Notes 4: The Cold War Homefront, the Arms Race,

and Cuba

Modern US History

Unit 2-4: The Cold War

May 21and 24, 2010

Defense Treaty Organizations

• Both the democratic and communist sides in Europe formed mutual defense treaty organizations. These groups promised to defend any nation in the group if it were attacked by another country.

Defense Treaty Organizations

NATO

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in April of 1949. The 12 members pledged military support to one another in case any member was attacked. Members:

• U.S.A., Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal. Greece and Turkey joined in 1952. West Germany joined in 1955.

Defense Treaty Organizations

Warsaw Pact• In response to the rearmament of West

Germany and its membership in NATO in 1955, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact to ally itself with seven other Eastern European countries. Members:

• U.S.S.R., Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania

NATO and

Warsaw Pact

Espionage Activity

• Espionage, or spying, was heavy on both sides during the Cold War (imagine James Bond movies here…). Both America and the Soviet Union had major agencies that handled their espionage.

Espionage Activity

CIA

• The Central Intelligance Agency guided most of America’s espionage work during the Cold War.

Espionage Activity

KGB

• The State Security Committee was the umbrella agency for the Soviet Union’s espionage and secret police work during the Cold War

Espionage Activity

The U-2 Incident• America was sending secret U-2 high altitude

spy planes over the USSR to spy on their armament operations. During the last planned flight, Francis Powers’ plane was shot down in Soviet airspace. Khrushchev announced to the world that America was spying and Powers was sentenced to 10 years in Soviet prison. Powers was returned to the U.S. 18 months later in return for a Soviet spy. This incident heightened tensions in the Cold War

The Arms Race

• After America detonated the first Atomic Bomb in 1945, both the USSR and USA competed to create the next biggest and best bombs and weapons. While the landmark achievements were nuclear weapons, improvements in jets and tanks were also seen during this period.

The Arms Race

Arms Race—USA

• 1st Atomic Fission Bomb—July 1945

• 1st Hydrogen Bomb—November 1952

The Arms Race

Arms Race—USSR

• 1st Atomic Fission Bomb—August 1949

• 1st True Hydrogen Bomb—November 1955

Tsar Bomba

The Space Race

• Both the Soviets and Americans had captured German rocket technology at the fall of WWII. They used this to produce rockets of their own. The development of long-range rockets to carry nuclear warheads to the enemy was an important part of the Cold War. This development was carried out through the “Space Race” which was the competition between both countries over space exploration (a rocket that could carry a space shuttle or satellite could definitely carry a warhead)

The Space Race

• 1st Satellite in Orbit: USSR: Sputnik : October 1957

• 1st Human in Space: USSR: April 1961

• 1st Man on the Moon: USA: July 1969

Crisis in Cuba - Background

• Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba in 1959 and welcomed aid from the Soviet Union. Approximately 10% of Cuba’s population went into exile to escape Castro, mostly in the USA.

Crisis in Cuba - Background

• In March 1960, Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to secretly train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. The CIA assumed their invasion would start a mass anti-Castro uprising. Kennedy was informed of this after taking office in January 1961. President Eisenhower cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961during his last days in office.

Crisis in Cuba – Bay of Pigs – April 1961

• On April 17, 1961, over 1300 American trained Cuban exiles landed on Cuba’s southern coast at the Bay of Pigs. Nothing in the invasion went as planned. A U.S. air strike failed to knock out the Cuban air force, an advance distraction group never reached the shore, and when the troops landed, they faced 25,000 Cuban troops supported by Soviet tanks and jets. The invading exiles were either killed or imprisoned.

Crisis in Cuba – Bay of Pigs – April 1961

• Castro celebrated the defeat of the “North American mercenaries” and Kennedy was left embarrassed. The U.S. paid $53 million in food and medical supplies as ransom for the surviving exiles.

Crisis in Cuba – The Cuban Missile Crisis – October 1962

• The Soviet Union promised to defend Cuba against further attacks from the U.S. with more arms. During the summer of 1962, the transport of Soviet weapons, including nuclear missiles, to Cuba increased greatly.

Castro and Khrushchev at the UN 1960

Crisis in Cuba – The Cuban Missile Crisis – October 1962

• On October 14, 1962, U.S. planes photographed Soviet missile bases in Cuba with missiles that were ready to launch. On October 22, Kennedy informed the nation of the Soviet missile sites and his plans to remove them. Kennedy also stated that any missile attack from Cuba would trigger a full attack on the Soviet Union.

Crisis in Cuba – The Cuban Missile Crisis – October 1962

• U.S. Navy ships prepared to quarantine Cuba and prevent ships (especially USSR ships in the Atlantic) from coming within 500 miles of the island. 100,000 American troops waited to deploy in Florida. The world waited for the terrifying possibility of nuclear war for the next 6 days – this was known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Crisis in Cuba – The Cuban Missile Crisis – October 1962

• The first break occurred when the Soviet ships in the Atlantic stopped instead of confronting the US Navy. A few days later Khrushchev offered to remove the missiles from Cuba for an American pledge not to invade Cuba. America agreed and also secretly agreed to remove its missiles from Turkey. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the Cold War ever came to being “Hot”.