Study Notes: Western Society and Eastern Europe in the Cold War

The Post-World War II International Framework and the Rise of World Opinion

• Nuclear Testing and Global Response: In $1954$, a United States nuclear test in the Marshall Islands caused radioactive fallout on a Japanese fishing boat, leading to the death of one crew member and hospitalization of others. This sparked massive international outrage.

• Manifestation of World Opinion: Media began labeling collective protest as "world opinion." Protesters included Quaker and Roman Catholic church groups, Buddhist voices, and groups in Africa and India. In the United States, women protested due to concerns over nuclear contamination of milk.

• Japanese Leadership: Given the experience at the end of World War II, $86$ percent of Japanese citizens opposed nuclear testing.

• Geographic Opposition: Australia and New Zealand objected to Pacific testing; Egypt and Middle Eastern nations resisted French testing in the Sahara; hundreds of thousands marched in Germany.

• Diplomatic Resolution: President Dwight Eisenhower noted in $1958$ that world opinion was more powerful than thermonuclear weapons. A testing moratorium began in $1958$, followed by a test ban treaty in $1963$.

• Superpower Emergence: The Soviet Union emerged as a superpower rivaling the United States, forming a new European empire. The United States moved away from isolationism, maintaining high military expenditures and an active international presence.

After World War II: A New International Setting for the West

• European Devastation: Bridges and rail lines were destroyed, leading to food shortages. Nazi Germany's use of forced labor and boundary changes created hundreds of thousands of refugees.

• Decolonization: European powers found nationalist resistance in former colonies. The British in Malaya and the Dutch in Indonesia faced well-organized opposition.

• Violent Exceptions: France fought a losing war in Vietnam until $1954$ and a bitter struggle in Algeria until $1962$, when Charles de Gaulle negotiated independence. Kenya was another site of conflict.

• Economic Continuity: Despite political independence, Western economic interests remained strong in Africa, exploiting minerals and agriculture in colonial-style trade patterns.

• Suez Canal Crisis ($1956$): Britain and France attacked independent Egypt after the nationalization of the Suez Canal, but were forced to end hostilities by the United States and the Soviet Union, symbolizing the end of European colonial dominance.

The Cold War and the Division of Europe

• Cold War Definition: A state of relations between the U.S. and Soviet camps from $1945$ to $1990$ based on political spheres of influence and a nuclear arms race rather than direct warfare.

• Iron Curtain: Phrase coined by Winston Churchill in $1946$ to describe the divide between Soviet-repressed and Western-free societies.

• The Eastern Bloc: Consisted of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and East Germany. The Soviet Union pushed its boundaries west, absorbing Baltic states and parts of Poland.

• The Truman Doctrine: Proclaimed by Harry Truman to support "free peoples" against communist pressure, specifically in Greece, Turkey, and Iran.

• The Marshall Plan ($1947$): A program of substantial loans by the U.S. to help Western nations rebuild. Its goal was to foster economic growth and beat back domestic communist movements in France and Italy.

• Division of Germany: Divided into four zones (U.S., British, French, Soviet). In $1947$, the West moved to create a stable currency, prompting a Soviet blockade of Berlin. The U.S. responded with the Berlin airlift ($1948-1949$).

• Military Alliances:
      * North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): Formed in $1949$ as a defensive alliance of Western powers and Canada against Soviet aggression.
      * Warsaw Pact: Formed in $1955$ by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites in response to West German rearmament and NATO.

The Resurgence of Western Europe

• Spread of Liberal Democracy: Fascism was discredited. New movements like the Christian Democrats emerged, committed to democratic institutions and moderate social reform.

• Regional Democratization: The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) established a constitution outlawing extremism. Italy, Spain, Portugal ($1970s$), and Greece eventually adopted parliamentary systems.

• The Welfare State: Introduced to reduce economic inequality and reward lower-class loyalty. Basic nature established by $1948$.
      * Unemployment and Medical Insurance: Britain's Labour Party nationalized healthcare in $1947$, providing free care.
      * Family Assistance: Payments for families with multiple children. In the $1950s$, a French family with five children could increase income by $40$ percent via family aid.
      * Housing: By the $1950s$, over one-fourth of the British population lived in government-managed structures.

• Technocrats: A new breed of bureaucrat trained in engineering or economics, devoted to national planning.

• European Integration: The European Economic Community (Common Market), later the European Union (EU), was founded in $1957$ by West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. It created a single economic entity, dismantled trade barriers by $1992$, and introduced the Euro in $2001$.

The United States and the Overseas West

• The "U.S. Century": The U.S. took a leading role in opposing the Soviet Union. Military spending rose from $13.5$ billion to $50$ billion during the Korean War ($1950-1953$).

• Policy of Containment: Formulated under Dwight Eisenhower to surround the Soviet Union with alliances. Included intervention in Guatemala ($1954$) and the Cuban missile crisis ($1962$).

• Vietnam War: Gradual escalation in the $1960s$ with $550,000$ U.S. troops by $1968$. More bombs were dropped than in all prior conflicts. A cease-fire was reached in $1973$, and by $1975$, Vietnam was under communist control.

• Canada: Pursued more extensive welfare and provincial autonomy for French-speaking Quebec (separatist party founded in $1967$). Signed a free-trade agreement with the U.S. in $1988$.

• Australia and New Zealand: Shifted toward Pacific/U.S. alignment. By $1983$, Asians accounted for $60$ percent of the total immigrant population in Australia.

Culture and Society in the West

• The Women’s Revolution: Married women entered the labor force in record numbers—$44$ percent of the workforce in most Western countries by the $1970s$.

• New Feminism: Simone de Beauvoir published "The Second Sex" ($1949$); Betty Friedan wrote "The Feminine Mystique." They argued for literal equality over traditional domestic roles.

• Family Shifts: Access to divorce increased; British divorce rates rose from $9$ percent in $1961$ to over $33$ percent by the late $1970s$. The contraceptive pill ($1960$) separated sex from procreation.

• Scientific and Popular Culture: Discovery of DNA structure by Francis Crick and James Watson. US "Coca-colonization" occurred via blue jeans and TV (e.g., Dallas), but Europe exported the Beatles and experimental cinema (Bergman, Godard).

• Immigration: "Guest workers" from Turkey, Africa, and Asia filled labor shortages. By $2000$, France had a $10$ percent Muslim minority, and Latinos were the largest U.S. minority.

Eastern Europe and the Soviet Empire

• Soviet Consolidation: Established buffer zones in Eastern Europe. Crushed non-communist regimes by $1948$. Albania and Yugoslavia (under Tito) were notable for seeking independence from Soviet direction.

• Berlin Wall: Erected in $1961$ to stop the flow of people to the West.

• Uprisings:
      * Poland and Hungary ($1956$): Poland achieved limited reforms (halting collectivization); the Hungarian revolt was cruelly crushed by the Soviet army.
      * Czechoslovakia ($1968$): A liberal regime was expelled by the Soviet army, followed by the Brezhnev Doctrine, proclaiming the right to intervene in any socialist country.

• Soviet Internal Policy: Maintained heavy industrial focus and intense science/space research (Sputnik).