The Cold War
The Cold War
• Political and Military tensions between capitalist and communist countries.
• Cold war – political tensions and military rivalry which falls short of full-scale war
• Communism – a government where the state controls the means of production and is to work toward a social order in which all goods are equally shared.
• Capitalism – an economic system where private individuals own portions of the means of production
• Main superpowers involved:1. United States 2. Soviet Union
Factors that led to the War1. WWII
• Russia lost more soldiers during WWII that the U.S. (50/1)
• Led to distrust between the governments
2. Spheres of Influence
• Communist or Capitalist?
• Future of Germany. Should the allies punish Germany again?
3. Development of the Atomic bomb
• USA kept this project a secret from the Russians
• Led to an “arms race” between the two countries
Two Front Conflict1. Mental
• Attempted to persuade and influence people’s opinion
• Used propaganda
2. Physical
• “Hot-spots” in the world
- East Germany and West Germany
- Korea
- Cuba
- Vietnam
- Afghanistan
• Almost wars
The Cold War
NATO• North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
• NATO is an alliance system of 26 different countries from North America and Europe committed to fulfilling the goals of the North Atlantic Treaty signed on April 4, 1949 in Washington D.C.
• NATO's purpose is to…
1. Safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means.
2. Keep continual peace and stability of the Euro-Atlantic area
• Promotes governing based on…
• Democracy
• Human Rights and
• The rule of law
NATO Countries
* Denotes founding members
Belgium Denmark Greece Latvia Norway Slovakia United Kingdom
Bulgaria Estonia Hungary Lithuania Poland Slovenia United States
Canada France Iceland Luxembourg Portugal Spain
Czech Rep Germany Italy Netherlands Romania Turkey
The Cold War
Warsaw Pact & Allies
Warsaw Pact
• Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union signed a military treaty in response to NATO in Poland in 1955 .
• The official name of the treaty was:
The Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance’.
• Organization was dominated by the Soviet Union
• The Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague on July 1, 1991 after the downfall of communism in the Soviet Union.
The Cold War
New NATO• After the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, many expected NATO to dissolve.
• NATO redirected it’s mission statement to deal with…
• Terrorism
• Weapons of mass destruction
• Disaster relief
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