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Explore the significant events and key players of World War II and the Cold War, including the development of the atomic bomb, the Yalta Conference, the United Nations, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, NATO, and the Warsaw Pact. Learn about the historical context and the impact of these events on global politics.
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http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=d1t30 (Einstein) Manhattan Project • In 1939, the Nazis were rumored to be developing an atomic bomb. • The United States initiated its own program under the Army Corps of Engineers in June 1942. America needed to build an atomic weapon before Germany or Japan did. http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=tdih_0716 (atomic bomb)
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Atomic Catastrophe • The point of total vaporization from the blast measured one half of a mile in diameter. Total destruction ranged at one mile in diameter. Severe blast damage carried as far as two miles in diameter. At two and a half miles, everything flammable in the area burned. The remaining area of the blast zone was riddled with serious blazes that stretched out to the final edge at a little over three miles in diameter. • 66,000 people were killed and 69,000 people were injured by a 10 kiloton atomic explosion. • Nagasaki's population dropped in one split-second from 422,000 to 383,000. 39,000 were killed, over 25,000 were injured.
The Yalta Conference of 1945 was the second of three conferences held between the three Allied superpowers during the World War II era. During this particular conference, which was to be the last one attended by President Roosevelt before his death, there was discussion about what to do with Germany and how to end the war in the pacific with the Japanese. This conference in Yalta would not be the last. There would be a third and final conference held before everything was settled with World War II, but even then not all would be fine. Out of the end of the war, the beginnings of the Cold War had originated. Yalta Conference
United Nations The United Nations is central to global efforts to solve problems that challenge humanity. The United Nations works to promote respect for human rights, protect the environment, fight disease and reduce poverty. UN agencies define the standards for safe and efficient air travel and help improve telecommunications and enhance consumer protection. The United Nations leads the international campaigns against drug trafficking and terrorism. Throughout the world, the UN and its agencies assist refugees, set up programs to clear landmines, help expand food production and lead the fight against AIDS. http://www.un.org http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=speech_286
Truman Doctrine • After the catastrophe of WWII, Great Britain could no longer provide financial aid to the governments of Greece and Turkey • President Harry S. Truman asked for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Greece and Turkey and established a doctrine, aptly characterized the Truman Doctrine, that would guide U.S. diplomacy for the next forty years. President Truman declared, "It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." • Truman Doctrine signaled America's post war embrace of global leadership and ended its longstanding policy of isolationism. http://www.trumanlibrary.org
Marshall Plan The primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the allied countries of Europe, and repelling communism after World War II. Give $ to stop the spread of communism
Berlin Airlift • The city of Berlin, although located in the eastern Soviet half, was also divided into four sectors --West Berlin occupied by Allied interests and East Berlin occupied by Soviets. In June 1948, the Soviet Union attempted to control all of Berlin by cutting surface traffic to and from the city of West Berlin. Starving out the population and cutting off their business was their method of gaining control. The Truman administration reacted with a continual daily airlift which brought much needed food and supplies into the city of West Berlin. This Airbridge to Berlin lasted until the end of September of 1949---although on May 12, 1949, the Soviet government yielded and lifted the blockade. • www.tumanlibrary.org
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization Establishes a system of collective security whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. http://www.nato.int/
Brinkmanship • Brinkmanship (often misused as brinksmanship) is the practice of pushing dangerous events to the verge of—or to the brink of—disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome. It occurs in international politics, foreign policy, labor relations, and (in contemporary settings) military strategy involving the threatened use of nuclear weapons. • This maneuver of pushing a situation with the opponent to the brink succeeds by forcing the opponent to back down and make concessions. This might be achieved through diplomatic maneuvers by creating the impression that one is willing to use extreme methods rather than concede. During the Cold War, the threat of nuclear force was often used as such an escalating measure. Adolf Hitler also used brinkmanship conspicuously during his rise to power.
Chinese Revolution (1949) • China became communist and the nationalists fled to Taiwan. • Truman did NOT recognize The People’s Republic of China because it was COMMUNIST
Korean War • Conflict to stop the spread of communism • 1951-1953 • Stalemate (No change) • “War” between China (North Korea) and the United States (South Korea)
Vietnam • In May 1961, President Kennedy sent 500 more American advisers to Vietnam, bringing American forces to 1,400 men. • The leader of South Vietnam, Diem, attacked Buddhist communities, etc. • Kennedy agreed for the CIA to assist in a South Vietnamese army coup against Diem. • On November 2, 1963, Diem was assassinated. jfklibrary.org
1965-1973 • Only War US Lost • Did not stop the spread of communism Vietnam War
The plan was to encourage the South Vietnamese to take more responsibility for fighting the war. It was hoped that this policy would eventually enable the United States to withdraw gradually all their soldiers from Vietnam. (madman theory/Phoenix program) Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk Vietnamization
Non-Aligned Nations • Because the Non-Aligned Movement was formed as an attempt to thwart the Cold War, it has struggled to find relevance since the Cold War ended. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, a founding member, its membership was suspended in 1992 at the regular Ministerial Meeting of the Movement, held in New York during the regular yearly session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The successor states of the SFR Yugoslavia have expressed little interest in membership, though some have observer status. In 2004, Malta and Cyprus ceased to be members and joined the European Union. Belarus remains the sole member of the Movement in Europe. Turkmenistan, Belarus and the Dominican Republic are the most recent entrants. The applications of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Costa Rica were rejected in 1995 and 1998.
Bay of Pigs Invasion • In 1961, the United States launched an attack on Cuba meant to overthrow Castro's government. • Though the aid and training given to the Cuban exiles was substantial, they suffered total defeat and created a humiliating situation for the United States. • In the end, the attack only increased Cubans' support of Fidel Castro. historyofcuba.com
Cuban Missile Crisis • Almost World War III • 13 Days
Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 India V. Pakistan over what is now Bangladesh US backed Pakistan (hoping to keep USSR out of the region) The war ended in a crushing defeat for the Pakistani military in just a fortnight. US backed Pakistan because of the fear of USSR France/Britain supported India and Bangladesh rebels
Fall of Saigon The fall of the city was preceded by the evacuation or flight of almost all the Americans in Saigon, along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese. The evacuation culminated in Operation Frequent Wind, the largest helicopter evacuation in history.
AFGHANISTAN WAR 1978–92, conflict between anti-Communist Muslim Afghan guerrillas (mujahidin) and Afghan government and Soviet forces. The conflict had its origins in the 1978 coup that overthrew Afghan president Sardar Muhammad Daud Khan, who had come to power by ousting the king in 1973. The president was assassinated and a pro-Soviet Communist government under Noor Mohammed Taraki was established. In 1979 another coup, which brought Hafizullah Amin to power, provoked an invasion (Dec., 1979) by Soviet forces and the installation of Babrak Karmal as president. The Soviet invasion, which sparked Afghan resistance, intially involved an estimated 30,000 troops, a force that ultimately grew to 100,000. The mujahidin were supported by aid from the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia, channeled through Pakistan, and from Iran. Although the USSR had superior weapons and complete air control, the rebels successfully eluded them. The conflict largely settled into a stalemate, with Soviet and government forces controlling the urban areas, and the Afghan guerrillas operating fairly freely in mountainous rural regions. As the war progressed, the rebels improved their organization and tactics and began using imported and captured weapons, including U.S. antiaircraft missiles, to neutralize the technological advantages of the USSR. In 1986, Karmal resigned and Mohammad Najibullah became h ead of a collective leadership. In Feb., 1988, President Mikhail Gorbachev announced the withdrawal of USSR troops, which was completed one year later. Soviet citizens had become increasingly discontented with the war, which dragged on without success but with continuing casualties. In the spring of 1992, Najibullah's government collapsed and, after 14 years of rule by the People's Democratic party, Kabul fell to a coalition of mujahidin under the military leadership of Ahmed Shah Massoud. The war left Afghanistan with severe political, economic, and ecological problems. More than 1 million Afghans died in the war and 5 million became refugees in neighboring countries. In addition, 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed and 37,000 wounded. Economic production was drastically curtailed, and much of the land laid waste. At the end of the war more than 5 million mines saturated approximately 2% of the country, where they will pose a threat to human and animal life well into the 21st cent. The disparate guerrilla forces that had triumphed proved unable to unite, and Afghanistan became divided into spheres of control. These political divisions set the stage for the rise of the Taliban later in the decade. Aided Afghanistan in liberation from USSR CIA provided training and support to rebel fighters (Osama, etc.)
Arms Race After SALT and SALT II, the United States returned to rearmament and tried to restart the arms race through the production of new weapons and anti-weapons systems. The central part of this strategy was the Strategic Defense Initiative, a space based anti-ballistic missile system derided as "Star Wars" by its critics.
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) • SDI’s focus was to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. • An early focus of the project was to be a curtain of X-ray lasers powered by nuclear explosions. The curtain was to be deployed, first by a series of missiles launched from submarines during the critical seconds following a Soviet attack, then later by satellites and powered by nuclear warheads built into the satellites • In theory, the energy from the warhead detonation was to pump a series of laser emitters in the missiles or satellites and produce an impenetrable barrier to incoming warheads.
Glasnost A Russian word for "transparency" or "openness." Mikhail Gorbachev used the term to describe a program of reform introduced to the Soviet Union in 1985 whose goals included combating corruption and the abuse of privilege by the political classes. In the broadest sense, it aimed to liberalize freedom of the press gradually, and to allow for freedom of dissent.
End of Cold War On the 9th of November, 1989, the Border separating Western from Eastern Germany was effectively opened The Fall of the Berlin Wall will always be used as a symbol for the end of the Cold War
