Unit 7 The Cold War

1. Unit 7 The Cold War 1940’s Cold War

2. Yalta Conference • February 1945 • The U.S. Britain and USSR met to set their post war goals. • 1. Divide Germany into occupation zones • 2. Free elections in Eastern Europe nations.

3. Superpowers • In the Post WWII world two nations were the new superpowers! • The United States and the Soviet Union (USSR). • Capitalism vs Communism • Democracy vs Totalitarianism

4. The United Nations • Created in 1945 with the goal of being a more effective international peacekeeping organization than the League of Nations. • 193 member nations in the General Assembly. • Home to the International Court of Justice to settle disputes.

5. UN Security Council • Five permanent members with veto power (U.S. Britain, France, Russia, China) and ten nonpermanent. • The UN Security Council can order military action to maintain international peace. (Korean War & 1st Gulf War)

6. The Iron Curtain • Churchill’s phrase “Iron Curtain” came to represent the division between a democratic and free Western Europe and a Communist and totalitarian Eastern Europe.

7. Containment • President Truman adopted a foreign policy of “containment”. A policy of preventing the expansion of communism. • This would be accomplished by creating a system of alliances and helping weak countries resist Soviet advances. Containment Video

8. Truman Doctrine • Truman’s pledge of foreign aid to any nation that was rejecting communism. • Greece and Turkey were immediately given $400 million in aid. Both nations remained free and noncommunist. Truman Doctrine Video

9. Marshall Plan • Europe lay in ruins after WWII. Record unemployment, destruction, snow, food shortages and economic & political turmoil. • Congress created a $12.5 billion program to provide food and rebuild Western Europe. We wanted its economy to recover so people would have jobs and not turn to communism!

10. Berlin • Germany had been divided into two nations, East and West Germany. • The capital city of Berlin was in East Germany. The western half of the city was controlled by the U.S. and Britain. A small spot of freedom behind the Iron Curtain……..

11. Berlin Blockade • The first showdown of the Cold War between the superpowers would be over Berlin Germany. • Berlin was located in German controlled East Germany. Stalin didn’t want the freedom and prosperity of West Berlin in communist East Germany.

12. Berlin Airlift • In 1948 Stalin ordered all transportation to West Berlin blocked. West Berlin faced starvation if they didn’t surrender and join East Germany. • American and British planes flew food and fuel into the city for 11 months. • No Appeasement! Only Containment! Berlin Video

13. Berlin Wall • Later in 1961 the Berlin Wall was built. It became the symbol of communist oppression during the Cold War. Berlin Wall Video

14. The Cold War • The Cold War was from 1949 to 1989. Superpowers would use spying, propaganda, alliances, diplomacy and proxy wars in developing countries. • Who will win…Capitalism or Communism? • Democracy or Totalitarianism?

15. NATO • North Atlantic Treaty Organization! A defensive alliance of 10 European nations, Canada and the U.S. • An attack on one is an attack on all! • NATO / ISAF is in Afghanistan

16. Warsaw Pact • Warsaw Pack, the opposite of NATO was organized by the USSR. • The world seemed to be divided into rival factions along Cold War lines with the threat of nuclear war looming….

17. Hydrogen Bomb • 1945 the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb • 1949 the USSR built the A-bomb • 1952 the U.S. built the hydrogen bomb a thousand times more powerful than the A-bomb. • 1953 the USSR built a H-bomb….The arms race had begun. Duck & Cover Video

18. Chinese Civil War • After WWII China resumed its civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists. • The U.S. backed Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists with $2 billion in aid. • The Communists under Mao Zedong promised land for the peasants and forced the Nationalists to retreat to the island of Taiwan.

19. Mao Zedong • When Mao Zedong won the civil war the most populated country in the world was “lost to the communists”. To many people it was a defeat of Truman’s containment policy. • Mao ordered all land to be seized by the government and peasants were forced to work on the new collective farms.

20. The Great Leap Forward • In 1958 China Mao ordered “The Great Leap Forward”. People were forced to work, eat, and live in communal dormitories and farms with no private property. • With no incentive to work famine killed about 20 million people.

21. Chinese Cultural Revolution • In 1966 Mao urged China’s young people to “learn revolution by making revolution”. Millions of students responded by joining Red Guard units. • These units targeted anyone they felt betrayed the ideals of the revolution.

22. Korea • At the end of WWII Korea was a divided nation. North of the 38th parallel was controlled by the USSR, the south was protected by American troops.

23. Korean War • In June of 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea. To most of the world this invasion looked like a repeat of Nazi / Japanese aggression from the 1930’s. • The UN authorized the use of force to defend South Korea and the15 nation force was placed under the command of Douglas MacArthur. Korean War Video

24. Inchon • When American forces made a surprise landing at Inchon the route of North Korea’s army was on!

25. Chinese Intervention • Unfortunately China felt threatened and invaded to defend North Korea. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers attacked.

26. General MacArthur • General MacArthur publicly argued with President Truman about his desire to drop atomic bombs on China. • Truman fired the popular General for insubordination. MacArthur Video

27. The 38th Parallel • After two years of brutal fighting and cold winters a cease-fire agreement was signed in 1953. • The DMZ border between the two Koreas at the 38th parallel became one of the most heavily defended places on earth. • Four million soldiers and civilians were killed including over 40,000 Americans.

28. The Cold War: an ideologically-driven political and economic competition from 1947-1991 between two military and economic superpowers - the democratic capitalist United States and its allies and communist Soviet Union and China and their allies

29. Sources • World History -McDougal Littell 2003 • Let’s Review: Global History and Geography 5th Edition