Issues of the Cold War - The Space Race, Proxy Wars & More - PDF

Issues of the Cold War 1. The Space Race Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space on June 16, 1963, when she orbited Earth as part of the Vostok 6 mission. 2. The Arms Race Both spent billions and billions of do...

Issues of the Cold War 1. The Space Race Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space on June 16, 1963, when she orbited Earth as part of the Vostok 6 mission. 2. The Arms Race Both spent billions and billions of dollars trying to build up huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Near the end of the Cold War the Soviet Union was spending around 27% of its total gross national product on the military. This was crippling to their economy and helped to bring an end to the Cold War. 3. The Cuban missile crisis Our purpose has been and is to help Cuba…You have surrounded the Soviet Union with military bases, surrounded our allies with military bases, set up military bases literally around our country, and stationed your rocket weapons at them… Our sentinels are pacing up and down and watching each other. Letter from Nikita Khrushchev to President Kennedy October 27, 1962 TRIAD ACTIVITY The class will be grouped into triads. Each member will be assigned to an article about the issues of the Cold War. Each group will answer the historical question based on the article assigned to them. The class will be given 10 minutes to do the task. Each group will put their answers in Google Docs. Historical question: :What was life like during the Cold War?”  Articles Article 1: The Sad Story of Laika, the First Dog Launched Into Orbit https://time.com/3546215/laika-1957/ Article 2: The new Soviet bomb https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/cold-war-on-file/ne w-soviet-bomb/ Article 3: Childhood Memories Of The Cuban Missile Crisis https://www.npr.org/2012/10/22/163395079/childhood-memories-of-the-cub an-missile-crisis  GROUP SHARING  Two powers in 4. Proxy wars conflict use substitutes instead of fighting directly Gives support to other wars to promote their ideology (Korean War, Vietnam War, Khmer Rouge)  Think about this: EU: The experience of conflict and violence leaves long-term effects on society. The story behind Ukraine and USSR  Results of Proxy Wars: Inequality and Issues of Democracy in SEA Korean War After WWII, Neither the SU nor the US wanted to give up their influence in Korea; as a compromise, Korea was split into two at the 38th Parallel. North Korea: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; South Korea: Republic of Korea. North Korea invaded South Korea by crossing the 38th Parallel, that surprised USA. The UN Security Council called on UN members to support South Korea; the SU ambassador was absent. “I have ordered United States air and sea forces to give the Korean government troops cover and support.” –President Harry S Truman “Everybody could see that we had reached stalemate, unless someone started chucking atom bombs.” –British soldier. Peace talks began. The Armistice Agreement formally ended fighting and divided the Korean peninsula, but it was not a peace treaty. North Korea also remains under the rule of a strict Communist dictatorship. South Korea is the Republic of Korea Vietnam Vietnam was divided into North Vietnam (communist, led by Ho Chi Minh) and South Vietnam (non-communist, supported by the U.S.) after World War II. North Vietnam & Viet Cong (communist guerrillas) vs. South Vietnam & U.S.  Vietnam War Even as the military commitment in Vietnam grew, JFK told an interviewer, "In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it—the people of Vietnam against the Communists.... But I don't agree with those who say we should withdraw. That would be a great mistake.... [The United States] made this effort to defend Europe. Now Europe is quite secure. We also have to participate—we may not like it—in the defense of Asia." Outcome: Number of people killed during the Vietnam War: as many as 2,000,000 civilians on both sides and some 1,100,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters Effects on citizens, Birth defects, cancer, Neurological disorders Environmental destruction and water contamination. In 1975, North Vietnam captured Saigon, uniting Vietnam under communist rule. Over 58,000 U.S. soldiers and millions of Vietnamese died. Vietnam became a unified communist country. The war caused mass protests in the U.S. and distrust in the government.  Khmer Rouge Radical communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 after winning power through a guerrilla war. The armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. Pol Pot created a communist ideology based on returning Cambodia to an idealized, pristine peasant society in which the corruption of modern life was to be eliminated. Pol Pot's Little Red Book: The Sayings of Angkar Who were the Khmer Rouge? Many were young, rural, poor, uneducated. Some believed in the KR’s revolutionary ideas, though not necessarily its tactics. Some joined willingly; others were forced to join Outcome of Khmer Rouge Gross mismanagement of the country’s economy led to shortages of food and medicine, and untold numbers of people succumbed to disease and starvation. Religious and ethnic minorities faced particular persecution. Anyone considered an intellectual was targeted for special treatment. Estimates range from 1.5 to 3 million people having died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, with the consensus being approximately 2 million. End of the cold war 1968- nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) US and USSR leaders limited and reduced the size of their nuclear arsenals 1989- Berlin wall fell 1990- Germany reunified 1991, The Dissolution of the USSR and the birth of Russia The Soviet economy was struggling due to high military spending, a weak economy, and lack of consumer goods. Soviet republics (e.g., Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Georgia) started demanding independence. Seeing the USSR collapsing, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet leader on December 25, 1991. Russia, led by Boris Yeltsin, became an independent country. In 1991, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin, replaced by the Russian flag. The Cold War ended, and the U.S. became the sole superpower. Looking at this infographic, can we say that the cold war has really ended?