During WWII

• USSR: 20 million citizens died during the war and were affected by Nazi invasion

• US: 400,000 soldiers died. Civilian casualties limited to Pearl Harbor

  • economy boomed because no farms or factories were destroyed

Yalta Conference

• When: February 1945

• Where: Resort Town in Crimea, Yalta

• What: discussion about Germany’s fate after WWII

• Who: US (FDR), UK (Churchill), USSR (Stalin)

• Germany’s Outcome: demilitarization and denazification, division of Germany (and Berlin) into 4 zones

  • Military reduced to almost nothing

  • Nazi influence wiped out

  • Western Germany divided into 3 zones: US, France, UK

  • Eastern Germany controlled by USSR

Potsdam Conference

• When: July 1945

• Who: USSR (Stalin), UK (Churchill), US (Truman)

• Outcome: Germany would be occupied by the Americans, British, Soviets, and French

• issued Japan’s surrender and post war order in Asia

After WWII

• Europe was in complete disarray.

  • liberated countries held free elections

• USSR gathered Eastern Europe into a sphere of influence

• Big Three joined the United Nations in 1945 to prevent future wars

Visions for postwar Europe

• Soviet Union: driven by security concerns

  • Stalin wanted a buffer zone of communist states to protect the USSR from future invasions

  • claimed East Europe as sphere of influence

  • Ideologies: communism

    • viewed capitalism as an unjust and unequal system

    • single party politics and government controlled the economy

    • state owns most businesses (collective ownership) and decides what will be produced

• United States:

  • Truman wanted to allow Eastern European nations to determine their own form of government

  • believed that countries would choose democracy if given free choice

  • Ideologies: capitalism and democracy

    • individuals and private businesses make most economic decisions

    • most property, factories, and equipment are privately owned

Cold War

• Definition: a conflict over ideological differences carried on by methods short of sustained overt military action and usually without breaking off diplomatic relations

• Sides: Western Europe and US, Eastern/Central Europe with USSR

• Differences: US - democracy and capitalism, USSR - communism

• Mutually Assured Destructions (MAD):

  • Both sides choosing to not use weapons

  • Threat to use weapons of mass destruction by two opposing sides

  • Would lead to the total destruction of the defender as well as the attacker

Terms

• Satellite Nations: a country that is formally recognized as an independent and sovereign state but who is nevertheless under the strong influence or control of another state

• Eastern Bloc: group of eastern European countries that were aligned militarily, politically, economically, and culturally with the Soviet Union approximately from 1945 to 1990

• Iron Curtain: There is an unbreakable split in between Europe has occurred. The east and central Europe in the Soviet Sphere and the west in democratic influence. Cannot let the fighting escalate again

• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union and communism

• Warsaw Pact: a collective defense treaty established by the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe

• United Nations (UN): international diplomatic and political organization made for worldwide peace and stability

  • develop friendly nations

  • help nations work together to improve the lives of the people

• Long Telegram: USSR did not see the possibility for long term peaceful coexistence with the capitalist world and the best strategy was to contain communist expansion

Cold War in Asia

• Communism in China:

  • Falls into communism in 1949

  • Mao Zedong overtakes the Nationalist party and makes all of China communist

  • US reaction: suspended diplomatic ties with China

• Proxy War: when a major power starts a war in which it does not become directly involved

• The Korean War:

  • Goal of the UN: to protect South Korea and prevent the spread of communism

  • US President: Truman

  • Outcome: Border between the North and South at the 38th parallel

Containment

• US Cold War strategy of stopping the spread of communism through the use of economic and military policies

• Truman Doctrine: helping Greece and Turkey from communist aggression by giving aid to them by money

  • first activity in foreign affairs

• Marshall Plan: America’s foreign economic recovery strategy by providing aid to many European nations ($13 billion dollars)

  • RATIONALE: poor economy can lead to political instability and can turn to communism

• Berlin Airlift:

  • The Red Army marched on Germany and absorbed the nearby nations into the Soviet Union

    • forces dominated Romania and Bulgaria and Poland

  • Yalta Agreement: promise of free elections was violated

  • Stalin was creating Puppet Regimes in the Soviet Sector of occupied Germany

  • Berlin was divided into 4 Zones of Occupation like Germany

    • Berlin lay in the Soviet zone of Germany

    • Allied sections of the capital known as West Berlin became an island of democracy and capitalism

  • Berlin Blockade: Soviets sealed all land routes going into West Berlin

    • Stalin gambled that the Western powers were not willing to risk another war to protect Berlin

    • Truman decided to stay

      • US and Britain moved massive amounts of food and supplies into West Berlin through the air

    • Operation Vittles: British and Americans flew over 4000 tons of supplies daily to West Berlin.

    • May 1949 - Soviets ended the blockade

• Korean War:

  • USSR controlled the northern Korean territory and the US controlled southern

  • US and USSR tried to rebuild Korea by supplying weapons and training to the people located within their territory.

  • USSR and American forces left Korea and split the country into two parts

  • Kim Il Sung increased its strength with help from the Soviets and invaded South Korea.

    • South Korean troops were driven down to Busan

  • National Security Council proposed an increase in US spending

    • NSC-68: policy paper to ensure that the US containment policy in Korea and other areas was able to be enforced

  • United Nations Security Council proposal: pledged UN support to restore peace in South Korea

    • Truman used military to try and end conflict

    • WITHOUT CONGRESS: Truman told American Air Force and Naval units to support South Korea

  • General Douglas MacArthur and his troops ordered to leave posts in Japan and support South Korea

  • China’s Involvement: General Douglas MacArthur and his troops went towards the Yalu river even after a warning from Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai of China

    • Stalin also encouraged Mao to invade and fight

    • reversed UN’s push towards North Korea

  • Negotiations for 2 years. US, NK, and China reached an armistice to end the UN peace action in Korea without a formal peace treaty

    • Korea remains divided

    • “Forgotten War”

  • Domino Theory: communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring states, each falling like a row of dominos

Eisenhower’s Cold War Policies and Containment

• Foreign policy engineered by John Foster Dulles. Anticommunist

• Containment: policy of massive retaliation

  • attack on American ally = nuclear attack on the Soviet Union (Retaliation)

  • US will push communist countries to the brink of disaster and force them to back down (brinkmanship)

• Nuclear Triad: developed to frame US national security

  • Air: Long range aircrafts that could carry weapons

  • Sea: Nuclear armed submarines

  • Land: Land based nuclear missiles that could travel long distances

• Arms Race: each side building up its nuclear weapon supply

• Space Race

  • 1957 - USSR launched first satellite, Sputnik —> started the space race

  • National Aeronautics and Space Act: signed by Eisenhower for space exploration and advancing scientific and technological knowledge

    • aimed to demonstrate that the US was able to peacefully explore space

• Brinkmanship Example: Suez Canal Crisis

  • Suez Canal made an artificial waterway between Red Sea and Mediterranean to made trade better for Europe and East Asia

  • Egypt (with the help of the USSR) took control of canal from Britain

    • Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt

    • Khrushchev threatened to nuke Western Europe if they didn’t withdraw

  • Eisenhower’s Approach:

    • threaten Britain, France, and Israel with economic sanctions if they refuse to withdraw

    • Warned Khrushchev to not get involved

• Brinkmanship Example: Taiwan Crisis

  • Communist China started to attack Taiwan

  • Eisenhower’s Approach:

    • told China that any attack would be defended by the US and sent US naval forces there

    • hinted at the possibility of nuclear weapons and the US military drew up plans

• Eisenhower Doctrine

  • A plan by the US government to stop the USSR from gaining too much power in the Middle East and to protect American interests in that Area

  • Features:

    • US will cooperate and assist any nation or group in the Middle East in the development of economic strength dedicated for national independence

    • Executive is allowed to undertake programs of military assistance and cooperation of nations in need

    • Letting employment of armed forces of the US to protect the independence of the nations

• Covert Operations

  • used the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

  • Supported overthrow of governments: Iran Example

    • Iran took over a major oil company after it became independent

    • Eisenhower was concerned that the prime minister of Iran was influenced by the USSR and communists

    • Prime minister and his government were overthrown —> replaced by the Shah who was known to be anti communist

      • US companies gained some control over the oil industry

  • Supported assassination of leaders: Guatemala Example

    • President of Guatemala tried to reform the country by taking some land of the United Fruit Company and gave it to the poor landless peasants and also bought weapons from a communist country

    • US encouraged a revolution against Guzman (president) and he was overthrown —> new president reversed the reforms and gave the land back to the United Fruit Company

      • suspected communists were executed

  • Supported spying on possible enemies: U2 Spy Plane Incident

    • U-2 Aircraft’s purpose was to gather intelligence on the USSR’s military capabilities, particularly its nuclear programs and other sensitive activities

    • Flights provided valuable info about USSR military capabilities and activities —> advantage for the US

    • 1960 - U2 plane was shot down by the soviets causing a major international outcry and escalating tensions

      • US initially claimed it was a weather research plane but was exposed by the pilot and wreckage —> embarrassment and criticism for the US government’s activities

    • Led to cancellation of a planned US-USSR meeting and further escalated tensions

Cold War at Home

• People feared that a nuclear attack would come at any minute