The Cold War: Part III

The Cold War Thaws

1970-1990

“Ivan” – the most powerful bomb in the world

• On October 30, 1961, the most powerful weapon EVER constructed by mankind was exploded over an island in the Arctic Ocean

• multi-stage hydrogen bomb • Built in 15 weeks by the

Soviet Union; because it was rushed a lot of mathematics were estimated

• It stretched 37 miles high and 28 miles wide

• Snow, 100 miles away melted instantly (caused an earthquake in Finland)

3

The Slow Thaw• End of WWII through Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush, Cold War = central foreign policy concern• Most film/TV villains were Soviets or communists; Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull, which is set in the 1950s, pays homage to the use of Soviets as villains.• Lenoid Brezhnev becomes USSR leader in 1964; relations improve• In 1969, one of the most anti-communist leaders, Richard Nixon, becomes president. Nixon became the first US president to visit Communist China.

Richard and Pat Nixon (in an appropriately red coat) at the Great Wall of China

A magazine cover about ping pong diplomacy, so called because better relations between the US and China came after the two countries’ ping pong teams played each other.

Cate Blanchette as Col. Dr. Irina Spalko in Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull

4

The Slow Thaw…•In 1969 Nixon began negotiations with USSR on SALT.• SALT I froze the number of ballistic missile launchers at existing levels• It was the first effort between US/USSR to stop increase nuclear weapons.• SALT II was a second round of US/USSR talks (1972-1979), which sought to reduce manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Nixon and Brezhnev toast the SALT I treaty.

Carter and Brezhnev sign the SALT II treaty.

5

Cold War Thaw Continues• In 1988, Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader and understands that the Soviet economy cannot compete with the West, (esp. militarily)• Gorbachev recognizes there is increasing unrest in the country.•Gorbachev is further pressured to reform the USSR when President Reagan (elected in 1981) gives his speech in Germany challenging him to “tear down this wall!”

– No more pro-Soviet governments in Hungary, Poland & Yugoslavia

– Communism became increasingly unpopular & revolutions erupt.

Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev

“Mr. Gorbachev – Tear down this Wall!”

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWDrTXMgF8

7

The Wall Falls, 1989• Riots and protests break out in East Germany.• East Germans storm the wall. Confused and outnumbered, border guards do not fight back.• The wall is breached.• Eventually East and West Germany are

reunited in 1990. •http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnYXbJ_bcLc

Random Facts……..• September 2004 poll showed that 25% of West

Germans and 12% of East Germans wish they were still separated.

• 2005 poll showed that 58% of Russians have no idea who built the Berlin Wall. – Germans or United States

• German gift shops sell pieces of the Berlin Wall for $55-$300.

• By the time the Berlin Wall fell, there were 302 guard towers (~ 7 every mile)

15

The USSR Dissolves• On December 21, 1991, the presidents of USSR, Ukraine and

Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords declaring the USSR dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent

States (CIS) in its place Russia!• On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev

abolished the title of president. • He turned the powers over to Boris Yeltsin, new leader of Russia. • The following day, the Supreme Soviet, the highest governmental body of the Soviet Union, recognized the collapse of the Soviet Union and dissolved itself.

– This is generally recognized as the official, final dissolution of the USSR as a functioning state.

Boris Yeltsin (far left) stands on a tank to defy the 1991 coup