset
the other.
• MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) was a Cold War
military strategy where both sides would be
destroyed if one attacked the other due to each side
possessing nuclear weapons.

6. North & South Korea
• The Korean War was largely the result of post WWII border
disagreements.
• At the end of WWII Korea had been split into two halves much the same
way Germany had been.
• The Japanese had occupied Korea during the war. At wars end the top half
of Korea was held by the Soviets and the bottom by the Americans.
• In 1950 the Soviets backed the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
• The UN largely driven by American interests embarked upon a military
mission in Korea making it a “proxy war” of the Cold War. Under the
umbrella of the UN Canada sent over 26,000 troops to Korea.
• As the Americans approached the Chinese boarder China joined the
conflict in 1951.
• The conflict ended in 1953 with borders at the same place. A
Demilitarized Zone was created to ease tensions. Korean War

9. Battle In The ‘Nam’
• In 1953 President Eisenhower replaced
President Truman as President of the United
States and Nikita Khrushchev replaced the
recently deceased Stalin.
• As the Korean War wound down, the conflict
in Vietnam began heating up. War between
North and South Vietnam broke out in 1956
originally with the French. Start of the Nam
• The Americans came in to help and Vietnam
became the second major proxy war in the
Cold War era.

11. Battle In The ‘Nam’ Continued
• The Americans were attempting to help withstand
guerrilla attacks by the National Front for the
Liberation of South Vietnam.
• The US enacted a conscription policy and as a result
90,000 people fled to Canada who became known as
Draft Dodgers.
• By now it was apparent that the US was staying
involved in these national conflicts in order to
protect governments against the threat of
communism.
• The North impressively drove away the American
forces by 1975. This was a huge embarrassment to
the American government.

13. • Hungarian Revolution in 1956
• They lost.

14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
• Until 1959 Cuba had been an American colony. Castro and
Che Guevara overthrew the Americans and made the country
communist as it remains today.
• The Cubans received funding from the Soviets and in
exchange the Cubans allowed the USSR to plant nuclear
missile bases on the island.
• The US demanded that the Soviets remove the missile bases
but they originally refused.
• As the threat of nuclear war grew increasingly close the
Soviets offered to remove the missiles in exchange for
America leaving Cuba alone and taking missiles out of Turkey.
• That fails when an American pilot is shot down while spying.
• For 13 days the world sits on the brink of a nuclear war, until
the two superpowers back down.
• Cuba is placed under an embargo by the US, which continues
to impact the economy of Cuba to this day.

15. Fidel Castro and
Che Guevara

17. International Monetary Fund
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization
that was created in 1945 by 29 member countries.
• The IMF's stated goal was to assist in the reconstruction of the world's
international payment system post–World War II.
• Countries contribute money to a pool through a quota system from which
countries with payment imbalances can borrow funds temporarily.
• The IMF describes itself as “an organization of 188 countries, working to
foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate
international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic
growth, and reduce poverty around the world.”

18. Détente & The Thaw
• By 1970 the cost of building arms was spiralling out
of control and both countries stopped building up
their armaments as much.
• As other countries around the world had finished
recovering from WWII they began stepping outside
the US/Soviet spheres of influence.
• The war re-heated up with Afghanistan in 1979. The
Soviets backed the communist government in power
while the US provided materials, guns and aid to the
insurgents so that they could continue the war.
• The War ended 9 years later with the Soviets being
kicked out of Afghanistan after losing 100,000 troops
and their puppet government failing.

19. The Iran – Contra Affair
• Was a political scandal that was discovered in 1987
• Members of U.S. President Reagan’s government had been illegally
selling weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages
• The profits from these weapons sales were then used to covertly
fund the “Contras,” a right-wing extremist terrorist group fighting
the government of Nicaragua.
• As well, it has been alleged that the CIA was involved in aiding the
Contras in cocaine trafficking, and that the CIA knowingly used drug
money to fund the Contras.
• The CIA distributed, a booklet describing ways for the average citizen
to cause disorder, to the Nicaraguan public via airdrop.
• President Reagan would initially deny any and all weapon sales to
Iran, but would later admit to it, though only saying “one planeload
of weapons” was sold.

21. End Of The Cold War
• By the end of the Cold War the Soviets were starving
their own people to keep up their military and
armaments.
• Mikhail Gorbachev, who had taken control of the
USSR, decided to make peace with the US (George
Bush Sr.) and the Cold War officially ended in 1989.
• Following the peace, the Soviet empire would
collapse politically, economically and socially.
• November 1989 the Berlin Wall (Built 1961) which
had split Germany in two was torn down by the
citizens of East and West Germany.
• Communism in the Soviet Union had failed

22. Glasnost: The Canadian Connection
• Alexander Yakovlev, the Soviet ambassador to
Canada, was a close friend and advisor to Mikhail
Gorbachev
• He had been credited as helping pioneer the idea of
perestroika (economic reform in the USSR), and the
driving force behind glasnost (freedom of
information and government transparency) in the
Soviet Union
• Alexander was also a friend of famous PM Pierre
Trudeau, and the two often talked of the need for
liberalization in the USSR

23. Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989

24. • Destruction of the Berlin Wall