Cold War

Cold War

the period after WWII (1945 — 1989) that involved the political, economic, and military rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union

Differences in US and USSR

US:

capitalist

democracy

freedom of religion (mainly Christian)

USSR:

communist

dictatorship

atheist

Why are the US and USSR “fighting” with each other?

differences in ideology

both superpowers after WWII — fighting for power/influence

major economies — lots of differences, wanted to be the best

How did Truman attempt to stop the spread of communism?

Containment via Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan

containment

foreign policy adopted by Tuman in which the US allied with/gave aid to countries vulnerable to communism in order to slow/stop its spread

Why is Europe vulnerable to communism?

Torn apart after WWII

Helpless

Desperate for a leader; more likely to vote for extremist views than listen to reason

Fascists lost war — left communists as last resort

First country fought over in Cold War

Germany

East — Communists/USSR

West — Capitalists/US/France/UK

Berlin divided same way

NATO

Military/Defensive alliance that was supposed to protect members if they were attacked by the USSR

UN

Peace-Keeping organization made after WWII to help sort problems out beforehand so war can be avoided

Setup of UN

General Assembly — Members discuss and debate political issues between countries

Security Council — Selec group of members that vote on said issues: five permanent, ten rotate out

Permanent UN countries with voting power

US

Britain

USSR/Russia

China

France

Major allied superpowers of WWII got special priveleges

How are NATO and UN different?

NATO: military alliance made to protect countries from USSR/Communism/enemies

UN: peace-keeping organization made to discuss tensions/issues and avoid war

Joseph McCarthy

USSenator tasked with uncovering communist spies and citizens during the Cold War

McCarthyism

the methods McCarthy used in order to stamp out communists: accusations, hearings, and arrests based on barely any evidence

Ended up falsely accusing a lot of people, which hurt their reputations and relationships

Syngman Rhee

leader of South Korea during the Korean War

Kim Il Sung

Leader of North Korea during the Korean War

Major events in Korean War

North Korea invades South Korea

UN decides to step in and help supply South Korea with supplies and troops

North Korea gets pushed back to China: China gets scared and declares war on South Korea

1951 stalemate for about 2 years before armestice

Korean War Sides

US — South Korea

USSR — North Korea

Harry S Truman

US President that stepped into the Korean War to help South Korea with other UN members/leaders

Douglas MacArthur

General placed in charge of the US troops in Korean War

Fired for wanting to nuke the opposing side and slandering Truman

Dwight D Eisenhower

US President at the end of Korean War who signs a ceasefire agreement and set up DMZs near the borders of both countries

Stalemate

A position in a conflict where it physically cannot go anywhere — no side is winning or losing

Korean War results

Remained separate countries, north and south

Landmasses still the same size and divided at the 38th parallel

DMZ

Demilitarized Zone

Places roughly two and a half feet from borders of countries where weapons are prohipited to decrease the chances of armed conflict

Why does the UN vote to help South Korea?

China turned communist — not recognized as the allied power that helped in WWII (Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taiwan)

USSR absent — boycotting UN after China decision

JFK

Winner of the 1960 presidential election

Plan called the New Frontier — helped lower taxes, raise minimum wage, provide affordable housing, and establish Peace Corps

Failures: Bay of Pigs Invasion

Successes: Pushed for the US to send a man to the moon, drafted Civil Rights Act of 964 (signed by Johnson), stopped the Cuban Missile Crisis

Jackie Kennedy

JFK’s wife/first lady

The two were like a fairy-tale, royal couple

More aloof and reserved than her husband, but set many trends in behavior and fashion for women at the time

Bay of Pigs Invasion

April 1961

Attempt planned by JFK to overthrow Fidel Castro, Cuba’s new communist dictor

Failed because Cuba found out about it: everything went downhill from there

Fidel Castro

Dictator of Communist Cuba around the period of JFK’s presidency

embargo

an official ban on trade/business with another country

America placed one on Cuba after it became communist and nationalized oil businesses the US had set up there

Cuban Missile Crisis

October 1962

Cuba, right off the coast of Florida

Started when the US placed missiles in Turkey to threaten the USSR

USSR set up missiles in Cuba as a response

JFK surrounded Cuba and demanded the USSR revoke their missiles

Soviet navy ship sends more missiles heading towards the US blockade, but turns around at the last minute (game of chicken)

Lasted 13 days and ended safely, with both nations agreeing to revoke their weapons and leave Cuba alone

Closest we have ever come to nuclear warfare

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis, replaced in the next Soviet election because he looked weak to his people

Lee Harvey Oswald

Former US Marine with a communist ideology, assassinated JFK

Jack Ruby

Patriotic Texas nightclub owner that shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald

JFK Assassunation: When and Where

November 22, 1963

Dallas, Texas

Magic bullet theory

Second shot fired by Oswald from the top floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository

Hit JFK a little below his collar, then redirected to his throat

Exited and hit Texas Governor in the arm, then rerouted and wounded his thigh

Who’s the president after JFK dies?

Lyndon B. Johnson

Why are there conspiracies about this?

Shots coming from grassy knoll weren’t investigated. Plus JFK’s head moved too weirdly to have been shot from behind

Expert marksmen (which LHO was not) can’t fire three shots on a single-shot rifle in 8.3 seconds

All of the witnesses in the Warren Commission Report died in suspicious ways (ex: car/hunting accidents)

Too many security procedures weren’t followed

Agents backed off before shots

LHO and Jack Ruby knew each other AND had ties to the CIA, the mob, and communist Cuba

Domino Theory

President Eisenhower’s theory that once a country fell to communism, those around it would fall as well in a domino effect

Used to justify US involvement in the Vietnma War

Proven false when Thailand did not fall because of pressure from Laos or Cambodia

Vietnam War

Sides: North Vietnam (backed by USSR), South Vietnam (backed by US)

Divided at the 17th parallel

Leaders: Ho Chi Minh (North), Ngo Dinh Diem (South)

Ended in Vietnam being unified as one big communist country

Brezhnev

USSR’s leader after Krushchev is kicked out; leader during the height of the Vietnam War

Ngo Dinh Diem

South Vietnam’s non-communist leader — still cruel though

Never held democratic elections because he knew he would lose to Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh

North Vietnam’s communist leader who was vewed as a hero by most of the land; led a revolution against France and was trying to unite the country

Vietminh

Northerners that supported Ho Chi Minh’s plans of unification

Vietcong

Southerners that also supported Ho Chi Minh despote not being from North Vietnam; did not want America in the war at all

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Signed and given to President Johnson after the Gulf of Tonkin incident

Since the USS Maddox was brutally “torpedoed” in North Vietnam, President Johnson basically got infinite money and power to decide if he wanted to declare war or not

How the resolution goes against checks and balances

Normally, the House of Representatives has the sole power to declare war by a 2/3rds majority vote

However, since Johnson got more money and power than he would have gotten in his position, he could do it on his own with no one to veto him

Tet Offensive

Surprise attack by North Vietnam on US troops

US was unprepared because it fell on Vietnamese New Year (Tet)

Caused the military to start withdrawing troops

Years the US was involved (mainly)

1965 — 1968

Gulf of Tonkin incident in ‘64 brought us into it, plus the fact that Johnson was elected President and was given the Resolution

Tet Offensive caused troops to retreat around ‘69

Lyndon B Johnson

President after JFK’s assassination and throughout the height of the Vietnam war

Took the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution as an invitation to officially get involved in Vietnam by sending troops

North Vietnamese tactics

Guerilla warfare, tunnels, mines, Chinese SKS

South Vietnamese tactics

Agent Orange, Napalm, Chinooks, M-16s (jammed a lot)

Agent Orange

An herbicide used by the South Vietnamese/Americans to kill foliage and eliminate the possibility for Guerilla Warfare

Eventually ended up causing lots of birth defects and cancer

Napalm

Flammable gel that would be shot out of things like tanks to kill targets

Incredibly brutal — burns were harsh and gel stuck to body

Guerilla warfare

A tactic used both in the Vietnam War and in the Revolutionary War that involves using unconventional tactics (ex: camouflage, surprise attacks, tunneling) to defeat your enemy

Psychological effects of the Vietcong

Soldiers couldn’t tell who their enemy was

Constant moral dilemmas of whether to kill seemingly innocent people because they may have been out to harm US Soldiers

Lots of guilt over potentially killing innocent civilians — did not earn soldiers a nice welcome when they came home

Results of the Vietnam War

North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam

Two became united as one big communist nation (people’s republic now)

Laos and Cambodia also fell to communism, but not the other countries in the domino line

people started to question the US goverment

1M North Vietnamese casualties, 250K South Vietnamese, and 58K American

credibility gap

a difference between government reports and other sources of information

leads to people questioning/distrusting the government

draft

a method used by the US military to recruit new members in times of crisis

Vietnam’s draft was a lottery by birthday

draft exemptions/deferments

being a college student

being a conscientous objector (having religious beliefs that stated you couldn’t kill people)

being an only son

being married with a child

the most controversial deferment

being a college student

only rich people could afford to go to college, so children of wealthy people didn’t have to serve if they went to school long enough

made poor people angry that the war was on their shoulders

ways to dodge the draft

flee to Canada

maim yourself to intentionally fail your physical

burn your draft card/protest going (got you arrested)

Kent State incident

Incident at a university in Ohio where four SDS members were shot by the US national guard for protesting without a permit

Many felt this violated the first amendment (right to protest peacefully/petition the government) — soiled US’s public image to its people

Why the Space Race?

The US and USSR were competing to see which one was better (bragging rights)

Space could also be used for spying on other countries and potentially launching attacks

Sputnik 1

First man-made object/satellite to orbit the Earth — made by USSR

NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Created by Eisenhower with the intention of landing someone on the moon

Received tons of fundng from JFK during the Race

Things done before people in space

USSR:

Sputnik 1

Sputnik 2 - first dog in space (Laika dies)

Belka and Strelka, dogs, launched into space -- survive

US:

Ham the chimp becomes first primate in space

astronaut v cosmonaut

both people in space

astronaut = american

cosmonaut = soviet

Yuri Gagarin

First man in space

Orbited Earth one time - cosmonaut

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin

Astronauts who were the first people to land on the moon aboard Apollo 11

satellite

an artificial body placed in orbit around a celestial body to communicate or gather information

End of the Cold War

The Berlin Wall is eventually torn down by East German leaders (after influence from Reagan)

Germany United again

USSR splits into Russia and 14 other countries

China, N Korea, Cuba, Vietnam (not today), Laos, and Cambodia remain communist

Why did the Cold War end?

The USSR went bankrupt due to inefficiencies in communism and trying to match the US’s military spending

Mikhael Gorbachev

Soviet leader who tried to implement more democratic policies in the USSR to heal their economy/state

Eventually eased tensions with the US permanently by ordering the Berlin Wall to be torn down

Ronald Reagan

US President after Ford during the end of the Cold War

Eased tensions with the USSR a little bit by supporting Gorbachev in response to his ‘democratic’ policies

Influenced the USSR/East Berlin to eventually tear down the Berlin Wall and end the Cold War

Also intimidated by building up military/”SDI”

What event marked the end of the Cold War?

The fall of the Berlin Wall

Glasnost

New policy implemented by Gorbachev that would allow people to speak their mind about the USSR without facing harsh penalties

perestroika

a policy implemented by Gorbachev that would allow private businesses to be owned in order to help the Soviet economy recover