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The Cold War

The Cold War. HIST 1004 4/15/13. The Iron Curtain.

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The Cold War

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  1. The Cold War HIST 1004 4/15/13

  2. The Iron Curtain “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one for or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow” – Winston Churchill, 1946

  3. The Cold War • Soviet assertiveness in Europe • Communist revolutions in China and beyond • Confirm threat of global Communism sponsored by the Soviet Union

  4. World War II, NATO, and the Warsaw Pact • WWII and growing Cold War bring back interest in organizations and alliances for Mutual defense and preservation of peace. • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1949): US, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. • Warsaw Pact (1955): Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania

  5. The United Nations • 1944: US, Great Britain, USSR, and China draft proposals leading to the United Nations Charter • Oct. 24, 1945: UN Charter ratified • General Assembly: Representatives of all member states • Security Council: Five permanent members (China, France, Great Britain, US, and USSR/Russia) and ten rotating members with two year terms. • Secretary General and bureaucracy carry out day to day business.

  6. The UN and International Programs • The UN fosters international cooperation to face global challenges • UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund) • FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) • UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) • Actions taken by UN based on… • Majority vote (unlike League of Nations) • Veto power by five permanent members of the Security Council

  7. The UN and the Cold War • All signatories to the UN Charter renounced war and territorial conquest. • Peace keeping (Security Council) problematic in face of permanent member veto. • Vetoes exercised to protect allies and interests. • Difficult to stop conflicts, but observers and peacekeeping forces monitored truces and other international agreements.

  8. The UN and Decolonization • Decolonization grew the General Assembly but not the Security Council • Newly independent nations looked to the UN for assistance and access to international politics. • Security Council slowed by Cold War concerns • General Assembly becomes dominated by issues of decolonization and development. • Voting majority interested in poverty, racial discrimination, and anti-imperialism. • Western powers move most actions through Security Council

  9. The Cold War as Economic Issue • Economic successes will determine which side is right. • West: supply and demand determine production priorities and prices • Soviet Union: command economy, government agencies allocate goods and set prices according to government priorities • Newly independent states often preferred the Soviet model as the key to growth and development.

  10. The Cold War Warms Up • 1940’s: Communism spread throughout Eastern Europe (after all, it was the Soviet Union which defeated Germany) • 1952: NATO adds Turkey and Greece (Truman Doctrine) • 1953: West Germany joins NATO, allowed to re-arm • 1947-1948: Soviet blockade of West Berlin • 1961: Berlin Wall • 1956: Hungarian Revolution • 1968: Czechoslovakia, Prague Spring

  11. The Korean War • Divided Korea at the end of World War II • 1948: Communist North and noncommunist South • 1950: North invades South Korea • UN Security Council approves defense of South Korea (Soviet Union was absent) • 1950-1953: Korean War with US and Chinese allies • Cold War fears prevent escalation beyond Korean Peninsula • Fought to a draw…

  12. Vietnam • Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969): founder of Indochina Communist Party • Viet Minh: Ho’s nationalist coalition, fought French imperialism in Southeast Asia following WWII • 1954: French pushed out of Southeast Asia, creation of a communist North Vietnam and a noncommunist South • Viet Cong: Communist guerrilla movement looking to bring down South Vietnam • South Vietnamese government corrupt and largely unpopular.

  13. Vietnam • JFK: Actively support South Vietnam while also encouraging overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diem’s government. • Lyndon Johnson: congressional support for unlimited US military deployment to Vietnam • Continued corruption in South Vietnam leads to increased support for Viet Cong • Tet Offensive (1968): Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese, proves their military ability, inspires anti-war movement • 1973: Treaty between North Vietnam and United States • 1975: North overruns South Vietnam

  14. Nuclear Proliferation • The reason none of these conflicts expanded… • Competition between US and USSR (and China) in developing more powerful nuclear weapons • The US could reduce the Soviet Union to “a smoking, radiating ruin at the end of two hours” (Eisenhower, 1954) • Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): US response to Cuban revolution pushes Soviet Union to support Castro, station nuclear missiles in Cuba as a deterrent.

  15. Nuclear Nonproliferation • 1963: Great Britain, US, and USSR agree to ban testing of nuclear weapons • 1966: Earthquake in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) almost leads to nuclear war • 1968: US and USSR lead Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, signed by 137 countries • 1972: Begin negotiation over weapons limits. • Arms race pushes bipolar nature of world • Space race, an off shoot of arms race.

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