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Chapter 17: Restructuring the Postwar World
Chapter ObjectiveAnalyze the conflicts between competing economic systems and
the restructuring of alliances from 1945 to the present.SECTION 1 Cold War: Superpowers Face Off
Analyze the global competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.
SECTION 2 Communists Take Power in ChinaExplain how the Communists took control of China.
SECTION 3 Wars in Korea and VietnamDescribe the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
SECTION 4 The Cold War Divides the WorldDescribe how the Cold War affected nations.
SECTION 5 The Cold War ThawsTrace the development of the Cold War.
Ch 18.4 Conflicts in the Middle EastDescribe the formation of Israel and the conflicts in the Middle East.
The Buck Stops Here
DESK SIGNThe sign "The Buck Stops Here" that was on President Truman's desk in his White House office was made in the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, Oklahoma. Fred M. Canfil, then United States Marshal for the Western District of Missouri and a friend of Mr. Truman, saw a similar sign while visiting the Reformatory and asked the Warden if a sign like it could be made for President Truman. The sign was made and mailed to President on October 2, 1945. Approximately 2-1/2" x 13" in size and mounted on walnut base, the painted glass sign has the words "I'm From Missouri" on the reverse side. It appeared at different times on his desk until late in his administration. The saying "the buck stops here" derives from the slang expression "pass the buck" which means passing the responsibility on to someone else. The latter expression is said to have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the "buck," as the counter came to be called, to the next player.* On more than one occasion President Truman referred to the desk sign in public statements. For example, in an address at the National War College on December 19, 1952 Mr. Truman said, "You know, it's easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you -- and on my desk I have a motto which says The Buck Stops Here' -- the decision has to be made." In his farewell address to the American people given in January 1953, President Truman referred to this concept very specifically in asserting that, "The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job. The sign has been displayed at the Library since 1957.
Executive Order #9981
• Truman desegregated the military. Truman became aware that the armed forces were still segregated and had been all through WWII. He simply said that that was not right and that all of America’s fighting men were equal. He made it so by signing this executive order.
Jackie Robinson• Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), was the first black
person to play modern major league baseball. Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and played all 10 years of his major league career with the Dodgers.
• Robinson started as a first baseman for the Dodgers but gained his greatest fame playing second base. Robinson was an outstanding hitter and finished with a .311 lifetime batting average. He was also a superior runner and base stealer. In 1947, Robinson was named Rookie of the Year. In 1949, he won the National League's Most Valuable Player award, as well as the league's batting championship with a .342 average.
• Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on Jan. 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia. He starred in four sports at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1945, Robinson played with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. In 1946, he played minor league baseball for the Montreal Royals. In 1956, Robinson received the Spingarn Medal. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He died on Oct. 24, 1972.
Jackie Robinson, shown here sliding into home plate, became the first African American player in modern major league baseball. He joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Robinson gained fame for his hitting and his daring base running.
Aftermath of War
The appalling costs of the war began to emerge.
The world learned the full extent of the horrors of the Holocaust. War crimes trials were held in Germany, Italy, and Japan.
People faced disturbing questions: What made the Nazi horrors possible? Why had ordinary people collaborated with Hitler’s
“final solution”?
The Allies worked to strengthen democracy in occupied Germany and Japan.
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Ike Eisenhower: Military Industrial Complex
The Founding of Israel
• The United Nations Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP) recommended that Palestine be divided into an Arab state and a Jewish state. The commission called for Jerusalem to be put under international administration The UN General Assembly adopted this plan on Nov. 29, 1947 as UN Resolution (GA 181). The plan for "partition with economic union" divided the land into several cantons. Both the Jewish state and the Arab state had 3 cantons each that touched each other south of Nazareth and near Gaza. The borders of this plan are shown in the map below. This jigsaw puzzle would have been difficult to implement for friendly populations, and was impossible to implement given the hostility between Arabs and Jews.
An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian Arab pass each other in the street.
Many Israelis believe that the quote from the Bible below promises the land of Israel to the Jewish people—the descendants of Abram, or Abraham. Palestinian Arabs, who have lived in the region for centuries, also believe that the land is theirs. The land that they call Palestine includes what is now Israel.“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ’To your descendants I give this land . . .’”—Genesis 15:18
Two Peoples Claim the Same Land
“Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people . . .”—The Palestinian National Charter, Article 1
A City Sacred to Many Jerusalem is dotted with many places that are sacred to Muslims, Christians, and Jewish people. This photograph shows the Western Wall, a Jewish holy place. In the background is the Dome of the Rock, an important Islamic shrine. How might Jerusalem’s sacred status make it harder to resolve competing Israeli and Palestinian Arab claims to the city?
Creation of the State of Israel
• Jewish, Arab pressure drives British to hand Palestine over to United Nations for the Balfour Resolution
• Partition Plan of 1947 divides Palestine into seven regions: 3 Jewish, 3 Arab, Jerusalem internationalized
• May 1948 Jews declare independence of State of Israel
• Arab states invade, Israel successfully defends itself
The Cold War and the Middle East
• In their global rivalry, each of the superpowers tried to line up allies in the Middle East.
• Each superpower sold arms to its ally in the region.
• In the Arab-Israeli conflict, the United States helped Israel, while the Soviet Union gave aid to the Arabs.
• During and after the Cold War, the development of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East became a global concern.
During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union sought access to the oil and waterways of the Middle East. Superpower rivalries had a far-reaching impact on the region.
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Arab-Israeli
Conflict, 1948 – 1995
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The Current Middle
East
Where’s Waldo?
Arab-Israeli Issues…Still
Palestinians demanded the right to return to lands they fled during the Arab Israeli wars.
Many Israelis insisted on the survival of Israeli settlements that had been built on these occupied lands.
Palestinians demanded that part of Jerusalem become the capital of a future Palestinian nation.Israeli conservatives insisted that Jerusalem remain undivided as the capital of Israel.
After years of fighting and negotiations, peace in Israel remains an elusive goal. A number of specific issues continue to divide the two sides.
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Bob Daugherty/AP Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter and Menachem Begin clasp hands on the North Lawn of the White House after signing the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, March 26, 1979.
Camp David Accords Turn into a Peace Treaty
In 1993 President Bill Clinton attempted to do for Israeli-Palestinian relations what Carter had been able to do for Israeli-Egyptian relations. He brought Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin together with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. It was a time of great promise as at last both sides of the conflict recognized the legitimacy of the other party. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli opponent in 1995.
Yasser Arafat died in 2004 Having led the PLO and its Intifada for 50+ years.
Mahmoud Abbas, current Pres. of PNA/PLO (on the left) with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office. Fatah party is not considered a terrorist group, while Hezbollah (Shi’ia Party of God) and Hamas are.
Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv . He was initially raised/educated in Jerusalem. But between 1956 and 1958, and again in 1963-67, his family lived in the United States in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he attended and graduated from Cheltenham High School. To this day, he speaks English with a definite Philadelphia accent.
Executive Order 9981 is an executive order issued on July 26, 1948 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. It expanded on Executive Order 8802 by establishing equality of treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services for people of all races, religions, or national origins."In 1947, Randolph, along with colleague Grant Reynolds, renewed efforts to end discrimination in the armed services, forming the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service, later renamed the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience. On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman abolished racial segregation in the armed forces through Executive Order 9981." Taken from.The operative statement is:It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be
equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.
The order also established a committee to investigate and make recommendations to the civilian leadership of the military to realize the policy. The Buck Stops Here!
The Buck Stops Here! sign was on his Oval Office desk
A Widening Gulf Although Stalin and Truman were friendly at the Potsdam Conference (above), this Soviet propaganda poster from 1949 shows that relations between the two nations were becoming strained. The poster urges support “For a stable peace! Against those who would ignite a new war.” The small caricatures of Churchill and Uncle Sam in the lower corner indicate who “those” people are.
The Berlin Airlift After World War II, Germany, and Berlin within it, was divided into communist and noncommunist zones. In the photo below, children in West Berlin greet a plane delivering supplies during the Berlin Airlift.
Berlin Airlift1948
• Russian dictator Joseph Stalin chose the night of June 23, 1948 to make good his threat to cut overland supply lines to West Berlin. He wanted to vent his frustration at refusal by the western allied powers to accept East Berlin as the capital of a communist puppet regime and at introduction of the Deutsche Mark in West Berlin. For nearly one year to come, the needs of West Berlin would be supplied by airlift on a scale never seen before.
• The U.S. played a central role in the airlift. Operation Vittles, a round-the-clock airborne shuttle from U.S. airbases outside Frankfurt at Rhein Main and nearby Wiesbaden, Germany, supplied food, fuel, and occasionally candy to the beleaguered city and its children. Memories of the recent World War gave way to a new, human partnership as the months wore on and it became apparent the inconceivable would work.
The Iron Curtain Divides Germany While the Berlin Wall divided the city of Berlin, a much longer series of concrete walls, barbed wire, and watchtowers ran along the border between East and West Germany, forming part of the Iron Curtain. Why might East Germany have built a fortified border such as this?
West Germany’s “Economic Miracle”Early in the Cold War, the United States rushed aid to its former enemy through the Marshall Plan and other programs. It wanted to strengthen West Germany against communist Eastern Europe. From 1949 to 1963, Konrad Adenauer was West Germany’s chancellor, or prime minister. He guided the rebuilding of cities, factories, and trade. Because many of its old factories had been destroyed, Germany built a modern and highly productive industrial base. Despite high taxes to pay for the recovery, West Germans created a booming industrial economy.
Preparing for a Nuclear Attack “Duck and cover” air-raid drills were common during the Cold War, even though it is doubtful that ducking and covering would offer much protection in an actual nuclear attack. What does this photo suggest about Americans’ fears during the Cold War?
Truman Doctrine
• U.S. President Harry S. Truman made the proclamation in an address to the U.S. Congress on March 12, 1947 amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946-1949). The doctrine was specifically aimed at assisting governments resisting communism. Truman insisted that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with the result being a domino effect of acceptance of communism throughout the region.
• Truman signed the act into law on May 22, 1947 which granted $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.
• The Truman Doctrine also contributed to America's first involvements in what is now the nation of Vietnam. Truman attempted to aid France's bid to hold onto its Vietnamese colonies. The United States supplied French forces with equipment and military advisors in order to combat a young Ho Chi Minh and communist revolutionaries. Truman's policy of containment was the first American involvement in the Vietnam War.
• The Truman Doctrine stated that the United States would support "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Specifically, the doctrine was a political response to Soviet aggression in Europe, illustrated through the communist movements in Iran, Turkey and Greece. As a result, American foreign policy towards Russia shifted, as George F. Kennan phrased it, to that of containment.
The Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan, known officially
following its enactment as the European Recovery Program (ERP), was the main plan of the United States for the reconstruction of Europe following World War II. The initiative was named for United States Secretary of State George Marshall.
Between 1948 and 1951, the United States contributed more than $13 billion dollars (nearly $100 billion at 2005 U.S. conversion rates) of economic and technical assistance toward the recovery of 16 European countries which had joined in the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC, forerunner to today's OECD) in response to Marshall's call for a joint scheme for European reconstruction.
In a speech at Harvard University in June 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall made the case for the Marshall Plan, a United States assistance program for Western Europe. The plan was to rebuild Europe into Trading Partners and to make them prosperous enough so that they would not fall to Communism! The total cost of the Marshall Plan including American grants and loans to the world from 1945--53, came to $44.3 billion.“Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of . . . conditions in which free institutions can exist.”
Wartime Destruction in Germany Berlin and other German cities suffered serious wartime damage. In this photo, civilians walk through the rubble left by wartime bombing in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1945. What challenges would residents of a city face after such heavy destruction?
This is the Iron Curtain after WWII up to the late 1980s. Warsaw Pact countries to the east of the Iron Curtain are shaded red; NATO members to the west of it — blue. Militarily neutral countries − grey. Yugoslavia, although communist-run, was independent of the Eastern Bloc. Similarly, communist Albania broke with the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, aligning itself with the People's Republic of China after the Sino-Soviet split.
The United Nations
Under the UN Charter, each of the member nations had one vote in the General Assembly. A smaller body, the Security Council, was given greater power. Its five permanent members were the United States, the Soviet Union (today Russia), Britain, France, and China.The UN’s work would go far beyond peacekeeping. The organization would take on many world problems.
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World War II Allies set up an international organization to ensure peace.
The United Nations• The name "United Nations", coined by United States President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, was first used in the "Declaration by United Nations" of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. States first established international organizations to cooperate on specific matters. The International Telecommunication Union was founded in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, and the Universal Postal Union was established in 1874. Both are now United Nations specialized agencies.
• In 1899, the International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to elaborate instruments for settling crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of warfare. It adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which began work in 1902.
• The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar circumstances during the first World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security." The International Labour Organization was also created under the Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War.
• In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August-October 1944. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.
• The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.
From World War to Cold War
• What issues arose in the aftermath of war?
• Why did the Allies organize the United Nations?
• How did the breakup of the wartime alliance lead to new conflicts?
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The Iron Curtain
• Coined by Winston Churchill after the Soviets refuse to surrender the lands they have “liberated” in Europe.
• Most of the Warsaw Pact were behind the iron curtain, and Yugoslavia, with Tito as its totalitarian ruler.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), sometimes called North
Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organization for defense collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on April 4, 1949.
• The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. Consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
Belgium Iceland Canada Portugal Denmark United Kingdom France Italy Luxembourg Norway United States Netherlands
Later:Bulgaria (2004) Czech Republic (1999) Estonia (2004) West Germany (1955) Greece (1952) Hungary (1999) Latvia (2004)
Lithuania (2004) Poland (1999) Romania (2004) Slovakia (2004) Slovenia (2004) Spain (1982) Turkey (1952)
The Warsaw Pact
Members• Soviet Union • Albania, later
withdrew.• Bulgaria • Romania • East Germany • Hungary • Poland • Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact or Warsaw Treaty, officially named the Treaty of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance, was a military alliance of the Eastern European Eastern Bloc countries, who intended to organize against the perceived threat from the NATO alliance (which had been established in 1949). The creation of the Warsaw Pact was prompted by the integration of a "re-militarized" West Germany into NATO via ratification of the Paris Agreements. The Warsaw treaty was drafted by Nikita Khrushchev in 1955 and signed in Warsaw on May 14, 1955.
The Cold War with flare ups
The Rosenbergs
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (1915-1953) and Julius Rosenberg (1918-1953) were American Communists who captured and maintained world attention after being tried, convicted, and executed for spying for the Soviet Union. The accuracy of these charges remains controversial, though decades later, Soviet communications decrypted by the VENONA project became publicly available and appeared to indicate that at least Julius Rosenberg was actively involved in espionage (although they provided no new evidence that he performed the specific acts of espionage for which he was convicted).
The couple were the only two American civilians to be executed for conspiracy to commit espionage during the Cold War. In imposing the death penalty, Judge Irving Kaufman noted that he held them responsible not only for espionage but also for the deaths of the Korean War:
To the very end, the couple denied all charges and insisted they were innocent, but they were executed in New York's Sing Sing in 1953, despite protests in the United States and abroad. The Rosenbergs were convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 of "conspiring to commit espionage in wartime" and sentenced to death, despite the fact that the US was not at war with the Soviet Union at the time of the alleged offenses
At the time, some Americans believed both Rosenbergs were innocent or received too harsh a punishment, and a grass-roots campaign was started to try to stop the couple's execution. Other Americans felt that the couple got what they deserved. Pope Pius XII appealed to President Dwight D. Eisenhower to spare the couple, but he refused on February 11, 1953 and all other appeals were also unsuccessful.
The couple were executed by the electric chair on June 19, 1953.
McCarthyism
• Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was a little-known junior senator from Wisconsin until February 1950 when he claimed to possess a list of 205 card-carrying Communists employed in the U.S. Department of State. From that moment Senator McCarthy became a tireless crusader against Communism in the early 1950s, a period that has been commonly referred to as the "Red Scare." As chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigation Subcommittee, Senator McCarthy conducted hearings on communist subversion in America and investigated alleged communist infiltration of the Armed Forces. His subsequent exile from politics coincided with a conversion of his name into a modern English noun "McCarthyism," or adjective, "McCarthy tactics," when describing similar witchhunts in recent American history. [The American Heritage Dictionary gives the definition of McCarthyism as: 1. The political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence, and 2. The use of methods of investigation and accusation regarded as unfair, in order to suppress opposition.] Senator McCarthy was censured by the U.S. Senate on December 2, 1954 and died May 2, 1957.
McCarthyism• McCarthy also began receiving information from his
friend, J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). William Sullivan, one of Hoover's agents, later admitted that: "We were the ones who made the McCarthy hearings possible. We fed McCarthy all the material he was using."
This witch-hunt and anti-communist hysteria became known as McCarthyism. Some left-wing artists and intellectuals were unwilling to live in this type of society left the US and many people became opposed McCarty’s “Witch Hunt” for Commies and sensationalism in a “free society.”
•In October, 1953, McCarthy began investigating communist infiltration into the military. Attempts were made by McCarthy to discredit the Secretary of the Army. The president, Dwight Eisenhower, was furious and now realized that it was time to bring an end to McCarthy's activities.
• The United States Army now passed information about McCarthy to journalists who were known to be opposed to him. He was now without a power base and the media lost interest in his claims of a communist conspiracy.
• Joseph McCarthy died in the Bethesda Naval Hospital on 2nd May, 1957. As the newspapers reported, McCarthy had drunk himself to death.
The Cold War
• Coined by Bernard Baruch as the alternative to a “hot” or shooting war.
• The Cold War will shape American foreign policy and military spending throughout the Baby-Boomers’ youth. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the USSR, the Cold War was the motivation for a strong defensive democracy.
• Now, we know the Bad guys are out to get us, we just don’t know who they are now….
The Cold War
As the United States and the Soviet Union became superpowers, they also became tense rivals in an increasingly divided world.
The Cold War was a state of tension and hostility among nations, without armed conflict between the major rivals.
At first, the focus of the Cold War was Eastern Europe, where Stalin and the western powers had very different goals.
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Bond, James Bond
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, fictional character created by novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games. He is portrayed as an SIS agent residing in London. From 1995 onwards, SIS would be officially acknowledged as MI6. Bond holds the code number 007, except in the novel You Only Live Twice. The "double-0" prefix indicates his discretionary license to kill in the performance of his duties. Bond is famous for introducing himself as "Bond, James Bond" and for ordering his vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred”; his usual and characteristic formal clothing is a dinner jacket.
Sputnik—October 1958
• History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.
• Immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense Department responded to the political furor by approving funding for another U.S. satellite project. As a simultaneous alternative to Vanguard, Wernher von Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began work on the Explorer project.
• Fear filled all American hearts when the Commies launched a successful satellite to orbit the earth—we feared nukes raining from the skies…death and destruction. Some built bomb shelters in their back yards. We practiced Air Raid/Bomb drills at school.
2 Chinas: Mao Zedong vs. Chiang Kai-Shek
• WHAT IF?
If China had been a united country and combined the forces of the Peoples Liberation Army with the Nationalist Army instead of against each other, it could well be that the Japanese forces would have been forced to withdraw early in the war. The self-seeking leaders of the two armies, Chiang Kai-shek of the Nationalists and Mao (Tse Tung) Zedong of the Peoples Liberation Army uselessly wasted time in confrontation with each other instead of concentrating on the common enemy, Japan.
ChairmanMao takes over China
Chiang Kai-Shek loses and Nationalists move to Taiwan
Assessment How many Russian civilians died in World War II?
a) one million b) 15 million
c) 100,000 d) 4 million
Which were the permanent members of the UN Security Council?
a) United States, Soviet Union, France, Germany, and Britain
b) United States, Soviet Union, France, Britain, and China
c) United States, Italy, France, Germany, and Chinad) United States, Soviet Union, France, Britain, and
Japan
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Assessment 5
How many Russian civilians died in World War II? a) one million b) 15 million
c) 100,000 d) 4 million
Which were the permanent members of the UN Security Council? a) United States, Soviet Union, France, Germany, and
Britain b) United States, Soviet Union, France, Britain, and
China c) United States, Italy, France, Germany, and China
d) United States, Soviet Union, France, Britain, and Japan
When is a war not a war? When it’s a
police action: The Korean War
Korean War, conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation. In 1948 rival governments were established: The Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the South and the People's Democratic Republic of Korea in the North. Relations between them became increasingly strained, and on June 25, 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea. The United Nations quickly condemned the invasion as an act of aggression, demanded the withdrawal of North Korean troops from the South, and called upon its members to aid South Korea. On June 27, U.S. President Truman authorized the use of American land, sea, and air forces in Korea; a week later, the United Nations placed the forces of 15 other member nations under U.S. command, and Truman appointed Gen. Douglas MacArthur supreme commander.
Korean Conflict 1950-1953
• Brinkmanship• Domino theory• Containment• Police action• UN Peacekeepers• MASH
U.S. Forces patrol the Demilitarized Zone.
• After months of heavy fighting, the center of the conflict was returned to the 38th parallel, where it remained for the rest of the war. MacArthur, however, wished to mount another invasion of North Korea. When MacArthur persisted in publicly criticizing U.S. policy, Truman, on the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff removed (Apr. 10, 1951) him from command and installed Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway as commander in chief.
• The war's unpopularity played an important role in the presidential victory of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had pledged to go to Korea to end the war. Negotiations broke down four different times, but after much difficulty and nuclear threats by Eisenhower, an armistice agreement was signed (July 27, 1953).
• Casualties in the war were heavy. U.S. losses were placed at over 54,000 dead and 103,000 wounded, while Chinese and Korean casualties were each at least 10 times as high. Korean forces on both sides executed many alleged civilian enemy sympathizers, especially in the early months of the war.
• No treaty was ever signed between North and South Korea.• After three years of fighting, over 54,000 dead, the country was divided
along the 38th Parallel with a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
Anti-War propaganda
M*A*S*H was set in South Korea, near Seoul, during the Korean War. The series focused on the group of doctors and nurses whose job was to heal the wounded who arrived at this "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" by helicopter, ambulance or bus. The hospital compound was isolated from the rest of the world. One road ran through the camp; a mountain blocked one perimeter and a minefield the other. Here the wounded were patched up and sent home--or back to the front. Here, too, the loyal audience came to know and respond to an exceptional ensemble cast of characters.
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/wh_modern05/secured/resources/applications/ebook/swf/animations/whs05_033_977.html
Kilroy was here is an American popular culture expression, often seen in graffiti. Its origins are indistinct, but recognition of it and the distinct doodle of "Kilroy" peeking over a wall is almost ubiquitous in the US.There was one person who led or participated in every combat, training or occupation operation during WWII and the Korean War. This person could always be depended on. GI's began to consider him the "super GI." He was one who always got there first or who was always there when they left. I am, of course, referring to Kilroy Was Here. Somehow, this simple graffiti captured the imagination of GI's everywhere they went. The scribbled cartoon face and words showed up everywhere - worldwide. Stories (some even true) abound.
A number of years ago the Philadelphia Inquirer responded to a question about the Kilroy Was Here signs.
According to them, they were started by a Quincy MA shipyard inspector named James F. Kilroy. He first chalked the slogan on tank tops and cargo boxes to show they'd been checked. Cargo went everywhere and GIs spread the slogan. The Kilroy slogan soon became a special pal of scared soldiers. To show that an area had been cleared GIs wrote the slogan Kilroy was here.James Kilroyno relation to the original
Korean War,
1950 – 1953
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A Divided NationKorea was an independent kingdom until Japan conquered it in the early twentieth century. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, Soviet and American forces agreed to divide Korea temporarily along the 38th parallel of latitude. However, North Korea, ruled by the dictator Kim Il Sung, became a communist ally of the Soviet Union. In South Korea, the United States backed the dictatorial—but noncommunist—leader, Syngman Rhee.
Winter Battle Scene in KoreaU.S. soldiers rest after winning a battle for a snowy hill in Korea, February 1951.
Based on the photograph, what advantage did these soldiers gain by winning control of this hill?
South Korea RecoversAfter the war, South Korea slowly rebuilt its economy. By the mid-1960s, South Korea’s economy had leapt ahead. After decades of dictatorship and military rule, a prosperous middle class and fierce student protests pushed the government to hold direct elections in 1987. These elections began a successful transition to democracy. Despite the bloody Korean War, most South Koreans during the Cold War years wanted to see their ancient nation reunited, as did many North Koreans. All Koreans shared the same history, language, and traditions. For many, this meant more than Cold War differences.
North Korea Digs InUnder Kim Il Sung, the command economy increased output for a time in North Korea. However, in the late 1960s, economic growth slowed. Kim’s emphasis on self-reliance kept North Korea isolated and poor. The government built a personality cult around Kim, who was constantly glorified as the “Great Leader” in propaganda. Even after its Soviet and Chinese allies undertook economic reforms in the 1980s, North Korea clung to hard-line communism.
Kim Jong Il
Kim Il Sung
Kim Jong Un at left front, Kim Jong Il at right front
In February 2013, North Korea held its third underground nuclear test. The act has been roundly condemned by the international community, including the United States, Russia, Japan and China. In the face of further sanctions, analysts have stated that Kim's continued focus on armament. Having disavowed his country's armistice with South Korea and threatened to fire his increasingly capable missiles toward the United States, Kim has put the Korean peninsula and Washington on a war footing. His behavior follows the playbook of his predecessors, with one notable and potentially dangerous departure that appears to have him backed into a corner.
Kim Jong-un became the leader of North Korea in 2011, having inherited his position from his father Kim Jong-il.
Kim with former NBA Star Dennis
Rodman
All of the following countries have strong economies and are “Asian tigers” except
a) Singapore. b) Taiwan.
c) North Korea. d)
South Korea.
Which of the following correctly describes the Korean War? a) The United States backed the noncommunist north
while the Soviet Union backed the communist south. b) The United States backed the communist north while the Soviet Union backed the noncommunist south.
c) The United States backed the noncommunist south while the Soviet Union backed the communist north. d) The United States backed the communist south while the Soviet Union backed the noncommunist north.
Assessment3
Assessment3
All of the following countries have strong economies and are “Asian tigers” except
a) Singapore. b) Taiwan.
c) North Korea. d)
South Korea.
Which of the following correctly describes the Korean War? a) The United States backed the noncommunist north
while the Soviet Union backed the communist south. b) The United States backed the communist north while the Soviet Union backed the noncommunist south.
c) The United States backed the noncommunist south while the Soviet Union backed the communist north. d) The United States backed the communist south while the Soviet Union backed the noncommunist north.
Trouble in French Indochina
In 1945, an American intelligence team codenamed Deer parachuted into the jungles of Asia to help a band of guerrillas fighting the Japanese. They found the leader of these guerrillas, Nguyen Ai Quoc, seriously ill from malaria and dysentery. “This man doesn’t have long for this world," exclaimed the team medic, but he successfully nursed him back to health. The grateful leader agreed to provide intelligence and rescue downed American pilots in return for ammunition and weapons.The team suggested that the United States continue to support Quoc after the war, but the recommendation was considered to controversial since Quoc wanted his nation’s freedom from our ally France. His request for help was ignored, although the rebel leader pleaded with President Truman to support his movement for independence from the French. The US decided that they didn’t like Quoc’s politics. Nguyen Ai Quoc is known by another name: “He who enlightens”, or in Vietnamese—Ho Chi Minh. Sixty thousand Americans died in the Vietnam War, battling a former ally whose life we had once saved.In the 1920s, Ho worked as a busboy in a hotel in Boston. By 1954, he was president of an independent North Vietnam. By the 1960s, he America’s public enemy #1.
Letter from Ho Chi Minh to President Harry S. Truman, 02/28/1946.
#34 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Bringing to the Presidency his prestige as commanding general of the victorious forces in
Europe during World War II, Dwight D. Eisenhower obtained a truce in Korea and worked incessantly during his two terms to ease the tensions of the Cold War. He pursued the moderate policies of "Modern Republicanism," pointing out as he left office, "America is today the strongest, most influential, and most productive nation in the world."
Born: October 14, 1890; Denison, Texas... Republican who served two terms. 1953-1961Vice President: Richard M. NixonEisenhower was the first president to work with three sessions of Congress controlled by an
opposing political party...Dwight Eisenhower entered the White House intending to preside over a period of national
recovery from the tumult of the Roosevelt/Truman administrations. His "hidden-hand" style of governing indicated to some an air of conformity and aloofness, yet the general public held him in high esteem.
Confounding caricature, the military legend cut defense spending and warned against the unchecked growth of a military-industrial complex...
Died: March 28, 1969.
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)
• Premier of Russia • First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union 1953-1964. • Certainly the most colorful Soviet leader, Khrushchev
is best remembered for his dramatic, oftentimes boorish gestures and "harebrained schemes" designed to attain maximum propaganda effect, his enthusiastic belief that Communism would triumph over capitalism, and the fact that he was the only Soviet leader ever to be removed peacefully from office--a direct result of the post-Stalin thaw he had instigated in 1956.
Khrushchev
• Khrushchev's enthusiasm for flashy gestures had not been liked by more conservative elements from the very start; many Soviets were greatly embarrassed by his antics, such as banging a shoe on the podium during a speech to the UN General Assembly. There were elements in the Party who were actively looking for an opportunity to oust him. Their opportunity came with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• In yet another case of showmanship that he was unable to back up with deeds, in 1962 Khrushchev deployed nuclear missiles in newly Communist Cuba, within easy striking distance of most major American population centers. Thanks to intelligence received from Oleg Penkovsky, a Soviet double agent, the United States was aware that the missiles were still only partially developed and did not pose an immediate threat. President John Kennedy called Khrushchev's bluff, and the latter was forced to remove the missiles from Cuba, with great loss of face both at home and abroad. Khrushchev never regained his prestige after the incident, and was quietly ousted two years later by opponents in the Politburo--significantly, with no bloodshed. He spent the rest of his life in peaceful retirement, and was the only Soviet leader not to be buried in the Kremlin wall after his death.
Sergei Khrushchev
• PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Sergei Khrushchev will take the oath of U.S. citizenship on Monday, July 12, 1999, at 2 p.m. in Bishop McVinney Auditorium, One Cathedral Square, Providence.
• Khrushchev, whose father, Nikita, was the leader of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, is a senior fellow at Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies. He and his wife, Valentina Golenko, will be sworn in as citizens along with 250 other candidates by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Ronald Lagueux.
• To become citizens, Khrushchev and his wife passed a test of history, government, and English writing skills on June 23 administered by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Providence.
• Khrushchev, 64, decided to become a citizen after eight years at Brown University, where he writes and teaches a senior seminar on relations among the post-Soviet states.
• Khrushchev's fields of expertise are Soviet and Russian political and economic development, Soviet history, international security, and computer science. He has written numerous books, including Nikita Khrushchev: Creation of a Superpower and Khrushchev on Khrushchev: An Inside Account of the Man and His Era, by His Son.
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro ruled Cuba since 1959, when he overthrew the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Castro established a dictatorship and made Cuba the first Communist state in the Western Hemisphere. He became famous for his fiery, anti-American speeches.
Castro was born on Aug. 13, 1926, in Biran, near Mayari, Cuba. His given and family name was Fidel Castro Ruz. His father was a Spanish immigrant who owned a small plantation. Castro graduated from the University of Havana in 1950 with a law degree. Afterwards, Castro opened a law office in Havana. In 1952, he ran for election to the Cuban House of Representatives. But troops led by Batista halted the election and ended democracy in Cuba.
As a result of Batista's actions, Castro tried to start a revolution against the Batista dictatorship. On July 26, 1953, Castro's forces attacked the Moncada army barracks in the city of Santiago de Cuba. Castro was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Batista released him in 1955, however. Castro then formed the 26th of July Movement, a group of revolutionaries named after the date of his first revolt. He then went into exile in Mexico. Castro's forces landed in Cuba in December 1956. Many rebels were killed, and Castro and other survivors fled to the Sierra Maestra, a mountain range in southeast Cuba. People from the surrounding countryside joined the rebellion. Batista fled from Cuba on Jan. 1, 1959, and Castro took control of the government.
Communism in CubaIn the late 1950s, Fidel Castro turned Cuba into a communist state. Castro:• nationalized foreign-owned sugar plantations and other businesses• put most land under government control• distributed land to peasants Effects of communist rule:Castro imposed harsh authoritarian rule.Conditions for the poor improved, basic health care was provided for all, the literacy rate increased, and equality for women was promoted.Critics were jailed or silenced and hundreds of thousands fled to the United States. When the Cold War ended, Soviet aid disappeared, and Cuba’s economy collapsed.
INVASION at Bay of Pigs
• Richard M. Nixon proposed it | Dwight D. Eisenhower planned it | Robert
F. Kennedy championed it | John F. Kennedy approved it | The CIA carried it out | 1,197 invaders were captured | 200 of them had been soldiers in Bautista's army (14 of those were wanted for murder in Cuba) | One CIA soldier fired the first shot | A volunteer teacher was the first Cuban casualty | 4 American pilots and over 100 Cuban invaders were killed in battle | 1,400 Cuban invaders felt betrayed by their sponsor | One U.S. senator lied to the United Nations | One U.S. president was embarrassed in front of the world. April 17.
• Cuban exiles, trained, armed and funded by the CIA, invade Cuba at Bay of Pigs (known in Cuba as Playa Girón). After three days of fighting the invading force is defeated by the Cuban army.
• The plan included: 1) the creation of a responsible and unified Cuban opposition to the Castro regime located outside of Cuba, 2) the development of a means for mass communication to the Cuban people as part of a powerful propaganda offensive, 3) the creation and development of a covert intelligence and action organization within Cuba which would respond to the orders and directions of the exile opposition, and 4) the development of a paramilitary force outside of Cuba for future guerrilla action. These goals were to be achieved “in such a manner as to avoid the appearance of U.S. intervention.”
• Invasion• The counterrevolutionary forces, known as Brigade 2506, were assembled on the
west coast of Guatemala, where U.S. engineers refurbished the airport especially for the mission. On April 14 six ships sailed from Nicaragua’s Puerto Cabezas, cheered on by Nicaraguan president and U.S.-friendly dictator Luis Somoza., The Cuban government knew an invasion was coming, but could not guess exactly when or where the attack would take place. When teams of U.S. B-26 bombers began attacking four Cuban airfields simultaneously on Saturday, April 15, the Cubans were prepared. The few planes belonging to the Cuban Air Force were dispersed and camouflaged, with some obsolete, unusable planes left out to fool the attackers and draw the bombs. As part of the CIA cover story, the attacking B-26 planes were disguised to look as if they were Cuban planes flown by defecting Cuban pilots. Prior to the start of the operation, CIA operatives were sent to Cuba. Their job was to aid the invading forces by blowing up key bridges and performing other acts of terrorism that would make it appear that the people of Cuba were joining the invasion. Shortly after the attack started,
• Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, at the United Nations, flatly rejected Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Raúl Roa’s report of the attack to the assembly, saying that the planes were from the Cuban Air Force and presenting a copy of the photograph published in the newspapers. In the photo, the plane shown has an opaque nose, whereas the model of the B-26 planes used by the Cubans had a Plexiglas nose. Stevenson was extremely embarrassed a few hours later when the truth was revealed and he learned that Kennedy had referred to him as “my official liar.”
• Without supplies or air cover, the invading forces fell. To them, the lack of air cover was a direct betrayal. In the end, 200 rebel soldiers were killed, and 1,197 others were captured.
• The reality,” wrote Schlesinger, “was that Fidel Castro turned out to be a far more formidable foe and in command of a far better organized regime than anyone had supposed. His patrols spotted the invasion at almost the first possible moment. His planes reacted with speed and vigor. His police eliminated any chance of sabotage or rebellion behind the lines. His soldiers stayed loyal and fought hard. He himself never panicked; and, if faults were chargeable to him, they were his overestimate of the strength of the invasion and undue caution in pressing the ground attack against the beachhead. His performance was impressive.”
• The controversial inspector general’s report concluded that ignorance, incompetence, and arrogance on the part of the CIA was responsible for the fiasco. It criticized nearly every aspect of the CIA’s handling of the invasion: misinforming Kennedy administration officials, planning poorly, using faulty intelligence and conducting an overt military operation beyond “agency responsibility as well as agency capability.” The report added, “The agency reduced the exile leaders to the status of puppets.”
• Aside from being at once a major victory for the Cuban Revolution and a major embarrassment for Kennedy and the CIA, the attack at the Bay of Pigs set the stage for the major confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union: the missile crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
• In the meantime, perhaps as a result of the Bay of Pigs embarrassment, Kennedy’s obsession with eliminating Castro grew. A plan code-named “Operation Mongoose” spurred by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, attempted to eliminate Castro by any means necessary.
Bay of Pigs concluded
Cuban Missile Crisis
• October 14. The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when U.S. reconnaissance aircraft photograph Soviet construction of intermediate-range missile sites in Cuba. President Kennedy demands the withdrawal of Soviet missiles and imposes a naval blockade. Khrushchev agrees on condition that Cuba receives guarantee of non-aggression from the U.S. and Jupiter missiles aimed at the Soviet Union are removed from Turkey.
• One of the most serious incidents of the Cold War—a period of intense rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union—was the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Communists had come to power in Cuba in 1959. In October 1962, the United States learned that the Soviet Union had installed missiles in Cuba that could launch nuclear attacks on United States cities. The crisis passed after Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev and U.S. President John F. Kennedy agreed that the Soviets would remove their missiles from Cuba in return for the removal of U.S. nuclear missiles from Turkey and Kennedy's promise that the United States would not invade Cuba. Shown here is an aerial photograph of a missile launch site in San Cristobal, Cuba.
Cuban Missile Crisis• Cuban missile crisis occurred in October 1962 when the United States learned that the
Soviet Union had secretly installed missiles in Cuba, about 90 miles (140 kilometers) from Florida. The missiles could have been used to launch nuclear attacks on American cities. The crisis was one of the most serious incidents of the Cold War, a period of intense U.S.-Soviet rivalry that had begun after World War II ended in 1945. Most experts believe that the missile crisis brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war.
• The Soviet Union had placed the missiles in Cuba earlier in 1962, after Cuban leaders became convinced that the United States was planning to attack Cuba. During the Cold War, Cuba was an ally of the Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy of the United States learned of the missiles' presence on October 16 and demanded that the Soviet Union remove them. On October 22, he ordered a naval quarantine (blockade) of Cuba to stop further shipment of arms.
• At first, the United States expected to invade Cuba to destroy the missiles. At one point, an invasion was scheduled for October 29 or October 30. Nearly all of Kennedy's advisers agreed that a landing of U.S. forces in Cuba would probably mean war—most likely nuclear war—with the Soviet Union.
• The Soviet Union offered to remove the missiles if the United States would promise not to invade Cuba. It later said that it would not remove the missiles unless the United States would dismantle its military bases in Turkey. Turkey was a U.S. ally that bordered the Soviet Union. Kennedy agreed publicly to dismantle all U.S. missile bases in Turkey. However, to complete the deal, Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev also made a private agreement in which Khrushchev promised to remove all Soviet missiles in Cuba in exchange for Kennedy's promise that the United States would not invade the island. On October 28, the two leaders completed the agreement, ending the crisis.
• The agreement between Kennedy and Khrushchev was kept secret because many Americans opposed such a deal. Almost all Americans thus thought that Kennedy had forced the Soviet Union to remove the missiles simply by threatening war. Some experts believe that, as a result, U.S. foreign policy used greater toughness and more threats of force after the crisis.
Cuban Missile Crisis
• In Cuba this event is known as the October Crisis of 1962, and in the former Soviet Union it was known as the Caribbean Crisis.
• For nearly two weeks the U.S. and the Soviets stood on the brink of nuclear war, and only the leadership of Kennedy and Khrushchev kept the crisis from escalating into a full nuclear war.
• For many of us the Cuban Missile Crisis seems like a legend from the past, yet it has continually baffled historians with every new bit of information declassified and each new memoir or re-examination published.
• We know that the Kennedy brothers were largely responsible for the positive outcome. Not only were they able to resist the war lust and manipulations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), but they were able to maintain peace and not fire their weapons. This was not easy.
• We also know that Khrushchev had similar problems with his war machine, and he also managed to overcome them.
• We still can't seem to grasp that past U.S.-Cuba relations played a major part in the reasons for the crisis.
• This website will not try to tell the whole story of the crisis. Instead it will point you to books and websites that will tell that story better than I could, and will help us all to get a more complete perspective on the crisis, its reasons, and the aftermath.
The closest the world ever came to its own destruction was the event known to us as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• Castro seized property owned by Americans and other foreigners as well as Cubans. In 1960, the Castro government took over United States oil refineries in Cuba. The United States then stopped buying Cuban sugar. Castro responded by taking over all United States businesses in Cuba.
• Castro has supported a number of revolutionary movements in South America, Central America, and Africa. The Castro government has provided improved education and health facilities for many Cubans. But the economy has often been troubled.
• In the early 1960's, Cuba began depending heavily on the Soviet Union for economic support. This support ended in 1991, when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Castro vowed that Cuba would remain a Communist country. However, in the early 1990's, Cuba undertook limited reforms that loosened state control over parts of the country's economy.
• Castro has been closely assisted by his brother Raul. He has named Raul as his successor.
Consider what might have turned out differently had Fidel taken up a career in professional baseball rather than politics: no revolution overthrowing the Batista regime, no establishment of a Soviet-aligned government in Cuba, and thus no Bay of Pigs or Cuban Missile Crisis — watershed events in the history of the Cold War. Would the results of this alternate scenario have been a profound difference in the course of world events or merely a historical footnote of minor global significance?
Even if one opts for the "historical footnote" interpretation, the Castro legend is still appealing because of its unconventionality.
One of the quirkier historical "What if?" scenarios involves the legend that Cuban leader Fidel Castro was once given a tryout (and rejected) by an American major league baseball team (usually specified as either the Washington Senators or the New York Yankees).
URBAN LEGEND ?
Counterpoint
• There is a well-known baseball trivia question that makes its way around most press boxes involving Fidel Castro as a 21 year-old pitching prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Seems two corpulent scouts, hired by the parent club, went to Havana to watch the diminutive lefty break nasty curves and dip sinkers in and around the aggressive Latin competition, but were somewhat lukewarm about his speed. “The kid Castro has some command of breaking pitches (stop),” the report told the front office the next morning via Western Union. “Has nothing on the fast ball (stop) Double AA talent at best (stop).”
• The Pirates never did have the patience to develop short Cuban kids with little pop on the cheese, so a dejected Fidel attended law school, went to prison, and disappeared into the Cuban socialist underground. Those were the days when his family and friends were subsisting on a steady diet of dung beetles and palm leaves chased by rotten disease-ridden water, while the mob ran numbers for a dictatorship backed by the muscle of Harry Truman’s United States.
• It was a short walk from the entrance of Forbes Field to the den of hate. And hate turned into revolution on New Year’s Eve 1959, when the failed pitcher became champion of the weak and an American thorn; followed closely by the CIA’s spring invasion gone terribly wrong two years later. And when the Bay of Pigs sent the slugs from Florida’s underbelly to the right people, Jack Kennedy paid with his life in Dallas two years after that.
Raúl Castro
23rd President of Cubaborn 3 June 1931
IncumbentAssumed office
24 February 2008Acting: 31 July 2006 – 24 February 2008
• Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is the President of the Cuban Council of State and the President (As Premier) of the Council of Ministers of Cuba. The younger brother of Fidel Castro, he is also Second Secretary of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), and Commander in Chief (Maximum General) of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, and Air Force).
On 31 July 2006, Raúl Castro assumed the duties of President of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power due to Fidel Castro's illness. According to the Cuban Constitution of 1976, Article 94, the First Vice President of the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or death of the president.Raúl Castro was elected President at the 24 February 2008 National Assembly as Fidel Castro had announced his intention not to stand for President again on 19 February 2008.
• Since assuming the presidency in February 2008, Raúl Castro's government has announced several economic reforms. In March 2008, the government removed restrictions against the purchase of numerous products not available under Fidel Castro's government including DVD-players, computers, rice cookers, and microwaves. In an effort to boost food production, the government turned over unused state-owned land to private farmers and cooperatives and moved much of the decision-making process regarding land use from the national level to the municipal level.
• In mid-2008, the government overhauled the salary structure of all state-run companies so that harder-working employees could be rewarded with higher wages. In addition, the government has removed restrictions against the use of cell phones and is investigating loosening travel restrictions on Cubans.
• In March 2009, Raúl Castro dismissed some officials. In the article Purge Aims to Halt Cuba's Economic Free Fall, Miami Herald suggested that the purpose was to get rid of the people who may have stood in the way of economic reforms.
• On the other hand, Yoani Sánchez wrote "If the intention was to stimulate progressive measures, no functionary in charge of a ministry could have slowed them down. The intention, however, has been to delay the changes, to dull them, to buy time in the game of politics, while we lose months and months of time in our lives."
The Soviet Union: Rise and Fall of a Superpower
• What ideas guided Soviet political, economic, and foreign policy?
• Why did the Soviet Union collapse?
• What problems have Russia and the other republics faced since the fall of the Soviet Union?
4
Soviet Nuclear Missiles Every year on May 1, the Soviet Union demonstrated its military strength, including nuclear weaponry, in a parade through Moscow’s Red Square. Why might the Soviet Union have wanted to show off its nuclear might?
Soviet Government and Economy
Khrushchev pursued a policy of de-Stalinization and sought a thaw in the Cold War.
Brezhnev suppressed dissidents, people who spoke out against the government. The Soviet Union rebuilt its shattered industries. Citizens enjoyed benefits such as low rent, cheap bread, free health care, and day care for children.
Collectivized agriculture remained unproductive.
The Soviet Union could not match the free-market economies of the West in producing consumer goods.
People spent hours waiting on line to buy food and other goods.
Because workers had lifetime job security, they had little incentive to produce better-quality goods.
GOVERNMENT ECONOMY
4
Soviet Foreign Policy
Soviet-American relations swung back and forth between confrontation and détente.
The Soviet Union sought allies among the developing nations.
The Soviets offered military and economic aid in order to win and keep allies.
Stalin and his successors asserted Soviet control over Eastern Europe.
Khrushchev set up the Warsaw Pact to suppress dissent within Eastern Europe.
UNITED STATESDEVELOPING
WORLDEASTERN EUROPE
4
Collapse of the Soviet Union: Cause and Effect
4
Low output of crops and consumer goods
Cold War led to high military spending
Ethnic and nationalist movements
Denial of rights and freedoms
War with Afghanistan
Food and fuel shortages
Demonstrations in the Baltic states
Gorbachev’s rise to power
Soviet Union breaks up into 15 republicsRussian republic approves a new constitution
Changeover to market economy in RussiaCold War endsWar in Chechnya
EffectsImmediate
CausesLong-Term
Causes
Problems in The Russian Republic
• The changeover to a market economy caused unemployment to soar and prices to skyrocket.
• Criminals flourished, and gangs preyed on the new business class. In Russian slang, protection is called krysha (literally the roof). ...
• In 1998, Russia defaulted, or failed to make payments, on much of its foreign debt.
• The value of Russia’s currency collapsed. People lost their savings and their jobs.
• Minorities within Russia sought greater autonomy or independence.
4
The Other Republics
• The new nations faced unrest, corruption, and political divisions.
• In some countries, authoritarian rulers gained power.
• Ethnic conflict erupted in republics with a mix of national groups.
• Other conflicts arose over border disputes.
• The new nations endured hard times as they switched to market economies.
4
Assessment4
Who pursued a policy of de-Stalinization? a) Brezhnev
b) Khrushchev c) Stalin d) Yeltsin
Which of the following was not a cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union? a) war with Afghanistanb) the end of the Cold War
c) Gorbachev’s rise to power d) food and fuel shortages
Assessment4
Who pursued a policy of de-Stalinization? a) Brezhnev
b) Khrushchev c) Stalin d) Yeltsin
Which of the following was not a cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union? a) war with Afghanistanb) the end of the Cold War
c) Gorbachev’s rise to power d) food and fuel shortages
A New Era in Eastern Europe
• How did Eastern European nations oppose Soviet domination and strive for democracy?
• What were the effects of the fall of communism?
• What were the causes and effects of civil war in Yugoslavia?
5
Soviet Domination of Eastern Europe
1945 After World War II, Soviet armies occupy much of Eastern Europe.
1949 Most Eastern European countries are under communist rule.
1956 Hungary withdraws from Warsaw Pact and ends one-party rule; Soviet troops crush Hungarian uprising.
1968 Czechoslovakia introduces reforms; Soviets use force to restore communist dictatorship.
1980 Polish government, under Soviet pressure, cracks down on trade union movement and arrests its leaders.
Poland Embraces SolidarityPoland led the way in the new surge of resistance that shattered the Soviet satellite empire. In 1980, economic hardships ignited strikes by shipyard workers. Led by Lech Walesa , they organized Solidarity, an independent labor union. It won millions of members and demanded political as well as economic change.Under pressure from the Soviet Union, the Polish government outlawed the union and arrested its leaders, including Walesa. Still, unrest continued. Walesa became a national hero, and the Polish government eventually released him from prison. Pope John Paul II visited Poland, met with Solidarity leaders, and criticized communist policies. The pope was the former Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of the Polish city of Cracow.
Boris Yeltsin standing on tank outside Parliament building in Moscow
The Crumbling Soviet UnionThis cartoon shows Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev with an egg-shaped head sitting on a wall marked with the national symbol of the Soviet Union. The cartoon draws on the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty.
What does it imply about Gorbachev’s future?How does this cartoon communicate ideas without using any words?
Defending Lithuania’s Independence
What does the cartoon suggest about the state of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev?
Soviets Have Their Own “Vietnam” in AfghanistanIn 1979, the Soviet Union became involved in a long war in Afghanistan, an Islamic country just south of the Soviet Union. A Soviet-supported Afghan government had tried to modernize the nation. Its policies included social reforms and land redistribution that would reduce the power of regional landlords. Afghan landlords—who commanded armed men as warlords—and Muslim conservatives charged that both policies threatened Islamic tradition. When these warlords took up arms against the government, Soviet troops moved in.Battling mujahedin or Muslim religious warriors, in the mountains of Afghanistan, however, proved as difficult as fighting guerrillas in the jungles of Vietnam had been for Americans. By the mid-1980s, the American government began to smuggle modern weaponry to the mujahedin. The Soviets had years of heavy casualties, high costs, and few successes. Like America’s Vietnam War, the struggle in Afghanistan provoked a crisis in morale for the Soviets at home.
And now we are there and the enemy has weapons supplied by US
Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 American biographical comedy drama film recounting the true story of U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson (D-TX) who partnered with "bare knuckle attitude" CIA operative Gust Avrakotos to launch Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support theAfghan mujahideen in their resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
In 2000, Vladimir Putin was elected president in Russia’s second free election. Putin projected toughness and competence, promising to end corruption and build Russia into a strong market economy. He also secured Russia a consulting status with NATO.
Protesting Putin Demonstrators gather in Moscow in 2004 to protest Putin’s policies.
What point do you think the protesters were making by holding up photos likening Putin to Adolf Hitler?
Dmitry Medvedev current President of the Russian Federation. He won the presidential election held on 2 March 2008
However, Putin repeatedly came under fire for increasing the power of the central government at the expense of people’s civil liberties. The international community began to question his policies, concerned that he was becoming more autocratic than democratic.
Medvedev & Putin
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalization, became immediate subjects of the international law in 1993. It is sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce, a reference to the bloodless Velvet Revolution of 1989 that led to the end of the rule of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the formation of a democratic government.
Fall of Communist Governments
Eastern European countries withdrew from the Warsaw Pact and requested that Soviet troops leave.
Eastern European nations set out to build stable governments and free-market economies.
The many changes contributed to rising inflation, high unemployment, and crime waves.
Consumer goods became more plentiful, but many people could not afford them.
Former communists were sometimes returned to office when people became disillusioned with reform.
In the 1990s, Eastern European nations looked to the West for aid. Ethnic tension arose is some areas.
5
New Nations in Eastern Europe
5
Civil War in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia consisted of a broad mixture of ethnic and religious groups.
Tito had silenced nationalist and religious unrest for decades. When he died, nationalism tore Yugoslavia apart.
Communism fell.
Four of the six republics declared independence.
Tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims were killed in a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Slobodan Milošević. The Balkan region remained unstable.
New nations needed massive aid to rebuild.
Large numbers of refugees remained in temporary shelter for years after the war.
Ethnic feuds were hard to contain.
CAUSES EFFECTS
5
A boy dodging sniper fire to get water, Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1993
Ethnic, nationalist, and religious tensions tore Yugoslavia apart during the 1990s. Before 1991, Yugoslavia was multiethnic, or made up of several ethnic groups. These groups included Serbs, Montenegrins, and Macedonians, who were Orthodox Christians; Croats and Slovenes, who were Roman Catholics; and the mostly Muslim Bosniaks and Albanians. A majority of Yugoslavians—including the Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, and Bosniaks—all spoke the same language, Serbo-Croatian, but these groups had different religions. Albanians, Slovenes, and Macedonians spoke minority languages.Yugoslavia was made up of six republics, similar to states in the United States.
These were Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (often known as Bosnia for short), Montenegro, and Macedonia. Each republic had a dominant ethnic group but also was home to ethnic minorities. Serbs formed the majority in Serbia but were an important ethnic minority in several of the other republics. Serbs dominated Yugoslavia, which was held together and controlled by its Communist Party.
Zlata Filipovic was 11 years old in 1992 when she began a diary about her life in war-torn Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Here is an excerpt:
“Today a shell fell on the park in front of my house, the park where I used to play and sit with my girlfriends. A lot of people were hurt . . . AND NINA IS DEAD . . . She was such a sweet, nice little girl.”—Zlata Filipovic, Zlata’s Diary
Bosnia is just one of the nations that have faced ethnic, religious, or national conflicts in recent decades.
Grozny in Ruins Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, lay in ruins in 2000 after Russian troops won a battle for control of the city.
Former Yugoslavia in 2005
However, NATO air strikes eventually forced Yugoslavia to withdraw its forces from Kosovo. UN and NATO forces restored peace. As Kosovo rebuilt, tensions remained high between ethnic Albanians and Serbs living there. Although Kosovo remained part of Serbia in theory, the region was under UN control after 1999. The majority ethnic Albanians sought independence, while ethnic Serbs wanted
The Fight for KosovoAs Bosnia reached a tense peace, a crisis broke out in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Ethnic Albanians made up about 90 percent of Kosovo’s population. The rest of the population was mostly Serbian.
In 1989, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic (an extreme Serbian nationalist, had begun oppressing Kosovar Albanians.
Peaceful protests led to more repression. In the mid-1990s, a small guerrilla army of ethnic Albanians began to respond with armed attacks on Serbian targets. Milosevic, however, rejected international peace efforts. In 1999, NATO launched air strikes against Serbia. Yugoslav forces attempted ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians.
Conflicts in Former Yugoslavia
Assessment5
What happened when Hungary withdrew from the Warsaw Pact? a) The Soviet Union granted Hungary’s independence. b) Soviet troops crushed the Hungarian uprising.
c) Other Eastern European countries also withdrew. d) Hungary was permitted to install a democratic government.
Which of the following was not a former territory of Yugoslavia?
a) Slovenia c) Bulgariab) Croatia d) Bosnia-Herzegovina
Assessment5
What happened when Hungary withdrew from the Warsaw Pact? a) The Soviet Union granted Hungary’s independence. b) Soviet troops crushed the Hungarian uprising.
c) Other Eastern European countries also withdrew. d) Hungary was permitted to install a democratic government.
Which of the following was not a former territory of Yugoslavia?
a) Slovenia c) Bulgariab) Croatia d) Bosnia-Herzegovina
OSAMA BIN LADEN'S KILLING SPARKS CELEBRATIONS
Chapter 18: The Colonies Become New Nations
Chapter Objective Trace independence movements and political conflicts in Africa and Asia
as colonialism gave way after World War II.SECTION 1 The Indian Subcontinent Achieves Freedom
Trace the struggles for freedom on the Indian subcontinent.SECTION 2 Southeast Asian Nations Gain Independence
Trace the independence movements in the Philippines, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
SECTION 3 New Nations in AfricaExplain the independence movements and struggles in Ghana, Kenya, Congo, and Angola.
SECTION 4 Conflicts in the Middle EastDescribe the formation of Israel and the conflicts in the Middle East.
SECTION 5 Central Asia StrugglesSummarize the struggles for independence in Central Asia.
