EH class 13: Cold War

Klaus Fuch

KGB spy who worked on Manhattan Project etc → Russia successfully detonates atomic bomb 1949 beginning Cold War

Origin of USSR v US competition

• competitive natures as Eastern vs Western superpowers

• Democratic capitalism vs. Planned economy; “capitalist encirclement” vs “Russian expansive tendencies”

Power vacuums following WWII

Empire of rising sun and Germany

Cultural competition of Cold War

space race, sports

tech, ideology, culture

Cold War begins in ____ and ends in ____

in 49 with successful soviet atomic bomb detonation

in 89 with fall of berlin wall

How was Cold War fought

proxy wars: Korea, Vietnam

areas of overlapping US and Soviet interest

Greece and Turkey

Germany

otherwise, clear delineation through west vs east europe

2 events in 1948 representative of US and USSR gaining influence over E vs W Europe

USSR takes czechia

USA enacts Marshall Plan

Formation of NATO

1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization

mutual defense treaty

anti-soviet measure

in ___, Mao declares birth of People’s Republic of China

1949

post-WWII japan

occupied by US

korean war

50-53

first proxy war of the Cold War

Korea, previous colony of japan, split between USSR and USA→ proxy war

2.5m Korean deaths

Where did proxy wars occur

areas with poverty, underdevelopment, religious conflicts, political instability, institutional weakness

korea, vietnam, africa, middle east, americas

“permanent conflict” in the peripheries

why was there “obligatory peace” btwn us and ussr

MAD

Cuban Missile Crisis

‘62

Castro rev gov intended to allow installation of soviet nuclear missiles. US blockades Cuba. Immediate threat of nuclear war

Cuban Missile Crisis coincides with ____

decolonization of Africa and South-East Asia

what characterized the early 1970s

cooperation and ease of tension

SALT— strategic arms limitation treaties

Reagan

USSR “evil empire”

increase defense budget

coincides with USSR invasion of Afghanistan late 70s

81-89

Gorbachev becomes secretary general in ___

1985

SU under Gorbachev

• identity crisis in economy and ideology

  • lack of direct intervention to increasing soviet resistance in poland

• attempt at modernization

  • improving relations with the west

  • cautious liberal reforms: popular representation, economic reform

  • unsuccessful at improving 

Orwell’s Animal Farm

anti-authoritarian book turned into a film funded by the CIA → anti-soviet propaganda aimed at kids

sputnick

‘57 first artificial satellite (soviet)

followed by laika on sputnik 2

Moon landing

‘69 USA

What was a broader effect of US and USSR tech rivalry

greater technological research

satellite nav, aerial photography, computational calculation, semiconductors

1960s characterized by 

high tension, decolonization crises, coups

limits of planned economy

• poor quality

• uncoordinated sectors

• lack of market incentives

• low innovation

Soviet economic crisis in 80s

• over-bureaucratization of economy

• rising military expenses

• ineffective reforms

• oil issues

• agricultural struggles

when did US sky patrols end

1990

paradox of the cold war

peaceful daily life in US

cost of proxy wars and psychological warfare