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Unit 7 The Cold War

1940’s Cold War

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Yalta Conference• February 1945• The U.S. Britain and

USSR met to set their post war goals.

• 1. Divide Germany into occupation zones

• 2. Free elections in Eastern Europe nations.

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Superpowers• In the Post WWII world

two nations were the new superpowers!

• The United States and the Soviet Union (USSR).

• Capitalism vs Communism

• Democracy vs Totalitarianism

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The United Nations• Created in 1945 with the

goal of being a more effective international peacekeeping organization than the League of Nations.

• 193 member nations in the General Assembly.

• Home to the International Court of Justice to settle disputes.

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UN Security Council • Five permanent

members with veto power (U.S. Britain, France, Russia, China) and ten nonpermanent.

• The UN Security Council can order military action to maintain international peace. (Korean War & 1st Gulf War)

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The Iron Curtain

• Churchill’s phrase “Iron Curtain” came to represent the division between a democratic and free Western Europe and a Communist and totalitarian Eastern Europe.

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Containment• President Truman

adopted a foreign policy of “containment”. A policy of preventing the expansion of communism.

• This would be accomplished by creating a system of alliances and helping weak countries resist Soviet advances.

Containment Video

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Truman Doctrine• Truman’s pledge of

foreign aid to any nation that was rejecting communism.

• Greece and Turkey were immediately given $400 million in aid. Both nations remained free and noncommunist.

Truman Doctrine Video

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Marshall Plan• Europe lay in ruins after

WWII. Record unemployment, destruction, snow, food shortages and economic & political turmoil.

• Congress created a $12.5 billion program to provide food and rebuild Western Europe. We wanted its economy to recover so people would have jobs and not turn to communism!

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Berlin • Germany had been

divided into two nations, East and West Germany.

• The capital city of Berlin was in East Germany. The western half of the city was controlled by the U.S. and Britain. A small spot of freedom behind the Iron Curtain……..

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Berlin Blockade• The first showdown of

the Cold War between the superpowers would be over Berlin Germany.

• Berlin was located in German controlled East Germany. Stalin didn’t want the freedom and prosperity of West Berlin in communist East Germany.

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Berlin Airlift • In 1948 Stalin ordered all

transportation to West Berlin blocked. West Berlin faced starvation if they didn’t surrender and join East Germany.

• American and British planes flew food and fuel into the city for 11 months.

• No Appeasement! Only Containment!

Berlin Video

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Berlin Wall• Later in 1961 the Berlin

Wall was built. It became the symbol of communist oppression during the Cold War.

Berlin Wall Video

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The Cold War• The Cold War was from

1949 to 1989. Superpowers would use spying, propaganda, alliances, diplomacy and proxy wars in developing countries.

• Who will win…Capitalism or Communism?

• Democracy or Totalitarianism?

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NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization! A defensive alliance of 10 European nations, Canada and the U.S.

• An attack on one is an attack on all!

• NATO / ISAF is in Afghanistan

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Warsaw Pact• Warsaw Pack, the

opposite of NATO was organized by the USSR.

• The world seemed to be divided into rival factions along Cold War lines with the threat of nuclear war looming….

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Hydrogen Bomb• 1945 the U.S. dropped

the atomic bomb• 1949 the USSR built the

A-bomb• 1952 the U.S. built the

hydrogen bomb a thousand times more powerful than the A-bomb.

• 1953 the USSR built a H-bomb….The arms race had begun. Duck & Cover Video

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Chinese Civil War• After WWII China resumed

its civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists.

• The U.S. backed Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists with $2 billion in aid.

• The Communists under Mao Zedong promised land for the peasants and forced the Nationalists to retreat to the island of Taiwan.

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Mao Zedong• When Mao Zedong won the

civil war the most populated country in the world was “lost to the communists”. To many people it was a defeat of Truman’s containment policy.

• Mao ordered all land to be seized by the government and peasants were forced to work on the new collective farms.

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The Great Leap Forward

• In 1958 China Mao ordered “The Great Leap Forward”. People were forced to work, eat, and live in communal dormitories and farms with no private property.

• With no incentive to work famine killed about 20 million people.

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Chinese Cultural Revolution

• In 1966 Mao urged China’s young people to “learn revolution by making revolution”. Millions of students responded by joining Red Guard units.

• These units targeted anyone they felt betrayed the ideals of the revolution.

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Korea • At the end of WWII

Korea was a divided nation. North of the 38th parallel was controlled by the USSR, the south was protected by American troops.

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Korean War• In June of 1950 North Korea

invaded South Korea. To most of the world this invasion looked like a repeat of Nazi / Japanese aggression from the 1930’s.

• The UN authorized the use of force to defend South Korea and the15 nation force was placed under the command of Douglas MacArthur.

Korean War Video

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Inchon • When American forces made a surprise landing at

Inchon the route of North Korea’s army was on!

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Chinese Intervention

• Unfortunately China felt threatened and invaded to defend North Korea. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers attacked.

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General MacArthur

• General MacArthur publicly argued with President Truman about his desire to drop atomic bombs on China.

• Truman fired the popular General for insubordination.

MacArthur Video

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The 38th Parallel• After two years of brutal

fighting and cold winters a cease-fire agreement was signed in 1953.

• The DMZ border between the two Koreas at the 38th parallel became one of the most heavily defended places on earth.

• Four million soldiers and civilians were killed including over 40,000 Americans.

The Cold War: an ideologically-driven political and economic competition from 1947-1991 between two military and economic superpowers - the democratic capitalist United States and its allies and communist Soviet Union and China and their allies

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Sources

• World History -McDougal Littell 2003• Let’s Review: Global History and Geography 5th Edition