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The Early Cold War: 1945-1989

The Early Cold War: 1945-1989. The Cold war (1945-1989) can be characterized as forty-five years of high-level tension and competition between the superpowers but no direct military conflict. Origins of the Cold War.

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The Early Cold War: 1945-1989

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  1. The EarlyCold War:1945-1989

  2. The Cold war (1945-1989) can be characterized as forty-five years of high-level tension and competition between the superpowers but no direct military conflict.

  3. Origins of the Cold War • At Yalta the “Big Three” agreed that Eastern European governments would be democratically elected, but Pro-Russian • At Potsdam, Truman wants elections immediately, but Stalin says no • Truman begins to cut aid to the USSR and eventually stops giving aid to the USSR completely • By the summer of 1945 the Cold War has begun

  4. The Ideological Struggle Soviet & Eastern Bloc Nations[“Iron Curtain”] US & the Western Democracies GOAL spread world-wide Communism GOAL “Containment” of Communism & the eventual collapse of the Communist world.[George Kennan] • METHODOLOGIES: • Espionage [KGB vs. CIA] • Arms Race [nuclear escalation] • Ideological Competition for the minds and hearts of Third World peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist economy]  “proxy wars” • Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]

  5. The “Iron Curtain” From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lies the ancient capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.-- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946

  6. Truman Doctrine [1947] • Civil War in Greece. • Turkey under pressure from the USSR for concessions in the Dardanelles. • The U. S. should support free peoples throughout the world who were resisting takeovers by armed minorities or outside pressures…We must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. • The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400 million in aid.

  7. Marshall Plan [1948] • “European Recovery Program.” • Secretary of State, George Marshall • The U. S. should provide aid to all European nations that need it. This move is not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. • $12.5 billion of US aid to Western Europe. Was extended to Eastern Europe & USSR, [but this was rejected].

  8. Post-War Germany

  9. Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49)

  10. The Arms Race:A “Missile Gap?” • The Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb in 1949. • Now there were two nuclear superpowers!

  11. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949) • United States • Belgium • Britain • Canada • Denmark • France • Iceland • Italy • Luxemburg • Netherlands • Norway • Portugal • 1952: Greece & Turkey • 1955: West Germany • 1983: Spain

  12. Warsaw Pact (1955) • U. S. S. R. • Albania • Bulgaria • Czechoslovakia • East Germany • Hungary • Poland • Rumania

  13. Premier Nikita Khrushchev About the capitalist states, it doesn't depend on you whether we (Soviet Union) exist.If you don't like us, don't accept our invitations, and don'tinvite us to come to see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you. -- 1956 De-Stalinization Program

  14. An Historic Irony: Sergei Khrushchev, American Citizen Who buried who? http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1696&dat=19990621&id=fvIaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4UcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3656,2997926

  15. Mao’s Revolution: 1949 Who lost China? – A 2nd}Power!

  16. The Korean War: A “Police Action” (1950-1953) Kim Il-Sung Syngman Rhee “Domino Theory”

  17. The Suez Crisis: 1956-1957

  18. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

  19. The Hungarian Uprising: 1956 Imre Nagy, HungarianPrime Minister • Promised free elections. • This could lead to the end of communist rule in Hungary.

  20. Sputnik I (1957) The Russians have beaten America in space—they have the technological edge!

  21. Nixon-Khrushchev“Kitchen Debate”(1959) Cold War ---> Tensions <--- Technology & Affluence

  22. U-2 Spy Incident (1960) Col. Francis Gary Powers’ plane was shot down over Soviet airspace.

  23. The Berlin Wall Goes Up (1961) CheckpointCharlie

  24. Ich bin ein Berliner!(1963) President Kennedy tells Berliners that the West is with them!

  25. Khruschev Embraces Castro,1961

  26. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

  27. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the Russians, and the other man blinked!

  28. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

  29. Vietnam War: 1965-1973

  30. “Prague Spring” (1968) Former Czech President, Alexander Dubček Communism with a human face!

  31. This slide is just to show you that not much happens in the 70s • 1968 Aug.      Soviet Red Army crushes Czech Uprising.  • 1972 Feb.       President Richard Nixon visits China. • 1973 Sept.      U.S. supported coup overthrows Chilean government. • 1975 Apr.       South Vietnam falls to Communist forces. • 1976 Feb.       Soviet and Cuban forces help install Communist government in Angola. • 1979 Jan.        U.S. and China establish diplomatic relations.        Dec.       Soviet Red Army invades Afghanistan • 1980 Aug.       Polish shipyard workers strike, Solidarity Union formed. • 1983 Dec.       U.S. invades Grenada. • 1985 Mar.      Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union, the following year he declares glasnost and     perestroika.

  32. Fall of Berlin Wall and End of Cold War • Gorbachev • Glasnost and perestroika • Unravelling of Soviet bloc • Germany reunited • Russia and other former Soviet republics become independent states (1992-3)

  33. “Prague Spring” Dashed! But in 1989-Velvet Revolution=success! Non-violent protesters facing armed policemen with flowers

  34. Legacy of the Cold War? • US primacy in foreign affairs • “Age of Globalization” • Civil and ethnic strife (disintegration in Yugoslavia, genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, humanitarian intervention?, rise of terrorism…) • Post Cold War era still being defined!

  35. Will the post-Cold War era be characterized by cooperation among great powers, or will the era be one of conflict among states and over new ideas?

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