Cold War Origins & Decolonization

Setting the Stage for the Cold War and Decolonization

• The desire for independence in colonies became intertwined with the ideological conflict between capitalist and communist countries after World War II.

Bringing the War to an End

• The Big Three (Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union) met to plan the post-war world.
• At the Tehran Conference in 1943, the Allies agreed that the Soviet Union would focus on freeing Eastern Europe, while Britain and the United States would concentrate on Western Europe.
• At the Yalta Conference, the leaders focused on plans for reconstructing Eastern Europe and for defeating Japan.
• Franklin Roosevelt wanted free, democratic elections in Eastern Europe and wanted the Soviets to join the war against Japan.
• Stalin wanted influence over Eastern Europe as a buffer zone and control of certain territories in exchange for Soviet help against Japan.
• The Potsdam Conference in July 1945 was the final meeting among leaders of the Big Three.
• Truman insisted on free elections in Eastern Europe, but Stalin refused.
• Communists eventually gained control of East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Shifting Balance of Power

• World War II resulted in 40 million to 60 million deaths and devastated parts of Europe and Asia.
• East and Central Europe suffered greater losses than Western Europe, with the Soviet Union, Poland, and Germany being the worst hit.
• The United States and the Soviet Union became more powerful, while Europe became less influential.

The U.S.-Soviet Rivalry

• In 1945, the United States became the most powerful country in the world because it suffered the least during the war and its industrial base grew stronger.
• The United States developed atomic weapons and used them in the war.
• The Soviet Union successfully tested an atomic bomb in 1949 and could challenge the United States in military might and political influence.
• Military research at universities and in private companies resulted in technological developments such as air pressure systems for airplane cabins, refrigeration for food, stronger plywood for construction, a variety of plastics, and the spread of the use of penicillin.

The Start of the Cold War

• The U.S.-Soviet tensions evident at Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam made conflict likely.
• The high costs of the war meant that neither superpower wanted a full-scale war with the other, leading to the Cold War, a conflict without direct military confrontation.
• The Cold War was characterized by propaganda campaigns, secret operations, and an arms race.
• The U.S.-Soviet rivalry led both countries to arm opposing sides in conflicts around the world.
• The United States and Soviet Union each developed a hydrogen bomb in the early 1950s.
• President Dwight Eisenhower warned against allowing the military-industrial complex to gain too much power.

Breakdown of Empires

• After World War II, efforts resumed to undermine colonialism with a spreading idea of self-determination.
• The Austro-Hungary Empire and the Ottoman Empire crumbled and restructured into new countries.
• World War II had weakened Great Britain, France, and other colonial powers.
• The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union gave anti-colonial activists two superpowers to recruit as supporters.

The Cold War

• The democratic United States and the authoritarian Soviet Union emerged as the strongest countries in the world after World War II.
• The power struggle between capitalism and communism was the central global conflict over the next 40 years.

Cooperation Despite Conflict: The United Nations

• The Allies shared a commitment to building a new organization to promote peace and prosperity to replace the League of Nations.
• The United Nations (UN) was established in 1945.

Rivalry in Economics and Politics

• Winston Churchill's March 1946 speech symbolized the Cold War and an Iron Curtain described the split between Eastern and Western Europe.

Capitalism and Communism

• In capitalist countries like the United States and Western Europe, economic assets are mostly owned privately.
• In communist countries like the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, economic assets are owned by the government.

Democracy and Authoritarianism

• In the United States, people chose their elected leaders through free elections and an independent press.
• In the Soviet Union, elections were not significant, the press was operated by the government, and a single party dominated politics.

Criticisms and Similarities

• The United States criticized the Soviet system for restricting rights and freedoms.
• Soviets accused the United States of giving poor people the "freedom to starve" and for discrimination.
• Both countries often acted out of fear of the other, which made the military a powerful force in each.

Conflicts in International Affairs

• The USSR directed the countries of Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania to develop five-year economic plans focused on industry and collective agriculture.
• The satellite countries were forced to import only Soviet goods and to export only to the Soviet Union.
• The Soviet Union viewed capitalism as a threat to its power and believed in world revolution.

Containment

• U.S. diplomat George Kennan advocated for the policy of containment-not letting communism spread farther.
• A speech in 1947 outlined the Truman Doctrine, a strong statement that the United States would do what it had to do to stop the spread of communist influence.

The Marshall Plan

• The Marshall Plan, enacted in June 1947, was designed to offer $12 billion in aid to all nations of Europe.
• The Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites refused to participate in the plan.
• Instead, in 1949, the Soviets developed their own plan to help rebuild Eastern Europe-the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).

The Space Race and the Arms Race

• In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, called Sputnik, into orbit around Earth, inaugurating what become known as the Space Race.
• Early in 1959, the Soviets tested the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. territory.
• Both countries realized they had reached a point of mutual assured destruction (MAD).

The Non-Aligned Movement

• In 1955, Indonesia hosted the Bandung Conference for representatives of countries that wanted to stay out of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War.
• The impulse that prompted the Bandung Conference led countries to formally organize the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961.

Effects of the Cold War

• New military alliances for mutual protection formed in different parts of the world with the start of the Cold War.
• Proxy wars, such as the ones in Korea and Vietnam, resulted in millions of deaths.

Allied Occupation of Germany

• The Allies agreed to partition the country among France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

Berlin Blockade

• The Allies also decided to divide Germany's capital, Berlin, into four zones. The three Western zones would become a free city located within the Soviet zone of Germany.
• The Soviets set up a blockade of the Western zones in Berlin to prevent the West from moving supplies into the area by land.
• The Allies began the Berlin Airlift and flew supplies into Western zones between February 1948 and May 1949, after which the Soviets lifted the blockade.

Two Germanys

• After the blockade ended, Germany split into two states: West Germany became the Federal Republic of Germany and East Germany became the German Democratic Republic.

Berlin Wall

• East Germany began replacing the fences in Berlin with a wall, which became known as the Berlin Wall.

NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and Other Alliances

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in April 1949 by several Western nations.
• The Soviet Union's response to NATO was the Warsaw Pact, created in 1955.

Korean War

• North Korea's invasion of South Korea set off a major international conflict called the Korean War.
• The US and UN supported South Korea, while China supported North Korea.

Vietnam War

• U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent military advisers to South Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese army and prevent a communist takeover by North Vietnam.
• In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson sent more U.S. troops to South Vietnam because he believed in the domino theory.

The Bay of Pigs Crisis

• Castro overthrew the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and set up a dictatorship in Cuba.
• President John F. Kennedy supported an invasion by Cuban exiles which was a total failure.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev shipped nuclear missiles to Cuba in 1962.
• The U.S. Navy was ordered to prevent the missiles from reaching Cuba.
• Khrushchev called back the Soviet ships and removed the missiles that had been delivered to Cuba, and the United States pledged to quietly remove its missiles from Turkey.
• In 1963, the two countries set up a Hot Line between the U.S. and Soviet leaders' offices.

Test-Ban Treaty

• In 1963, the Soviet Union, the United States, and more than 100 other states signed the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.

Angola

• The Portuguese colony of Angola won its independence in 1975, but civil war broke out.

Contra War

• Wanting to isolate the Sandinistas, the United States heavily backed the Contras with covert support.

Antinuclear Weapon Movement

• The nuclear arms race spawned a reaction known as the antinuclear weapons movement.

Spread of Communism after 1900

• Land reform was a vital issue in China, Iran, Vietnam, Ethiopia, India, and a number of Latin American countries.

Communism in China

• The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, won popular support because they redistributed land to peasants, opened schools and hospitals, and punished soldiers who mistreated civilians.
• In 1949, the Communists defeated the Nationalists and set up the People's Republic of China.

Great Leap Forward

• In 1958, China went through more land reform and organized peasant lands into communes.

Cultural Revolution

• In 1966, Mao attempted to reinvigorate China's commitment to communism in an effort called the Cultural Revolution.

Relations with the Soviets

• Although China and the Soviet Union were both communist states, they were often hostile to each other.

Turmoil in Iran

• Early in World War II, the leader of Iran considered supporting Hitler's Nazi regime, so Russia and Britain invaded Iran and forced the leader to abdicate power to his young son, Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi.

White Revolution

• Despite his harsh rule, the shah instituted several progressive reforms, known as the White Revolution.
• The shah wanted to undercut the power of traditional landowners and increase his popularity among peasants.

The Iranian Revolution

• In 1979, a revolution toppled the shah. The new government a theocracy.

Land Reform in Latin America

• Throughout Latin America, leaders saw the concentration of land ownership as a barrier to progress.

Venezuela

• Venezuela redistributed some five million acres of land with a law begun in 2001.

Guatemala

• A democratically elected government under Jacob Arbenz in Guatemala began efforts at land reform.

Land Reform in Asia and Africa

Vietnam

• Communists vowed to seize land from the large landowners and redistribute it among the peasants.

Ethiopia

• When the country soured with Selassie as leader, they sought to effectively implement land reforms in Ethiopia. The country was souring on his leadership, and many viewed him as a pawn of U.S. imperialism

India

• India instituted land reforms and tried to redistribute some land to the landless.

Decolonization after 1900

• Nationalist groups and leaders challenged colonial rule.

Algeria

• Mounting social, political, and economic crises in Algeria resulted in political protests. The French government responded with restrictive laws and violence.

Comparing Ghana and Algeria

• Both Ghana and Algeria experienced growing pains under military rule, the main struggles being between those who favored multiparty and single party states.

Nationaliam and Division in Vietnam

• World War II interrupted France's long colonial rule in Indochina.

Struggles and Compromise in Egypt

• Having long been under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt became a nominally independent kingdom in 1922.

Independence and Civil war in Nigeria

• The western African country of Nigeria, the most populous state on the continent, gained independence from Britain in 1960.

Nigeria's Constitution

• The constitution of Nigeria permitted states to vote for a dual legal system of secular law and shariah.

Caanda and the "Silent Revolution" in Quebec

• A "Silent Revolution" of the 1960's involved much political and social change in Quebec, with the Liberal Party gaining power and reforming economic policies that led to further desires for separation from the rest of British-controlled Canada.

Newly Independent States

• As imperialistic powers handed over governmental control to their former

Israel's Founding and it's relationship with Neighbors

• The Zionist movement originated in the 1890s from reaction to the Dreyfus Affair.

Multiple Wars

• After the establishment of the Palestian nation, there were miltiple wars, including the 6 day war.

Israeli-Egyptian Peace After 30

• A peace accorid was estabished between Isreal and it's neighbors, with US President Carter helping to mediate.

Ongoing Violence

• In the 21st century, the peace process became more complicated.

Cambodia Gains Independence and Survives Wars

• After World War II, Vietnam's neighbor Cambodia pressured France to grant it independence in 1953.

Cambodia under Pol Pot

• A communist guerrilla organization called Khmer Rouge led in the slaughter and famine that followed took more than two million lives and famine that followed took more than two million lives-about one-quarter

Indian and Pakistan Become Separate Countries

• The partition of the colony was chaotic, and violence broke out along religious lines.

Pakistani-India Distrust

• After partition, Pakistani-India distrust grew. While India became the world's largest democracy, Pakistan had both elected leaders and authoritarian military rulers.

Women Gain Power in South Asia

• In some newly emerging countries, women became heads of state.

Tanazania Modernizes

• Tanganyika gained its independence from Britain in 1961, later becoming the United Republic of Tanzania.

Emigration from Newer Countries to Older Ones

• People from these newly independent countries sometimes moved to the former colonial powers.

Global Resistance to Established Power Structures

• Some of the most successful challenges to existing order, such as the one led by Mohandas Gandhi, used nonviolence.

Nonviolent Resistance as a Path to Change

• Three of these movements were particularly large and effective, in part because of their visionary leaders: Mohatmas ghandi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

Challenges to Soviet Power in Eastern Europe

• As the countries in Europe became less dominated by the Soviets and often opposed them.

1968: The Year of Revolt

Events in Czechoslovakia were just one of many upheavals in 1968

Kent State 1970

• After members of the Ohio National Guard killed four unarmed students during an antiwar demonstration at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, students and faculty at hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities went on strike.

Islamic Terrorism

• Several small groups used a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, one widely condemned by mainstream Muslims, to justify terrorism.

Response of Militarized States

• States in which military dictators ran the government tended to respond to internal conflicts in ways that made the conflicts even worse.

The Franco Dictatorship in Spain

• The dictator Francisco Franco came to power by overthrowing a popularly elected government that included many leftists.

Intensified Conflict in Uganda under Idi Amin

• Few countries in the 1970s suffered as much as Uganda, a small country in eastern Africa ruled from 1971 to 1979 by Idi Amin, a military dictator so brutal he was known as

The Military-Industrial Complex

• Conflicts around the world intensified because of fear and economic pressure.

End of the Cold War

• President Ronald Reagan's appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came two years before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

Detente and a Colder War

• After resolving the crises of the 1960s, which included the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the relationship between

Soviet-Afghan War

• The Soviets invaded Afghanistan to prop up that country's communist government against Muslim fighters.

Reagon and Gorbachev

• During the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981-1989), tensions between the Americans and the Soviets increased even

The Thaw

• In this tense atmosphere, Mikhail Gorbachev, a more progressive Communist than previous Soviet leaders, came to power in 1985.

The End of the Soviet Union

• One aspect of Gorbachev's reform program was an end to economic support for the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe.

The Spread of Reforms

• With most of the Eastern European nations caught up in democratic reforms, it was not long before the Soviet Union was

New Challenges

• The decline of a superpower presented opportunities and several challenges.