VCE Modern History Unit 2 AoS 1 - Cold War

End of WW2

• 8:16am on 6 August 1945: Atomic bombs drops on Hiroshima

• 9 August 1945: Atomic bomb drops on Nagasaki

Yalta and Potsdam Conferences

• 4-11 Febuary 1945: Yalta Conference (Churchill UK, Roosevelt US, Stalin USSR)

• Unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany was signed on 7 May 1945.

• Creation of the UN on 24 October 1945.

• Stalin demanded US$20 billion from their controlled part of Germany, which the others disagreeing on the figure. Stalin also agreed to allow Poland universal suffrage within one month of the conference which never occurred.

• 17 July - 2 August: Potsdam Conference (disagreements over the treatment of Germany and controversy of the atomic bomb) (Attlee UK, Truman US, Stalin)

• Agreed to the ‘humana and orderly’ transfer of ethnic Germans to move back to Germany (10 million forcibly moved, approximately 500,000 expelled people died due to starvation/hypothermia/violence.

• Disagreements regarding reparations, Poland’s government and atomic bombs (A day before Potsdam, 16 July 1945: US successfully tests an atomic bomb under the Manhattan Project, but Truman only personally told Stalin a week later)

The Iron Curtain Speech

• 5 March 1946: Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech expressed to Truman his concerns regarding a metaphorical divide between eastern and western Europe.

• 9 Febuary 1946 at an electroal district of Moscow: Stalin argued that World War 2 was caused by capitalism because it promoted unequal economic development.

• 22 Febuary 1946: George Kennan (US embassy diplomat) replied with an 8000-word telegram stating his views on the Soviet Union.

Salami Tactics

• Slicing of the non-communist parties in Eastern Europe to create one party dictatorships.

• Eastern Bloc: A buffer zone of satellite states between East Germany and Russia which Stalin gained control of (communism spreading).

• Albania 1945: Communists took power without opposition

• Bulgaria 1945: A communist party gained power and then executed the leaders of all other parties

• Romania 1945: Communists were elected in and gradually took control. They were forced to pay US$300 million in reparations to USSR.

Truman Doctrine

• Policy of containment, aimed to strengthen the economies of non-communist countries to stop communism spreading. (Simple terms: Aimed to contain the spread of communism)

• 21 Febuary 1947: Britain announced it could no longer support Greek/Turkey financially or militarily.

• 12 March 1947: Truman asked US Congress for US$400 million to assist Greece/Turkey. Greece received US$125 million for economic aid.

• 85% of Greek children contracted tuberculosis.

• France post-war elections: French communist Party became the biggest single political party (26%), similar to Italy with 1.17 million national communist party members, but both parties were expelled in May 1947.

Marshall Plan

• Wider, more general aid given to European countries (even USSR was offered money, however they declined)

• 16 countries received a total of US$13 billion in loans/grants through the Marshall Plan.

• 5 June 1947: European Recovery Program was announced by Marshall to rebuild economies.

• Strategic grants: UK and France received highest (3.1 billion and 2.7 billion respectively)

• Lack of media attention: 51% of Americans had not heard of the European Recovery Program.

The Berlin Blockade

• 24 June 1948: Stalin ordered blockade between East and West Germany. Cut off West Berlin, was designed to force the US, Britain and the French to hand control of Berlin to USSR.

• 12 May 1949: USSR lifts blockade

• Berlin Airlift stats: 68,000 people flown out

• Cost US$350 million

• By 1949: A plane arrived every minute

• 700 aircrafts

• Gave each person 2300 calories (bragging)

• 272,000 flights into Western Berlin

• 17 July 1948: Candy would be dropped off for children (estimated 150,000 chcolate flier parachute drops); propaganda win, Americans could donate candy for the children.'

NATO + Warsaw Pact

• 4 April 1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, under US leadership, was signed and broughts most of Western Europe and North America into one common alliance AGAINST the USSR.

• 14 May 1955: Warsaw Pact was creating, causing another alliance that would further divide the world.

• 36.5 million Europeans died in WWII, 19 million of them civilians.

• Some areas: Infant mortality rates were one in four

• Hamburg: Half a million were homeless

• Article 5: “an armed attack against one or more of them… shall be considered an attack against all” (heightened stakes while lowering odds of war).

Chinese Civil War

• 1947-1949: War between the Guomindang (Nationalists, led by Jiang Jieshi) and CCP (led by Mao Zedong)

• Ceasefire was signed on 10 January 1946 (only gave Communists breathing space), by May the two sides were again at war.

• 1 May 1946: Communist forces were officially named the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

• 1947: Land Law took away all rights of landlords, empowering peasants. Rural people supplied the PLA with food, shelter, intelligence and recruits.

• After one battle, 327,000 GMD prisoners were taken and given the choice to either join the communists or go home.

• 1 October 1949: Mao Zedong proclaimed the foundation of the People’s Republic of China.

Korean War (Forgotten War)

• 5 June 1950-27 July 1953

• 25 June 1950: North Korea (with Russia + Chinese aid) invaded South Korea (over 230,000 troops)

• 28 June 1950: Seoul was captured by the North

• 1.78 million US troops would serve in the Korean War

• China had 180,000-400,000 casualties, 2-3 million Korean civilian casualties and US lost 36,634 servicemen

• Nearly 34,000 US soldiers died supporting South Korea (links to Vietnam War anti-communism sentiment)

• Ceasefire signed in 1951, 1953 armistice caused north and south to return to pre-war arrangements.

• Resolution 83, passed by the UN Security Council, helped to create a UN Command Force and 21 countries offered equipment. 16 countries, including Australia, sent troops to assist the south.

• Stalemate occurred from July 1951-July 1953, and armastice was signed on 27 July 1953.

The Arms Race

• Number of operational nuclear warheads was highest in 1986 (USSR with 40,000), however nuclear threat level was highest between 1952-1959.

• 1949: USSR started developing their own nuclear weapon

• Duck and Cover (1951) Bert the Turtle: Was used to underestimate the fear by claiming that ducking and covering should be done when an atomic bomb occurs in the US. Was shown in schools.

• The Arms Race led to the creation of the hydrogen bomb (1000 times more powerful than atomic bombs)

• Mutual assured destruction (MAD): Theory that once both sides (eg. US vs USSR) had nuclear weapons, they would both be destroyed if one attacked and the other retaliated.

• 200,000 fallout shelters built by 1965 for Americans (costing US$100-5000) to ‘protect’ people, highlights that fear felt

• Washington, DC had 1000 fallout shelters by 1965, with some being able to provide for 36,000 people.

• 30 October 1961: Soviet Union detonates most powerful nuclear bomb, nicknamed ‘Tsar Bomba.’ (50,000 kt).

The Red Scare

• J. Edgar Hoover was first director of the FBI when it was established in 1935. He abused his power significantly (collecting secret files, harassing dissenters and illegally gathering evidence).

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for espionage in 1951, accused of leading a spy ring that passed secrets to the USSR.

• House Un-American Activities Committe (HUAC) was established in 1939 (became permanent in 1945) to investigate anyone undertaking subversive actions. Refusal to answer questions could lead to prison or blacklisting (lose jobs + reputation). Mistrust in the US.

• Some were sentenced to prison for one year and ordered to pay a US$10,000 fine.

• Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957)

  • Elected to US Senate in 1946

  • 9 Febuary 1950: He announced that ‘card carrying communists’ had infiltrated the government

  • 1953: Became chairman of Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

  • Encouraged the blacklisting of 324 Hollywood personalities

  • 9 March 1954: Ed Murrow, a television journalist, broadcasted an episode of his show where McCarthy ended up condemning himself with his own words.

  • McCarthyism: Publicly accuse someone of being subversive or disloyal without substantial evidence.

Khrushchev and The ‘Thaw’

1. Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969)

• New Look Policy: emphasized reliance on strategic nuclear weapons

• Led to economic prosperity (over 5 million TVs sold each year in the US.

• Eisenhower’s speech “The Chance for Peace (16 April 1953) promoted peace

2. Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)

• Replaces Stalin after his death in 1953

• Was general secretary of the CPSU (1953-1964) and leader of the USSR (1956-1964)

• De-Stalinisation: Decentralised the economy, ended the role of large-scale forced labour

The Berlin Wall

• Uprisisng against the communist regime in East Germany was crushed in June 1953

• Controlled media by government

• Lower wages

• Very limited private ownership of businesses, economy controlled by the state

• West had economic prosperity; ranging from 6 to 10% annual economic growth between 1950-1960

• 331,000 migrants from the east to the west in 1953'

• Between 1953-1961: 2 milion migrated from the east to the west, known as the brain drain

• 13 August 1961: Troops prevented people moving between the east and west

• 17 August 1961: Permanent structure built

• 26 June 1963: President Kennedy’s ‘I am a Berliner’ speech where he pointed out faults of the USSR

• Over 100 people died attempting to cross the Berlin Wall (which was the divison between the capitalist and communist)

The Stasi

• Stasi were secret police (successor of Gestapo) between 1950-1990)

• Employed over 90,000 people

• One every 63 worked as an informant (telling information and snitching to Stasi)

• Approximately 189,000 informants

• 10% of pastors were informants

• Files that the Stasi would collect would be 111km long

• 41 million file cards, 1.95 million photos

• 15,500 bags of shredded material discovered

• 1.67 million reconstructed shredded files

• Only in January 2015 were some files made available online.

• June 1953: During the East German Uprising, Stasi collaborated with Soviet forces to violently crush demonstrations, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests.

• Zersetung: Tactic to destroy one’s reputation

• Use of performance-enhancing drugs became systematic from the 1970s and was monitored by the Stasi (led to infertility and miscarriage)

The Space Race

• USSR was initially leading. Begun with Sputnik 1 being launched using an ICBM (long range missile), the first satellite into orbit on 5 October 1957, starting competition between the 2 countries

• Soviet Union achivements included the launch of Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957, Vostok 1 (first man in space), Vostok 6 (first women in space), Voskhod 2 (First spacewalk). Had a developed ICBM.

• 29 July 1958: NASA formed

• Between 1961-1964 (under Kennedy), NASA budget increased almost 500%, needed 400,000 employees

• Achievements include Exploreer 1 (US’s first satellite), Mercury-Atlas 6: First American to orbit Earth)

• Most known was Apollo 11 (broadcasted to 600 million worldwide) when images of Neil Armstrong on the moon was shown on 21 July 1969

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• 14 October - 20 November 1962

• Fidel Castro (1926-2016): overthrew a dictator (Fulgencio Batista) who was an American ally

• Cuba became an overtly communist state in October of 1965

• 17 April 1961: Failed ‘The Bay of Pigs Invasion’ by the US

• Of the invaders (Americans side), 114 were killed and over 1100 were taken prisoner

• Missiles near the US would kill approximately 80 million people within 6 minutes of the rockets being launched

• A possible nuclear war had been averted by less than 24 hours as Khrushchev accepted the US’s offer

Vietnam War Causes

• Indochina (in Vietnam) had been administered for over 100 years, and was controlled by France

• Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969): Leader of North Vietnam, fought against Japanese during WW2 and was initially supported by the US (short-lived).

• Ngo Ding Diem (1901-1963): Leader of South Vietnam, was Catholic (minority) and favoured Catholics while Buddhists (70-90% of Vietnam's population) were viewed against.

• 11 June 1963: Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, took his own life in protest of Diem’s anti-Buddhist policies.

• 1-2 November 1963: Diem’s government was overthrown in a coup

• 2 November 1963: Diem was assassinated

• Battle of Dien Bien Phu: French vs Vietnamese; Vietnamese won

• The Geneva Conference (1954): Partioned Vietnam along the 17th parallel, partition also caused hundreds of thousands of Catholic refugges fleeing to the south and approximately 80,000 communists heading to the north.

Vietnam War: International Involvement

• Domino Theory: Belief that communism would spread from country to country (particularly in Asia)

• Was paired with Johnson Administration (1963) following Kennedy’s assassination

• Led to Operation Rolling Thunder (2 March 1963-2 November 1968): Over 864,000 tonnes of aerial bombs (more than Korean War and WW2) targeting industrial sites, bridges, and supply lines, aimed at discouraging North Vietnam aggression.

• 1965: Deployment of first US combat troops

• 1954: US formed the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) to protect south-east Asia from communism.

• Nearly 34,000 US soldiers died supporting South Korea (links to Vietnam War anti-communism sentiment)

• Gulf of Tonkin: (2 August 1964) Two US destroyers (warships) allegedly came under attack from North Vietnamese forces in the Gulk of Tonkin

• As a result, on 7 August 1964, Johnson convinced Congress to ratify his ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution', which gave the US the authority to become actively involved in Vietnam.

• Conscription in Australia was introduced in November 1964.

• Amost 800,000 men registered for service and over 15,000 served in Vietnam.

• The Battle of Long Tan: August 1966, 18 Australians killed, however the battle was hailed as victory with 245-800 Viet Cong killed.

• 29 April 1965: Menzies announced two battalions (large group of troops) of Australian army would be sent to Vietnam (due to government of South Vietnam asking for military assistance). First departed in June 1965

Impact of the Vietnam War

• 2 million civilian deaths in Vietnam

• US advisors had been present from 1954, by 1964 there were 11,000

• Guerrilla tactics were used due to the swamps

• 11% of US casualties were caused by traps

• Between 1975 to 1995: Almost 800,000 left Vietnam.

• Estimated that another 400,000 lost their lives in the attempt to flee in boats

• Communists had lost more than 100,000 men in 1967

• Beginning of 1968 saw over 500,000 US servicemen stationed in South Vietnam

• Tet Offensive (31 January 1968, celebrations of Chinese New Year): Viet Cong launched strikes in South Vietnam however they failed to inspire South Vietnamese to rise up against the Americans

• Over 4000 US + South Vietnamese died as a result of Tet Offensive

• Nearly 60,000 Viet Cong and civilians lost their lives in the retaliation

The End of the Vietnam War

• Anti-War Movement: Supported by the likes of Mohamed Ali, John Lennon and Martin Luther King Jr

• 20 January 1969: Nixon sworn in as president and his campaign was focused on ending the war

• Vietnamisation: End US involvement by reducing US soldiers in Vietnam while equipping the South Vietnamese army to carry on the fight

• 60,000 soldiers were repatriated (sent back to original country) by September 1969

• Formal peace talks become in May 1968 in Paris, however it was only in January of 1973 when the Paris Peace Accords were signed by both parties

• During that time, North Vietnam attacked with 100 Soviet tanks and startled the inexperienced South Vietnamese forces.

• US also dropped more than 36,000 tonnes of bombs over Christmas 1972.

• Paris Peace Accords caused a ceasefire agreement (taking effect from 28 January 1973) and caused North Vietnam to release over 600 US prisoners of war

• 30 April 1975: Fall of Saigon, marking the end of the Vietnam War

Détente: SALT, Helsinki, US-China Relations

• Détente: Easing of hostility or strained relations between countries

• June 1963: US + USSR agree to establish a hotline between the Pentagon and the Kremlin

• 5 August 1963: US + USSR sign the Partial Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which prohibited testing of nuclear weapons in the air and water

• 1967, during the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War: Neither the US nor the USSR became embroiled despite them sending weapons in a proxy war

• August 1968, during the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring), US President Johnson assured General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev that the US would not interfere

• May 1972: Nixon signed SALT I with Brezhnev, which was an agreement that froze the number of ICBMs possessed by the US (1054) and the USSR (1600)

• 1960s: US had been developing MIRV (Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle) warheads for ICBMs, making US lead and causing SALT I to put the USSR at a disadvantage

• 17 July 1975: US Apollo spacecraft docked in orbit with a Soviet Soyuz capsule and they conducted experiments together

• The Helsinki Accords of June-July 1975: 35 nations, including the US and USSR, met in the Finnish capital to make a declaration about three international issues (security, cooperation and human rights). It recognised the boundaries of Europe at the time (first time in history), and the USSR accepted the existence of West Germany as an independant nation-state

• June 1979: SALT II was agreed upon, where each side was limited to 2400 nuclear deliery vehicles each and MIRVs were restricted to 1320 each.

• 1972: Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong met and opened formal diplomatic contact (first time since 1949), and both sides saw value in cooperating against the shared rival (the USSR)

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

• 27 April 1978: People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA, communist) overthrew the government

• 25 December 1979: Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up the pro-Soviet government

• 660,000 Soviet troops in total

• At the height of the war in 1985 there were over 100,000 Soviet troops stationed in Afghanistan

• Mujahedeen: Religious fighters fighting against the communists, between 150,000-190,000 troops in total

• Costed 13,000 Soviet lives and $2 billion a year

• Febuary 1989: Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan

• The war cost the Soviet Union approximately 8 billion roubles per year in military expenditure.

• By the mid-1980s, the USSR was spending 25% of its GDP on armaments, compared with only 4–6% in the United States.

• This burden was compounded by the already huge costs of supplying allies and client states:

  • Cuba received 3 billion roubles annually.

  • Vietnam received 3 billion roubles.

  • Poland needed 2.25 billion roubles annually after 1982.

• This was terrible timing as by 1986, the Soviet government had lost 20 billion roubles in revenue due to falling oil prices combined with heavy military and foreign commitments. This was due to the OPEC oil crisis (1973) and subsequent oil glut (1983) hit the Soviet economy hard, as oil was its key export commodity.

• Thousands more were wounded, demoralised, or traumatised, with long-term effects on Soviet society.

• The USSR struggled with the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan, which made fighting the mujahedeen guerrillas extremely difficult.

• The US supplied the mujahedeen with advanced weapons (e.g., Stinger missiles), which enabled them to destroy Soviet aircraft and helicopters, increasing Soviet losses.

• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (December 1979) ended the period of détente

• President Carter responded with the Carter Doctrine (1980), declaring that the US would repel any Soviet attempt to control the Persian Gulf by military force if necessary.

• The US imposed sanctions:

  • Recalled its ambassador.

  • Suspended consideration of SALT II.

  • Banned sales of high-tech goods and grain exports to the USSR.

  • Cut Soviet fishing rights in US waters.

• The US, joined by 61 other nations, boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, a symbolic humiliation for the USSR.

• In retaliation, the USSR and its allies boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, deepening the divide.

• Supporting allies, maintaining control over Eastern Europe, and waging war in Afghanistan became an economic and political burden the USSR could no longer sustain.

• The conflict highlighted the limits of Soviet power and undermined its prestige as a superpower, helping hasten its collapse in 1991.

Changes in Leadership - Reagan and Gorbachev

• November 1980: Ronald Reagan was elected US president

• 1982-1989: 1.6 trillion USD was spent modernising the US armed forces

• March 1989: Reagan announced the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), aka Star Wars, which would be a missile defence system where satellites could shoot down USSR missiles to encourage Soviet Union to increase military spending

• USSR % of national income spent on military increased from 14% in 1980 to 19% in 1987

• US supported Solidarity, a Polish movement opposed to Soviet rule which emerged in 1980, and 10,000 Solidarity members had been arrested by 1981. The US support eventually meant that the US banned all high-tech trade with the USSR as Reagan wanted to show support for Solidarity without confronting the USSR

• 1 September 1983: Soviet fighter jet shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, causing all 269 people on board to be killed

• Labour productivity growth fell from 6% p.a. in the 1950s to 1–2% by the 1970s; total factor productivity (TFP) turned negative in the early-mid 1980s.

• By the late Soviet period, citizens spent over 40 billion hours a year in queues.

• Oil exports provided 50% of Soviet hard-currency export earnings (U.S. assessment, early 1980s).

• Oil fell from the mid-$20s in late-1985 to $12/bbl in 1H 1986 (roughly halved).

• After poor crops during the early 80s, the gap between grain needed vs grain harvested was 40 million tons, the USSR turned into a persistent grain importer. Grain imports peaked at 55.5 million tonnes in 1984/85.

• Following the Afghanistan invasion, U.S. sanctions forced the USSR to seek alternative suppliers; actual 1979/80 imports -31.2 MMT vs planned 36–37 MMT, at higher cost/poorer quality.

• Male life expectancy dropped by 3–4 years between mid-1960s and 1980; research ties the decline to alcohol, accidents, CVD and social stress.

Collapse of the Soviet Union

Chernobyl Disaster

• 26 April 1986: The Chernobyl Disaster occurred, which saw 235 billion in damage

• About 200,000 people were involved in the clean-up, many of which developed thyroid cancer due to the radioactive emissions

• Approximately 30 people died from immediate blast trauma and acute radiation syndrome

Economic decline

• GDP for the Soviet union was at $2,659,500 million, GDP per capita was at $9211

• USA’s GDP was at $5,233,300 million, whereas GDP per capita was at $21,082

Poland

• Mid 1988 saw a series of strikes escalating in Poland demanding the end of the ban on the Solidarity trade Union.

• April 1989: Government allowed Solidarity to re-form and free elections were allowed in June

• Solidarity candidates won 99% of the seats in the Polish Senate in the second round of voting

Czechoslovakia

• Velvet Revolution: 1988-1989: Student demonstrations in Prague turned into public rallies and labour strikes

East Germany

• Monday demonstrations (Montagsdemonstrationen) in East Germany started in Leipzig on 4 September 1989.

• These demonstrations grew in size and frequency. In the East German city of Leipzig, 70,000 people (from a population of 500,000) protested on 9 October 1989.

• 16 October, 120,000 participated, and the following week 320,000 people chanted slogans and protested

• Free elections were permitted within the Soviet Republics in February 1990.

• In Russia, democratic elections were held on 12 June 1991 with Boris Yeltsin winning 57% of the vote

• 25 December 1991 Gorbachev resigned, followed by the Soviet Union was officially dissolved, ending the Cold War.