COLD WAR

Worst genocide

Others Armenian Genocide (by Ottomans) 1915 Cambodia

By Pol Pot (Communist) Extermination of middle class

Stalin’s Soviet Union (Purges)? Rwanda

Hutus killed Tutsis

RECOVERY AFTER WWII Germany split into

occupation zones Marshall Plan

DEVELOPMENT OF COLD WAR “Iron Curtain dropped over Europe”

--Winston Churchill 1946

Two superpowers Two hostile camps (polarizing) No common enemy

BERLIN BLOCKADE Germany and Berlin split

Capitalism in Stalin’s territory Stalin called blockade of West Berlin

Berlin Blockade 1948 Blocked rail and roads

West flew in supplies (Berlin airlift) Everyday for a year

Stalin called off blockade

ASIA China communist in 1949 (Mao Zedong)

Policy of containment Korea was Japan’s in war (allies split)

Soviets in north U.S. in south Dividing line 38th parallel With backing of China, north tried to unify country

under communism Korean War 1950 – 1953 (same dividing line after war)

Sun Yat-sen Chiang Kai-Shek

PACTS NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

1949 First time the U.S. has promised safety of other countries outside their own hemisphere Pact to combat communism

Warsaw Pact (1955) In response to West Germany joining NATO

NATO and Warsaw Pact Boundaries

1953 Stalin diedStalinism bigger than the man

Slowly died offPlaced in tomb next to Lenin

1956 Khrushchev came to powerSecret speech

About crimes of StalinGot Khrushchev into power and started de-Stalinization

China really liked Stalin Never de-Stalinized Mao hated Khrushchev

Khrushchev (1959) no longer supported Atomic power in China

Khrushchev did like Kennedy Hated Nixon (kitchen

debate)

Khrushchev Years 1950s and 1960s

Thaws and Freezes

ThawsPeaceful coexistenceSome free speechStalin out of Cult of personalities and buried in concrete tomb

Freezes Vienna Summit 1961

Kennedy sought to end areas of conflict in third world Khr. Offended Spreading Communism was a fundamental goal of USSR

Comintern Cuba 1959

• Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara Berlin Wall

West Berlin thriving (East not so much) Wall constructed 1961

Keep the working age people in Guards with shoot-to-kill orders

The Berlin Wall

1961

CUBA

Went communist in 1959 Overthrew a U.S. backed dictator

Bay of Pigs disaster

Khrushchev put missiles in Cuba (near Florida coast) Americans had missiles in Turkey Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 Had to show Chinese he was tough

Relations with U.S. were improving – seen as weakness by Chinese

Cuban Missile Crisis backfired Quarantine Reaction, but no

communication Khrushchev blinked first

Nuclear subs

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS So close to abyss

Scared themDétenteNuclear arm test banDirect phone line from Kremlin to Washington

Both sides still hated each other

Eastern Europe heard about secret speechHungary and Czechoslovakia wanted out of

Moscow’s thumbPut down revolution harshly

Prague Spring 1968A lot of people turned against USSR as a result of Eastern Europe

YOUTH REVOLT

Prague Spring1968

DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES! USSR behavior based on culture

1.) Russia has always been an empire

Forced to develop into a modern nation state2.) Russia felt they had a sacred place in the

worldTsarism

Religion (only untainted Greek Orthodox and true Christianity)

Moscow was third RomeFelt they saved the world three times

Mongols, Napoleon, Hitler

DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES! USSR on the defensive

Stalin Thought U.S. would be isolationist

Got defensive when they did not

Also did not like the death of FDR and Churchill’s not getting reelected

Felt atomic bomb on Japan was blackmail

Soviets forced into arms raceAtomic bomb 1949 (despite 20 million+ WWII deaths)

• Second revolution from aboveHydrogen bomb 1952

DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES! USSR on the defensive

Stalin In Eastern Europe needed friendlies

Tried to get all of Germany (failed and prompted NATO)

Saw Marshall Plan as a major threatU.S. forced capitalism on Europe (esp. Western

Germany) Khrushchev

U.S. containing communism USSR contained capitalism

Supported decolonization and anti colonialism Also had to deal with China

MARSHALL PLAN

BREZHNEV YEARS Leonid Brezhnev takes over for

Khrushchev (r. 1964 – 1982) Stability, no mass terror

Era of stagnation Life was predictable/stable Life was fine (you might actually

get a car!) State subsidized everything Employment guaranteed Underneath is a completely

stagnant economy

VIETNAM Japanese imperialism in WWII made it tough for Europeans to come back

Japan recognized native governments

Left weapons behind

French come back Ho Chi Minh left in power Fought French (who pull out in 1954 to concentrate on Algeria)

Left behind split Vietnam Communist north Western oriented south

VIETNAM Elections in Vietnam

US made sure Ho Chi Minh was not elected

Supported south 1965: 184,000 troops 1968: 500,000 troops

1968: turning point Tet offensive

Growing anti war sentiment in US Nixon elected

Escalated Spread into Cambodia and Laos

VIETNAM 1973 Ceasefire 1975 Vietnam is unified

Cambodia’s leader deposed Pol Pot took over (communist)

Khmer Rouge Genocidal and anti-education US supported since he was anti-Vietnam

BREZHNEV YEARS 1979 – USSR invaded Afghanistan

Communist party took over in Afghanistan Making it an internal affair, not an

aggressive act Too harsh fierce backlash

Brezhnev Doctrine If a communist regime is in trouble,

the USSR will intevene

USSR sent troops to aid Afghan communist party Could not win or get out (like Vietnam) ended in

1988 West interpreted as deliberate aggression of

Soviets Boycotted Olympics in Moscow 1980

Russian Invasion!

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV Became General Secretary

1985 1985-1987 tentative reforms 1987 High reform 1989-1991 Decline and fall

Perestroika (restructuring) Glasnost (openness) Wanted limited reform

GORBACHEV Good diplomat

Impressed Thatcher and Reagan

Chernobyl April 1986 Did not talk about it until later Showed limits of glasnost

GORBACHEV Perestroika

Democratization Room for opponents in one party system

1989 actually free elections for legislature

candidates who stood unopposed lost elections People saw elections were fair and showed up

BORIS YELTSIN Boris Yeltsin ran a campaign against corruption

Televised debates Party lost control of media

Yeltsin elected president of Russia (not Soviet Union) Other states pushing for autonomy

Berlin Wall came down 1989 and Germany reunited soon after

Hardline communists arrest Gorbachev 1991 Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine claim that the USSR is dissolved

Gorbachev resigned Christmas 1991

FALL OF SOVIET BLOC IN EASTERN EUROPE

Two years earlier When East Europe calls for autonomy, they are

no longer crushed Hungary opens up borders

Influx of western goods 1989 Berliners tear down wall Mostly peaceful

Romania Yugoslavia

Tito

POST COMMUNISM Massive inflation Massive organized crime