Content Statement: Analyze how the U.S. and … 15-3...and U.S.S.R. became superpowers and competed for global influence. Main Idea The Cold War brought tremendous economic and social

Europe and North America Section 3

Content Statement: Analyze how the U.S.

and U.S.S.R. became superpowers and

competed for global influence.

Main Idea

The Cold War brought tremendous economic and social change

to North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the

Soviet Union.

Changing Societies

Europe and North America Section 3Europe Post WWII

Europe and North America Section 3NATO VS WARSAW PACT


Europe and North America Section 3Ch 15-3 vocabulary

• Solidarity: an independent labor union founded

in Soviet-controlled Poland in 1980.

• Glasnost: “openness” refers to a new era of

media freedom in Soviet Union under Mikhail

Gorbachev in the 1980’s

• Perestroika: “restructuring”; restructuring of the

corrupt government bureaucracy in the

U.S.S.R. begun by Gorbachev. Reform

economic system as well.

• Velvet Revolution: (1989) a quick, peaceful

revolution that swept Communists from power

in Czechoslovakia


• Western Europe faced challenging future after World War II

• At end of war, much of Western Europe lay in ruins

• Property, farmland destroyed; national economies collapsed; millions

displaced from homes; seemed on brink of chaos

• Chaos did not come, thanks in large part to Marshall Plan

• With American aid, Western

Europe’s factories produced

more in 1950s than before

war

• West Germany became major

economic power

• Growth strong in other

countries

Economic Growth

• Availability of jobs attracted

immigrants from former

colonies

• Created strain as Europeans

struggled to adapt to

newcomers, their cultures

Influx of Immigrants

1) Postwar Recovery/Western Europe


World War II had changed Europe’s place in the world. The continent was no

longer the center of world power; instead, the United States and the Soviet

Union were centers of power.

• European nations

began to end

longstanding

rivalries, work for

common good

• NATO unified many

nations in strong

military alliance with

U.S., Canada

Alliances

• Many Western

European nations

moved toward

economic unity

• Cooperation

begun in coal,

steel industries,

and development

of atomic energy

Economic Unity

• Broader efforts to

develop single

regional market, free

of trade barriers

• Goal to create single

market to rival United

States

Markets

2)Alliances and Economic Unity

Europe and North America Section 32) Alliance and Economic Unity/The Common Market

European Economic Community

• 1957, six European nations founded European Economic

Community; also known as Common Market

• Six countries were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg,

West Germany and the Netherlands.

• 1960, seven other European countries formed rival European

Free Trade Association

• True economic unity in Europe still years in future

Europe and North America Section 33) Page 493


Stalin-era economic and political restrictions loosened, but country remained

Communist. Individual freedoms limited, still hostile stance against the West.

The challenges facing the Soviet Union and the Eastern European nations

under its control were even more overwhelming than those facing

Western Europe. Like Western Europe, however, the region soon began to

recover.

• Tens of millions killed in war

• Heavy damage to cities and farms

• Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin

determined to rebuild quickly

• Soviet Union had command

economy

• Stalin wanted to prove superiority of

communism to capitalism.

The Postwar Soviet Union

4) Post War Soviet Union /Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

• Government controls all economic

decisions

• Goods at prewar levels by 1953

under strict government control.

• Stalin dies in 1953.

• Nikita Krushchev became leader of

Soviet Union, undertook effort to “de-

Stalinize” Soviet Union

• Tore down statues of Stalin and

renames streets and towns named

after Stalin.

Command Economy


• Soviet crackdowns did not end

protests in Eastern Europe

• 1980, Polish electrician Lech Walesa

led hundreds of thousands of workers

in anti-government protest

movement, called Solidarity

• Poland’s Communist government

used martial law to suppress

movement, could not destroy it

Solidarity

• Changes after Stalin’s death led

Eastern Europeans to hope for end

of Soviet domination

• Soviet leaders made it clear reforms

were limited

• Used or threatened force to crush

public protests in many countries,

assert control

• Troops put down revolts in East

Germany (1953), Poland (1956),

Hungary (1956), Czechoslovakia

(1968)

Many Changes

5) Revolts in Eastern Europe

Europe and North America Section 3Europe Post WWII


Soviet Economy Faltered

• Soviet economy performed well after war, began to falter in 1960s

• By 1980s, Soviet Union faced crisis; command economy system

inefficient

• Production goals made with little regard for wants, needs of

marketplace. Why bad?

New Concepts

• Proposed two radical concepts—glasnost, perestroika

• Glasnost, “openness,” willingness to discuss Soviet problems openly.

New era of media freedom.

• Perestroika, “restructuring,” reform of Soviet economic, political

system

Gorbachev

• Goals stressed heavy industry, neglecting needed consumer goods

• As result most sectors of Soviet economy ceased to grow

• 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, saw need for change

6)Glasnost and Perestroika








6)Policy Reversal

• Gorbachev knew Soviet Union could not afford to prop up

Communist governments of Eastern Europe

• Began to pull Soviet troops out of region, urged local leaders to

adopt reforms

• Reversed decades of Soviet policy in Eastern Europe

6)Reforms

• Gorbachev pushed through number of major reforms

• Aggressively pursued arms control agreements with U.S.

• Also reduced central planning of Soviet economy, introduced

some free market mechanisms. Moving from command to

market economy




• Eastern Europeans longed for freedom, did not wait for reform

• 1989, revolution spread; citizens overthrew Soviet-backed leaders

• Gorbachev, no longer wanting to control Eastern Europe, did not

interfere

• Most revolutions were peaceful

• Solidarity forced elections in Poland; Lech Walesa elected president

• Czechoslovakia had Velvet

Revolution—so called

because it was peaceful

• Pushed communists out of

power

• Only bloodshed in Romania,

where some military forces

remained loyal to Communist

dictator

Czechoslovakia, Romania

• Most dramatic changes took

place in East Germany

• Berlin Wall opened November

1989

• Strongest symbol of Soviet

repression, Cold War, finally fell

• Less than year later, East, West

Germany reunified as single

nation

East Germany

7)Revolutions in Eastern Europe

Europe and North America Section 3USSR


Documents

Content Statement: Analyze how the U.S. and … 15-3...and U.S.S.R. became superpowers and competed for global influence. Main Idea The Cold War brought tremendous economic and social