Cold War

• Period between the end of World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union (or USSR)

• U.S. and Soviet Union relations were tense

• Rooted in ideological opposition between communism and capitalist democracies dominated by U.S. and Soviet Union

• U.S. was in support of democracy and free-trade

• Soviet Union was a communist, totalitarian country

• An “Iron Curtain” divided Europe between a free and democratic state and a totalitarian regime

U.S. made military alliances around the world to contain communism

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949

• Mutual defence pact

• U.S., Canada, Belgium, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Britain, Norway, Denmark, and France

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was created in 1954

Warsaw Pact was formed in 1955

Nuclear arms race began during World War II

• Russia, Britain, and Germany were exploring nuclear fission

• U.S. was the first to develop and implement the atomic bomb

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 banned such tests in the atmosphere

A third of the world’s population was under colonial rule in 1945

Decolonization was a direct result of World War II

India gained independence from Britain in 1947, under the leadership of Indian nationalist, Mohandas Gandhi

Decolonization in Africa occurred in the late 1950s and 1960s

Europe and Asia was severely damaged by World War II

• Cities, factories, and farmlands were part of the damage

• Majority of Europe was faced with lack of goods and inflation

U.S. aided with reconstruction and recovery of war-torn nations in both Europe and Japan

Marshall Plan: U.S. economic aid program for European countries, meant to establish U.S. economic influence in European markets

Soviet Union formed the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in 1949, in response to the Marshall Plan