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The Cold War 1945-1990 US vs. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Democracy vs. Communism Capitalism vs. Socialism

The Cold War 1945-1991

YALTA (in the USSR) Date: Feb 1945

Present: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin

POTSDAM (Germany) Date: July 1945

Present: Churchill, Truman and Stalin

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Cold War: a time after WW2 when the USA and the

Soviet Union were rivals for world influence. Characteristics

• Political, strategic and ideological struggle between the US and the USSR that spread throughout the world

• Struggle that contained everything short of war

• Competing social and economic ideologies

Two sides of Cold War

• NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• USA, France, Great Britain, West Germany

• CAPITALISM

• Democracy – Free elections

– freedoms

• Warsaw Pact – pro Soviet countries – USSR, and all countries controlled by the USSR.

• COMMUNISM – Government owns most

businesses ,land, stores

– Limited freedom of speech/religion

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NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization • In 1949 the western nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to co- ordinate their defense against USSR.

•It originally consisted of: –America

–Belgium

–Britain

–Canada

–Denmark

–France

–Holland

–Italy

–Luxembourg

–Norway

–Portugal

• Since the fall of the Soviet Union in

1991,some former Soviet republics have applied for membership to NATO.

NATO flag

NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization

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Warsaw Pact •Warsaw Pact: organization of communist states in Central and Eastern Europe.

•Established May 14, 1955 in Warsaw, Poland

•USSR established in in response to NATO treaty

•Founding members: –Albania (left in 1961 as a result of the Sino-Soviet split) –Bulgaria –Czechoslovakia –Hungary –Poland –Romania – USSR –East Germany (1956)

Greatest extent of Warsaw Pact

Iron Curtain – A term used by Winston Churchill to describe the separating of Those communist lands of East Europe from the West.

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• The Russians took very high casualties to capture Berlin in May 1945. They spent the early occupation trying to take over all zones of the city but were stopped by German democrats such as Willy Brandt and Konrad Adenauer. Reluctantly the Russians had to admit the Americans, French and British to their respective zones.

Berlin is Germany’s capital city.

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The Berlin Crisis: June 1948-May 1949 • 1948: West Germany grew in prosperity due to the Marshall Plan • West wanted East to rejoin; Stalin feared it would hurt Soviet security. • June 1948: Stalin decided to gain control of West Berlin, which was deep inside the Eastern Sector

– Cuts road, rail and canal links with West Berlin, hoping to starve it into submission

• West responded by airlifting supplies to allow West Berlin to survive • May 1949: USSR admitted defeat, lifted blockade

Map of Germany divided into zones after WWII

Map of Berlin divided into zones after WWII

A plane flies in supplies during the Berlin Airlift.

Berlin blockade led to Berlin Airlift

• August 18, 1961, the Russian communist government began to build a wall separating East Berlin from West Berlin

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall The Soviets built the wall to keep communists from escaping to the American sector.

Wall torn down in 1989.

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine in

March 1947 promised that the USA “would support free peoples who are resisting” communism.

This led to containment –

stopping the spread of communism through military and non-military ways

Communism spreads like a disease…… The domino theory was used by

successive United States administrations during the Cold War to justify the need for American intervention around the

world (50-80 Eisenhower)

Marshall Plan – USA’s plan to send food,

blankets, fuel to Europe to help them. AND to keep them from turning communist.

**helped countries economically so they won’t go red.

Iran Crisis of 1946: USSR refused to withdraw from oil rich Iran after

WWII -US encouraged them to leave and promised them oil drilling rights but later backed Iran in refusing them. USSR suspicious of USA

Greece and Turkey

• 1947: First areas where the policy of containment was used to stop communist expansion

Meanwhile. . .

• After Korea and before Vietnam got really bad, America felt they had a problem closer to home.

Space Race • The USA and the Soviet Union raced as the

world watched to be the first to conquer space.

1957 Sputnik – first satellite

Score 1 for

Soviets

Score: USA – 0 Soviets - 2

First man in space

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Arms Race

• Cold War tensions increased in the US when the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949.

• Cold War tensions increased in the USSR when the US exploded its first hydrogen bomb in 1952. It was 1000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Nuclear Missiles!

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• The nuclear bomb gave America a lead which was expected to last at least 5 years. The rapid Russian development of nuclear technology, helped by the work of the “atom spies” was a shock. Significantly, Russia hurriedly declared war against Japan at the beginning of August 1945 and rushed to advance into Asia to stake out a position for the post-war settlement. This helped make both the Korean and Vietnamese conflicts more likely.