CHAPTER 10

THE COLD WAR ERA

1945-1991

Knowledgeable Americans knew:

• Retreating to isolationism would not be

possible again.

• The U.S. had acquired worldwide

responsibilities by becoming a superpower.

After WWII ended the U.S. armed forces were

drastically reduced.

The rush to demobilize was so swift that within

8 months the wartime Navy of 3.5 million

personnel was reduced to a half-million.

U.S. Perceptions

• No remaining enemies

• Monopoly on the

atomic bomb

• United Nations

available to solve

disputes

The Soviet Union quickly resumed the

offensive in its war against capitalism.

Demobilization

United States Soviet

Major effort Token effort

Mid-1946

Soviet Union

• Conquered adjacent Eurasian territories

• Consolidated Eastern European

wartime gains with political triumphs

U.S. unable to

effectively contest

Soviets because:

• The Army was not

prepared.

• The Navy's range

was geographically

restricted.

America's Options

• Make diplomatic protest (U.S. could

accomplish nothing without backup

power).

• Use atomic bomb (Soviets correctly

calculated U.S. did not have the will).

Atomic War

U.S. public solidly against atomic war,

even with the Soviets' disregard of

wartime agreements at Yalta and Potsdam.

• Annexation of Eastern Poland

and Baltic countries

Soviet Cold War Actions

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Poland

Baltic

Sea

• Installation of Eastern Europe

Communist governments

Soviet Cold War Actions

Lithuania

Poland

East

Germany

Belarus

Ukraine

Soviet Union

• Interference in Iran's,

Turkey's, and Greece's

internal affairs

Greece

Iran

Turkey

Black

Sea

• Assistance for Mao Zedong’s

Communists in Chinese Civil War

Mao

Zedong Nikita

Khrushchev

China

• Creation of Communist puppet

government in East Germany

France

Poland

Czech

Republic

East

Germany

West

Germany

• Creation of Communist puppet

government in North Korea

South

Korea

North

Korea

China

Korea

Bay

Sea of

Japan

Winston Churchill

President

Truman

Warning Issued

Truman tried to arouse

complacent Americans by

inviting Winston Churchill

to make a speech.

Winston Churchill

In his speech, Churchill stated: "An

IRON CURTAIN has descended

across the Continent."

Iron Curtain

The term given by Winston

Churchill in 1946 to describe

the conflict of interests between

the West and the Soviet Union

President Truman proposed

universal military training to

counter the threat.

The Draft

Congress enacted the Selective Service

Act of 1948, which was full of loopholes

allowing military service evasion.

Armed services continued to weaken.

Services Unification

Demobilization caused a reappraisal of

the entire U.S. defense structure.

Army Air Corps

With a large audience, the Army Air

Corps leaders were the most vocal in

their criticism. They sought separate

status as the U.S. Air Force.

The Army Air Corps pointed to its:

• Strategic bombing role over Europe

and Japan

• Ability to deliver the atomic bomb

Air Force

Many in Congress and the public believed:

• Strategic bombing could win any future war.

• An air force was the nation's new first line of

defense.

Admiral Nimitz

believed that no one

weapons system:

• Was adequate for

national defense

• Would provide

protection of the

nation's growing

world interests

Secretary of

The Navy

James Forrestal

He foresaw:

• No immediate

major world war

• No Communist

takeover dangers

• No Communist-

inspired revolts

Most threatened countries were those:

• Closely associated with the West

• Dependent upon logistic and tactical

support from the sea

He opposed a single chief of staff.

Secretary of

the Navy

James Forrestal

The Navy opposed unification.

Unified Command In Large

Combat Areas

• Could improve overall battle

coordination

• Might help to eliminate waste and

duplication

July 1947

Congress passed the National Security Act:

• Created Department of Defense (DoD)

• Placed Secretary of Defense over all

military departments

The National Security Act established:

• Army

• Navy

• Air Force

• Joint Chiefs of Staff

Under the National

Security Act terms

• Secretary of Defense a member of

President's cabinet

• Secretaries of the services not of

cabinet rank

The National Security

Act established the

Air Force as separate

service responsible

for:

• Strategic bombing

• Supporting land armies

Navy retained:

• Carrier aviation

• Land-based reconnaissance wing

• Marine Corps

Kept traditional roles

James Forrestal

Nation's first

Secretary

of Defense

Under the National Security Act, the

National Security Council became the

nation's top security policy body.

National Security

Council consists of:

• President

• Vice President

• Secretary of State

• Secretary of

Defense

The National Security Act provided

for the creation of the Central

Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Soviet Aggression

Soviet troop movements

into the Balkan and Baltic

states had gone

unopposed.

Hungary

Albania

Romania

Bulgaria

BALKAN STATES Yugoslavia

BALTIC STATES

Lithuania

Latvia

Estonia

Baltic

Sea

Turkey

Syria

Iraq

Iran

Jordan

Mediterranean

Sea

Soviet Expansion

Harry S.

Truman

President Truman

took steps when

the USSR started

expansion into

Iran and countries

bordering the

eastern

Mediterranean.

Strong U.S. pressure in the United

Nations caused the Soviets to back

down and get out of northern Iran.

An American diplomat stationed in

Moscow who published his views

on CONTAINMENT

George

Kennan

Moscow

Containment

"The main element of any United States

policy toward the Soviet Union must be

that of a long-term, patient but firm and

vigilant containment of Russian

expansionist tendencies."

The policy of containment became the

cornerstone of U.S. Cold War foreign

policy for the next four decades.

President

Truman

He proclaimed the U.S. policy of containment

of Soviet expansion following World War II.

Truman Doctrine - Spring 1947

Greece and Turkey were threatened

by a civil war because of Soviet

pressure and demand for control of

the Dardanelles.

Mediterranean

Sea Africa

Black

Sea Dardanelles

Turkey Greece

Italy

The Truman Doctrine served notice that

the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey

against any further Soviet expansion.

President

Truman

Truman Doctrine

The key to this

new policy was

the U.S. Navy.

American military supplies and

advisors were sent to Greece and

Turkey.

U.S. Navy units were sent to the

Mediterranean as a diplomatic

show of force.

Sixth Fleet The beginning of the permanent

deployment of the Sixth Fleet to

the Mediterranean

Freedom

President Truman stated the U.S. was "to

support the cause of freedom wherever it

was threatened."

The Navy and Marine Corps team found

itself projecting American foreign policy

at the same time it was struggling in the

halls of Congress for its very existence.

Secretary

of State

George Marshall

President Truman’s plan European

Recovery Plan (Marshall Plan)

Gave economic aid for reconstruction

of European countries

Soviet

Union

and

Satellites

The Soviet Union

refused to participate,

and prohibited any of

its new satellites from

accepting American

assistance.

Soviets denounced

the Marshall Plan

as U.S. economic

aggression.

Joseph Stalin

Soviet Leader

The "Cold War" had

started in earnest!

The next two actions

by the Soviet Union

caused Western

Nations to form an

alliance.

1948

The Communist Party

executed a sudden

coup d’état in

Czechoslovakia.

East

Germany

West

Germany

Poland

Czechoslovakia

Hungary

Coup d’état

A sudden and decisive action in

politics that may effect a change of

government illegally or by force

Berlin Blockade

In June of 1948, the

Soviets clamped a

blockade on all material

entering or leaving the

occupied city of Berlin by

road, rail, or canal.

Berlin

Czechoslovakia

Poland

Austria

East

Germany

West

Germany France

Purpose of Blockade

• To isolate military garrisons

DIVIDED BERLIN

1948-90

EAST

GERMANY

The Allies flew in

over 2 million tons

of supplies with a

massive airlift,

which lasted 11

months.

Berlin Airlift

Berlin

British

Zone

French

Zone

American

Zone

Soviet

Zone

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(NATO)

Established in

1949 in response

to growing Soviet

menace by:

• United States

• Canada

• Western

European

allies

In this treaty, all agreed that "an armed

attack against any one of them shall be

considered an attack against them all."

NATO Treaty

Signatory nations of this

military alliance were:

• Belgium – HQ

• Canada

• Denmark • France

• Iceland

• Italy

• Luxembourg

• Netherlands • Norway

• Portugal

• United Kingdom

• United States

NATO COUNTRIES

Baltic

Sea

Mediterranean

Sea

Norwegian

Sea

Atlantic

Ocean

North

America Portugal

Italy

France

Europe

Africa

USA

Canada Germany

Neth UK

Denmark

Norway

Iceland

Turkey and Greece

became members in

1951. The Federal Republic of Germany

joined in 1955, and

Spain joined in 1982.

The Czech Republic,

Hungary and Poland joined on March 12,

1999, and brought the

number of members

to 19.

HUNG

CHZ

POLAND

FRANCE

France

withdrew from

NATO military

participation in

1966, though it

still participates

in political

affairs.

In 1949, the Soviets established the

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

as the economic organization of

Communist-block countries.

Warsaw Pact

In 1955, the Eastern

European Mutual

Assistance Treaty

created the military

counterpart to NATO.

West

Germany

Romania

NATO East

Germany

Poland

Czechoslovakia

Hungary

Yugoslavia

UNION OF

SOVIET

SOCIALIST

REPUBLICS

Warsaw Pact

E

U

R

O

P

E

Black

Sea

Baltic

Sea

Both the council for Mutual Economic

Assistance and the Warsaw Pact

became defunct after the fall of the

Berlin Wall in 1989 and the Soviet

Union's demise in 1991.

These Soviet aircraft continually

monitored NATO maritime exercises

throughout the Mediterranean Sea

and Atlantic Ocean.

Bear Badger

Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist

Government fell to Mao Zedong’s

Communists in December 1949.

Chiang Kai-shek Mao Zedong

The vacuum left by British and French

withdrawals from Southeast Asia

stimulated insurgencies in:

Burma

Indochina erupted

into open warfare

in the 1950s. The

Dutch were forced

to leave the East

Indies after a

revolution by the

Indonesian people.

The British

granted

independence

to these countries.

Potsdam Conference

Divided Korea at

the 38th parallel

China Yalu

River

Attlee

Truman Stalin

North Korea Soviet Communist

Puppet Regime

• Trained a large

North Korean army

• Mid 1948 established

the People's

Democratic Republic

of Korea

• Established capital

in Pyongyang

In the south, the U.S. and UN helped

establish the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Syngman Rhee was elected as president

and the capital was in Seoul.

President

Syngman Rhee

U.S. STATE

DEPARTMENT

State Department spokesmen had

suggested that Korea was not important

to American strategic defense. This

implied that the U.S. would not oppose

an invasion, and encouraged North

Korean leaders to try open aggression.

25 June 1950

The North Korean army crossed the 38th

parallel in a full-scale invasion of South

Korea.

This invasion had

a two-fold purpose:

• Unify Korea into

a Communist state.

• Establish a

geographic dagger

pointed at the

center of Japan.

General

MacArthur

U.S. occupation of

Japan prevented

communism

from gaining a

foothold.

China

North

Korea

South

Korea

Soviet

Union

Japan

China

Sea Philippine

Sea

Sea of

Japan

Pacific

Ocean

President Truman

directed our UN

Security Council

delegate to call an

emergency

meeting of the

UN Security

Council. President

Truman

U.S. Response

to Invasion

UNION OF SOVIET

SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

With no Soviet veto to hurdle, because

of the Soviet boycott, the Security Council:

• Condemned the invasion

• Ordered military sanctions Two clips

President

Truman

U.S. Undertakings

Truman ordered the JCS to take any

action necessary to aid South Korea

and repel the invasion.

General

MacArthur

General MacArthur

was named

Commander-In-Chief

Far East; and

subsequently named

Supreme Commander

of United Nations

forces.

UN Security Council called on other

member nations:

• to come to the aid of South Korea

• assist the U.S. with military forces

Countries Providing Assistance

• Canada

• Australia

• Greece

• U.K.

• New Zealand

• Philippines

• Colombia

• Sweden

• Turkey

• Norway

• Netherlands

• Thailand

• France

• Brazil

The "Reds"

• South Korea

is overrun by 15

North Korean

divisions.

• Seoul fell in 3

days.

MacArthur committed three

of the four American

divisions in Japan

to stem the tide.

General

MacArthur

Under his direction, ROK Army remnants

fought hard but retreated steadily.

General

Walton Walker

South Korean

Troops

July 1950

Only the Pusan

Perimeter

remained in

Allied hands.

Pusan Perimeter

• U.S. pushed into

a corner

• U.S.

reinforcements

and equipment

poured in

North Korean Offensive Stalls

Defenders began to

inflict severe casualties

on the North Koreans

aided by:

• Marines

• Naval

bombardment

• Air strikes

MacArthur began plans for a daring

amphibious assault.

General

Collins

General

MacArthur Admiral

Sherman

The Pusan

Perimeter was

consolidated

and made nearly

impregnable; a

stalemate had

been reached.

September 1950

UN Forces

They could have broken through the

weakening North Korean lines, but at

great cost.

U.S.

Forces

British 29th

Infantry

MacArthur did not want

to incur heavy losses, so

he proposed an

amphibious assault on

Inchon, a port near Seoul.

Complex Amphibious Assault

General

MacArthur

China

• Capture Inchon

and Seoul

• Cut supply line

to Pusan

• Isolate their army

• Destroy their

capability to make

war

UN Objective vs. North Korea China

Inchon Landing (Operation Chromite)

Presented extreme

difficulties as the

only port approach

was through the

Flying Fish Channel

High Tide Low Tide

Inchon Tidal Range made the

landings risky

• Average was 29 feet but could be as

much as 36 feet

Advantageous Features of

the Tidal Range

• Allowed LSTs to access

Inchon's waterfront

Hazardous Features

• Loss of troops

• Ladders required to scale seawall

• LSTs would be trapped on the

mudflats at low tide

This day set because tides would meet

amphibious requirements for 3 days from

this date.

15 September 1950

The First Marine

Division was

withdrawn from

Pusan to

spearhead the

Inchon landing.

General

Walker

First Marine

Division

Vice Admiral

Arthur Struble

The

Commander

Seventh Fleet,

was in overall

command of

the Inchon

landing.

Admiral Ewen

provided carrier air

support from

three U.S. carriers in

Task Force 77. Rear Admiral

Ewen

Major General

Edward Almond

General Almond

commanded the X

Corps comprised of:

• First Marine Division

• Seventh Infantry

Division

• Airborne regiment

• ROK Marine

regiment

The cruiser-destroyer

force bombarded

North Korean

fortifications on

the islands of

Wolmi-do and

Sowolmi-do.

13-14 September 1950

Wolmi-do

Yellow

Sea

0630 on 15 September 1950

The first troops

stormed ashore

at Green Beach

on Wolmi-do.

Green

Beach

Wolmi-do

Red Beach was in

downtown Inchon,

the only place

heavy equipment

could be landed.

Blue

Beach Yellow

Sea

Blue Beach was on the

southern outskirts of

the city on a muddy,

narrow beach too soft

to take heavy

equipment.

Opposition

Yellow

Sea

At 1730, the first wave hit Red Beach.

Not until the fourth wave landed on Red

Beach did the defenders commence any

serious opposition.

Inchon Invasion Success

• By 2000, Red Beach troops advanced past

their 1,000-yard inland objective.

• Inchon seawalls were torn down.

• Blue Beach Marines seized the main

rail line to Seoul.

Landing Phase Concluded

Twenty-four hours after the Inchon

landings started, the Marines shifted

their command post ashore.

Closing in on Seoul

Before the enemy could regroup, Kimpo

Airfield outside Seoul was captured on 18

September 1950.

Inchon Landing

One of the most

successful amphibious

assaults in military

history

General

MacArthur

"The Navy and

Marines have

never shone

more brightly."

Breakout at Pusan

The day after the

Inchon landing,

General Walker

and his 8th Army

began a major

offensive.

North Korean Supply Problems

• Main route through Seoul severed

• East coast route under steady naval

bombardment

When the Inchon

invasion force

turned southward

and met the Eighth

Army coming north

from Pusan, for all

practical purposes

the war in South

Korea was over.

26 September

1950

28 September 1950

• When Seoul fell, fighting continued.

• Over 125,000 North Korean soldiers

were taken prisoner.

The UN authorized General MacArthur

to proceed north of the 38th parallel to

destroy the remnants of the North

Korean forces.

North of the

38th Parallel

The Eighth Army

proceeded toward

Pyongyang against

heavy opposition.

Sea of

Japan

Yellow

Sea

SEOUL

PYONGYANG

38 ° N 38 ° N

38 ° N

The ROK army

roared 100

miles northward

in 10 days along

the east coast

against little

opposition.

ROK Army 38 ° N

PYONGYANG

SEOUL

Yellow

Sea

Sea of

Japan

Cutting Off the Enemy

Another major amphibious assault

behind North Korean lines was

planned to assist ROK forces.

Under a concept similar to the Inchon landing,

MacArthur embarked the X Corps in

amphibious ships for an assault on Wonsan.

Wonsan Minefield

Clearing the minefield took 15 days

instead of 5.

The minefield delay

allowed the North

Koreans to retreat.