The US, USSR and China — superpower relations (1947–1979)

List and elements and the period for the policy of containment

Containment (1947–1960s)

• Truman Doctrine

• Marshall Plan

• NSC-68

• Korean War

• Eisenhower Doctrine

• Indochina/Vietnam

• Alliances: NATO, SEATO, CENTO

Describe the Truman Doctrine

Truman Doctrine (1947):

• Announced in response to the Greek Civil War and pressure on Turkey.

• Pledged $400m in military and economic aid

• framing the Cold War as a global commitment to resist communism.

Describe Marshall Plan

Marshall Plan (1947–52):

• Provided $13.3b to 16 Western European states.

• Stimulated annual growth rates of 5–10% in West Germany, France, and Italy.

• The USSR forbade Eastern bloc states (ex: Czechoslovakia) from participating

  • deepening the East–West divide.

Describe NSC-68

NSC-68 (1950):

• National Security Council

• Top-secret report that redefined containment as a worldwide struggle

• recommending a tripling of the US defence budget.

• Military spending rose from $13bn (1950) to $50bn (1953)

  • especially during the Korean War.

Describe Korean War

Korean War (1950–53):

• First major test of containment.

• The US fought under the UN flag to repel North Korea’s invasion.

• The conflict cost

  • 36,000 US lives

  • ~1m Chinese casualties

  • 2.5m Korean civilian deaths,

• entrenching Cold War divisions in Asia.

Describe Eisenhower Doctrine 

Eisenhower Doctrine (1957):

• Extended containment to the Middle East

  • pledging US aid to governments resisting communism.

• Justified the intervention in Lebanon (1958)

  • where 14,000 Marines were deployed to stabilise a pro-Western regime.

Describe US involvement in Indochina/Vietnam 

Indochina/Vietnam:

• By 1954, the US was funding 80% of French war costs.

• Following France’s defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel.

• US commitment deepened:

  • by 1963, 16,000 advisers were in South Vietnam.

Describe the alliances of NATO, SEATO and CENTO

NATO (1949):

• Brought together 12 founding members

• creating an integrated command under US leadership.

SEATO (1954):

• Aimed to contain communism in Southeast Asia;

• members included the US, Britain, France, Australia, and Pakistan.

CENTO (1955):

• Sought to extend containment to the Middle East.

• Weakened by poor cohesion

• but part of US “pactomania” strategy to build global anti-communist alliances.

Evaluate policy of containment

Containment in the 1947–60s was most successful in Europe, where the Marshall Plan and NATO secured Western recovery and stability.

Its extension into Asia and the Middle East produced mixed results: the Korean War contained communism but at heavy cost, while Vietnam exposed the limits of US power and credibility.

Overall, containment entrenched Cold War divisions but revealed the difficulty of applying a uniform strategy across different regions.

List elements of peaceful coexistence and its period

Peaceful coexistence (1953–1970s)

• Poland and Hungary

• Sputnik shock

• Berlin Crisis

• Cuban Missile Crisis

• Nuclear parity

• Czechoslovakia and Brezhnev Doctrine

Describe the concept of peaceful coexistence 

• After Stalin’s death, Khrushchev promoted peaceful coexistence:

• socialism would triumph through economic strength and competition, not nuclear war.

• Announced at the 20th Party Congress (1956) (Khrushchev’s Secret Speech)

• signalling a departure from Stalinist confrontation.

Describe Poland and Hungary

Poland & Hungary (1956):

• In Poland, protests over shortages killed ~100;

• Gomulka returned, balancing reform with loyalty to Moscow.

• In Hungary, Nagy announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact;

• the revolt was crushed by 200,000 Soviet troops and 2,500 tanks,

• killing ~20,000 and driving 200,000 into exile.

=> These uprisings showed USSR’s willingness to tolerate reform only within strict limits.

Describe Sputnik shock

Sputnik shock (1957):

• USSR launched first satellite, signalling missile capability.

• The US created NASA (1958) and accelerated the arms race.

• By 1960, the USSR had 48 ICBMs, while the US had 200+,

  • showing US superiority despite Soviet breakthroughs.

Describe Berlin Crisis 

Berlin Crisis (1958–61):

• Khrushchev demanded Western withdrawal;

  • Kennedy resisted.

• The Berlin Wall (Aug 1961) stemmed mass refugee flows

  • ~3m fled East Germany 1949–61

  • at a peak of 1,000 a day in 1961),

• stabilising the regime but becoming a powerful Cold War symbol.

Describe Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962:

• USSR stationed nuclear missiles in Cuba to counter US Jupiter missiles in Turkey.

• A 13-day standoff

• ended with Soviet withdrawal under US blockade.

• Aftermath included the Moscow–Washington hotline and Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963)

  • banning atmospheric nuclear tests.

Describe nuclear parity

Nuclear parity (late 1960s):

• By the end of the decade, the USSR approached strategic parity

  • US ~6,000 warheads,

  • USSR ~5,000

• Balance increased incentives for caution and coexistence.

Describe Czechoslovakia and Brezhnev Doctrine 

Czechoslovakia & Brezhnev Doctrine (1968):

• Dubček’s liberal reforms (“socialism with a human face”) alarmed Moscow.

  • greater freedom of expression, rehabilitating victims of political purges, democratizing political life, and decentralizing the economy

• The Warsaw Pact invasion of 200,000 troops crushed the Prague Spring (~100 killed).

• The Brezhnev Doctrine (Nov 1968) declared that the USSR had the right to intervene if socialism was threatened

  • cementing bloc discipline.

Evaluate peaceful coexistence 

Peaceful coexistence reduced immediate risk of great-power war through summits, arms control, and communication links.

Yet crises in Hungary, Berlin, Cuba, and Prague proved coexistence was only tolerated within Soviet-defined limits.

It became less a genuine thaw than a pragmatic framework shaped by nuclear caution, Soviet bloc control, and US determination to resist expansion.

List elements of Sino-Soviet and Sino-US relations

• Sino Soviet treaty

• Sino Soviet split

• Border clashes

• China’s isolation

• US opening to China

• Triangular diplomacy

Describe Sino Soviet treaty

Sino-Soviet Treaty (1950):

• USSR gave China $300m in loans, Soviet experts, and military aid,

• reinforcing early bloc solidarity.

Describe Sino Soviet split

Sino-Soviet split (1960s):

• Ideological and strategic tensions deepened.

• Mao denounced Khrushchev’s Secret Speech (1956) as “revisionism.”

• By 1960, Moscow withdrew 10,000 advisers and cancelled 200 projects,

  • ending cooperation.

Describe border clashes

Border clashes (1969):

• Fighting along the Ussuri River killed hundreds.

• Both sides massed ~1m troops on the frontier,

• turning the split into open hostility.

Describe China’s isolation

China’s isolation:

• The Cultural Revolution (1966–76) alienated both USSR and West.

• China developed an independent nuclear capability (1964), reinforcing its autonomy.

Describe US opening to China

• Ping-Pong diplomacy (1971): Symbolic first thaw.

  • Ping pong game between US and China

• UN seat (1971): PRC replaced Taiwan in the UN Security Council, a diplomatic breakthrough.

• Nixon’s visit (1972): First US presidential visit to Beijing;

  • Shanghai Communiqué affirmed “One China.”

Describe triangular diplomacy

• The US exploited the Sino-Soviet split,

  • using rapprochement with Beijing to pressure Moscow.

• By the 1970s, the USSR faced hostility from both West and China,

  • intensifying Cold War competition.

Evaluate Sino-Soviet and Sino-US relations

Sino-Soviet relations shifted from alliance to open rivalry, reshaping the Cold War balance.

China’s opening to the US gave Washington leverage in triangular diplomacy and undermined Soviet leadership of the communist bloc.

By the 1970s, Beijing emerged as an independent nuclear and diplomatic power, no longer a junior partner.

Locate the period and list elements of detente

Détente (1969–1979)

• SALT I

• Economic cooperation

• Helsinki Accords

• Sino-US detente

Describe motivations for detente from USSR, USA and Western Europe

USSR:

• Growth slowed to ~2% annually by the 1970s;

• the arms race consumed ~20% of GDP.

• Arms control promised relief.

USA:

• The Vietnam War cost 58,000 lives and ~$170bn.

• Nixon sought an exit,

• better ties with Moscow, and leverage from the Sino-Soviet split.

Western Europe:

• West German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik (1969–72) recognised East German borders,

• easing tensions through reconciliation.

Describe SALT I

SALT I (1972):

• Nixon and Brezhnev agreed to

  • limit ABMs (2 sites, 100 interceptors each)

  • freeze strategic missile launchers.

• A landmark in arms control,

• though MIRVs created loopholes.

Describe economic cooperation

• At the 1972 US–Soviet summit, agreements included $750m in grain exports,

• symbolising interdependence.

Describe Helsinki Accords

Helsinki Accords (1975):

• Signed by 35 states;

• recognised postwar European borders,

• expanded economic cooperation,

• committed the USSR to human rights principles.

• This emboldened dissident groups (e.g. Helsinki Watch).

Describe Sino US detente

• Nixon’s 1972 visit to Beijing opened trade and technology exchanges.

• In 1979, Carter normalised full diplomatic relations with China.

Describe challenges to detente

Rivalry persisted in the Third World:

• Angola (1975), Ethiopia (1977).

SALT II (1979)

• further limited missiles

• but the US Senate refused ratification (refused to sign) after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Dec 1979).

Describe end of detente 

• Afghanistan marked collapse.

• The US imposed sanctions,

• boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics

• Reagan revived the arms race.

Evaluate detente

Détente eased superpower confrontation in Europe through arms control and Ostpolitik, while offering the US leverage with China.

Yet cooperation was fragile: Third World conflicts, Soviet repression, and Afghanistan revealed deep mistrust.

Ultimately, détente was less a lasting peace than a temporary pause shaped by necessity, undone once strategic competition reasserted itself.