•THE COLD WAR

3rd Year History

•Causes of the Cold War

• Political differences

• Disagreements during WW2 . The US slow to open ‘second front’. 27 m Russians died.

• Atomic bomb not shared with USSR.

• The Iron Curtain. Buffer zone of ‘satellite states’. Tension.

• The Truman doctrine. Originally to help Greece and Turkey (Communist pressure) led to the ‘Marshall plan’. The Russians competed with ‘Comecon’

•THE BERLIN BLOCKADE 1948.

Case Study 1.

•Causes.• At Yalta and Potsdam Germany divided into zones.

• So was Berlin. These were supposed to be temporary.

• USSR wanted revenged and stripped its zone.

• The Allies did not want another Versailles and wanted a strong ally

•Course.• When the Allies introduced

the Deutschmark the Russians cut off routes to Berlin.

• Russians hoping Allies would leave Berlin

• The Berlin Airlift.

• 3 air corridors.

• Plane landing every 90 seconds.

• People suffered.

• After 11 months May 1949 blockade lifted

•Results

• War did not happen• East and West Germany to stay• NATO and Warsaw Pact• Tension• 1961 The Berlin Wall.

•THE KOREAN WAR.

Case Study 2:

•Causes• After WW2 38th Parallel • 1948 US backed Republic of Korea elected in the south (Seoul)• USSR Democratic Republic of Korea in the north (Pyongyang)• 1950 border incidents led to North invading South.

•Korean War

• UN (mainly US) army under MacArthur drove them back and went on to the Chinese border.

• Mao Tse tung entered the war and again the South was invaded.

• Truman sacked MacArthur.• 1953 Stalin died (Khrushchev) and Eisenhower became President.

• War ended. • 38th Parallel resumed.

•Results: •Over 1million dead. Country in ruins• Increased tension•New ally for US•UN authority established

•The Cold War Spreads•The Arms Race began in earnest (H-bombs, ICBMs)•Space Race (1957 Sputnik 1 first satellite, 1961 Gagarin in space, 1969 man on the •moon)• Propaganda•Sports

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

Case Study 3:

•Causes• US backed Batista dictatorship. US industry and sugar plantations.• 1959 Castro’s communist revolution nationalised the above.• US sanctions = Khrushchev + USSR bought Cuban sugar and sold weapons.• Kennedy and CIA = Bay of Pigs failure.

•The Crisis• 1962 U2 photographed Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba

• Kennedy’s blockade. Very close to war.

• Army and Airforce urge Kennedy to destroy Cuba.

• Communications with Kruschev confused.

• Closest world has come to Nuclear war.

• USSR agreed to dismantle bases

•Results:• Both sides took measures to prevent nuclear war• 1963 US missile bases in Turkey dismantled• ‘hotline’ set up• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (above ground)

•The Cold War Comes to an End• 1985 Gorbachev comes to power. Wanted to

reform communism so the people would be better off.

• ‘Perestroika’ (reconstruction) and Glastnost (openness)

• He wanted to cut military spending and made agreements with Reagan and Bush (snr) to scrap thousands of nuclear missiles.

• Gorbachev’s promise not to use force to prevent democracy in eastern Europe led to the collapse of communism in East Germany and other countries

• 1989 Berlin Wall came down• 1990 Germany reunited• The USSR began to break up