WH DBQ Cold War

8/3/2019 WH DBQ Cold War

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1.1

Early tel1$ioI16,1945-194'7

Source 1

MC1'H 3A I'OPE HAPO)l,Al

Source 2

Look at Source 1. Doyou think the Russian peopleare likely to have wanted'revenge' after the war? I f so,were they justified?

During the Second World War the United States, the Soviet Union andthe United Kingdom were allies: the 'Big Three'. Their leaders, Roosevelt,Stalin and Churchill, met several times, for example at Teheran and YaltThey discussed the conduct of th e war and also reached agreementsabout what would happen after it was over.

But by the end of 1949 the United States and the Soviet Union wereenemies. They faced each other across a divided Europe, each equippedwith nuclear weapons. From then until 1991 the two superpowers foughta 'Cold War' in which they competed to develop their nuclear arsenals

and win support from other countries. Their rivalry even extended intospace, as they raced to be the first to put people into orbit and reach themoon. How did these war-time comrades become enemies? How didtheir rivalry begin?

The Soviet experiel1ce of warThe Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. A Russian who wasa child at the time later described the effects:

Millions of lives lost, millions of lives ruined. Houses laid waste,families orphaned, towns and villages destroyed, scorched earth . . . .Faces swollen from hunger. And the feeling of fear - of losing your foodration card or your bread ration. I remember it to this very day. Andgleaning the fields for ears of grain and frozen potatoes. That is the wayit was.

The city of Leningrad (now St Petersburg) suffered particularly badly. TheGermans laid a siege which lasted nearly 900 days. Nearly a millionpeople died there, of injuries, cold, hunger, disease. This was more thathe USA lost during the whole of the war.

During those terrible years Stalin tried to persuade his allies, Britainand the USA, to attack the Germans from the west. This 'Second Front'would take th e pressure off the Soviet people. But the Western Alliesrefused to attack until they were ready. Stalin thought they were delayingon purpose to allow the Germans time to destroy the Soviet Union.

In February 1943 the Soviet Red Army defeated a German armyStalingrad. In August the biggest tank battle of the war, involving 2.7million men, ended with the defeat of th e German Panzer divisions.These battles were the turning point of the war in Europe. The Red Armdrove th e Germans out of Soviet territory an d back across EasternEurope. In April 1945 the Red Army captured Berlin.

The Soviet people were exhausted by the war. Their economy wasruined. At least 27 million citizens had lost their lives.


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2 UNIT 1. DIVIDING INTO TEAMS, 1945-1956

Source 4

Source 5

The Soviet take-over of Eastern EuropeIn 1945 the 'Big Three' signed the 'Yalta Declaration on LiberatedEurope'. I t said that people should have th e right to choose theirgovernments. But Stalin wanted to control Eastern Europe in order toensure that the Soviet Union could not be invaded again. He was willingto hold elections so that governments would appear to be democratic.But he made sure they were pro-communist. In the West, the Americansinterfered behind the scenes to stop Communists being elected to thegovernments of Italy and France. Stalin did not object. He thought that i fhe let the Allies do what they wanted in Western Europe, they would givehim a free hand in the East.

Churchill's view

Churchill was appalled by Stalin's actions. In 1946 he made a famousspeech, declaring that an 'iron curtain' had descended across Europe. Hesaid that all the countries behind that line:

. . . lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere. And all are subject to avery high measure of control from Moscow.

The American President did not agree with Churchill's view. But Stalintook th e speech as evidence of a new Anglo-American alliancethreatening the Soviet Union. He retorted angrily that:

The Soviet Union's loss of life has been several times greater than thatof Britain and the USA pu t together . . . . So what is so surprising aboutthe Soviet Union, anxious for its future safety, trying to see that loyalgovernments should exist in these countries?


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4 UNIT1 DIVIDING INTO TEAMS, 1945-1956

. 1.2 US intervention in Europe and i ts effect on

Source 9

Source1()

Source 11

I I What reasons doesTruman give in Source 9 forthe policy of containment?

rg What reasons do. Sources 10 and 11 give forthe Marshall Plan?

East-West relations, 1947-1955

The policy of containmentAfter the war Britain sent troops to help the Greek government fight a

civil war against republican rebels, many of them communist. By 1947 theBritish could not afford to continue. They pulled out, leaving th eAmericans to tal{e over. Advisors warned Truman that i f Greece becamecommunist, Italy and France would follow. Truman adopted Kennan'sidea of a 'policy of containment'. He told Congress:

The peoples of a number of countries . . . have recently had totalitarianregimes forced upon them . . . .

I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support freepeople who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities oroutside pressures . . .

I f we falter . . . we may endanger the peace of the world - and weshall surely endanger the welfare of our own nation.

This speech persuaded Congress to vote in favour of financing militaryaid to Greece.

The Marshall PlanBritain was no t the only country with economic problems. Much ofEurope was still suffering from the effects of the war. A member of the USgovernment reported that:

Millions of people in the cities are slowly starving . . . . Without promptan d substantial aid from th e United States, economic, social an dpolitical disintegration will overwhelm Europe.

This worried the Americans. Exports to Europe were worth $15 billion ayear. They could not afford to lose thls market. They also feared thatdesperation might drive people to support th e Communists. Trumandecided that the United States had to help Europe:

It is.necessary i f we are to preserve our own freedoms . . . necessary forour national security. And it is our duty and privilege as human beings.

The US Secretary of State, George Marshall, drew up a plan to rebuildEurope's economy. A key element was the recovery of Germany. Its coaland steel were essential to European industry. Although the Soviets wereafraid of German revival, Stalin at first seemed to want to join the Plan.He sent 89 experts to a conference to discuss it in 1947. However, th eUnited States did not want Soviet participation. They set conditions theyknew Stalin would no t accept. Th e Soviets withdrew from th e talks.Stalin ordered the East European countries not to join the Marshall Plan.


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Key~

N

Oleosfoken over byUSSR19:19 onwards

oren of Germanygiven toPolandin 1945to compensatefor lundtokenbyUSSR

pre-warboundaries

the 'Iron (urtnin'

+

UNIT 1 DIVIDING INTO TEAMS, 1945-1956 3

The impact of the war on the United Sta t e s

The United States' war experience differed from that of the Soviet Union.There was no fighting on American soil, no bombing of American cities.By 1945 it was a superpower and the world's richest nation.

Truman, President Roosevelt's successor, distrusted the Soviets. He saidthat:

. . Source 7 . . . the Russians would soon be put in their place and the United Stateswould then take the lead in running the world the way the world ought

Source 8

Question

to be run. '

Stalin, angered by Truman's attitude, wanted the West to consider th

Soviet Union's security. In fact the West thought the Red Army provideth e Soviet Union with more than enough security. The Americansclaimed in 1946 that there were 2.5 million Soviet troops in Europe. Onof Truman's advisors wrote:

. . . it is clear that the main element of any United States policy towardsth e Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient bu t firm ...containment.

a) Why was the West fearful of the Soviet Union by 1947?b) Why was Stalin suspicious of the West?


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Source 12

1/1 What does the cartoonsuggest was the link betweenthe policy of containment andthe Marshall Plan?

Source 13

UNIT 1 DIVIDING INTO TEAMS, 1945-1956 5

Truman asked Congress for $17 billion to finance the Plan. This led totremendous arguments. These were still going on in 1948 whe.Communists overthrew the Czechoslovak government. Truman toldCongress that the United States must meet this threat to the very survivalof freedom. They voted through the Marshall Plan.

The Berlin blockade, 1948-1949

In 1945 the Allies divided Germany between them. Berlin, the capital, layin the Soviet zone and that too was divided. So the Western Allies had afoothold in the East.

By 1948 the Western Allies had merged their zones. Money providedby the Marshall Plan was rebuilding German industry. The prospect of aprosperous, united West Germany alarmed the Soviets. In 1948 the Weintroduced a common currency and tried to circulate it in Berlin. Thatwas the last straw. In July Moscow ordered that all road and rail linksbetween Berlin and West Germany should be cut.

The Governor of the American zone proposed that an anned convoyshould force its way down the autobahn (motorway) to Berlin. Trumanrejected that idea. Instead he authorised an airlift to fly supplies into thecity. I t was risky: an incident could have resulted in war. But it worked. InMay 1949 Stalin ordered the lifting of the blockade.

The establishment of NATO

The Berlin blockade enabled Truman to persuade Congress that thUnited States should join an alliance against the USSR. In 1949 Americand eleven other countries set up the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.The Treaty stated:

... th e Parties ... will maintain and develop their individual an dcollective capacity to resist armed attack.

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them . . .shall be considered an attack against them all.

Some Americans questioned this agreement. Why no t use the UN tprovide support if there was an attack? Would America have to sendtroops to Europe? People were still protesting over that when, iSeptember, Truman announced that the Soviets had exploded an atomicbomb. The USSR had become a superpower.

Growing Soviet fearsTruman described the policy of containment and the Marshall Plantwo halves of the same walnut. He did not say they were aimed againstthe Soviet Union but the Soviets believed they were. They thought. theWest might use its economic strength and monopoly of the bomb todestroy the USSR (see Source 14).


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I6 UNIT 1 DIVIDING INTO TEAMS, 1945-1956

Source 14

o What does this 'TopSecret' map suggest aboutthe relationship betweenBritain and the USA?

I i Do you think theSoviet Union wasjustified in its fears of theWest? Use the Sourcesand any otherinformation you have inyour answer.

Source 15

Ho w do the purposes of

NATO and the Warsaw Pactcompare,accordingtoSources 13 and 15?

Task-

\ . ~ ,

The Soviet reaction and the Warsaw Pact

In 1949 the Soviets responded to the Marshall Plan. They set up theirown East European economic union, called COMECON. Meanwhilethere were still tensions over Germany. The West and the Soviet Unionwere committed to reunifying Germany, but they could not agree on ho wto go about it. In May 1955 West Germany was formally admitted toNATO. Once again Germany was a military power. The Soviets had beenafraid of this. Now the East European countries signed the Warsaw Pact.Like NATO, this was intended to be a defensive alliance. But it :was run

from Moscow and used to keep control in Eastern Europe. The SovietPrime Minister said:

. . . the best way to ensure peace and prevent new aggression . . . is theorganisation of a system of collective security . . . .

. . . the threat to the security of our states as a result of the aggressivemeasures of th e western Powers, requires ... ne w measures forstrengthening the defences of our peace-loving countries. The treaty of .friendship, co-operation and mutual aid . . . is precisely to serve theseaims.

So, by 1955, East and West had formed two alliances, NATO and the

Warsaw Pact, headed by the two superpowers and divided by the 'IronCurtain'.

Choose either the USA or the USSR Look back through Unit 1. Mal{ea list of the incidents which created tensions from 1945 and 1955 fromyour superpower's point of view. You could use the list to write anexpfanation of why the superpowers became enemies. Or you coulddesign a comic strip showing how tensions grew from the viewpoint ofyour superpower.


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2.1 How did Korea become a Cold War battleground'?

Source 1

AUSTRALIA

Source 2

The Cold War had begun in Europe. But George Kennan warned that theRussians aimed at world conquest. In 1949 the Communists took powerin China. This heightened American fears. They thought thatcommunism took hold in one country, neighbouring countries would fallto communist forces, like a ro w of d o m i n o e ~(Source 1). Nowcommunism had to be contained world-wide, not just in Europe.

The division of KoreaAt the end of the Second World War the United States and Soviet Unionagreed to a temporary division of Korea. But they could not agree aboutreuniting the country. By 1948 separate governments had been set up.Kim II Sung was supported by the Soviet Union in the North andSyngman Rhee backed by the USA in the South. Both leaders claimed torepresent Korea as a whole. In 1950 the North Koreans unexpectedlyinvaded the South. They captured the capital, Seoul, and drove the SouthKoreans right down to the south.

The United Nations and Korea

The USA decided that this example of communist expansion must beresisted. In New York the Soviets were boycotting the UN because of itsrefusal to recognise the new government in China. That meant the Ucould get resolutions through the SecUlity Council to send UN troops toKorea. In September they landed at Inchon and recaptured Seoul. A warreporter followed the Marines into the city and described what he saw:

. . . on this street comer was condensed the full horror of war . . . . AyOUllg woman poked among the charred timbers for her possessions, orperhaps for her child . . . . A tiny figure . . . stunlbled down the street.Her face, arms and legs were burned and almost eaten away by anAmerican white phosphorous shell. She was blind, but somehow alive.She was about the size of my little girl.

Fifty thousand North Koreans were killed and the rest fled back acrossthe border. This should have meant the end of the fighting. I t didn't. OnOctober the UN passed a new resolution authorising the overthrow ofNorth Korea. UN troops, led by an American, General MacArthur,crossed the border. They marched north towards China. Kim II Sung sent

. pleas for help to both Stalin and Mao. Mao, the new Chinese leader, wasafraid that the West might attack China. He could not afford to risk openwar with the United States. So he ordered 'volunteers' to enter Korea.Stalin waited to see what would happen.


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8 UNIT 2 . CONTAINMENT IN ACTION: KOREA

Key

I i rea capturedduring North KoreaninvQsion, IgSO. - . . . UNforcesadvance,1950

........... Chinese aUacks,O e ~1950- Ihetwo sides'dug-in',1951-1953::. 'Mig alley'- the Soviet fighteraircflJhroule- the 1953 ceose-fireline

o 400 KmI ,

Source 4

Source 5

Source 6

Source 7

Faced with the unexpected appearance of 140,000 Chinese troops, UNforces pulled back. By Christmas the Chinese had driven them out ofNorth Korea and captured Seoul. As the UN withdrew, Soviet fighteraircraft appeared over North Korea. On 8 November the world's first everall-jet air battle took place between American and Soviet planes.

The USA and USSR a t warBy March 1951, UN troops had managed to fight their way back to the38th Parallel. There both sides 'dug in'. Any attempt to advance resultedin huge casualties. There was stalemate on the ground, so the' UnitedStates tried to win the war using air power. As peace tali{S dragged on,American planes remorselessly attacked North Korea with high explosivesand napalm. A British reporter described the effect:

Over th e scene of silent desolation crept a reassuring smell thatimmediately took me back to Sunday dinners in Britain: the smell ofroast pork. For that's what a napalmed human being smells like.

Soviet pilots helped the Chinese Air Force. They wore Chinese uniformsand their planes ha d Chinese markings. American leaders knew th eSoviets were fighting but kept it secret. An official explained later:

We had to keep that under the carpet. I f that had ever gotten out, therewould have been tremendous pressure to have a war with Russia.

For two years the Americans and Soviets fought each other. The UnitedStates lost 3,500 planes, the Soviet Union about 2,800. The world lmew

nothing about it.Soviet involvement in Korea led Truman to consider a direct attack onthe Soviet Union. In January 1952 he wrote in his diary:

I t seems to me that the proper approach now would be an ultimatumwith a 10-day expiration limit [to 1Moscow . . . This means all-out war .. .. Moscow, St Petersburg, Vladivostock, Pelting, Shanghai and everymanufacturing plant in China and the Soviet Union will be eliminated . ... This is the final chance for the Soviet government to decide whether itwishes to survive or not.


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Source 8

Questions

UNIT 2 . CONTAINMENT IN ACTION: K9REA

The North Koreans were forced underground by the air attacks. Theymade themselves shelters to live in and even built undergroundfactories. Urban areas became 'cities of chimneys' since only thechimneys withstood the bombs. The air raids killed 2 million peopleand injured many more.

By the time Eisenhower took office as President of the United States inJanuary 1953, the two sides were exhausted. In March Stalin died. The

new leaders of both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted peace.On 27 July the UN, China and North Korea signed an armistice. Americanefforts to 'contain' communism switched to Vietnam (see Unit 5).

o Read Source 6. What might have been the outcome if the Americanshad not kept the Soviet Union's involvement 'under the carpet'?

fJ Would President Truman have been justified in launching 'all-out war'on the Soviet Union?

I I Use Source 1 to explain why the USA used so much force in Korea.


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u,,, I " ,--UN', AINMENT IN ACTION: KOREA

Questions

Task...

2.2 How h a ~th e Korean War been ortrayed?

Source 9

Source 10

Reports of the Korean War were tightly controlled, by governments andby news film-makers and newspaper publishers. People did not know theSoviet Air Force was fighting. They did not realise that both Truman andEisenhower considered using atomic bombs. A British writer has claimed:

It was a racist war and many correspondents were under instructions toplay down the suffering of the Korean people. Instead the war wasreported . . . as a 'Boys' Own Annual' saga of good versus evil.

That view has tended to find its way into text-books:

So, under the banner of the United Nations, troops from sixteen nationscame to Korea - an d in th e nick of time for th e Communists werealready threatening Pusan!

. . . the UN commander was the famous US general MacArthur. Hedecided to strike the Communists in the rear an d ordered the successful

Inchon landings in September. Soon the UN troops had captured Seoulamidst hideous slaughter and they reached the 38th Parallel. Their task,it seemed, was accomplished. The Communists had been contained.But the Americans were determined to destroy the aggressor state; onlywith the destruction of North Korea, they argued, could the people ofKorea be united.

D Study Sources 2 and 5.a) What similarities are there in these two journalists' descriptions?b) What effect do you think these descriptions were intended to haveon the public?

i ii Compare the photographs, Sources 3 and 8. In each case, what aspectof the war is the photographer trying to show? Which one would youchoose to illustrate your own account of the war and why?

I I Read Sources 9 and 10.a) Do you think that the war. was a 'saga of good versus evil' or not?Pick out words and phrases from Source 10 to support your view.b) Can you suggest why the author of a school text-book might write inthis way?

D Sources 2 , g a n d 8 do show some of the Korean people's sufferings.Does that" mean.John Pilger (Source 9) is wrong when he says thatreporters ~ e r etold'to play them down? Explain your answer.\ .

\

Look back t h r ~ g hUnit 2 and pick out any information you can abouthow the war a f f e ~ e dthe Korean people themselves. Use it to write anaccount of the K o r e ~ a rfrom the point of view of the Korean people.


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The rivalry between th e superpowers was reflected in an 'arms race'between them. The two sides competed to create ever larger stockpiles ofweapons and military hardware. How far was this competition to buildweapons of mass destruction to blame for increasing tensions?

B.1 Hiroshima: the 0 ening shot

Source 1

Source 2

On 6 August 1945 a US bomber dropped an atomic weapon on theJapanese city of Hiroshima. A survivor remembers:

...a flash. It was indescribable.

I t

was asi f

a monstrous piece ofcelluloid had flared up all at once. Even as my eyes were being piercedby the sharp red flash, the school building was already crumbling.

Hiroshima has been called th e opening shot in the Cold War. The UnitedStates claimed that it dropped the bomb in 1945 to end the war quicklyand with fewer casualties. But that may not have been the only reason. In1960 the US Secretary of State admitted that he had wanted to end thewar with Japan before the Soviets became involved. Besides, developingthe atomic bomb had been so expensive that the Americans wanted to seehow it worked.

area bumlcnd demolished

area demonshed

orea of lesserdamage

mountainsand forests

Hypocenlre

0.5 kin - 89%killed, 4%injured

1.5km - 30%killed,43% injur

2.5 km - 4%killed,32% injured

4 m - 0.2%killed, 9% injured


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_ . ~ - " , , - - I \/ '..IV1;:) K.t\L.t:, 1 ~ 4 b - 1 9 6 0

I I What do you think ofStalin's response toHiroshima? Do you thinkthis response was justified?

Source 3An American H bomb t e s t in

th e Pacific in 1956. Both sides

caused serious contaminationr :."",,-,

Source 4

Eisenhower recalled this in amagazine interview in 1963.

Source 5

From a speech in February 1959.

Stalin thought the West had used the bomb to intimidate the Russians. Hordered Soviet scientists to press ahead with a Soviet bomb. He tripledtheir pay and started pouring money in,to atomic research. These effortspaid off in 1949 when the Soviets tested an A bomb in Siberia.

In1953 power changed hands in the United States and the Soviet Union.Both the new leaders, President Eisenhower and Mr Khrushchev, had

been solcliers during the Second World War. They lmew from their ownexperience the suffering and devastation caused by war. They wanted treduce tension to lessen the risk of another one. But despite their effortsto achieve peaceful coexistence, when Eisenhower left office in 1960relations were worse than ever. Why?

The race fo r 'strategic superiority'Once both sides had the A bomb, they wanted more effective weaponssystems which would give them an advantage. This was called 'strategic

. superiority'. After the Soviets tested their atom bomb both sides startedwork on an even more powerful weapon: the hydrogen bomb. The Abomb was far more destructive than any weapon ever lmown before. Yboth sides were racing to develop an even more dangerous device. Why?To gain strategic superiority. In March 1954 the USA tested six H bombsin the Pacific. In November 1955 the Soviets tested a very similar device.The two sides were neck and neck.

Why bombs instead o f armies'?Both leaders were aware of the terrible dangers of nuclear weapons

Eis'enhower had opposed using the bomb against the Japanese, saying:. . . it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing . . . I hated tosee our country be the first to use such a weapon.

Khrushchev said:

There are only two ways: either peaceful coexistence or th e mostdestructive war in history.

So why didn't they stop the development of these awful weapons? Onereason was money. Eisenhower was a Republican whose supportersexpected him to cut spending. On e way of doing that was to reducdefence expenditure. In the 1950s a to n of high explosive TNT cost$1,700. The amount of nuclear explosives needed to make an explosionof the same force cost only $23. So Eisenhower produced a policy calledthe 'New Look'. This policy was based on the fact that the United Statescould use its nuclear superiority to destroy the Soviet Union. It clid noneed a large and expensive army. This policy enabled Eisenhower to keepthe defence budget down to about $40 billion a year.


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Source 6

n What do Sources 4 and5 show about Eisenhower'sand Khrushchev's feelingsabout using nuclearweapons?F.1 Both leadersunderstood the theory ofMAD. Why did they eachdevelop nuclear weaponsand threaten to use them?

UNIT 3 . THE ARMS RACE, 1945-1960

Khrushchev, meanwhile, was attempting to modernise the Sovieeconomy. That meant more investment in Soviet factories and lessspending on defence. For Killushchev, too, nuclear weapons offered acheap alternative to a large and costly army.

Both leaders realised that a nuclear war was unwinnable. The 'policy ofdeterrence' was based on the idea that i f either superpower attacked, theother would retaliate. Hiroshima had shown the horrible effects of anuclear attack. Both sides were deterred from attacking by the certainty o'Mutually Assured Destruction', or MAD.

Even so, both leaders used the threat ofthe bomb: Eisenhower, to end thKorean War and later to intimidate communist China. Khrushchevtalked about using it to drive the Western powers out of Berlin.

The space raceThe Hiroshima bomb was delivered to its target by a bomber aeroplane.But heavy bombers were slow and their range was limited. Thsuperpowers wanted more effective delivery systems for their weapons.

The people of Chiswick had found out about a new way of deliveringweapons in 1944. The first German V-2 rocket landed on their part ofLondon when it hit the ground causing thirteen casualties. In the six-minute journey from its launch pad the rocket travelled at 3,200 kph and

reached a height of 36 km. After the war both the USA and USSR tried tocapture scientists an d acquire information so that they could takadvantage of German rocket technology. This was the start of the spacerace. By the late 1950s both superpowers were developing missilescapable of carrying nuclear warheads over very long distances. In 1957the USSR took the lead by firing the world's first Intercontinental BallisticMissile, or ICBM.

The Soviets achieved another first in 1957 when they fired a satellite,Sputnik, into orbit round the earth. Sputnik itself ha d no militarimportance. But it was a turning point in terms of superpower rivalry. Tworld greeted it as a Soviet triumph. Yet another Soviet success came in


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'

14 UNIT 3 THE ARMS RACE, 1945-1960

Source 7

Source 8

1961 with the first person in space. Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth forminutes. A Russian, Tatyana Iyoderova, said later:

I can't explain ho w we felt. There were crowds all over Red Square.Everybody was shouting - Our Yuri in space . . . . I t was such a triumph,we were so incredibly happy.

More important than Sputnik was the huge rocket which boosted it intoorbit. The term 'ballistic' implies that a missile is thrown at its target.the Soviets could throw Sputnik high enough to put it into orbit, theycould throw missiles at the United States. Americans suddenly felt veryvulnerable. Khrushchev's boasts made the crisis of confidence worse. Hewas bluffing, bilt the Americans thought the USSR had achieved strateg

superiority. In 1957 American intelligence estimated that the SovUnion would have 1,000 ICBMs in 1961, to the USNs 70. The figurwere wildly exaggerated. But people thought there was a 'missile gap'.

A conflict of ideas

One of the main reasons for the arms race was that the Americans andSoviets had such different ideas about how a country should be run. TheAmericans believed in 'capitalism'. In a capitalist system people areto ru n businesses for profit; they can employ workers and pay themwages. The Soviets were 'Communists'. They thought profits were theresult of paying people less than the real value of their work. To avthat the state should own businesses on behalf of everyone.

An example of this disagreement came into th e open in 19Khrushchev and Vice-President Nixon were visiting a trade fair. At American stand - a model kitchen - the two got into a heated discussion(Source 8). They spent an hour arguing over the capitalist and communistsystems. This incident became known as the 'kitchen debate'. ManyAmerican and Soviet people agreed with their leaders and saw the otherside as their enemy.

The conflict of capitalist and communist ideas was an important reasonfor the superpowers' distrust and fear of one another.


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III Do you think you wouldhave wanted a shelter like theone in Source 9? Explain .your answer.

Source 9

earth covering for extra protectionagainst nuclear fall-out

UNIT 3 THE ARMS RACE, 1945-1960

How did ordinary people r e a c t t o the arms race'?

In 1940 Churchill criticised the Germans for bombing civilians. By thend of the Second World War military and political leaders accepted suchattacks, as Hiroshima showed. But many ordinary people were appalled -both by the attacks on civilians and the effects of nuclear weapons. InBritain the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) was set up t

campaign against nuclear weapons. I t was more difficult to protest in theUnited States: during the McCarthy era in the 1950s, 'pacifists' wereassumed to be Communists and risked losing their jobs. No protests wereallowed in the Soviet Union.

Many people were frightened about what would happen to them ifthere was a nuclear strike. Carefully selected officials and politicians hadplaces in shelters equipped with all they needed to survive an attack.There were no official shelters for ordinary people. Instead, American TVshowed a cartoon featuring a duck and a tortoise with a song telling themto 'Duck and Cover'. So some people had their own shelters installed in .their gardens.

air filter system worked by occupants

food and woler supplies -cooking would nol bepossible because of poor airsupply and condensation

access - would have to be well-sealed

10 slop foll,oul penelraling


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I

I~

16 UNIT 3 THE ARMS RACE, 1945-1960

. I

Que5tion5

Ta5k

-

Source 10

Source 11

The failure of arms control

Fears about the threat of war led Eisenhower and Khrushchev to begintalks on arms reduction. In 1959 Khrushchev became the first Sovietleader to visit America. The two leaders arranged to meet for a Summit inParis in May 1960.

On 1 Mayan American U-2 plane was brought down over the Soviet

Union. The United States claimed it was studying the weather but theRussians had captured the sophisticated reconnaissance gear. The piloGary Powers, was imprisoned for spying. A Soviet official rememberswhat happened in Paris on 16 May:

Khrushchev took the floor: 'This meeting can begin its work i f PresidentEisenhower will apologise . . . for Gary Fowers' provocation.'

In a barely audible voice, Eisenhower,replied, 'I have no intention ofmaking any such apology, as I have nothing to apologise for,' . .without uttering a word, everyone got up and left the hall.

I t was the end of the Paris Summit. Relations were so bad that Americaforces were put on world-wide alert.

As a result of this tension there were calls for more arms spending.Soviet academics claimed this was deliberate: .

. . . in order to protect its enormous arms appropriations [spending], thePentagon strives to maintain constant nervous tension in the highestgovernment circles ... [and arms manufacturers] seek to preventimproved relations with the Soviet Union.

Eisenhower gave this view some support. He wamed the United States toguard against letting the defence industry gain too much influence. But

during the 1960 election campaign, John Kennedy claimed the USA wnot doing well enough in the Cold War. Fears about th e missile gahelped take him to the White House. .

I I Look at Sources 10 and II.a) Explain the reasons for these disagreements.b) Use these Sources and any other information you have to explainwhy the Paris Summit collapsed.

I I a) In Source 11, what are the Soviets accusing the Americans of doing?b) Is there any evidence to suggest that the Soviets were right?

'I n my opinion, the Cold War was simply the unrestricted arms racebetween the superpowers and the state of hostility between them thatcontinually threatened to erupt into a worldwide holocaust,' Acomment by Alexei Filitov, a lecturer at Moscow University, in 1992.

Filitov suggests that the Cold War was just about the arms race and theconstant threat of war. Use the information in this Unit to explainwhether you agree or whether there are other aspects beside the armsrace. Write at least a paragraph.


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Unit 1: Dividing into Teams 19451955 Read the DBQ and answer the following questions.

1. Look at Source 1. Do you think th e Russian people are likely to have wanted 'revenge' after the

war? If so, were they justified?

2. Why was th e West fearful of the Soviet Union by 1947?

3. Why was Stalin suspicious of the West?

4. What reasons does Truman give in Source 9 fo r the policy of containment?

5. What reasons does Sources 10 & 11 give forthe Marshall Plan?

6. What does the cartoon suggest was the link between the policy of containment and the

Marshall Plan?

7. How do th e purposes of NATO and the Warsaw Pact compare, according to Sources 13 & 15?

8. Choose either the USA or the USSR. (Partners: Choose both th e USA and USSR. ) Look back

through Unit 1. Make a list of th e incidents which created tension from 1945 and 1955 from

your superpowers point of view.


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Unit 2: Containment in action: Korea Read the DBQ and answer the following questions.

1. Read Source 6. What might have been the outcome if the Americans had no t kept the Soviet

Union's involvement 'under the carpet'?

2. Would President Truman have been justifiedin launching 'all -out war ' on th e Soviet Union?

3. Use Source 1 to explain why the USA used so much force in Korea.

4. Study Sources 2 and 5.a. What similarities are there in these tw o journalis ts' descriptions?

b. What effect do you th ink these descriptions where intended to have on the public?

5. Read Sources 9 and 10.a. Do you think that the wa r was a 'saga of good versus evil' or not?

b. Can you suggest why the author of a school text-book might write in this way?


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Uni t 3: The arms race, 1945-6 0 Read th e DBQ and answer the following questions.

1. What do you think of Stalin's response to Hiroshima? Do you thi nk this response is justified?

2. What do Sources 4 and 5 show about Eisenhower's and Khrushchev's feelings about usingnuclear weapons?

3. Both leaders understood th e theory of MAD. Why did they each develop nuclear weapons andthreaten to use them?

4. Look at,Sources 10 and 11.a. Explain th e reasons fo r these disagreements.

b. Use these sources and any other information you have to explain why th e Paris Summitcollapsed?

Documents

WH DBQ Cold War