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Impact of the Cold War
MAJOR EVENTS OF THE COLD WAR
Korean War• For almost 100 years before
WW2, Korea had been ruled by Japan
• Because Japan’s empire was destroyed after WW2, the Soviet Union occupied the north half of Korea, while the United States occupied the south
• The Soviets wanted to unify the county under a single communist rule, while the U.S. wanted to maintain free elections
• North Korean leader, Kim II Sung wanted to invade South Korea but the Soviet Union was unwilling to directly clash with the U.S.
• Instead, they armed North Korea with supplies, weapons, and money to fight in a proxy war
• Even though not directly involved, President Truman saw the act as evidence of Soviet expansion and called on the U.N to intervene
Korean War(cont’d)• While other UN members did
help South Korea, 90% of the troops were American
• Canada’s secretary of state for external affairs, Lester B Pearson, supported sending aid to South Korea because he believed that it was the UN’s duty to help defend weaker nations against aggressive attacks.
• Canada eventually committed 27,000 military personnel (3rd largest of 22 nations) to aid
RESULTS?o U.S. general MacArthur led the
UN operation and recaptured Seoul, the South Korean, capital, but he kept advancing north, almost to China’s border
o China did not tolerate this and so the UN then had to take on hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers
o Within 2 months, UN forces were driven out of North Korea and Seoul was under communist control
Korean War• It took 2 more years before an armistice was reached
• The Korean borders remained roughly where they had been before the war, except that the communists were not in South Korea
• 516 Canadians died and 1000 were wounded
The Berlin Wall• Because Berlin was divided in two—
Communist East and Democratic West, some people who wanted to escape communist rule in the East did so by going to West Berlin
• East Berlin was experiencing a sort of “brain drain” where their best and brightest wanted to go to capitalist, democratic West Germany
• 3.5 million people emigrated to West Germany before the Wall’s construction
• To combat this problem, construction began in 1961 on a wall around West Berlin to prevent East Berliners from getting in.
• It also meant that West Berliners were trapped
The Berlin Wall• The wall itself was built in stages but by
its 4th generation, it contained guard towers along long concrete walls with barbed wire
• The “death strip” was actually the no-man trench zone between the two walls that were constructed
The Berlin Wall• 5,000 people used various creative
methods to escape into West Berlin• 200-300 approx. were killed• The wall became a physical symbol of
the Cold War and the “Iron Curtain”
The Bay of Pigs Invasion• A U.S. supported, Cuban exile attack on
Cuba• The intention was to overthrow the
Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro• CIA operatives had been secretly training
Cuban anti-revolutionaries for years• Ultimately it failed within days because
Castro’s army overpowered the anti-revolutionaries.
• It was an embarrassment for Kennedy’s government
• Castro became wary of the U.S. and the relationship between the two countries has never healed
The Cuban Missile Crisis• In terms of the arms race, the S.U
was falling far behind the U.S. as their missiles were only capable of targeting Europe, while America could target the Soviet Union already
• Soviet leader, Krushchev thought by placing missiles in Cuba, it would serve as a deterrent for the U.S. while being a strategic placing for their own uses if needed
• Because Castro was convinced of 2nd U.S. invasion, he welcomed having the missiles there
The Cuban Missile Crisis• Once discovered by reconnaissance
photographs, the U.S. demanded the missiles be removed
• Tensions were so high that the U.S was seriously contemplating an attack
• Kennedy requested that the missiles be removed
• Tensions finally eased when Khruschev promised to dismantle the missiles and return them to the Soviet Union
o Cuban missile crisis was one of the highest points of tension in the Cold War!
The Vietnam War• Much like Korea,
Vietnam was also divided with a communist dictator in charge of the North named Ho Chi Minh and a democratic government in the South supported by the U.S.
• Ho Chi Minh wanted to reunify the country. China and the S.U both saw this as a chance to broaden the communist sphere and backed North Vietnam with money and supplies to create another proxy war
• The U.S. wanted to try and keep the region under control so they sent over supplies and aids
• By 1965, it was a full-scale war with 500,000 U.S. troops fighting against N. Vietnam’s army)
• U.S. forces bombed N. Vietnam extensively but still could not win the war
• By the time it ended in 1975:– Over 58,000 U.S. troops
killed– 250,000 S. Vietnamese
killed– 2 million N. Vietnamese
killed
Canada’s Response to the War
• Did not join the U.S. in the fight; however 30,000 Canadians did choose to fight for the U.S. under the American flag
• Canada sold 2.47 billion worth of war materials to the U.S.–Munitions, sonar equipment, aircraft
engines, chemicals like napalm (used to firebomb) and Agent Orange (used to destroy vegetation)
Canada’s Response to the War
Do you agree with the position Canada took? Should they have participated in
the war by sending troops? Should Canada have stayed out of the war altogether?
Wartime AtrocitiesThe MY LAI Massacre- The senseless slaughter of between 300-500 innocent Vietnamese by the U.S. army
- Many of the victims had been mutilated, sexually assaulted, tortured and beaten before being killed
- Most victims were women, children, infants and elderly people
- 26 U.S. soldiers were charged, but only 1 was convicted, commanding officer William Calley
- He served 3 years of a life sentence under house arrest
A French Aviation navale using this in 1953 in Vietnam
A river boat mounted flame thrower during Vietnam War
Kim Phuc, “Napalm Girl” became a Goodwill
ambassador and currently lives in Ajax, ON
The FALL of the Berlin Wall• A strange series of events led to the fall of
the Berlin Wall in 1989• New border checkpoints had been
announced by the government • East Berliners were given permission to
visit West Berlin• Crowds of East and West Berliners
climbed the Wall to celebrate and began to tear sections down
• The Wall was fully dismantled by summer 1990
• Reunification of East and West Germany took place in 1991; the Cold War was over
