The Cold War

Causes of the Cold War

• The Cold War was a period of intense ideological struggle between the US and the USSR

• The goal was to acquire power and influence on a global scale

• After the end of World War Two the alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union had broken down to the point where war was possible

• Western Europe and Asia lay in ruins, the traditional powers were rebuilding

• The void was filled by the USA and the USSR

• There were two primary causes of the Cold War

1. Ideological Differences-• USA-Capitalist• USSR- Communist• They were at opposite ends of the spectrum • Both sides feared the other

2. Strategic Concerns and Suspicions

• Stalin established communist regimes in the countries he liberated during WWII

• The US was concerned about a Domino Theory were one country after another would fall to communism

• Their first goal became Containment

The Division of Germany

• At the Potsdam Conference the former allies disagreed bitterly over how Germany would be divided

• The US and allies wanted to keep Germany as one nation

• They wanted to remove any remants of Nazism and rebuild the economy of Germany

• The Soviets refused and demanded that the nation be divided into two with the Soviets looking after one half the US the other

• By 1949 the country was divided in half

• Berlin was divided into four zones, the Soviets had half of the city, the US, French and Britain had the other half, the Soviets were not happy with this arrangement

• US Supremacy was based on three things

1. Economic Superiority

2. Protectors of Democracy

3. Nuclear weapons

• Soviet dominance based on three things

1. Military power- largest standing army

2. Fear of the United States and capitalism

3. Spreading the global communist revolution

The Marshall Plan

• The United States was worried that due to the financial situation the rest of Europe would turn towards communism

• They created the Marshall Plan in 1947 to help rebuild Europe

• Later they agreed to finance anyone opposed to communism

• By late 1948 most of Europe was back on it’s feet economically

The Truman Doctrine

• In 1947 the communists were threatening Greece

• Truman was concerned about the Domino Theory and as a response announced the Truman Doctrine

• It stated that any country opposing communism would receive support from the United States

• This became the basis of most American foreign policy

Berlin Blockade

• Soviets were unhappy with the situation that existed in Berlin

• They did not like the allies being so far into their zone

• In an attempt to drive the allies out they established a blockade which would prevent the allies from sending in supplies

• The allies responded by airlifting supplies into Western Berlin

• Lasted for one year and they flew in supplies for over 3 million residents

• The Blockade ended in May 1949

• The Soviets harassed planes but avoided direct confrontation

NATO & The Warsaw Pact

• 1949 USA took a lead in creating a military alliance and collective security agreement

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded by the USA, Canada and 10 European nations

• It was a defensive alliance• The Soviets countered this alliance by

creating the Warsaw Pact, which mirrored NATO

The Korean War

• Korea was under Japanese control during the war• After the war the USSR and USA shared joint

occupation• The Soviets were in the north the Americans in the

south• The nation was divided at the 38th paralell• Both nations left Korea in 1948, Korea was now

two separate ideological, well armed states

• The situation in Asia changed drastically in 1949 with the victory of the Chinese communists

• The Soviets and the Chinese were concerned about American influence in Asia

• June 1950, the North Koreans launched a full scale invasion of the South

• It marked the first open aggression of the cold war

• The North Koreans poured across the 38th parallel and were pushing deep inside South Korea

• The invasion caught everyone off guard

• Their ally the Soviets were not expecting the invasion

• When the invasion was discussed at the UN Security Council the Soviets were not there as they were protesting the exclusion of the People’s Republic of China from the UN

• This allowed the US to pass a resolution demanding the north return across the 38th

• American troops stationed in Japan were sent in to fight the North Koreans

• North Korean troops intially had great success against the American led UN troops led by Macarthur

• Macarthur staged a dramatic amphibious landing at Inchon

• This gave the allies the advantage and they pushed the enemy all they way to the Yalu river near the Chinese border

• At this point the North Koreans were joined by Chinese “Volunteers”

• The Chinese pushed the UN troops across the 38th parallel in two weeks

• The UN Troops recovered and drove the Koreans and Chinese north again

• Macarthur wanted to attack China, and introduce Nuclear weapons to the war

• Truman had to replace Macarthur as this would have caused a war with China and the USSR, which neither the USA and their allies wanted to fight

• The war then turned into a stalemate being fought around the 38th parallel for the next two years

• An armistice ended fighting in 1953• No peace treaty was ever signed to end

this war

The Suez Crisis

• After the war Egypt had been under the Soviet sphere of influence, accepting money and arms

• The US did not like this as it gave them an advantage in having access to Middle East oil

• The US attempted to buy their support by financing the Aswan dam project

• It didn’t work as the Egyptians were unhappy with US support of Israel

• The Egyptians and their president Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal

• The French and British were enraged by this as they held a large financial stake in the canal

• Britain and France convince Israel to attack Egypt on October 29th 1956, with the promise of providing air support for them

• The British and French attack on the 5th and 6th of November

• Launch Airborne and Amphibious assaults

• The US is furious as they were not consulted and condemns all three in the UN

• The British and French were in an unfortunate position as they could not retreat without looking as if they were scolded school boys

• Canadian PM Lester B. Pearson came up with a brilliant solution to the problem

• He proposed that the UN send in a force of “Peacekeepers” to monitor the situation and stop the fighting

• He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Canal was created as a national highway and no one could own it

Invasion Of Hungary 1956

• Imre Nagy replaces Pro-Stalinst leader Rakosi

• Nagy makes promises of more freedoms which upset the Soviets

• Nagy announces Hungary will be pulling out of the Warsaw Pact

• Soviets disagree and on Nov. 4th ,1956 they invade Hungary

• The Soviets remove Nagy and install Janos Kandar who was a Soviet puppet

• The U.S. is unable to help the Hungarians because Hungary as part of the Soviets “backyard”

• They would have risked starting WWIII

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• The Cold War now shifted to Cuba

• In 1957 Fidel Castro overthrew the pro-American Batista and established a communist regime

• The United States was extremely nervous about communism being on their doorstep

• In 1961 John Fitzgerald Kennedy is elected president of the USA

• He takes a new tougher stand against Cuba

• April 1961, 1500 armed Cuban nationals land at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Castro

• They had been promised US air support but Kennedy refused to allow the air force to get involved

• The insurrection fails and the Kennedy regime looks very bad in the international community and is perceived as soft at home

• August 13th of 1961 Khrushchev who took over from Stalin in 1953 builds the Berlin wall

• This heightened tension between the two nations

• August of 1962, American U2 spy planes notice Surface to Air Missile sites being built in Cuba

• October 14th 1962, Spy planes photograph nuclear missile launching sites in Cuba

• Kennedy is informed two days later and considers his options

1. Preemptive Strike leading to war

2. Full fronted air assault

3. Naval Quarantine of Cuba

• From October 16th-22nd the President and his advisors debate on what action to take

• October 22nd JFK decides on a naval quarantine

• That night Kennedy addresses the nation and tells them of his plans

• The next day Khrushchev responds by saying “we will act accordingly”- they attack us we attack them

• Khrushchev and Kennedy at a summit in Vienna

• Kennedy and Khrushchev are practicing Brinkmanship- taking your nation to the brink of war to accomplish your foreign policy goals

• October 25th The first Soviet ships begin to approach the blockade

• The first ships were oil tankers and were allowed thru

• Fourteen other Soviet container ships began circling the island not approaching the blockade

• Friday October 26th Khrushchev writes Kennedy saying that if the US promised not to invade Cuba and lift the blockade the Soviets would pull the missiles sites from Cuba

• The next morning Kennedy receives another message saying the USSR WILL NOT BACK DOWN

• Kennedy chose to publicly respond to the first message saying he accepts Khrushchev’s offer

• Khrushchev agrees to remove the missile sites and the crisis is averted

The Assassination of JFK

• JFK was murdered on November 22nd, 1963 while visiting the city of Dallas

• Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the killing of JFK

• He was murdered in Prison by Jack Ruby and was never put on trial

The Conspiracy Theory

• There are many conspiracies that exist around the killing of JFK but most of them centre around the fact that there may have been a second shooter

• This photo of Kennedy’s son saluting became one of the most well known of the century

The Vietnam War

• Vietnam was a traditional French colony that had been taken over by the Japanese in WWII

• After the war France tried to continue their rule over the nation

• The people rose up against the French, led by Ho Chi Minh and his party the Viet Minh

• By 1950 the Viet Minh controlled much of Northern Vietnam and were trying to push the French out of the South

• The Americans were worried about the Domino Theory in Southeast Asia and committed to send in “Advisors” in 1955

• In 1962 JFK raises the number of advisors from 500 to 10,000

• Lyndon B. Johnson replaces JFK and immediately increases the presence of the American Military in Vietnam

• August 1964 an American destroyer is attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin by a torpedo boat

• LBJ uses this as an excuse to get Congress to give him unlimited authority to commit troops to the war

• By 1966 there are 400,000 US Troops in Vietnam

• The US begins heavily bombing North Vietnam in an operation known as “Operation Linebacker”

• The US strategy in Vietnam was to try and combat the flow of supplies from the North to the Viet Cong, who were the communist guerillas

• Rather than launching a traditional offensive against North Vietnam, they sent out small “Search and Destroy” Parties

• These small groups were sent out into the bush to look for the enemy

• December of 1968 the Vietnamese launch the Tet Offensive, which causes large number of American casualties

• Search and Destroy tactics left soldiers vulnerable to mines and ambush by the Viet Cong

• At this point the people of America begin to protest the war and Americas involvement

• Richard Nixon is elected in 1968 on a policy of “Vietnamization”, where the US would turn over the fighting over to the Vietnamese

• The war is not going well they are no closer to winning and there are now 1 million American soldiers in Vietnam

• The protests in the United States have grown larger

• The anti-war movement is being fed by nightly images of the war on TV

• 1970 Nixon launches his PEACE bombing offensive

• Heavy bombing still doesn’t work and by 1973 the US and Vietnamese sign a cease fire

• The United States lost the war for several reasons:

1. They were unable to win the hearts of the Vietnamese people- they didn’t know who was on their side

2. The morale of the troops- Drug abuse was very high and most soldiers didn’t believe in the cause they were fighting for

3. The protest at home- the government did not have the support of it’s people

4. The influence of the media

• By 1975 all of Vietnam was in the hands of the communists

• Nearly 200,000 Americans and countless Vietnamese were killed in the conflict

• North Vietnam was reduced to rubble as the US dropped more bombs, than the sum total of all bombs used by all sides in WWII

Detente• After the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the

world to the brink of nuclear war both sides attempted to ease the tension

• Détente- was a period of easing of tensions• The period was marked by improved

communication and cordiality between the superpowers

• There were several incidents which challenged the new found feelings of co-operation

1. The Vietnam War- USSR was supplying and training the North Vietnamese

2. The Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.- The Czechs were trying to distance themselves from communism and the Soviets respond by sending tanks into Prague and removing the leadership of the Czechs

3. The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979- coupled with the election of Ronald Reagan this was the straw that ended Détente

The End of the Cold War

• The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan saw the tension of the Cold War rise.

• Reagan restarted massive rearmament and frequently referred to the USSR as the “Evil Empire”

• Reagan spent billions on the military and the threat of war became a possiblity

•

• 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the USSR after three other leaders die within three years, at 58 he is the youngest leader since Stalin

• Gorbachev sees that the USSR is in serious economic trouble and will not be able to afford to compete with the USA

• He introduces two new policies named Glastnost and Peristroika which put the USSR on the road to a Western style government and economy

• Reagan and Gorbachev met often and a lasting peace was a possiblity

• By 1989 the states of Eastern Europe decided to test the new Soviet openness by attempting to change from communism

• The first country to leave the iron curtain was Poland who led by electrician Lech Welesa had been fighting for reforms since the 70’s

• Poland held elections to form their new government

• The world waited for a Soviet reaction similar to 1968, it never came

•

• Other nations saw this as a signal that the Soviets were no longer going to force them to remain communist

• Between September and December of 1989, massive protests led to the governments of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany shedding their communist ties

• 1991 saw the first elections in the Soviet Union and the collapse of the iron curtain

The Nuclear Arms Race• From 1945 to 1991 the United States and

the USSR were engaged in a heated arms race

• By the early 1950’s the Soviets too had Nuclear technology and were beginning to catch up to the Americans

• Both sides began to find different ways of delivering nuclear ordnance

• In 1957 both sides developed Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles or ICBM which were capable of long range missions

• This changed the way both nations regarded the other

• Each country now had the power to destroy the other easily

• Both countries carried out numerous tests to show their strength

• The culmination was the detonation of a 58 megaton bomb by the USSR. This was 2900 times more powerful than the weapon used against Hiroshima

• After the Cuban Missile Crisis the arms race cooled down for awhile as both sides realized what was truly at stake

• The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty was signed in 1968 by the USSR, USA, Britain, and 94 other countries

• It stated that those who had nuclear power would not share it with other nations

• In 1972 the USSR and USA now had enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world three times over

• The Strategic Arms Limitations agreement was signed in 1972 which would limit the number of anti-ballistic missiles the nations would have as it was hoped that this would prevent either side from gambling on a First Strike

• The arms race was cranked up again by the Americans under Ronald Reagan

• He introduced programs such as SDI or Star Wars, the Cruise Missile program, and spent billions on new technology to give the US an edge

• The economy of the USSR could not keep up and the arms race contributed greatly to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991

• After the break up the Soviet Union the weapons were distributed to the republics were they were located, the Ukraine now has the fourth largest Nuclear arsenal

• Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Americans and Russians have committed to greatly reducing their arsenals

• With the chaos that existed in many of the Republics the whereabouts of all the weapons is not currently known

• Currently it is known that in addition to the US, and Russia, that China, France, Britain, India, and Pakistan have nuclear weapons

• It is believed that North Korea and Iraq have also been developing this capability

• During the Cold War there were several different nuclear strategies

1.Limited Nuclear War- use of Nuclear weapons would allow one side to win a war

2.Deterrence- Started to be the accepted strategy in the 1950’s with the introduction of Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles, there would be no one left to win a war

• This was also known as Mutual Assured Destruction or MAD

• This prevented nuclear war for thirty years• There was no incentive to wage a war as

there would be no winner

3. Strategic Nuclear War (80’s)- Battlefield Nuclear weapons would help win the war

4. First Strike Capabilities- Weapons which would prevent the other from retaliating, examples were the Star Wars project. They never were fully developed