Unit 8

What is a Cold War?

A war in which the belligerents (those fighting) don’t actually engage in armed battle.

What was the Cold War fought over?

It was an ideological battle between the United States and the Soviet Union, who had emerged as superpowers following World War II. The ideologies they were fighting over were Capitalism vs. Communism.

How did the Cold War begin?

After World War II there was vast disagreement among the allied powers (Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union) about what should happen in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union wanted Eastern Europe to be under its influence and to act as a buffer to western aggressions. The states there were technically independent but the Soviets would not give up control. They became known as part of the Soviet Bloc.

What formal alliances were created because of the Cold War?

The Warsaw Pact (1955) was a militaristic, mutual defense treaty of the Soviet Bloc States. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1949) was the same thing for western nations like the United States and Britain.

Why did the actions of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe lead to the Cold War?

The United States feared the spread of Communism, which was happening across Eastern Europe. The goal of Communism is to spread across the whole world. In the United States, the deeply held beliefs in democracy and capitalism are infused with a similar goal: to spread it across the world.

Why did the spread of Communism to China scare the United States?

China became communist in 1949. Their economic policies like the Great Leap Forward had disastrous results for the people. China had fought with the United States against the Japanese in the Pacific, and still became Communist.

What was the policy of Containment?

The United States vowed to fight the spread of Communism. They would leave countries alone that were already communist, but they would not allow it to spread further.

How did the United States try to fight communism economically?

Under the Marshall Plan (1948) the United States funneled 13 billion dollars into European nations following World War II. The money was used to modernize industry, rebuild infrastructure, and reduce trade barriers. They felt that if nations saw the benefits of democracy and capitalism, they would stay away from communism.

How did the Cold War lead to an arms race? What was that?

The Soviet Union raced to get an atomic weapon like the United States had and then the two started building bigger and more destructive weapons to outdo each other. The hydrogen bomb, which both created, was much more deadly than the atomic bomb.

What was the economic effect of the arms race?

Both countries developed a military industrial complex as the relationship between the economy and the production of weapons became more intertwined.

How did the massive acquisition of nuclear weapons cause the Cold War?

If the United States or the Soviet Union attacked each other, they were facing a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Therefore, they didn’t.

What is a proxy war?

It’s when one place stands in as a representative for another. The US and USSR didn’t directly fight each other, but used stand-ins to fight for them.

How was the Korean War a proxy war for the Cold War?

After World War II, Korea was split in two with the north occupied by the Soviets and the south occupied by the Americans and their allies. In 1950, the north invaded the south to try to unify the country. During the war, the north was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while the south was supported by troops from the United States. The US and Russia weren’t fighting directly, but through Korean proxies. After 3 years of fighting and millions killed, the war ended in a stalemate.

How was the Angolan Civil War a proxy war for the Cold War?

After World War II, the borders of the newly decolonized Angola in Southwest Africa were sloppily drawn. Three rival Angolan ethnic groups were put into the same country and were fighting for control (partially because the land was rich in diamonds). The Americans backed one ethnic group, the Soviets backed another.

How did the Cold War come to an end?

Mikhail Gorbachev’s attempts to save the Soviet Union led to its demise. He tried to implement the policies of Perestroika (restructuring of the economy, with considerations towards free trade) and Glasnost (more openness and transparency in government). However, the Soviet Union was too corrupt and economically weak from the Soviet Afghan War. Therefore Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev negotiated an end to the Cold War.

How did India gain its independence from the British?

They used non-violence and negotiation. In the mid-19th century (1857) they had risen up against the British unsuccessfully. 30 years later they created the Indian National Congress (INC) eventually led by Mohandas Gandhi who advocated mass civil disobedience against unjust laws and nonviolence. Britain’s military was exhausted from World War II and its resources limited for the same reason, so they started negotiations to move India towards independence.

How did the Muslim minority in India impact independence?

The Muslim League in India advocated for a partition of India to create a new Muslim majority state, Pakistan. This was achieved in 1947 and while Muslims and Hindus fled to where their group was the majority there was massive violence as old tensions flared.

How were similar techniques used in India to gain rights implemented in the United States?

Martin Luther King, Jr. also used non-violence to protest racial inequality which led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

How did Algeria gain its independence from France?

They used violence. The French tried to stop protests by the Algerians against the hardships they were facing with violence and restrictive laws. This started the Algerian War for Independence which began in 1954. They used guerrilla-style warfare and gained their independence in 1962.

How has the world’s imperial past & the Cold War resulted in violence more recently?

The terrorist group Al-Qaeda who were behind the 9/11 bombing formed with the support of the United States during the Cold War to combat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. In the late 80s and early 90s, this group turned against the United States.

How has the world changed because of decolonization?

Between 1945 and 2000, the number of independent states more than doubled.

How has the relationship between former colonizers and the colonized continued?

Many people from the former colonies moved to the states of their metropole (former colonizer). Many immigrants from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh moved to England. Many Algerians, West Africans, and Vietnamese moved to France. They relocated because there were economic opportunities in the metropole that did not exist under the weak economies