1/26: how did we get here?

how has the cold war affected US history?

• brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction

• direct cause of US wars in korea and vietnam

• led to the 1969 moon landing

• largely responsible for US debt

why was the US in a war with the USSR?

• thought soviet expansions would continue and spread

• SU was a threat to their way of life, especially after they gained control of eastern europe

• wanted to reunite west and east germany

why was the USSR in a war with the US?

• felt that they won ww2, sacrificed the most, deserved spoils of war

• lost land after the war and wanted it back

• wanted to economically use eastern europe to recoup their expenses during the war

• saw US as a threat to their way of life, especially after US development of atomic weapons

describe communism

• favors collective or community ownership of property

• govt (acting for the people) makes economic decisions

• seek to overthrow existing govts in revolutions

why does the US hate communism?

• discourages hard work and promoted laziness

• took away personal freedom and individuality

• opposed to religion

• USSR: brutal dictatorship, to the US communism = dictatorship

truman doctrine (1947)

promised the the US “would support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”

• in short, they would never be subdued to communism

name some actions that president truman took

• military and economic aid to greece and turkey

• 1948: rebuilding europe (the marshall plan)

• 1984: stalin refuses aid to all of eastern europe, result if a huge gap between east and west europe

the marshall plan! (1947-48)

• economic aid to all european countries offered in the european recoery program

  • intended to rebuild european infrastructure takeover of europe

• $17 billion to western europe ($100B in today’s money)

• US offered to aid USSR, soviets refused

iron curtain

division between western and eastern europe

• west: democratic

• east: communist

yalta conference (1945)

meeting during ww2 w/ churchill, stalin, and roosevelt

agreements during yalta conference

• germany would be divded into 4 blocs

• USSR would join the UN, but each member of the security council would have veto power

• USSR would join the alies in defeating japan

• USSR took back lands that they lost during ww1

what happened to berlin?

though it was in east germany, it was also split into east and west

berlin airlift

• US, britain, and france merged their zones in 1948 to create an independent west german state

• soviets responded by blockading land access to berlin

  • US began massive airlift of supplies that lasted almost a year (7k tons a day)

  • may 1949: stalin lifted the blockade, conceding that he could not prevent the creating of west germany

group that the US created with friendly european countries to defend each other against soviet aggression

north atlantic treaty organization (NATO)

military alliance formed by the SU, made up of eastern european countries dominated by soviet control

warsaw pact

describe what happened to china during ww2

• 1927: chinese civil war: communists led by mao zedong, nationalists led by chain kai-shek

• stop fighting each other to fight japan who invaded manchuria

• 1945: japan surrenders, chinese civil war resumes, communists win

• 1949: mao zedong becomes the ruler of the people’s republic of china

• nationalists flee to taiwan

“losing china”

• truman preoccupied with europe

• US became friendly to other asian nations

korean war

• US lost china, so they helped korea fight the north koreans

• UNSC declared north korea the aggressor ans sent troops from 15 nations to restore peace

the domino theory

if vietnam fails to communism → cambodia next → laos → all of southeast asia

problems of the atomic age

kept fighting in the arms race

winning w/ tech

• USSR launched first satellite, sputnik, into orbit

  • confirmed SU’s superpower status

mikhail gorbachev

• general secretary of the soviet community poarty (1985-1991)

• began to reform the USSR

two concepts that gorbechev reforms

• glasnost (openness): meetings were televised, more transparency

• peretroika (restructuring): more capitalized element, brought western influence

who did gorbachev become friends with?

ronald reagan

• shifted to diplomacy to encourage the soviet leader to pursue arms agreements

• started discussions on nuclear disarmament

possible primary reasons for the fall of the USSR

• national reasons in eastern europe

• expense of the arms race: star wars

• US containment strategy and truman doctrine

• superiority of democracy

• totalitarianism doesn’t work

possible triggers for fall

• afghanistan war (1979-88)

• chernobyl accident (1986)

• solidarity strikes (1988)

• collapse of the berlin wall (1989) and warsaw pact (1991)