unit 8 cold war 1,2,3

Harry S. Truman

President after FDR 1945-1953

• gave order to drop atomic bomb

• initiated Containment

• Truman Doctrine to aid nations against communism

Dwight D. Eisenhower

U.S. President (1953–1961)

• ended Korean War

John F. Kennedy

US President 1961-1963

• Bay of Pigs failed invasion, Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall, Limited Nuclear test w/ Soviets

Joseph Stalin

Soviet Union leader

• communist

• Berlin Blockade

Iron Curtain

symbolic boundary dividing Europe between communist and capitalist states

• popularized by Winston Churchill

First few conferences - Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam

Tehran

• first major conference between Big Three

• agree to divide Germany into zones of occupation

Yalta

• laid foundation for postwar Europe + create mistrust

• Feb 1945 meeting w/ FDR, Churchill, Stalin to plan postwar world

• divide Germany into occupation zones controlled by Allies

• allow free elections in East Europe (Stalin lied)

• create United Nations

Potsdam

• final conference, increased tensions, wartime coop collapsing, tensions regarding borders

• 7-8, 1945 held after Germany’s surrender w/ Truman, Stalin, Attlee + Churchill

• set up zones in Germany + demilitarize, reparations

• threats to Japan (atomic bomb revealed)

Containment Theory

American policy of resisting the spread of communism around the world

Capitalism vs. Communism

Capitalism = private ownership, free markets

Communism = collective ownership, classless society

Socialism/Leninism/Marxism

transform capitalist state → socialism → communism

Mutually Assured Destruction MAD

both sides will face destruction in nuclear war

attack me = attack you = we all dead

• deter nuclear powers from starting direct conflict

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation

Nuclear Proliferation

spread of nuclear weapons technology

• high-stakes arms race between US x USSR

  • dev of H-Bomb (Hydrogen Bomb)

NATO & Warsaw Pact

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Org

• US + other countries that agreed to protect each other in case of attack

• 1949

Warsaw Pact

• USSR + other Eastern European nations

• response to NATO

Non-Aligned Movement

Group of nations that did not align with either US or USSR

• did not want to be ruled by another power after already resisting from previous colonial rulers

• started by Indonesian President Sukarno 1955

Proxy Wars

War instigated by major power that doesn’t participate themselves

• no direct fighting between powers

• small local wars in Africa, Asia, LatinAm

Major

• Korean War, Vietnam War, Soviet-Afghan War, Angolan War, Contra War

Berlin Wall, blockade & airlift

• 1961 wall built that separated East and West Berlin because people kept trying to leave east for west

• Stalin wants to keep people in - stop leaving communism for capitalism

Blockade & Airlift

• Truman authorizes airlift to bring humanitarian aid to West Berliners

Space Race

competition between US and Soviets to prove superiority through space technology

Cuban Missile Crisis

• 1962

• 1961 US fail to take out communist leader Fidel Castro

  • CIA, Bay of Pigs Invasion

• Soviets send Cuba a bunch of missiles

• US mad (but they also have missiles in Turkey, next to USSR)

• John F. Kennedy orders blockade so no new missiles can arrive

nuclear building is a problem → 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

• nuclear countries to prevent non-nuclear countries from gaining nuclear weapons

Korean War

North Vs. South 1950-1953

• Soviets support North, communism

• US support South, anti-communism

• ends in stalemate

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis

• criticized Stalin

Fidel Castro

lead Cuban Revolution and PM of Cuba

• established first communist state in West Hemisphere

Ho Chi Minh

• founded North Vietnam

• lead successful campaign to make Vietnam independent from French colonial rule

• communist

Lyndon B. Johnson

U.S. President. 1963-1969. Democratic

• escalated Vietnam War based on Domino Theory

  • Communist VN would cause nearby states (Laos, Cambodia) to become communists too

Domino Theory

if one nation falls to communism, nearby nations will follow

Angolan Civil War

1975

• colony of Portugal → borders were drawn putting enemy groups together

• groups unite to fight for independence

• now which ethnic group will hold power?

→ Soviets, US, South Africans, each back a group

Contra War

1979 in Nicaragua

• Sandinista National Liberation Front seizes power

  • socialists

• US back Contra group - rebel group opposing Sandinistas

• ends with ceasefire, Sandinista defeated next election