Beginnings of the Cold War

Topics include: UN, NATO, Warsaw Pact, Gouzenko Affair

United Nations- formed near end of WWII as a body ofnations to prevent future global wars.

What organization had been formed at the end of WWI to prevent global war?

UN’s aims:

•Band together to avoid war•Encourage co-operation among nations•Defend human rights•Improve living conditions for people around the world

Europe:- Lay in ruins- Soviet controlled East Europe- Germany divided into East (Communist) and West (Democratic)

Divided Berlin

NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization

•UN fell victim to the Cold War.•The security council was paralyzed by Russia’s involvement•Many nations feared a communist takeover•Russia had a huge military and as result countries in the West wanted a military alliance for themselves.

Following the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in February of 1948, Louis St. Laurent, Canada’s External Affairs Minister, said:“It is becoming increasingly necessary that the free nations form the united front to make it plain to Russia that she can go no further.”

How do you defend yourself against a member in your own group?

In response to NATO, the Soviet Union, consolidated its alliances and formed The Warsaw Pact.

Origins of Cold War

Is this what we mean by the Cold War???

Cold War- 45 year competition about values.

COLD WAR

U.S. and West

Soviet Union and East

-Democracy-Individual Freedom-Market economy

-Totalitarianism-Socialism: state centered-Communist

1949 - Soviet Unionsuccessfully explodes an atomicbomb

1952 - U.S. tested 1st Hydrogen Bomb *Much more powerful than the Atomic Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

THE STAKES ARE HIGH

(BOTH U.S. and Soviet Union hold capability to destroy each other)

NATO- North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationDefensive alliance between U.S. and Western Europe(1st time U.S. entered into peacetime military alliance)

Warsaw Pact, 1950 - Defensive alliance between Soviet Union and Eastern European Countries.

Canadian Spy Scandal Canada was thrust into the Cold War world quickly and

unexpectedly. In September 1945, a young Russian named Igor Gouzenko walked into the newsroom of the Ottawa Citizen and announced he had proof of a widespread Soviet spy ring operating in Canada.

Gouzenko's allegations were a wake up call for Canada and the rest of the world. The event would cause a chain reaction of anti-Communist sentiments throughout the West.

American orbit In the post-war era, Canada moved closer to

the American sphere of influence as international tensions escalated. In 1949 the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb and in reply Canada's military spending soared.

In 1950, Communist North Korea invaded the U.S. backed South Korea adding further pressure on Canada to build up its armaments. Canada took part in a United Nations force deployed to the area.

Communist paranoia The country also became caught up with the

communist paranoia in the post-war era. Canada joined its southern neighbour in an effort to unearth homegrown communists, real or imagined during the early 1950s. The anti-Communist investigations left a trail of destroyed careers and ruined lives.

The chill between the two superpowers left little room for Canada to have a voice in international relations. But in the mid-1950s events would unfold in the Middle East that finally gave Canada a chance for a stronger voice in the new world order.

***CONTAINMENT- do not let Communism spread, resist it!(Truman Doctrine- help “free peoples” resist Communism)

Harry Truman(1945-1953)