The Origins of the Cold War

From Allies to Adversaries

The Consequences of WWII• Staggering casualties and refugee problems• Rise of the USSR and US/decline of Europe• Decolonization worldwide• Discrediting of “scientific racism”

• Dachau, 1945

More Causes

• Failure to agree on compliance with Yalta Agreements– Stalinist elections: Poland

(1947), Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia (1947-48)

– Allied 2nd Front

• Containment of Communism

Founding of the United Nations

• Established immediately after WWII

• Military power, unlike the League of Nations

• Permanent council members (veto powers): U.S., U.S.S.R. (now Russia), France, Great Britain, China

Containment of Communism

• Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech (1946)

• George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” (1946)

• Truman Doctrine, 1947

• Marshall Plan, 1947

• Berlin Airlift, 1948-49

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization “NATO,” 1949

• Warsaw Pact, 1955

Truman Doctrine

• Triggered by communist insurrections in Greece and Turkey

• Promised US aid to any nation fighting communism

Marshall Plan • 1947-51: U.S. provided 9.4 billion to rebuild after WWII

• Stalin refused to allow East to take part

The Cold War: Division of E. and W. Europe

Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49)

• Germany & Berlin divided at Potsdam into four zones

• 1948: Three zones united into West Germany

• Stalin blockaded West Berlin

• 321 day airlift

• Stalin withdrew blockade in 1949

• Result: two Germanys, East and West

Decolonization• India; Pakistan;

Palestine 1947

• Dutch E. Indies 1949

• Egypt 1956

• Africa 1950’s-80’s

• Vietnam 1940’s-70’s

• Caribbean 1950’s-60’s

Israel’s Turbulent

Birth • Palestine mostly Arab, minority Jewish population exploded after WWII (Holocaust survivors)

• 1947: British gave up, turned area over to U.N.

• U.N. partitioned Jewish and Arab areas1948: New state of Israel attacked by Arab neighbors. Israel won with U.S. aid.

• Refugees from war not allowed back in, still in camps ringing Israel

• Further wars in 1960s added more Jewish territory

Revolution in China 1945-49

• 1911 Revolution: overthrew monarchy

• Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang (KMT) est. by Sun Yat Sen, 1916

• Chinese Communist Party (CCP), est. 1921

• 1924: Chaing Kai-shek (KMT)

• War with Japan (1931-45)

• Civil War (1945-49)

• 1949: Communist China

China’s Cultural Revolution

• People’s Republic of China, under Mao Tse Tung 1950-60: Soviet Period

• 1960s-70s: worsening relations with Soviets“Great Leap Forward:” 1958-62

• Cultural Revolution, 1960s, Mao’s “Little Red Book”“Gang of Four” (1969-76)

• 1972: Nixon’s visit, diplomatic relations opened with U.S.1976: Deng Xiaoping

• 1981: population control

The Korean War 1950-1953

• Former Japanese colony, then divided North/South

• Northern invasion--June, 1950 (Pusan Perimeter)

• U.N.-led counter-invasion (Inchon) pushed to Yalu River

• Chinese invasion, MacArthur’s firing

• Stalemate

• 38th Parallel

India and Pakistan

• Freed from British control (since 1600s) in 1947

• Hindu majority, Muslim minority--resulted in two countries

• Fighting since over Kashmir contested region on border

• U.S. allied with India, Soviets supported Pakistan

Egypt, 1956• Nominally independent since

1922; British interest: Suez Canal

• Canal built 1869, connects Atlantic & Mediterranean, Indian & Red Seas

• 14% total world trade; 26% oil, 41% total trade from Gulf states

• Canal nationalized in 1956 by Egyptian President Abdul Nassar

• USSR announced support of Egypt

• U.S. forbid Israeli/European interference; Canal transferred to Egyptian control

Dutch East Indies

Dutch fought for control after WWII

Lost in 1949

Became modern day Indonesia

Sub-Saharan Africa (British)

• 1957: Ghana Nigeria, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Kenya freed without much fight

• Rhodesia (British settlers) was a different matter– 1965: white settlers declared independence,

internal warfare/Civil War– 1980: Africans won: Zimbabwe

Increasing Cold War Tensions, 1950’s – early 1960’s

• 1949: Chinese Revolution

• 1949: Soviets get atomic bomb

• 1950-53: Korean War

• 1959: Sputnik

• 1960: U-2 incident

• 1961: Bay of Pigs

• 1961: Berlin Wall

• 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis

E. European Revolts, 1950’s

• 1953: Khruschev succeeded Stalin

• 1956: Poland strikers had a limited success

• 1956: more ambitious Hungarian revolt under Imre Nagy crushed by Soviet troops

Ruined statue of Stalin in Budapest

Soviet Tanks in Budapest

Tiananmen Square, China, 1989

• Student-led Chinese movement

• Attempted to use worldwide attention to force reforms (one of 1st movements to use internet)Crushed (on camera)

• Leaders now in exile, waiting for communists to die off

The Vietnam Conflict

• French colony (Indochina), then Vichy (Japanese control)

• Viet Minh (under Ho Chi Minh) started fighting against Japanese

• 2 cycles: French (1946-54), U.S. (1959-75)

• When French lost, divided North/SouthHo Chi Minh (North) and Ngo Dinh Diem (South)

• Johnson & Nixon: war

• Expansion & “Vietnamization” (‘73) war, ending 1975

The Cuban Revolution

• 1959: Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista

• Early support: instituted national education and medical reforms

• Nationalized large-scale landholdings, appealed to Soviets for aid

• Also preached revolution to other Latin • American nations

Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, 1961-62

• Bay of Pigs: planned by Ike, carried out in 1961 by JFK

• Damaged Kennedy, scared Castro into arms of Soviets

• Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct. 1962: closest US and USSR came to nuclear war: 16 day standoff.

Cold War in Latin America• Latin American countries generally economically dependant on

U.S., gross economic inequalities, authoritarian governments

• 1960s: military dictators seized Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Other states ruled by juntas--true democracies rare.

• 1950s-70s: Marxist revolts throughout Latin America. Generally crushed by right-wing governments, backed by U.S.

• 1954: CIA intervened covertly in Guatemala

• Directly in Dominican Republic (1965) and Grenada (1983)

• Largest conflict outside Cuba: Nicaragua, 1970s-80s: Contras vs. Sandinistas

The Berlin Wall, 1961-1989

• Built to stop the flow of refugees to the West

• Most visible symbol of the division of East and West

• “Checkpoint Charlie”

• 10, 315 days

October, 1961

August, 1961

Potsdamer Platz 1963

Prague Spring,1968

• Led by Alexander Dubcek—trying to get partial independence/free elections for local positions

• Result: Brezhnev Doctrine/Invasion of Czechoslovakia

Soviet-Afghanistan War• Client state toppled by internal

rebellion in 1978, Soviets sent in 5000 advisors.

• 1979-88 rebellion against Soviet control

• Resistance led by mujahidin (Islamic freedom fighters) backed by U.S.

• Soviets withdrew 1989, but civil war into the 1990s

• Taliban (from mujahidin) imposed government in late 1990s.

Cold War Society, East and West

• Eastern Bloc: low production, losing propaganda war with West, economic troubles after 1980s due to arms race

• Western Bloc: prosperous but politically tumultuous

• 1950s: McCarthy decade, stable and conservative

• Social Movements of 1960s: grew out of social and population changes as well as unhappiness with Vietnam

• Peace Movement

• Anti-Nuclear (European)

• Civil Rights Movement

• Feminist Revolution

Gorbachev’s Reforms, 1980’s• Soviet Union by late 1980s

weakened by Afghanistan, Chernobyl accident, and arms race

• Glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring)

• Gorbachev tried initially to work within Communist party, until attempted coup in Summer 1991

• Gorbachev placed under house arrest in Crimean, but Russian president Boris Yeltsin led massive protests

Collapse of Soviet Bloc, 1989• Poland’s Solidarity

Party (1981-89): Catholics and workers

• 1989: Poland gained right to multiparty elections; elected Lech Walesa, threw out communists

• Example led to revolts in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, East Germany, Romania

• This monument, found currently in the city of Gdansk, honors the workers in the Gdansk shipyard who sacrificed their lives and careers to form the Solidarity Trade Union.

Vaclav Havel

• President Havel demonstrated key ringing. In 1989 protesters shook key rings to symbolize the end of the communist rule in the country.

• The Romanian flag with the communist logo cut out became the symbol of the 1989 Revolution

Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989

• Triggered by flood of refugees flowing east to west through Hungary

• Wall came down Nov. 9, 1989

• Germany began reunification process; completed Oct. 3, 1990.

Leipzig Demonstration, Oct. 1989

Nov. 9, 1989

Trabant Crossing Berlin Checkpoint

Nov. 14, 1989

German Reunification Celebration

Break-up of Soviet Union, 1991

• Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania left USSR 1991

• USSR dissolved Dec. 1991 “Commonwealth of Independent States,” led by Russia under Boris Yeltsin.

• By 1992, 17 republics had left

• Economic, religious, and crime problems

Post-Soviet Problems

• Economic dislocation

• Resurgence of ethnic tensions, anti-Semitism

• Limited political experience with democracy led to shaky governments, widespread corruption and crime

• Legacy of terror from worst dictatorships left scars

• Velvet divorce: Czech Republic & Slovakia split.– Official Jan. 1, 1993

The Former Yugoslavia

• Yugoslavia broke apart into Yugoslavia (Serbia), Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1990

• By 1991, civil between three main groups: Croats (Roman Catholic), Serbs (Greek Orthodox), and Bosnians (Muslim)

• 1991: Macedonia and Montenegro also broke away• 1991-95: Under Serb President Slobodan Milosevic,

“ethnic cleansing” practiced against Bosnians and Croats– over 200,000 civilians killed– only ended with 1995 NATO intervention

• Srebrenica, 1995; Serbs guard Bosnian prisoners within view of U.N. peacekeepers. These men and 6-8,000 others would be dead within a few hours

Kosovo Crisis

• Kosovars (ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo) declared their independence from Yugoslavia in 1998.

• After repeated Serbian incidents of “ethnic cleansing,” the UN sent troops to stop the killings.

• Kosovo is still part of Yugoslavia, today.

Kosovo Census Results

• Year Serbs Albanians

1948 171,911 498,2421953 189,869 524,5591961 227,016 646,6051971 228,264 916,168 1981 209,497 1,226,736 1991 194,190 1,596,072

• Kosovo under United Nations’ administration