Cold War and Decolonization

• The Cold War was characterized by ideological rivalry between the US and USSR, leading to violence and tension in smaller, newer nations.

Decolonization and the Cold War

• The US and USSR competed to influence newly independent governments in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
• In Southeast Asia, civil conflicts were sponsored by either the US or USSR.
• In Latin America, American companies influenced government and economics, while Soviet movements emerged.
• The US military intervened covertly to protect American interests and prevent socialist/communist governments from reclaiming American-owned land.
• In Africa, the US and USSR competed for economic and political influence, with the US aiming to prevent governments from nationalizing private industries.
• Newly decolonized nations faced intrusion from American and Soviet interests.

The Cold War in Asia

• China became communist in 1949.
• Decolonization in South Asia led to violence between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, resulting in over a million deaths.
• In 1947, British India was partitioned into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan to end the civil war.
• Pakistan joined a US-led trade alliance in 1954 to contain communism, while India promoted non-alignment at the 1955 Bandung Conference.
• The Cold War escalated along the India-Pakistan border over Kashmir in 1965.
• After the UN called for diplomacy, the US halted arms, favoring India, which maintained control of Kashmir after a ceasefire.
• A civil war in Pakistan in the early 1970s involved India, the US, and the USSR.
• West Pakistan forced Urdu on Bangla-speaking East Pakistanis, who sought to create their nation.
• The US supported West Pakistan, while India and the USSR supported East Pakistan.
• East Pakistan gained independence as Bangladesh in 1971 with India's help.
• Violence between Muslims and Hindus increased in South Asia.
• In Afghanistan, the arbitrary border divided communities, but the terrain made it easy to resist foreign powers.
• In the late 1970s, the USSR invaded after communist sympathizers failed to unify Afghanistan, leading to the US funding Islamic jihadists.
• The conflict lasted almost a decade, weakening the USSR and contributing to the rise of Islamic fundamentalists.

The Cold War in Latin America and the Caribbean

• Latin American communities were divided along ethnic and economic lines after three centuries of Spanish colonial rule.
• In Guatemala, indigenous Mayas were marginalized as the United Fruit Company became the largest landowner, forcing local banana farmers out of business.
• In the 1940s, socialist leaders sought equitable distribution of resources.
• In the 1950s, farmland was given back to poor people, and workers were allowed to organize for better wages.
• American businessmen convinced the US to overthrow the socialist government, fearing the loss of land and the spread of communism.
• In 1954, the CIA helped Guatemalan rebels overthrow the government and install an anticommunist leader who returned land to the United Fruit Company.
• Emboldened by its success, the US intervened in Costa Rica and Honduras to protect American-owned banana plantations.
• The USSR supported Fidel Castro’s communist government in Cuba, which nationalized industries after taking power in 1959.
• The US authorized the CIA to work with Cuban resistance groups, but a coup attempt was thwarted in 1961.
• The "Bay of Pigs" was a high-profile embarrassment for the US.
• Cuba harbored Soviet nuclear missiles 90 miles from Florida in 1962, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• Nuclear war was narrowly avoided.
• The state promotes education and health, so many residents of neighboring countries travel to Cuba for medical care.
• Cuba remains a communist country today.

The Cold War in Africa

• Communist and socialist ideas influenced decolonizing populations in Africa.
• There was strong anti-imperial and pan-African sentiment after World War Two.
• Pan-Africanists connected at international conferences to exchange cultural and political ideas.
• In the Belgian Congo, Patrice Lumumba, a pan-Africanist with communist sympathies, became the first Prime Minister in 1960.
• The US and Belgium wanted to maintain foreign businesses in resource-rich Katanga.
• Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for assistance, leading to his capture and execution with the help of Belgian and US intelligence in 1961.
• The period of Cold War tensions altered life in the Congo dramatically, so in Moscow 1961 the Soviet Union created the Patrice Lumumba University to educate Third World students and attract them to communism.
• A strong military dictatorship emerged in 1965, with a legacy of anticommunism, corruption, and authoritarian rule.
• Egypt also ended Western alliances in the 1950s and 1960s, with nationalists taking control of the Suez Canal.
• Egyptian leaders engaged in socialist projects and accepted military aid from the Soviets.
• The government received economic assistance from both superpowers for projects like the Aswan Dam.
• Egypt maintained general neutrality in the Cold War until the 1970s when it strengthened ties to the US.