Chapter 28 – The Cold War

1. Chapter 28 – The Cold War

2. The United Nations • Even before WWII ended, the United Nations was formed. It proved to be the earliest battleground of the Cold War. • Here, the US and the Soviet Union squared off over political and economic influence around the globe by trying to convince other nations of their aims and goals. • The UN consists of two main parts: 1) The General Assembly 2) The Security Council • Throughout its existence, it has been committed to peacekeeping and protecting basic human rights.

3. U.S. actions after WWII • Unlike American behavior prior to both world wars, in the years immediately following WWII, the U.S. changed their stance. • We became extremely active in international affairs by keeping a strong international presence (joining the United Nations) around the world and making huge military expenditures. • The belief of the U.S. was that the only way to challenge the spread of communist ideas (and another potential war!) around the world was with proactive measures.

4. The Iron Curtain • As WWII neared completion, the Soviet Union took control of formerly owned German territories in eastern Europe. • Stalin promised to return these regions to self-rule after the war, but to no surprise, he broke that promise. • The division between free, democratic nations of Western Europe; and repressed communist territories (most of which were in Eastern Europe) came to be known as the “iron curtain”.

5. The Eastern Bloc (Territory either directly controlled by the U.S.S.R. of under its influence)

7. The Truman Doctrine and The Marshall Plan • To ensure that Soviet communist influences did not spread into democratic parts of Europe, the U.S. created the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. • The Truman Doctrine aimed to provide military aid and economic benefits to Turkey and Greece, two nations that were being threatened by communist takeovers, in order to help them remain democratic. • The Marshall Plan was a program of massive spending by the U.S. in European nations (mainly western). Its purpose was to pump money into the economies of these nations to beat back communist movements and supporters in all western European nations. • In all, we spent 16 billion dollars to prop up various European economies.

8. The Marshall Plan

9. Marshall Plan

11. Partition of Germany and Berlin German Partition Berlin’s division

12. The Berlin Airlift • The Soviet Union wanted to take control of the western portion of Berlin, in order to spread communist influences. They blocked all access roads, railways, and canals into West Berlin. • The U.S. was not willing to give any territory over to communist expansion, practicing a broader Cold War policy known as containment. • We responded with a massive airlift brining food, medical supplies, clothing, and even toys to west Berliners. This became known as the Berlin Airlift.

13. Berlin Airlift U.S. planes unloading supplies at Berlin airport. Berlin children cheering U.S. pilots during the Airlift

14. NATO Countries

15. Warsaw Pact Nations

16. Communism in Asia - Mao’s China Once WWII was over in 1945, a four year civil war ensued that the communist emerged victorious from in 1949.

17. Peasants – The vanguard of the revolution • Massive land reforms were enacted, with land being stripped from the aristocratic class and handed to peasants. • Education for the lower classes was improved and improved healthcare was provided. • This was all part of Mao’s plan to focus on the peasantry, who he considered to be the true face of the revolution.

18. The Great Leap Forward In 1958, Mao instituted the Great Leap Forward in order to promote industrial and agricultural development of the Chinese economy.. Collectives were established and peasants were forced to grow food and create the tools necessary for industrial farming, like tractors and plows. The program was a massive failure that resulted in the death of over 20 million.

19. The Cultural Revolution In 1966, Mao encouraged masses of students, peasants, and military to launch the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) that would attack intellectuals and all things deemed “Western”. Student brigades known as Red Guards spearheaded the revolutionary movement. They publicly denounced his rivals and accused millions (many falsely) of being intellectuals or capitalists. College professors, plant managers, and children of the bureaucratic elite were forced to confess their crimes against “the people”. Punishment usually was death, but could also be imprisonment or labor on rural communes (known as re-education). Even the students were forced to spend years in the countryside “learning” traditional ways of agriculture from the peasants. As a result, many were denied educational opportunities and are sometimes referred to as the “Lost Generation”.

20. Student Brigades – The “Red Guards”

21. Mao’s Death Mao’s death in 1976 brought mixed reviews to his reign over China. While millions were killed (more than any other ruler in world history) and civil liberties were void during his reign, he was still linked to the creation of China’s Communist party and its defiance toward the west. China’s new leader, Deng Xiaoping was more progressive. He allowed peasants to sell their crops at market and this stimulated the agricultural market. Foreign companies were also allowed to set up in certain coastal areas. From the 1980s to the present, these economic reforms have caused an explosion in the Chinese economy. It now ranks as the 2nd leading economy in the world. Many thought these economic changes would lead to political freedoms, but that was not the case. This was most famously seen in the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989.

22. Korea: Intervention and War 38th Parallel (Demilitarized Zone – DMZ) Korea’s postwar recovery was much more complicated and difficult than Japan’s. Problems set in soon after WWII when the peninsula was divided into a northern and southern portion by the Soviet Union and the U.S. As was expected, the U.S. set up a democratic South Korea and the Soviets installed a communist regime in the North.

23. Korea: Intervention and War (#3) In June of 1950, North Korean forces swept across the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. The Korean War had begun. As part of our containment policy, U.S. President Truman ordered troops from Japan (under leadership of Douglas MacArthur) into Korea. Backed by United Nations forces, the U.S. troops pushed back the North Korean forces to the border of China by 1951. At this point the Chinese, who were worried about the American threat on their border, sent 300,000 troops to support the North Koreans.

24. Korea: War and Intervention The fighting reached a stalemate in 1952 at the original border (38th parallel) An armistice was signed in 1953, stopping the fighting, but a treaty has yet to be signed. Tensions between the two sides remains extremely high.

25. Vietnam War (1968-1975) • Vietnam had been a French colony since the 1800’s. After WWI, when the French denied independence to the region, a growing movement of rebellion began. • After WWII, the French were driven out of Vietnam in 1954 and the country was divided into a northern and southern region along the 17th parallel. The northern half was firmly communist (under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh), while the south was democratic and supported by the West. • Western powers like France and the U.S. supported South Vietnam financially and militarily because they were worried about communism’s spread into the region.

26. Ho Chi Minh Trail • The Northern Vietnamese began supplying South Vietnam with supplies in an attempt to overrun the western powers that were backing the south and reunify the country under communism. • One of the the ways they did this was through use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a series of jungle and mountain passes that stretched through neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia.

27. Vietcong Tunnels • The U.S. military had an enormous advantage over the Vietnamese forces due to industrial advancements and financial support. • However, the Vietnamese resistance effort used guerilla warfare tactics masterfully to annoy and demoralize the American troops. • Ultimately, the U.S. public got tired of the mounting costs and death toll of the war and placed pressure on the American government to withdraw our troops. • As soon as America left, South Vietnam was quickly overrun by communist forces.

28. Other Cold War Crises -The Berlin Wall • An obvious example of Soviet oppression came with the Berlin Wall. • Soviet tight control over the economy and denial of worker’s rights in East Berlin led to a mass exodus of citizens into the democratic West Berlin between 1945 and 1961. • In 1961, to stem the flow of refugees, the Soviets constructed the Berlin Wall. West Berlin East Berlin

29. Other Cold War Crises - Cuban Missile Crisis

30. Cuban Missile Crisis(Range of Missiles) • When Cuba fell to a communist dictator, Fidel Castro, it began welcoming more financial and military aid from the Soviets. • This included nuclear weapons. The U.S. discovered these weapons in 1962, setting the stage for an international crisis.

31. The Cold War comes to an end! • President Ronald Reagan (1980-1988) made a decision to boost military spending tremendously throughout the 1980’s on new weapons systems (the Strategic Defense Initiative, codenamed ‘Star Wars’). • Although these weapons systems were quite far-fetched and probably impossible to build with the technological limitations of the time, it challenged the Soviet Union to try and keep pace with the U.S., which they could not do. • Eventually, the Soviet economy collapsed under the strain of massive spending and the government was replaced by a parliamentary republic in 1991. • The cold war was over!