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Postwar Politics – Birth of Cold War!
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Containment!
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The Iron Curtain – Division of Europe
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International Organizations
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Cold War Tension!
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Europe – Germany, Hungary
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Asia – China, Korea, Vietnam
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Middle East – Egypt, OPEC
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Latin America – Guatemala, Cuba
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Competition! – Arms and Space Race
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At home – Red Scare!
Period 8: Chapter 36 & 37 Part
ONE – The Start of the Cold War
(1945-60)
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”
The Cold War [1945-1991]: An Ideological Struggle
Soviet & Eastern Bloc Nations [“Iron Curtain”]
US & the Western Democracies
GOAL spread world-wide Communism
GOAL “Containment” of Communism & the eventual collapse of the Communist world.
[George Kennan] METHODOLOGIES:
1. Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]
2. Arms Race [nuclear escalation]
3. Ideological Competition for the minds and hearts of Third World peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist economy] “proxy wars”
What is the Cold War?
Definition: a standoff between the US and the USSR over capitalism and communism that creates world conflict and tension.
***It Dominates world affairs for 50 years!***
How it developed…
• USSR (states controls with a dictator) vs. US
(capitalist with free elections).
• US didn’t trust Joseph Stalin (initial alliance
with Hitler) and Stalin hated US for not attacked Germany sooner in WWII.
• Hope to end the tension - United Nations (est.
June 1945 as a result of the Atlantic Charter and the Yalta Conference…see Ch. 35)
• Didn’t end the tensions – became a place
for Cold War politics to play out.
VS.
Leading to the Cold War - Immediate
Postwar Activity
• Truman now president – Is he going to be a good Cold
War President?
• Early attempts at Compromise
• Potsdam Conference – GB, US, and Soviets meet –
US wanted free elections in E. Europe and access to raw materials and Soviets wanted control of E. Europe to help with reconstruction after the war and reparations from Germany.
• Early 1946 – Stalin makes the Eastern Bloc
(Albania, Bulgaria, CZ, Hungary, Romania, and Poland) or USSR satellite nations (controlled by Soviet Union).
• In response…US instated the policy of containment –
prevent communism from spreading.
• Churchill called this dividing of Europe into
Democratic Western and Communist Eastern the
Iron Curtain, starting the Cold War (conflict where no direct fighting happened).
Containment – Early Policies and
Actions
• Started containment by helping
Turkey and Greece.
• Sent 400M in economic and
military aid to help resist communism.
• Started by policy of sending
aid to Europe to stop
communism was known as the Truman Doctrine.
• In the meantime…Europe is
devastated from the war – needs to rebuild!
• US instated the Marshall
Plan (give aid to help with rebuilding.
• Ensures they don’t remain
weak and vulnerable.
The Marshall Plan
Containment in Action
• Remember Yalta…Germany was
divided into four parts (lumps into two in practice).
• Berlin divided as well – West Berlin
controlled by France, GB, and US and East by Soviets.
• Soviets feel threatened by
Western presence in the Eastern Bloc.
• Blockade: East Germany cut off all
highways going into west Berlin to starve them out (eventual goal to fully control Berlin).
• US response: US started a 327 day
Berlin Airlift to the people of West Berlin (a “measured” response).
Tension over Containment Builds!
• Out of fear of Soviet aggression, 12 nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to pledge military support of one another.
• Soviets respond with the Warsaw Pact
– Eastern Bloc nations create a military alliance (mostly by Soviet force).
• US created the CIA (Central
Intelligence Agency) to get info
through spies overseas by using the
National Security Act of 1947.
• Regional Groups arise: Latin American
states created the Organization of American States (OAS) to stop
communism and South Asia did the same with the Southeast Asian Treaty Org (SEATO).
Containment is Failing – China Goes
“Red”
• Chiang Kai-shek (nationalist who
was weak and corrupt) vs. Mao Zedong (communist who
promised hope to peasants) – peasants flocked to Red Army as recruits.
• Chinese Civil War breaks out
(US tried to keep peace and give economic aid to
nationalists), but
Communists won pushing Nationalist to Taiwan.
• American fear of communism
skyrockets when Communism spreads to China.
• Immediately after this, China
starts mobilizing troops and
tanks along the border of North and South Korea…
The Korean War – First Cold War
“Conflict”
• At the end of the war, Japan controlled lots of
territory…what to do with it??
• USSR and US “temporarily” divide these
territories (to avoid argument).
• Korea – divided at the 38th parallel above to Soviets
and below to Americans.
• N. Korea turned communist and S. Korea turned
democratic.
• When China goes Communist - Soviets built up
their army on border and attacked S. Korea in June 1950.
• S. Korea asked the UN Security Council for help (big
five – China, Russia, US, France, and GB) – Russia was not there and couldn’t veto.
• 520k troops sent (90% American) under Douglas
First
The Korean War – Containment
Works!
• UN forces won most of Korea until China
aided N. Korea and won back land.
• MacArthur called for a full scale attack on
China (with nukes) – Truman said no and ended up firing MacArthur after continual defiance and criticism.
• N. Korea calls for a cease-fire or stalemate
in ’51 but POWs are not released until ’53 – the end is shaky and unstable.
• Both sides agree to permanently separate
and create a DMZ – creates two separate nations (N is Communist and S is
Capitalist).
The Red Scare Hits! – “Spies Among Us”
and Fear of War
• Fear of Communism – new wave of
anti-communism (Red Scare) paranoia hits America!
• Gov’t established the Federal Employee Loyalty
Review Board to investigate communists working for the gov’t.
• The House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) to investigate communist influence in the movies.
• Actors, directors, etc. were Hollywood
blacklisted for having “communist backgrounds”.
• Alger Hiss accused of being a communist spy (R.
Nixon made famous for his case).
• Ethel and Julius Rosenberg leaked atomic bomb info
the Soviet Union.
• Leads to mass fear over Nuclear war!
• Citizens build fallout shelters and schools
• In the Early to Mid 1950’s, Joseph McCarthy (senator of Wisc.) made unsupported communist accusations.
• Known as McCarthyism – had no evidence for charges against civilians, democratic party, and US Army…
• Led to Senate Investigation and he lost public support. • End Result – states passed anti-communism laws,
employees took oaths, civilians were limited, questioned, and afraid.
• Arms Race – Who has the bigger and most weapons? • Soviet Union had an Atomic Bomb by 1949 – rush to
develop an H-bomb (hydrogen bomb with 67x the power of Hiroshima).
• Dwight Eisenhower believed going to the edge of all-out war to stop communism was known as Brinkmanship – build up nukes and air force.
• In response…The Geneva Accord – Eisenhower met with Soviet leaders to allow flights over each other territories to protect against surprise attacks.
• USSR rejected it, but peace was hopeful.
The Red Scare Escalates
How does this define Cold War Politics
and Tension?
Eisenhower
Latin America
• 1954 Guatemala – CIA created a political coup in Guatemala to ensure a non-communist
government so close to America.
• Military dictators are supported and take over…leading to a bloody civil war!
• 1959 Cuba – Fidel Castro (communist revolutionary) overthrows Batista (US puppet leader). • Stopped the sale of sugar to America and used military control to limit “imperialist”
activity in Cuba.
• Pro American Cubans flee to Florida (1M between 1960-2000).
Europe
• 1956 Hungary Revolt – Hungary wanted to be democratic and tried to invoke the Truman
Doctrine with a revolt – US doesn’t respond…why?
• Containment is not an issue…communism is already in Hungary. • It would lead to Nuclear War!
• USSR crushes the rebellion!
Continued Cold War Hot Spots –
Latin America and Europe
• Vietnam - Pre-WWII: Japan controlled in
WWII but it used to be a French colony – France wants it back after WWII!
• 1954: France loses control due to
Vietnamese guerilla warfare and it was split at the 17th Parallel into N. and S.
Vietnam.
• US is worried about the Domino
Theory (communism will spread to all if one nations falls).
• 1956: Ho Chi Minh (communist leader in
N. Vietnam) and Ngo Dinh Diem
(supported by US in S. Vietnam) are vying for control of all of Vietnam.
• HCM is well liked and NDD is corrupt.
Continued Cold War Hot Spots - Asia
• 1953 Suez Canal Crisis:
• Egypt, after playing the US against the
Soviets to get more aid, cut off use of the
Suez Canal to Israel.
• Israel sent in troops (as well as GB and
France) – UN stopped fighting.
• Leads to the Eisenhower Doctrine –
statement that US would defend Middle East against communism.
• 1960 OPEC is born – Org. of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (Middle Eastern nations and Venezuela) create an alliance.
• Facilitates the control of the US through
the control of the global oil supply.
• Creates tension and war for the next two
decades!
