An overview of the Cold War

1. An overview of
the Cold War

2. A clash of Ideologies
Communism:
- Collectivism
- Equality
- Socialism
- Totalitarianism
* The end goal of
communism is to
convert the world.
Capitalism
- Individualism
- Freedom
- Democracy
- Limited Government
* The end goal of
capitalism is
economic freedom

3. Nuclear tensions
• The USA had shown its atomic power
when it exploded the A-bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of
World War 2.
• The USSR was also developing atomic
weapons/bombs.
• The USA and the USSR were in
competition with each other to have the
best, most powerful weapons in the world
– this was called the Arms Race.

4. Tension @ Potsdam
• The U.S., Great Britain and U.S.S.R. sat down
before the end of WWII to decide what Europe
would look like
• The soviets viewed the lands they occupied
following WWII as “payback” for the sacrifices
they made in WWII
• Stalin promised the Soviets would allow free
elections in the lands that they occupied
• “Free” elections meant only the communist party
to vote for.
• What happened to all the other Parties?
Hmmm?

5. Many noteworthy countries became communist
after World War 2 including:
- Czechoslovakia (1948)
- East Germany
- Poland (1947)
- Hungary (1947)
- Romania (1947)
- Bulgaria (1947)
- Albania (1947)
- China (1949)
- Cuba (1959)
- North Korea (1945)
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• Laos
• Nicaragua

6. The ‘Truman Doctrine’
• Truman had been horrified at the pre-
war Allied policy of appeasement and
was determined to stand up to any Soviet
intimidation.
The Truman Doctrine in March 1947
promised that the USA “would support
free peoples who are resisting
subjugation by armed minorities or
by outside pressures”.
• Triggered by British inability to hold the
line in Greece, it was followed by aid to
Greece and Turkey, and also money to
help capitalists to stop communists in
Italy and France.
It signalled the end of “isolationst”
policies.

7. “Economic” Aid
• The Marshall Plan offered huge sums to enable
the economies of Europe to rebuild after World War
II, and, by generating prosperity, to reject the
appeal of Communism.
• The Soviet Union (USSR) prevented Eastern
European countries from receiving American money
• They followed up with their own “plan” called the
Molotov Plan
• However, to receive aid from the Molotov Plan,
Nations had to agree to Soviet presence

8. Germany - divided
• Germany, which had been
ruled by the Hitler and the
Nazis until their defeat in
1945 was split in two.
• The western side became
West Germany and the
eastern side became East
Germany.
• East Germany became
another communist country.

9. Focus on Berlin
• After World War II,
Germany was divided
into four zones,
occupied by French,
British, American, and
Soviet troops.
Occupation zones after
1945. Berlin is the
multinational area
within the Soviet zone.

10. · In June of 1948, the
French, British and
American zones were
joined into the nation of
West Germany after the
Soviets refused to end
their occupation of
Germany.
Soviet blockade:
West
Germany
East
Germany
West Berlin
East Berlin

11. The Berlin Wall 1961

12. Opposing Alliances
· In 1949, the U.S.
formed an alliance
with friendly
European countries
called the North
Atlantic Treaty
Organization
(NATO).
· The members of
NATO would defend
each other against any
Soviet aggression.

13. · In 1955, the Soviet
Union formed its own
military alliance
called the Warsaw
Pact.
· The Warsaw Pact
was made up of
Eastern European
countries dominated
by Soviet control.

14. • The USSR had a lot of influence over many of
the new communist countries (especially those
in Europe).
• The USA was very worried that the USSR’s
influence over these countries was making the
USSR and communism more powerful.
• The USA did not want communism to spread
any further – they were worried about the
domino effect (one country becomes communist,
then another, then another etc)

15. Cold War?
• The tension and rivalry between the USA
and the USSR was described as the Cold
War (1945-1990).
• There was never a real war between the
two sides between 1945 and 1990, but they
were often very close to war (Hotspots).
Both sides got involved in other conflicts
in the world to either stop the spread of
communism (USA) or help the spread
(USSR).

16. The Korean War
1950-1953

17. Fighting in Korea:
• Korea was divided at the 38th parallel of latitude.
• North Korea was communist and supported by the Soviets,
and South Korea was democratic and supported by the U.S.

18. • In June of 1950, North Korea
invaded South Korea.

19. • The U.N. sent an international force to Korea in order to
push the North Koreans out of South Korea.
United
Nations
forces
fighting to
recapture
Seoul,
South
Korea,
from
communist
invaders,
September
1950.

20. • In July of 1953, the Korean War ended, in which over
54,000 Americans died.

21. South
Korean
troops
patrol
along the
DMZ.

22. The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

23. • By the 1960’s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union emerged as
superpowers.
Crisis Over Cuba

24. • In 1959, Fidel Castro led a communist revolution in Cuba,
causing thousands of Cubans to flee to the United States.
Fidel Castro, 1950’s Fidel Castro, 2006

25. Bay of Pigs Invasion
· The U.S. became worried as Cuba received increased
amounts of aid from the Soviet Union.
· In 1961, President John F. Kennedy approved of a plan to
overthrow Castro’s government with the help of Cuban exiles.

26. · The exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs in Southern Cuba where
they were easily defeated by Cuban forces, strengthening Fidel
Castro and embarrassing the United States.
Fidel Castro,
parading
through the
streets of
Havana after
his victory
against Cuban
expatriates in
the Bay of Pigs
invasion.
(1961)

27. The Cuban
Missile Crisis
• The Soviet Union began
to build missile bases in
Cuba, worrying
Americans that we were
vulnerable to attack.

28. · Pres. Kennedy announced that American warships would
stop any Soviet ship carrying missiles.

29. "That Tuesday the first of thirteen days of decision unlike
any other in the Kennedy years or, indeed, inasmuch as this
was the first direct nuclear confrontation, unlike any other
in the history of our planet."
- Theodore Sorensen, aide to Pres. Kennedy

30. • Upon approaching
Cuba, the Soviets turned
back.
• Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev agreed to
remove Soviet missiles
from Cuba, and the U.S.
agreed not to invade
Cuba.

31. "I found myself in the difficult
position of having to decide
on a course of action which
would answer the American
threat but which would also
avoid war. Any fool can start
a war, and once he's done so,
even the wisest of men are
helpless to stop it-- especially
if its a nuclear war.”
- Nikita Khrushchev

32. The Vietnam War
c.1963-1975

33. The Two Vietnams
· Vietnam, a former French
colony, was divided into two
sections in 1954.

34. · South Vietnam, led by
Ngo Dinh Diem, was
democratic and backed
by the U.S.
· North Vietnam, led by
Ho Chi Minh, was
communist and backed
by the Soviet Union.

35. · Many South Vietnamese distrusted Diem and joined the
Vietcong, a communist guerilla group supported by North
Vietnam.
An
execution
of a
Vietcong
prisoner
Feb. 1,
1968

36. · In August 1964, U.S. military officials
believed that the North Vietnamese had
torpedoed an American ship in the Gulf
of Tonkin.
· In response, the U.S. passed the Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed
the U.S. to begin bombing enemy
targets within North and South Vietnam.

37. · In addition, it was very
difficult to identify which
South Vietnamese were our
allies and which were
supporting the Vietcong.
· Jungle warfare was
difficult, and it was hard to
locate the enemy.
The Uncertain Enemy
Ex Vietcong showing secret
tunnels, November 7, 2004

38. · However, the U.S. continued to
send billions of dollars in support
of the South Vietnamese.
Peace Without Victory
· In January 1973, the U.S.
reached a cease-fire agreement
with North Vietnam and brought
their troops home.

39. · In April of 1975, the communists captured the South
Vietnamese capital of Saigon, renamed it Ho Chi Minh City,
and reunited Vietnam under one communist flag.

40. · Between 1961 and 1973 over 58,000 Americans died in the
Vietnam War.
Vietnam Balance Sheet
· During the same time
period, over 1,500,000
Vietnamese died as well.
Vietnam War Memorial,
Washington, D.C.

41. · Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev began a policy called glasnost, in which he
allowed more freedom of speech and the press.
· Gorbachev also signed an arms control treaty,
called the INF Treaty, with Pres. Reagan in
1987.
· Eventually, however, Gorbachev was forced to resign in 1991, and the Soviet Union
ceased to exist.

42. · As a result, fifteen Soviet republics gained their independence.
Post-Soviet states in alphabetical order: 1. Armenia; 2. Azerbaijan; 3.
Belarus; 4. Estonia; 5. Georgia; 6. Kazakhstan; 7. Kyrgyzstan; 8. Latvia;
9. Lithuania; 10. Moldova; 11. Russia; 12. Tajikistan; 13. Turkmenistan;
14. Ukraine; 15. Uzbekistan