The Cold War

Summer School

Communism

• Single party rule of a country controlling politics and the economy.

• The state owns and runs most businesses and decides what goods are to be produced.

• Communists regard capitalism and an unjust system the produces great social inequalities and denies the working class a fair share of the societies wealth.

Capitalism/Democracy

• In a Democratic Government the people get to choose who its leaders are through free elections.

• With a Capitalist Economic System, individuals and private businesses make most of the economic decisions.

• Business owners decide what to produce and consumers decide what to buy.

• Factories, equipment and property are privately owned.

Origins

• Capitalism and Communism have never gotten along

• First Red Scare in the U.S. came after WWI• The Soviets never trusted their Western Allies

during WWII.– Stalin believed the U.S. was too slow to invade

France, which would have relieved pressure on the Soviet Union.

• The U.S. never trusted the Communists to keep their word either.

Yalta Conference

• February 1945 Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill all meet to plan post war Europe.

• Germany was to be divided into 4 occupation zones each controlled by a different Allied Country.

• There would be self government and free elections in Eastern Europe.

Tensions Begin to Build

• After Germany’s surrender in April the leaders all meet again at Potsdam Conference.– Truman now president after Roosevelt's death.

• At Conference Truman hints to Stalin that the U.S. now possessed a new powerful weapon (Atomic bomb).

• The U.S. also stopped all aid to the Soviet Union when the War ends and refuses loans for the Soviet Union to rebuild.– Soviet distrust grows

• Stalin has not allowed free elections in Eastern Europe. Elections in Poland are rigged for a communist victory

• Soviet Occupation force in Eastern Europe grows.– U.S. distrust grows

Spread of Communism

• In a speech in 1946, Stalin believed that Communism needs to spread all over the world and replace communism.

• Fearing the Spread of Communism the U.S. creates policy of Containment.– Keep the Soviets from Expanding Communism anywhere

around the world. • Policy was meant for a political strategy not a literal

Military one.• U.S. Fear however drive the U.S. to start making

military plans.

The Bomb and the Iron Curtain

• In 1948 the Soviet union finally had the Atomic bomb to become the equal of the U.S.– So the U.S. began developing and even more powerful bomb.

• The Arms Race begins

• The Iron Curtain was a term coined by Churchill. It was the literal and philosophical divide between Communist Soviet controlled Eastern Europe and Democratically controlled Western Europe.

• The city of Berlin while contained completely within Communist East Germany was also split into Western Berlin and East Berlin.– West Berlin was walled off to be separated from East Berlin.

Rebuilding plan

• Marshall Plan– Best way to stop spread of communism was to rebuild

destroyed economies and support freely elected governments. • The U.S. would be able to supply the money and resources to help. • This would Also create strong bonds with the U.S.

• Soviets Counter with Molotov Plan– Provide economic aid and rebuilding of Eastern Europe

• Truman Doctrine– U.S. policy to support free peoples who are resisting attempted

subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures.• Military and Economic support

First Crisis

• France, U.S., and British want to unify there 3 German zones into democratic West Germany.

• Soviet Union Protests – They plan a blockade of East Berlin that they believed

would force U.S. to either give up East Berlin or their unification plans.

• Berlin Airlift– Over the next 10 months over 270,000 flights are made

into West Berlin bringing food, fuel, and other vital supplies to defeat the Berlin Blockade.

– By Sping of 1949, the Soviet Union gives up and West Germany is created.

Next Divide

• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)– Military alliance designed for collective security• U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Italy, and other Western

European Countries

• Warsaw Pact– Communist Security alliance of Soviet Satellite

countries in Eastern Europe.– Hungary attempts Revolt• Soviet Army rolls into Budapest and puts down revolt.

War in Korea

• Korea was also split after the war. – Soviets establish a Communist North– U.S. establishes and Democratic South

• June 1950 Communists in the north invade the South. – Truman sends U.S. troops to push the communists out.– U.S. pushes North Koreans all the way up to their

Northern border with China.• Newly Communist China fears U.S. invasions and send

thousands of troops to push back the U.S. • After 3 years of fighting borders stabilize along original border

at the 38th parallel.

U.S. Covert Actions

• Covert Action is a secret political, economic, or military operation that supports foreign policy. – 1953 Iran - CIA remove Democratically elected

Mossadegh after he nationalizes British Oil.– 1954 Guatemala – U.S. overthrows Democratically

elected Arbenz after United Fruit Company objects to Arbenz’s reforms giving land to peasants. U.S. puts Military in charge. They Jail oposition

– 1962 Dominican Republic – Bosch democratically elected removed. He rallies support for a civil War and U.S. sends troops to put down revolt.

Weapons get more Powerful

• Hydrogen Bomb (H-Bomb)– U.S. creates in 1952– 500 times more powerful than Atomic Bomb– Soviets have it by 1954

• ICBMs– Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

• Nuclear Missiles can now be fired from one country to another.

• Deterrence and MAD– Deterrence policy believed that if we created an arsenal of weapons so

large…The Soviet Union would never dare attack us.– MAD – Mutual Assured Destruction

• Belief that if there was a war both sides would be able to completely destroy each other.

• Keeps both sides from attacking each other• Keeps tensions very high

Red Scare at Home• 1947 – Due to fear of communists infiltrating the government,

Truman creates loyalty oaths to work for the Federal Government as well as extensive background checks. – Hundreds of Federal workers lost their jobs due potentially being

disloyal.• HUAC – House Un-American Activities Committee.

– Investigates Communists in Hollywood in 1947• Results in blacklists in Hollywood due to fear of hiring someone with

communist sympathies.

• Spies– Hiss – Advisor to Roosevelt at Yalta Conference– Fuchs – physicist who helped Soviets get Atomic Bomb secrets– Rosenberg's – Passing atomic secrets to Soviets – Executed

• MaCarthyism – reckless persecution of a person for subversive activities without evidence.

Conflicts Intensify

• Communist Castro takes over in Cuba– Establishes strong ties to Soviet Union– U.S. plans attack to remove Castro

• Bay of Pigs invasion• Fails

• Cuban Missile Crisis– Soviet Union Puts Nuclear missiles in Cuba

• U.S. creates Blockade of Cuba to prevent weapons from become active.

– U.S. and Soviet Union are on verge of War• Finally both sides agree to de-escalation. Soviet union will

remove missiles from Cuba if U.S. removes missiles from Turkey. Peaceful resolution.

Vietnam

• After WWII Vietnam wants freedom from French control and go to war with the French to gain their freedom.

• French defeated in Vietnam in 1954 and U.S. fears they will become communist.

• Geneva Peace conference splits the country in two. • As French move out the U.S. moves in advisors to help establish a

noncommunist state in south Vietnam. • U.S. backed Diem starts building an Army with U.S. advisors to

train them.• When the time came for free elections in 1955 as according to

the Geneva conference, the U.S. rejected the national vote and only allowed a vote in South Vietnam.

• Diem elected president

Vietnam Escalates

• South Vietnamese rebels called the “Viet Cong” begin fighting Diem in the South.

• Diem results to brutal tactic to control South Vietnam and loses more support. – Buddhist monks protest by setting themselves on fire.

• U.S. starting to wonder what is really happening in Vietnam.

• Gulf of Tonkin Incident– U.S. warship attacked off the coast of North Vietnam– Results in Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• Congress gives president blank check to stop the communists in North Vietnam.

• Domino Theory– If Vietnam fell to communism all of the countries around it would

as well.

Vietnam War

• 1965-1973• The War is no longer about helping South Vietnam. It is an

American war now.• Goals were to destroy the Viet Cong.• Cut off support from (NVA) North Vietnamese Army• Ho Chi Minh Trail

– Trail through neighboring Laos that NVA used to supply Viet Cong in the South

• Guerrilla War– War by which you attack and then hide– Viet Cong would Strike U.S. then hide– U.S. had to go into jungle and find Viet Cong

• Very Challenging

Opposition at Home

• Early war protests were small and achieved little• Media– Vietnam is first media driven war– War Correspondents went with troops– People saw the War up close every night on news– As Americans begin to die at rate of 1200 a month

Americans start to question if the war is right.• 1968– Tet offensive launched by NVA Army on south

Vietnamese cities makes many Americans wonder if the war can be won.

War Comes to an End

• By 1973 the U.S. began removing U.S. forces and let the South Vietnamese Army continue the fighting.

• By 1975 the NVA defeat the South and Unite Vietnam.

• Aftermath is over 58,000 Americans dead and over 300,000 wounded.

• Many Americans believed it was for nothing

The Cold War begin to Thaw

• Nixon Recognizes China - 1972• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) –

Treaty between the U.S. and Soviet Union in 1973 to Limit the increase of Nuclear weapons.

• SALT II – Treaty in 1979 increasing the limits on nuclear weapons. (never ratified by U.S.)

• INF treaty - 1987– Reduces the number of nuclear weapons in

Europe

Cold War ends

• Due to economic issues in the Soviet Union, they could no longer afford to support their large military and continue to exert pressure on satellite countries in Eastern Europe.

• Berlin War Falls– November 9th 1989– Symbolic end to Cold War

• Soviet Union Breaks in individual States July 1991.