Cold War: Third World Confrontations

Third World Confrontations

Chart to list main points about Third World confrontations:
- Country, Conflict, Main Idea, Why it Matters Now, Terms & Names, Revolution
- Countries: Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran

Post World War II, nations were grouped into three "worlds:
- First World: Industrialized capitalist nations (United States and allies).
- Second World: Communist nations led by the Soviet Union.
- Third World: Developing nations, often newly independent, not aligned with either superpower (nonaligned nations).
Third World as an arena for competition between Cold War superpowers.
Third World nations: Located in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
- Economically poor and politically unstable due to colonialism.
- Suffered from ethnic conflicts, lack of technology, and education.
- Needed a political and economic system.
- Main choices: Soviet-style communism and U.S.-style free-market democracy.
Cold War Strategies:
- The United States, the Soviet Union, and China used techniques to gain influence in the Third World.
- Backed wars of revolution, liberation, or counterrevolution.
- The U.S. and Soviet intelligence agencies: CIA and the KGB engaged in covert activities.
- The United States gave military aid, built schools, combatted poverty, and sent volunteer workers.
- The Soviets offered military and technical assistance, mainly to India and Egypt.

Developing nations needed assistance and became players in the Cold War competition.
Not all Third World countries wished to play a Cold War role.
- India vowed to remain neutral.
- Indonesia also struggled to stay uninvolved.
1955: Bandung Conference: Leaders from Asia and Africa met to form a "third force" of independent countries, or nonaligned nations.
Some nations maintained neutrality; others took sides or played competing sides against each other.
Foreign Aid: Superpowers gave financial aid to win allies (e.g., Egypt and the Aswan Dam).
Espionage: Each side spied on the other (e.g., Soviet downing of a U.S. U-2 spy plane in 1960).
Multinational Alliances: The Soviet Union and the United States entered into alliances like NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
Propaganda: Used to win support overseas (e.g., Radio Free Europe).
Brinkmanship: Going to the brink of war to make the other side back down (e.g., Cuban Missile Crisis).
Surrogate Wars: The United States and the Soviet Union fought indirectly by backing opposing sides in smaller conflicts.

The United States and the Soviet Union aimed to stop each other from extending power.
Rivalry pursued using strategies rather than direct war.

Post World War II: Rapid industrialization, population growth, and inequality led Latin American nations to seek aid from superpowers.
Countries alternated between democracy and military rule.
The United States backed leaders who protected U.S. interests but oppressed their people.
Communism and nationalism inspired revolutionary movements, which found Soviet support.
The United States provided military and economic assistance to anti-Communist dictators.

1950s: Cuba was ruled by Fulgencio Batista, who had U.S. support.
Cuban resentment led to a revolution that overthrew Batista in January 1959, led by Fidel Castro.
Castro brought social reforms and improved the economy initially.
Castro was a harsh dictator who suspended elections, jailed opponents, and controlled the press.
Castro nationalized the Cuban economy, taking over U.S.-owned sugar mills and refineries.
Eisenhower ordered an embargo on all trade with Cuba.
Castro turned to the Soviets for economic and military aid.

1960: The CIA trained anti-Castro Cuban exiles.
April 1961: Bay of Pigs invasion failed due to lack of U.S. air support.
July 1962: Khrushchev secretly began building 42 missile sites in Cuba.
October: An American spy plane discovered the sites.
Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of Cuba.
Castro protested his country’s being used as a pawn in the Cold War.
Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in return for a U.S. promise not to invade Cuba.
The resolution of the crisis left Castro dependent on Soviet support.
Castro backed Communist revolutions in Latin America and Africa.
Soviet aid to Cuba ended with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, crippling the Cuban economy.
Castro refused to adopt economic reforms or give up power.

The United States had funded the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza since 1933.
1979: Communist Sandinista rebels toppled Somoza’s son.
The United States and the Soviet Union initially gave aid to the Sandinistas and their leader, Daniel Ortega.
The Sandinistas gave assistance to Marxist rebels in El Salvador.
The United States supported Nicaraguan anti-Communist forces called the Contras.
The civil war lasted over a decade and weakened the country’s economy.
1990: President Ortega agreed to hold free elections and was defeated by Violeta Chamorro.
The Sandinistas were also defeated in elections in 1996 and 2001.

After World War II, Iran’s leader, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, embraced Western governments.
Iranian nationalists resented these alliances.
Prime Minister Muhammed Mossadeq nationalized a British-owned oil company.
1953: The United States helped restore the shah to power due to fears of Iran turning to the Soviets.

With U.S. support, the Shah westernized Iran.
Millions of Iranians lived in extreme poverty.
The Shah tried to weaken the influence of conservative Muslim leaders (ayatollahs).
Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, living in exile, spurred Iranians to riot in 1978.
1979: The Shah fled Iran, and Khomeini established an Islamic state.

Hatred of the United States was at the heart of Khomeini’s foreign policy.
1979: Islamic revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took Americans hostage.
Hostages remained prisoners for 444 days before being released in 1981.
Khomeini encouraged Muslim radicals to overthrow secular governments.
Tensions heightened between Iran and Iraq.
War broke out between Iran and Iraq in 1980.
The United States secretly aided both sides to maintain the balance of power in the region.
The Soviet Union supported Iraq.
A million Iranians and Iraqis died in the war before the UN negotiated a ceasefire in 1988.

Post World War II: Afghanistan maintained independence from the Soviet Union and the United States.
1950s: Soviet influence increased.
Late 1970s: A Muslim revolt threatened to topple Afghanistan’s Communist regime.
1979: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
The Soviets found themselves stuck, like the United States in Vietnam.
American weapons supplied to Afghan rebels, called mujahideen.
The United States considered the Soviet invasion a threat to Middle Eastern oil supplies.
President Jimmy Carter stopped U.S. grain shipments to the Soviet Union and boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
1980s: Mikhail Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops by 1989.
Internal unrest and economic problems were tearing apart the Soviet Union.

Taliban were among the mujahideen rebels who fought the Soviet occupation.
Various groups organized themselves during a civil war after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
1996: The Taliban seized power and established an Islamic government.
The Taliban imposed a repressive rule, especially harsh on women.
The Taliban gave sanctuary to international Islamic terrorists.
2001: An anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States drove them from power.