The Cold War

Mr. Trotman

Background Information-The Cold War

Mr. Trotman

Background Information• Nazi Germany just lost

WWII and much of Europe was in ruins

• The United Nations had just been created to prevent future wars and genocides

Background Information• Two ideologies helped win

WWII– Democracy led by the

United States– Communism led by the

Soviet Union (USSR)• These two superpowers were

now at competition for spreading their government beliefs

• SOL Question: What events led to the Cold War?

What they wanted…

Soviets wanted…• Focused on security• They believed communism

was a superior economic system

• They felt threatened by capitalist countries

• Germany to stay weak and be punished for WWII

Americans wanted…• Focused on economic problems• They believed the Great

Depression caused WWII • They wanted to spread world

trade, capitalism, democracy, and free enterprise

• They thought private property rights and limited government intervention in the economy would lead to prosperity

Yalta Conference• In February 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin

met at Yalta to plan the postwar world. • Issues discussed: – What to do with Poland? The original non-Communist

and new Communist government both wanted power• The U.S. eventually let Poland be communist as long as free

elections were held as soon as possible– Declaration of Liberated Europe: The major powers

wanted Europe to chose the form of government in which they wanted.

– The leaders (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) also wanted to divide Germany

Europe during the Cold War

Mr. Trotman

Divided Germany

• Germany was divided into 4 zones– West Germany• American• French• British

– East Germany• Soviets

• The “Iron Curtain” separated Easter and Western Europe as the Cold War began

A Divided GermanyWest Germany• Officially called the “Federal

Republic of Germany”• Not allowed to have a

military, but it was independent

• Democratic– Held elections

• Controlled by– US, UK, and France

• Received Marshall Plan

East Germany• Communist• Controlled by:

– Soviet Union• Part of Warsaw Pact

Berlin Wall• JFK went to go meet with

Russian Nikita Khrushchev in 1961

• Khrushchev wanted to stop East Germans from immigrating into West Berlin.

• Khrushchev wanted for the U.S., UK, and France to withdraw from West Berlin. Kennedy said “no.”

• Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall

Divided Berlin• Berlin was divided• West Berlin was trapped within

East Germany. • The Soviets then built the Berlin

Wall to keep their citizens from escaping to the free and democratic Berlin/Germany.

• The Berlin wall became a symbol of Soviet communism

• The Soviets were mad at the West and cut off all railways to West Berlin. West Berlin was trapped within East Germany!

The Berlin Airlift• The challenge was to keep

Western Berlin alive without starting war with the Soviets.

• From June 1948-April 1949, cargo planes with food, medicine, and coal helped aid West Berlin.

• This became a symbol of American determination

Rival Organizations

NATO• April 1949 an agreement

happened to unite democratic countries. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• They agreed to help any ally who was attacked

• West Germany eventually joined NATO

Warsaw Pact• Soviets formed the Warsaw

Pact in Eastern Europe

The Berlin Airlift and NATO

Potsdam Conference-July 1945

US Point of View• President Truman met Stalin

at Potsdam, Germany• Truman wanted to rebuild

the German economy so it did not fall to communism

Soviet Point of View• WWII had hurt the Soviet

economy and Stalin wanted reparations from Germany

• Dismissed the Declaration of Liberated Europe

Eventually, the US accepted the Soviets new border with Polandand Stalin accepted the German economy to be rebuilt, as long asthey get some reparations. However, tensions steadily increased

between the two superpowers.

The Agreement

The Iron Curtain

Democracy/Free Enterprise Communism/Dictatorship• By 1948 Stalin installed pro-

Soviet communist governments throughout Eastern Europe

A political and military barrier that isolated Soviet-controlled countries of Eastern Europe after World War II. It became the

symbol of the Cold War because it expressed the growing fear of communism

Containment• The American goals were

described as “a long-term, patient, but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.”

• Containment was keeping communism within its present territory through the use of diplomatic economic and military actions.

“Fighting” Communism with Containment

Truman Doctrine• Stalin and the Soviet Union did

not want to withdraw their troops from Iran

• Britain was helping Greece fight communism

• On March 12, 1947, Truman went before Congress and asked for $400 million dollars to “fight” communism in Greece and Turkey

Marshall Plan• In June 1947, Secretary of State

George C. Marshal proposed the European Recovery Program

• USSR and its satellite nations rejected the offer

• The Marshall Plan donated billions of dollars worth of supplies, machinery, and food into western Europe.

• Western Europe became more interested in democracy and free trade

Containment

Cuba during the Cold War

Mr. Trotman

Cuba• Cuba is only 90 miles

from Florida• Fidel Castro overthrew

another corrupt Cuban dictator in 1959.

• Immediately, Castro (communist) became allies with the USSR.

• Communism had spread very close to America which worried many people.

Bay of Pigs Invasion• President Kennedy agreed

to arm and train Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro.

• However, on April 17, 1961, 1,400 armed Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs.

• The invasion was a disaster and the United States tried to avoid involvement but it was too late.

• The United States looked embarrassed, weak, and disorganized.

The Cuban Missile Crisis• One year after the Berlin

Wall went up, the Soviet Union began placing long-range missiles in Cuba.

• The U.S. felt threatened and began negotiating with the Soviets

• In 1963, both sides agreed to ban the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere

Cold War Spreads to Asia

The China/ Taiwan Separation

Mr. Trotman

Revolution in ChinaCommunist• Communist forces led by

Mao Zedong • Captured Beijing and moved

southward• Mainland China became

communist in October 1949

Democratic• Nationalist forces led by

Chiang Kai-shek • The U.S. sent $2 billion to

aid the Nationalist government . However, they misused the money and militarily lost

• The U.S. stopped sending the Nationalist money and began supporting the small island of Taiwan

What Mao did…• Mao took over mainland China

and called the nation the People’s Republic of China.

• Mao practiced a policy of harsh practices to encourage the Chinese to embrace communism– Punished, brainwashed,

tortured, and killed • Mao called his policies a “Cultural

Revolution” • Used Red Guards to enforce

policies • China’s economy fell

CHINA

TAIWAN

Results of Communism• Soviets and China had signed a treaty of alliance• Soviets had successfully tested its first atomic

weapon• The United States only maintained a diplomatic

relationship with Taiwan Nationalists• Japan had surrendered to the US and General

Doulas MacArthur introduced democracy to Japan. • Under democracy, Japan’s industrial economy

flourished • Japan became a key location to defending Asia

The Korean War

Mr. Trotman

The Korean War• At the end of WWII, the

USSR controlled North Korea while the U.S. controlled South Korea. They divided Korea at the 38th parallel.

• When the U.S./USSR rivalry increased, a communist government was formed in North Korea was established and a democratic government in South Korea.

The Korean War

• Both governments wanted all of Korea and in June 1950, the Korean War began. The U.S. and UN stepped in to help the South and the Chinese helped the North.

• A stalemate eventually happened and both Koreas remain divided today.

Korean War• Korea was controlled by Japan from 1910-1945• 1945- Korea divided –North: supported by Soviets– South: supported by the US

• 1950- North attacked the South. Communists threatened to take over

• Fighting lasted for three years and 33,600 American soldiers did in action

• Sometimes is called “The Forgotten War”

The Korean War

The Korean War memorial is located in Washington D.C.

The Korean War

The Vietnam War

Mr. Trotman

Background Information• In the 1950s, Americans were

very concern about the spread of communism.

• Role of French Imperialism– had control of Vietnam,

Laos, & Cambodia• Japan took areas during

WWII• France regained after war – Nationalists and

Communists did not want to be under the control of France again

Vietnam War• Ho Chi Minh helped the

Communist party rise to power

• He spent years in exile in the Soviet Union

• Later he returned and organizer the Vietminh to overthrow the Japanese

• The Communist wanted full independence fro France.

• America was in a tough position– Support an independent

Communist government– or support French

colonialism, which they did not want either.

Vietnam War

• Domino Theory: The US believed that if one country became communist, its neighbors would fall to the communists

• However, the French were militarily humiliated at Dien Bien Phu and agreed to withdraw from the region.

Geneva Accords• Vietnam was temporarily

divided (North and South) and asked to hold free elections within the year

• Conference decided to split Vietnam into 2 zones– North: Ho Chi

Minh/Communists– South: elected government

• Cambodia and Laos were also set free from French imperialism

A Divided Vietnam

Vietnam War

• Strict Catholic• Banned flags resembling

Buddha• Became unpopular• The U.S. got very involved

with the war• Overthrown and executed

by his own generals• The Vietcong (Communist

guerrilla fighters) attempted to take the South in 1957

The War Seemed Hopeless• First the US sent supplies,

then it sent troops– Americans did not want

to enter the war – American soldiers were

dying, people were protesting in the US

• There did not seem to be an end in sight

• 1973- the US withdrew its troops – 58,000 killed– 365,000 injured

South-Ngo Dinh Diem

The Cambodian Genocide

Mr. Trotman

Geography• Cambodia borders Vietnam,

Laos, Thailand and the Gulf of Thailand.

• It is slightly smaller than Oklahoma

• It has mostly low, flat plains and some mountains in southwest and north

• It’s natural resources include oil and gas, timber, gemstones, iron ore, manganese and phosphates

History• Cambodia was

colonized by the French, taken over by the Japanese in WWII, and handed power after the war.

• Cambodia had medieval success during the Angkorian period began in AD 802-1431.

• It was rich and a royal society.

United States after WWII• The United States is a

democratic country which promotes democracy

• During the Cold War, the United States was competing against the other great superpower, the USSR.

• The U.S. practiced a policy known as “containment” in order to “contain” communism.

• The USSR was communist.

Cambodian Genocide• The Vietnam War had

spilled over into neighboring Cambodia. A civil war broke out and a communist leader named Pol Pot organized a coup of the Cambodian government.

• Pol Pot called his regime the Khmer Rouge

The Cambodian Genocide

• He wanted to bring Cambodia to its original glory through dictatorship and communist ideals.

• The population must, they believed, be made to work as laborers in one huge federation of collective farms.

The Cambodian Genocide

• All political and civil rights were abolished. Children were taken from their parents and placed in separate forced labor camps.

• Factories, schools and universities were shut down; so were hospitals. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists and professional people in any field (including the army) were murdered, together with their extended families.

The Cambodian Genocide• Religion was banned, all

leading Buddhist monks were killed and almost all temples destroyed.

• Music and radio sets were also banned. It was possible for people to be shot simply for knowing a foreign language, wearing glasses, laughing, or crying.

• One Khmer slogan ran 'To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.'

The Killing Fields

CNN Documentary Part One and Part Two

The Cambodian Genocide

• 1.7 out of 8 million people were killed during the four years Pol Pot ruled Cambodia

• The leaders from the Khmer Rouge were never brought to trial.

How the Cold War effected America?

Mr. Trotman

America During the Cold War• The fear of communism and the threat of

nuclear war affected American life throughout the Cold War.

• During the 1950s and 1960s, American schools regularly held drills to train children what to do in case of a nuclear attack, and American citizens were urged by the government to build bomb shelters in their own basements.

America During the Cold War• Senator Joseph McCarthy

played on American fears of communism by recklessly accusing many American governmental officials and other citizens of being communists, based on flimsy or no evidence.

McCarthyism

• This led to the coining of the term McCarthyism—the making of false accusations based on rumor or guilt by association.

America During the Cold War• The convictions of Alger

Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for spying for the Soviet Union – The construction of

nuclear weapons by the Soviets

– Using technical secrets obtained through spying

• These cases increased domestic fears of communism.

Convicted of Spying

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Alger Hiss

America During the Cold War

• The Cold War made foreign policy a major issue in every presidential election during the period.

• The heavy military expenditures throughout the Cold War benefited Virginia’s economy proportionately more than any other state, especially in Hampton Roads, home to several large naval and air bases, and in Northern Virginia, home to the Pentagon and numerous private companies that contract with the military.

America During the Cold War

American military forces during the Cold War• President Kennedy pledged in

his inaugural address that the United States would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” In the same address, he also said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

American Military Service• During the Cold War era, millions of Americans served in the

military, defending freedom in wars and conflicts that were not always popular.

• Many were killed or wounded. As a result of their service, the United States and American ideals of democracy and freedom ultimately prevailed in the Cold War struggle with Soviet communism.

• Unlike veterans of World War II, who returned to a grateful and supportive nation, Vietnam veterans returned often to face indifference or outright hostility from some who opposed the war.

• It was not until several years after the end of the Vietnam war that the wounds of the war began to heal in America, and Vietnam veterans were recognized and honored for their service and sacrifices.

America During the Cold War• President Kennedy, a

World War II veteran, was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas, in an event that shook the nation’s confidence and began a period of internal strife and divisiveness, especially spurred by divisions over United States involvement in Vietnam.

The Ending of the Cold War

Mr. Trotman

• U.S. and Soviet disarmament talks led to a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963– prevented the testing of

nuclear weapons – although mutual distrust

still ran ramped

Cold War Weapons- Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Cold War Weapons- Détente

Détente -meaning the relaxation of tensions. The reduction of nuclear stockpiles lasted until the Soviet

Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

• Soviet economic collapse– Mikhail Gorbachev, leader

of the Soviet Union, loosened the Soviet grip on Eastern Europe.

– As communist governments of other countries collapsed, it set the stage for the collapse of the Soviet Union.

– Eastern Europeans fled the economic hardship of their countries to find work in the West.

Collapse of the Soviet Union

• Nationalism in Warsaw Pact countries– Khrushchev set up the Warsaw Pact in 1955 to

defend the communist block NATO– Ethnic tensions in diverse populations asserted their

own identity when Eastern Europe’s economy collapsed in the late 1980’s • led to infighting in the Eastern European region of the

world

Collapse of the Soviet Union

Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe 1989-

• Nationalism in Warsaw Pact countries–Other former Soviet republics wanted to build

stable governments and improve their standard of living.–With the help of the UN, World Bank, and IMF,

the new nations worked to increase trade and build economic ties with the rest f the world.

• Breakup of U.S.S.R. – The fall of the Berlin Wall

and Gorbachev’s revolution calling for glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring of government and economy) in the late 1980’s caused economic turmoil for the Mother Land and her country’s comrades.

Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe 1989-

• Expansion of NATO–With the collapse of Eastern European nations

once under the influence of the Soviet Union, these nations looked to the West for aid during the 1990’s– In 1997, NATO invited Poland, Hungary, and

the Czech Republic to join the organization

Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe 1989-

Extra Important People during the Cold War

Mr. Trotman

Extra People to Know-Female Prime Ministers

• Closer relationship between India and the Soviet Union during the Cold War

• Developed nuclear program

Margaret Thatcher

• British prime minister• Free trade and less

government regulation of business

• Close relationship with United States and U.S. foreign policy

• Assertion of United Kingdom’s military power

Indira Gandhi

Extra People to Know

Mikhail Gorbachev• Glasnost and perestroika• Fall of the Berlin Wall• Ronald Regan said to him,

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

• Last president of Soviet Union

Deng Xiaoping• Reformed Communist China’s

economy to a market economy leading to rapid economic growth

• Continued communist control of government

America 2011?

Assessments During the Cold War Unit

Formative• Classwork

– Fill in the blank notes– Reading Lessons

• Projects– Hands on learning– Foldables

Summative• A vocabulary quiz after each

lesson that measures their learning. – 10 questions per quiz– 6 quizzes

• 2 vocabulary tests– This will be given after each set of

3 lessons• Political Cartoon Essay

Response– Analysis of all political cartoons

used throughout the notes• Cold War Final Test

SOL Questions relating to the Cold War

Mr. Trotman

World Geography SOL Questions• How can cultural characteristics link or divide regions?• How and why does the level of economic development vary

from one part of the world to another?• What factors influence the standards of living and quality of

life?• How does the availability of resources and technology

influence economic development and quality of life?• How do political divisions generate conflict?• How do political divisions cooperate to solve problems and

settle disputes?• How are current events connected to the geographical

characteristics of places and regions?

World History II SOL Questions• What events led to the Cold War?• What was the impact of nuclear weapons?• What were the causes and consequences of the

collapse of the Soviet Union?• How did the Cold War influence conflicts in Eastern

Asia after World War II?• What was the policy of containment?• What roles did Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher,

Mikhail Gorbachev, and Deng Xiaoping play in major events in the second half of the twentieth century?

VA/US History SOL Questions• What were the political, economic, and social consequences of

World War II?• How did the US respond to the threat of communist expansion?• What are the origins of the Cold War?• What were the early significant events of the Cold War?• What was the impact of the Cold War on Americans at home?• What was the impact of the Vietnam War on Americans at home?• How did American military forces defend freedom during the Cold

War?• How did internal problems affect the collapse of the Soviet Union?• What was President Ronald Regan’s role in the Collapse of the

Soviet Union?

VA/US Government SOL Questions• What concepts define the meaning of democracy as expressed in the United States

constitutional system?• Explain why the following characteristics of democracy are important and how

they apply to studying the Cold War• Fundamental concepts of democracy

– Fundamental worth and dignity of the individual: All persons are entitled to life, liberty, and due process under the law.

– Equality: All persons are entitled to equal rights and treatment under the law.

– Majority rule: The will of the majority as expressed through elections is fundamental to the American system.

– Minority rights: The Constitution of the United States protects the rights of the few from oppression.

– Compromise: The structure of the United States government necessitates compromise by all sides.

– Individual freedom: All persons are born free, equal, and independent.