The United States and the Soviet Union emerge as the

dominant world powers after World War II

SOME EFFECTS OF WWII

• Germany is split into four occupation zones- each zone administered by the USA, France, great Britain, and the Soviet Union

• The war-time alliance begins to break apart at the Potsdam Conference–No free elections in Poland declared

by Stalin

The Wartime Alliance Breaks

The Policy of Containment• Truman Doctrine 1/12/1947

– US should prevent the spread of communism– Aid for Turkey and Greece

• Marshall Plan 1947– Aid to European nations including former

Axis powers– Trade and economic cooperation in conflict

with communism

ALLIANCES CREATED• North Atlantic Treaty Organization

–Alliance of Western Democracies–United States joins

• Warsaw Pact–Alliance between the

Soviet Union and its satellite nations in Eastern Europe

–Communist

HOT SPOTS IN THE COLD WAR- KOREAN WAR

• 38th Parallel set up two zones of occupation after WWII –North: Krazy Kommie Despots–South: Hundai v. Honda

• South – Republic of Korea–Syngman Rhee–Capital : Seoul

Korean War Continued• North of the 38th -

• Democratic People’s Republic of Korea– Kim Il Sung

– Communist

• Both claimed the right to rule Korea

• 1948 USA and USSR withdraw

KIM IL SUNG AND KIM JUNG ILAKA CRAZY COMMIE DESPOTS

SYNGMAN RHEE

Korean War Cont…• North Korea attacks South Korea; June

25, 1950• US sends naval and air support to

South Korea – limited war• General MacArthur fired by

President Truman• UN Security Council supports South

Korea• Armistice 7/27/1953

I am closing my 52 years of military service. When I joined the Army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all of my boyish hopes and dreams. The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and

dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most

popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that "old soldiers

never die; they just fade away ."

Vietnam War

• US sends advisors after French withdraw upon defeat at Dien Bien Phu

• Kennedy administration sends advisors

• Johnson administration escalates involvement– Tonkin Gulf Resolution after

destroyer Maddox attacked

Vietnam War Cont…• Tet offensive – Vietcong attack

urban centers – US only scores a strategic win

• Americans at home–War cannot be won-

withdraw–Political activism on

campus–“Living room war”

Vietnam War Cont…

• Nixon administration introduces Vietnamization –

• 1970 – Invasion of Cambodia– Congress war powers usurped– Kent State University

• 1/27/1973 Official cease-fire agreement signed

• March 1975 Saigon falls

OTHER HOT SPOTS OF THE COLD WAR

• Berlin Air Lift 1948-1949

• Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961

• Cuban Missile Crisis 1962– 65 medium range ballistic

missiles installed by Soviets in Cuba

– Kennedy – firm stand – dismantle or the US bombs – threat of nuclear war

NUCLEAR ARMS RACE

• Policy of Massive Retaliation

– John Foster Dulles 1956

– Greater dependence on nuclear weapons less on ground troops

– Creation of the military industrial complex – produce nukes

RED SCARE OF THE 1950’S• Fear of subversion by communists in

the USA

• Loyalty checks after Canadian government workers pass A-Bomb secrets

• McCarran Internal Security Act– Truman veto overridden

• Spy Cases – Alger Hiss and Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

• McCarthyism 1950-1954

End of the Cold War• Soviet economy precarious in 1980’s• Ronald Regan increases military

spending to an all-time high– Pressure on the Soviets via arms race– Create instability in Eastern Europe

• Soviets are forced to adopt Glastnost– Opened up economy- capitalism– Hoped to alleviate unrest and maintain

military spending

Fall of the Soviet Union

Fall of the Soviet Union• 1989, satellite nations

forced democratic elections

• Berlin Wall comes down• East & West Germany

reunited• Warsaw Pact ends• Yeltsin comes to power

The Berlin Wall 1961-1989

END OF THE COLD WAR

• Economic pressures and nationalistic unrest in Satellite countries – Soviets lose control

• Berlin Wall dismantled 1989

• Communist Party loses control 1991- Boris Yeltsin elected