Cold War Prompts

Compare the impact of two specific crises, each chosen from a different region, on the course of the Cold War.

Berlin Crisis: blockade of Berlin after unification of Western areas

• Berlin Airlift: British and U.S. planes airlift 1.5 million tons of supplies to residents of West Berlin

  • major failure for Soviet Union

  • beginning of Allied Cooperation to protect Germany and paved the way for new military alliance, NATO, & Soviet Warsaw Pact in 1955

• solidified the division of Europe following WWII, accelerated the formation of NATO, and led to a rise in tension between the West and the Soviets, marking the beginning of the Cold War

Compare the impact of two specific crises, each chosen from a different region, on the course of the Cold War.

Cuban Missile Crisis:

• Impact: showed neither U.S. nor Soviet Union were ready to use nuclear weapons for fear of retaliation, leading to lesser tensions between Soviet Union and U.S.

• Hotline: Washington and Moscow established a direct line of communication to help reduce the possibility of war by miscalculation

• Limited Test Ban Treaty signed by U.S., UK, and USSR banned nuclear weapons testing in atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater

• 1964: Khrushchev deposed and Brezhnev came to power, regaining hostilities between superpowers

“The breakdown of the Grand Alliance was caused more by economics than by ideology.” Discuss the validity of this statement with reference to events between 1943 and 1949.

Western Distrust of Socialism:

• Long Telegram: George Kennan deputy US representative outlined overall goals of USSR and painted them as volatile and unpredictable. Soviets said capitalism must go and they would use marxism to combat Western expansion. They wanted a buffer zone for security. Kennan proposed “non-confrontation” policy to Truman through containment and propaganda worldwide.

• Formation of NATO: set up in order to counter soviet aggression as a full military alliance. However, only made Soviets more tense, believing it was an aggressive act against the Soviet Union.

Soviet Expansionism

• Desire for Friendly Governments: open about wanting “friendly governments” in Eastern Europe to protect his country’s western frontier from another invasion like WWII

  • Yalta Conference 1946: divided Germany into four zones, including one for the USSR, created war crimes trials against Nazi leaders, and established new leadership in Poland which allowed Stalin to renege on his promise to allow free elections and self-determination in Poland

    • Potsdam Conference: USSR accused of violating agreements made at Yalta by not allowing Free elections in countries

Fear of US Economic Influence/economic imperialism:

• Marshall Plan: plan to help Europe rebuild after WW2 that gave $13 billion to 17 nations, though UK and France got most of the help. THis created a long-term US presence in Europe that created tensions, as Russia refused aid.

  • COMECON primarily given to socialist nations worldwide, controlled aid, and asked for loyalty, though many countries did not benefit from the aid.

    • Caused Stalin to doubt Western intentions.

• In part believed to be caused by Truman Doctrine, which declared to stop the further spread of Communism through economic aid.

  • Greece & Turkey Crisis: $400 million given in economic aid to keep communism from taking over Western Europe

• Berlin Crisis: Stalin responded to unification of Western zones of Berlin in 1948 and its new currency through a blockade by attempting to force western allies out of Berlin

  • Cut off rail and road access to oppose the expansion of Western economic influence in post-war Europe

Assess the social, economic, OR political impacts of the Cold War on the United States and one other country between 1950 – 1980. (Choose one of the 3 areas and apply to the US and one other nation.)

• Red Scare: period of paranoia in the U.S. due to widespread belief that communist infiltration and subversion

  • House UnAmerican Activities Committee: investigated and accused individuals of being communists

  • Loyalty Programs: required employes to swear by oaths and answer questions about their political beliefs, led to many people losing their jobs, facing other forms of discrimination, and a widespread culture of fear and mistrust

    • over 2700 dismissals and 12000 resignations

• Education: National Defense Education Act of 1958 led education to become geared towards scientific and engineering fields, school became more rigorous, “duck and cover” drills, and strategies on how to survive a nuclear attack

• Interstate Highway System: 89% of public beleived nuclear was was evident, so they created highways as a civil defense measure for evacuations in urbans areas, which also created more work in construction and made travel easier

Social Impacts of Cold War on Germany

• Brain Drain due to Divide: skilled workers left East Germany as refugees to West Germany

  • 1961: 1800 skilled workers per day

• Berlin Wall: social split caused East Germans to view western relatives as pampered and privileged, families were separated, and 140 were killed trying to escape

• West Germany: improved living standards, with car ownership increasing 8 times between 1950 and 1965

• East Germany: lacked national identity, were economically stagnant, and were constantly spied on by the Stasi and each other

Evaluate the impact on the course of the Cold War by two political leaders, each chosen from a different region.

• Dwight Eisenhower: 

  • New Look: communism should be contained through a rollback of communism and massive retaliation, including increase in nuclear weapons and reduction of US army

    • Coup d’Etat in Guatemala: covert operation undertaken by CIA which deposed democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz whom the U.S. considered to be leftist

    • Eisenhower Doctrine: stated the U.S. would defend with arms any state in the Middle East threatened by communist aggression

      • Pushed by the Suez Crisis, after the U.S. refused to render aid and opposed military action against Egypt. Protected Lebanon in 1958.

    • New Defense Policy + Nuclear Development: concern that fighting communist will lead to bankruptcy in U.S. lead to reorganized government budget and build up of nuclear weapons and air power. Education stressed importance of science and engineering and survival skills.

      • Brinksmanship: convince USSR of willingness to start war through public speeches, bomb drills and warnings for US citizens, and propaganda for nuclear war. It prepared US for the word and threatened USSR.

Nikita Khrushchev

• Peaceful coexistence: deStalinazation process opened up for new opportunities and new relations with capital West and and satellite countries in Europe

  • 1955 Geneva Summit: meeting for the first time since Potsdam created a new spirit of positivity, so Soviet troops withdraw from Finland, occupation forces of Austria ended occupation and re-established full independence of country, 

  • Suez Crisis 1956: Khrushchev given an opportunity to extend soviet influence to Middle East though Stalin had only armed or given support to countries bordering USSR

    • Involved USSR in Middle East and Latin American

      • Departure from Stalin’s policies and escalation of Cold War

  • Cuban Missile Crisis: secretly provided Cuba with nuclear weapons and brought world to brink of nuclear conflict between superpowers

    • Ended when Khrushed agreed to withdraw missiles, US agreed to not invade Cuba and secretly remove missiles from Turkey

      • Established line between Kremlin and white house and 1953 test ban treaty signed

  • Brought both detente and confrontations to the Cold War. Expanded the conflict beyond USSR neighbors though he introduced peaceful coexistence.

Berlin Blockade

• Impact: Solidified the division of Europe following WWII, accelerated the formation of NATO, and marked the beginning of the Cold War

  • Berlin Airlift: British and U.S. planes airlift 1.5 million tons of supplies to residents of West Berlin

    • Operation Vittles: 278,000 flights carried 2.3 million tons of relief supplies on “Easter Day Parade”

    • Beginning of Allied Cooperation to protect Germany and paved the way for new military alliance, NATO

  • Creation of NATO 1949: UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed Treaty of Brussels to prevent the spread of communism

    • Expanded into a mutual defense agreement against Soviet aggression after the berlin blockade, requesting the participation of Canada and US

      • Coordinate joint military action against Soviet aggression

    • Soviets believed it was an aggressive action that violated UN principles and led to the consolidation of two blocks in Europe

  • Led to a rise in tension between the West and the Soviets, marking the beginning of the Cold War

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Impact: showed neither U.S. nor Soviet Union were ready to use nuclear weapons for fear of retaliation, leading to lesser tensions between Soviet Union and U.S.

  • Hotline: Washington and Moscow established a direct line of communication to help reduce the possibility of war by miscalculation

  • Limited Test Ban Treaty signed by the United States, Great Britain, and Soviet Union that banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater.

  • 1964: Khrushchev was deposed for mishandling the Cuban Missile Crisis and Leoni Brezhnev came into power, quickly regained hostilities between superpowers.

Long Telegram

• Long Telegram: George Kennan deputy US representative outlined overall goals of USSR and painted them as volatile and unpredictable. Soviets said capitalism must go and they would use marxism to combat Western expansion. They wanted a buffer zone for security. Kennan proposed “non-confrontation” policy to Truman through containment and propaganda worldwide.

  • Fear of Soviet actions leading to European capitulation since Europe was weak after war

Truman Doctrine

• Truman Doctrine: Stated USA would provide economic and military assitance to Greece and Turkey to provide the spread of communism. To prevent countries from falling to communism, the US had a responsibility to help them and leave no countries vulnerable. They provided 400 million to governments to combat Soviet influence.

  • The US policy from this point forward would be to avoid direct military conflict with the USSR. Countries already under communist or Soviet domination would not be targeted but it was now the moral imperative of the USA to prevent the spread of communism to other countries.

  • Greece: civil war of communists were battling against royalist regime, while Bulgaria and Yugoslavia provided assistance to Communists

Tehran Conference

Tehran Conference 1943: No official commitments but established tone for future conferences, outlining Soviet expansionism. Stalin wanted Russian borders restored to 1941 lines in exchange for going to war with Japan and bearing the brunt of the fight. Plus, they discussed Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland joining Russian borders.

Yalta Conference

• Yalta Conference 1946: divided Germany into four zones, including one for the USSR, created war crimes trials against Nazi leaders, and established new leadership in Poland which allowed Stalin to renege on his promise to allow free elections and self-determination in Poland

  • Potsdam Conference: USSR accused of violating agreements made at Yalta by not allowing Free elections in countries

Marshall Plan

• Marshall Plan: plan to help Europe rebuild after WW2 that gave $13 billion to 17 nations, though UK and France got most of the help. THis created a long-term US presence in Europe that created tensions, as Russia refused aid.

  • COMECON primarily given to socialist nations worldwide, controlled aid, and asked for loyalty, though many countries did not benefit from the aid.

    • Caused Stalin to doubt Western intentions.

• In part believed to be caused by Truman Doctrine, which declared to stop the further spread of Communism through economic aid.

Berlin Crisis

• Stalin responded to unification of Western zones of Berlin in 1948 and its new currency through a blockade by attempting to force western allies out of Berlin

  • Cut off rail and road access to oppose the expansion of Western economic influence in post-war Europe

House UnAmerican Activities

• House UnAmerican Activities Committee: investigated and accused individuals of being communists

  • Led to widespread fear and self-censorship in entertainment industry

  • Hollywood 10: a group of screenwriters and directors who were convicted, blacklisted in Hollywood, and forced many artists to flee to Europe

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty Programs” required employes to swear by oaths and answer questions about their political beliefs, led to many people losing their jobs, facing other forms of discrimination, and a widespread culture of fear and mistrust

Education

• National Defense Education Act of 1958 led education to become geared towards scientific and engineering fields, school became more rigorous, “duck and cover” drills, and strategies on how to survive a nuclear attack

• Interstate Highway System: 89% of public beleived nuclear was was evident, so they created highways as a civil defense measure for evacuations in urbans areas, which also created more work in construction and made travel easier

Brain Drain in Germany

• Brain Drain due to Divide: skilled workers left East Germany as refugees to West Germany

  • 1961: 1800 skilled workers per day

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall: social split caused East Germans to view western relatives as pampered and privileged, families were separated, and 140 were killed trying to escape

West Germany

West Germany: improved living standards, with car ownership increasing 8 times between 1950 and 1965

East Germany

East Germany: lacked national identity, were economically stagnant, and were constantly spied on by the Stasi and each other

New Look

• communism should be contained through a rollback of communism and massive retaliation, including increase in nuclear weapons and reduction of US army

  • Coup d’Etat in Guatemala: covert operation undertaken by CIA which deposed democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz whom the U.S. considered to be leftist

    • Authorized Bay of Pigs

Eisenhower Doctrine

• Eisenhower Doctrine: stated the U.S. would defend with arms any state in the Middle East threatened by communist aggression

  • Pushed by the Suez Crisis, after the U.S. refused to render aid and opposed military action against Egypt. Protected Lebanon in 1958.

National Defense Education Act of 1958

• New Defense Policy + Nuclear Development: concern that fighting communist will lead to bankruptcy in U.S. lead to reorganized government budget and build up of nuclear weapons and air power. Education stressed importance of science and engineering and survival skills.

  • Brinksmanship: convince USSR of willingness to start war through public speeches, bomb drills and warnings for US citizens, and propaganda for nuclear war. It prepared US for the word and threatened USSR.

Peaceful Coexistence

• Peaceful coexistence: deStalinazation process opened up for new opportunities and new relations with capital West and and satellite countries in Europe

  • 1955 Geneva Summit: meeting for the first time since Potsdam created a new spirit of positivity, so Soviet troops withdraw from Finland, occupation forces of Austria ended occupation and re-established full independence of country, 

Crisis

• Suez Crisis 1956: Khrushchev given an opportunity to extend soviet influence to Middle East though Stalin had only armed or given support to countries bordering USSR

  • Involved USSR in Middle East and Latin American

    • Departure from Stalin’s policies and escalation of Cold War

• Cuban Missile Crisis: secretly provided Cuba with nuclear weapons and brought world to brink of nuclear conflict between superpowers

  • Ended when Khrushed agreed to withdraw missiles, US agreed to not invade Cuba and secretly remove missiles from Turkey

    • Established line between Kremlin and white house and 1953 test ban treaty signed