Cold War and Decolonization 8.1 PDF

# UNIT 8: Cold War and Decolonization ## Understand the Context - The aftermath of the world wars provided the context for two developments in the late 20th century: - Decline of colonial empires - Rise of a tense conflict between capitalist and communist states known as the Cold War. - T...

# UNIT 8: Cold War and Decolonization ## Understand the Context - The aftermath of the world wars provided the context for two developments in the late 20th century: - Decline of colonial empires - Rise of a tense conflict between capitalist and communist states known as the Cold War. - These conflicts became intertwined, resulting in numerous wars. ## Decolonization - Nationalist movements in African and Asian colonies intensified in the decades following World War II. - Colonies achieved independence through negotiation, and in some cases, armed struggle. - The creation of independent states often resulted in population resettlements and challenges to inherited colonial boundaries. - Governments in newly independent states, as in more established states, actively promoted economic development. - Movements to redistribute land and wealth gained support in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. - Some of these movements, such as the one in China, embraced a form of communism. - Even after independence, connections between postcolonial states and former colonial empires continued through migration and economic relationships. ## The Cold War - After World War II, with Europe weakened, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) emerged as competing superpowers. - The resulting Cold War was a power struggle between capitalism and communism, expressed through: - Competing military alliances - A nuclear arms race - Proxy wars in postcolonial states in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. - While the Cold War heightened global tensions, movements advocating nonviolence and alternatives to the established order, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, also became influential. - Soviet economic and military stagnation and public discontent contributed to the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War. ### Timeline | Year | Event | |---|---| | 1900 | The Soviet Union refuses to allow free elections in Eastern Europe. | | 1945 | The Soviets create the Warsaw Pact with countries in Eastern Europe. | | 1949 | Several Western nations create NATO, pledging mutual support. | | 1950 | The Korean War begins as Communists and anti-Communists struggle. | | 1955 | China's Great Leap Forward begins, resulting in 20 million deaths. | | 1958 | East Germans build Berlin Wall and kill those who attempt to cross it. | | 1989 | Chinese Communist government crushes a large protest in Tiananmen Square. | | 2000 | The number of independent nations rises to about 190. | ## Topics and Learning Objectives ### Topic 8.1: Setting the Stage for the Cold War and Decolonization pages 547-553 - A: Explain the historical context of the Cold War after 1945. ### Topic 8.2: The Cold War pages 554-561 - B: Explain the causes and effects of the ideological struggle of the Cold War. ### Topic 8.3: Effects of the Cold War pages 562-570 - C: Compare the ways in which the United States and the Soviet Union sought to maintain influence over the course of the Cold War. ### Topic 8.4: Spread of Communism after 1900 pages 571-578 - D: Explain the causes and consequences of China's adoption of communism. - E: Explain the causes and effects of movements to redistribute economic resources. ### Topic 8.5: Decolonization after 1900 pages 579-588 - F: Compare the processes by which various peoples pursued independence after 1900. ### Topic 8.6: Newly Independent States pages 589-598 - G: Explain how political changes in the period c. 1900 to the present led to territorial, demographic, and nationalist developments. - H: Explain the economic changes and continuities resulting from the process of decolonization. ### Topic 8.7: Global Resistance to Established Power Structures pages 599-607 - I: Explain various reactions to existing power structures in the period after 1900. ### Topic 8.8: End of the Cold War pages 608-614 - J: Explain the causes of the end of the Cold War. ### Topic 8.9: Causation in the Age of the Cold War and Decolonization pages 615-622 - K: Explain the extent to which the effects of the Cold War were similar in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. # 8.1 Setting the Stage for the Cold War and Decolonization ## Essential Question: What was the historical context for the Cold War after World War II? - After the global conflict of World War II, unfulfilled hopes for greater colonial self-government after World War I were revived. - Colonies' desire for independence became intertwined with a global ideological conflict between capitalist countries (led by the United States) and communist countries (led by the Soviet Union). ## Bringing the War to an End - During World War II, the leaders of Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, known as the Big Three, held several meetings to plan for the post-war world. - Three of these were particularly important: ### The Tehran Conference - During the Tehran Conference in Iran in November 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. - In addition, Britain and the United States agreed to a Soviet demand to shift some Polish territory to the Soviet Union, which would be offset by Poland gaining territory elsewhere, mostly from Germany. ### The Yalta Conference - By February 1945, the Allies knew that Germany was near defeat, but they disagreed about what should happen after Germany's surrender. - At the Yalta Conference, at a resort on the Black Sea, the leaders focused on plans for reconstructing Eastern Europe and for defeating Japan. - Franklin Roosevelt wanted free, democratic elections in Eastern Europe. He also wanted the Soviets to join the war against Japan. - Stalin demanded influence over Eastern Europe. - Fearful that another Napoleon or Hitler would invade Russia from the West, he wanted Eastern Europe as a buffer zone. - In return for Soviet help against Japan, he wanted control of islands claimed by Japan, ports ruled by China, and part ownership of a Manchurian railroad. - Roosevelt thought that after years of overseas war, the American public was unlikely to support a war against the Soviets over the fate of democracy in Eastern Europe. - The conference ended with a Soviet pledge to fight Japan, but the Soviets offered only vague assurances on free elections in Eastern Europe. ### The Potsdam Conference - The final meeting among leaders of the Big Three, the Potsdam Conference, began in July 1945 in Germany. - Harry Truman, who had become president after Roosevelt died on April 12, represented the United States. - Churchill started the conference but lost his position as prime minister in mid-July and was replaced by Clement Atlee. - Truman insisted on free elections in Eastern Europe. - However, by then Soviet troops had occupied the region. - Stalin refused Truman's demand. - With the backing of Soviet power, communists eventually gained control of East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. - By 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union lacked trust in one another and had begun the aggressive rhetoric that would become standard for four decades following World War II. - Potsdam and the earlier conferences failed to settle important issues between the world's major powers. - As a result, the stage was set for a cold war between countries still devastated by a hot war. ## Shifting Balance of Power - When the war ended in 1945, parts of Europe and Asia had been devastated. - The war resulted in 40 million to 60 million deaths. - It destroyed factories, roads, bridges, and other structures needed for industrial production. - It forced millions of people to move. - Many were fleeing communism or searching for safety and opportunity ### Massive Destruction in Europe - Wartime losses were not evenly distributed throughout Europe. - In general, East and Central Europe suffered greater losses than did Western Europe. - Worst hit were the Soviet Union, Poland, and Germany. - Each lost between 10 and 20 percent of its population. - Countries such as Great Britain and France, despite their losses, maintained strong traditions of democracy and the rule of law. - They still had strong educational systems, including outstanding universities. - They remained home to large, innovative corporations. - These advantages provided the foundation for Western Europe to become a global leader after the war. - However, because of the massive physical destruction and population loss in victorious and defeated nations, Europe became less influential and powerful in the rest of the world, while the United States and the Soviet Union became more powerful. ## The U.S.-Soviet Rivalry - In 1945, the United States was poised to become the most powerful country in the world. - Of all the major countries involved in the war, the United States suffered the least. - Heavy fighting occurred on U.S. soil, in the Philippines, but the U.S. mainland was untouched by attacks. - Its industrial base and infrastructure not only remained intact but also grew stronger through government-funded military contracts. - Further, the loss of life in the United States was far lower than in Europe. - The relative prosperity of the United States allowed it to provide financial aid to European countries after the war. - This aid program, called the Marshall Plan, is described in Topic 8.2. - The United States also had developed atomic weapons and used them during the war, making the country even more formidable. - The Soviets successfully tested an atomic bomb of their own in 1949. - By the end of the 1940s, only the Soviet Union could challenge the United States in military might and political influence. ## Advances During the War - Military research at universities and in private companies, often funded by government, resulted in tremendous technological developments during World War II. - Among the items that were developed for, improved, or used more widely by the military were air pressure systems for airplane cabins, refrigeration for food, stronger plywood for construction, and a variety of plastics for many uses. - One of the most important advances was the spread of the use of penicillin, which saved the lives of thousands of wounded soldiers. - Each of these advances would be adapted for civilian use, thereby improving the lives of millions of people. ## The Start of the Cold War - The U.S.-Soviet tensions evident at Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam made conflict likely. - However, the high costs of the war meant that neither superpower wanted a full-scale war with the other. - Rather, they settled into a cold war, a conflict does not involve direct military confrontation between two or more rival states. - The Cold War between the superpowers played out in propaganda campaigns, secret operations, and an arms race. - The deadliest results of the Cold War occurred outside the lands of the two superpowers. - The U.S.-Soviet rivalry led both countries to arm opposing sides in conflicts around the world, thereby transforming small civil wars and regional conflicts into much larger events. - This increased the death tolls and level of destruction in these wars. - In the early 1950s, the United States and Soviet Union each developed a hydrogen bomb that was much more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II. - The arms race fostered close ties between the military and the industries that developed weapons. - Before he left office in 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower expressed his concerns about the U.S.-Soviet competition for supremacy in nuclear armaments. - He warned against allowing the military-industrial complex, the informal alliance between the government and the large defense contractors, to gain too much power. - In later decades, citizens in many countries expressed similar worries. - They began to protest the stockpiling of nuclear weapons. ## Breakdown of Empires - After World War II, efforts resumed to undermine colonialism. - The start of World War I had marked the high point of colonial empires. - The British, the French, and other Europeans had colonized almost all of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia, and they dominated China. - Empires based in Austria, Turkey, and Russia were multiethnic states, but each was dominated by one group, leaving others feeling discriminated against. - After World War I, the demand for self-determination, the idea that each country should choose its own form of government and leaders, was spreading. - The Austro-Hungary Empire and the Ottoman Empire crumbled, restructured into multiple new countries. - However, in China, India, and throughout Africa, Europeans generally maintained their power, even expanding it over territories that had been part of the Ottoman Empire. - During World War II, the leading colonial powers focused on stopping Hitler. - As a result, the anti-colonial movements probably grew stronger, but actual independence made little progress. - However, after World War II, the foundation was set for the dismantling of colonial empires: - In the colonized world, movements for self-determination grew. - Often, they included both advocates of greater self-rule and proponents of full independence. - World War II had so weakened Great Britain, France, and the other colonial powers that they had fewer resources to resist independence. - The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union gave anti-colonial activists two superpowers to recruit as supporters. - The successful efforts of people to undermine colonial empires are described in Topics 8.5 and 8.6. ## Key Terms by Theme ### Government: Europe - Big Three - Tehran Conference - Yalta Conference - Potsdam Conference ### Government: United States - Harry Truman - Cold War - Dwight Eisenhower ### Society: Anti-Colonial Movements - Self-determination ### Technology: Armaments - Hydrogen bomb - Military-industrial complex