Unit 9: Cold War and Contemporary Europe

  • 1945 - 1970: Confrontation

  • 1970 - 1979: Detente

  • 1980 - 1989: Renew Rivalry

Early Cold War

The Ideological Struggle

  • Soviet and Eastern Bloc - Spread Communism

  • US and Western Democracies - Containment of communism and collapse of the communist world

  • Metholodogies

    • Espionage (KGB v. CIA)

    • Arms Race

    • Competition for the following of Third World Countries

    • Bipolarization of Europe (NATO vs. Warsaw Pact)

Truman Doctrine

  1. Civil War in Greece

  2. Turkey under pressure from the USSR for concessions in the Dardanelles

  3. The US should support democracy across the world

  4. The US gave Greece and Turkey $400 million in aid

Marshall Plan

  1. European Recovery Program

  2. Secretary of State George Marshall

  3. The US should provide aid to all European nations that need it. This move is not against any country, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos

  4. $12.5 billion

Berlin Airlift

  • The US brings supplies into East Berlin

  • Stalin does not stop the airlift because the US had nuclear weapons

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

  • NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

    • Agreement that if someone gets attacked, all the other NATO countries would attack

    • United States joins

  • Warsaw Pact

    • Eastern European communist countries join with USSR as a response to the Warsaw Pact

Suez Crisis

  • Egypt (Nasser) takes over and nationalizes the Suez Canal

  • GB, France, Israel v. USSR and Egypt

  • Proxy War of the Cold War

  • Egypt is able to take the Suez Canal

Radio Free Europe

USSR Uprisings

  • The Hungarian Uprising

    • Imre Nagy, Hungarian PM

    • Promised Free Elections

    • This could lead to the end of communist rule in Hungary

Sputnik I

  • Russians have sent a satellite to space first (winning the space race)

  • USSR gains the technological edge

Kitchen Debate

  • Nixon and Khruschev debate Cold War tensions and technology in a kitchen

U2 Spy Incident

  • U2 Spy Plane is shot down over Soviet airspace while spying and taking pictures

  • USA did not acknowledge that the US was spying

  • Francis Gary was captured and only released if an official apology was given

The Berlin Wall Goes Up

  • Soviets put up the Berlin wall to separate the two sides because East Germany people were leaving to West and escaping

  • US/President Kennedy sides with the East

Prague Spring

  • Czech president Alexander Dubcek is replaced by USSR leader because he allows some freedoms

  • Student rebellions crushed by communist Soviet Union

4th French Republic

  • New government following WWII

  1. Democratic, but politically unstable

  2. Universal Suffrage

  3. Weak President, powerful legislature

  4. Many political parties

  5. Failure to gracefully leave Indochina

  6. Botched the Suez war

  7. Failed to settle the Algerian crisis - Example of decolonization

Causes for Imperialism

  • Industrial Revolution

  • Nationalism

  • White Man’s Burden/Social Darwinism

  • Missionaries

Algerian Decolonization

  • Wealthy Algerians with French origins are a small minority - majority are Muslims rebelling against

  • Wealthy Algerians look to France for aid with the crisis but France refuses to help, also do not let them in France

  • France nominates Charles DeGaulle to be president

5th French Republic

  • Charles DeGaulle

  • Weak Cabinet

  • Weak legislature

  • Separation of Power

  • DeGaulle’s Achievements

    • Settled the Algerian Crisis

    • Made France a nuclear power

    • Sustained general prosperity

    • Maintained a stable democracy

    • Made France more politically independent

    • Resigned in 1968 due to social unrest and died in 1970

The Federated Republic of Germany

  • Created in 1949 with Bonn as Capital

  • Army limited

  • Christian Democracy led by Konrad Adenauer

    • Coalition of moderates and conservatives

    • Pro-Western

    • Economic Miracle - one of the best economies, reestablishes itself as a power

Clement Attlee and the Labor Party

  • Limited socialist program

    • National insurance act

    • National health service act

  • Nationalized coal mines, public utilities, steel industry, Bank of England, Railroads, transportation, and aviation

  • Social insurance legislation

  • Socialized medicine

  • Britain is in a big debt

  • GB Independences and revolts:

    • India

    • Palestine

    • Kenya

Churchill Returns

  • Didn’t reverse any welfare state policies of Attlee’s government

Results of Decolonization

  1. Political - Independence, competition between USSR and USA (Cold War)

  2. Economic - poor, one cash crop, aid dependence, socialism and communism

  3. Social - great migration to Europe

1968 Revolts

  • Who?

    • Students - wanted more modern university classes, anti-conservative

    • Workers - low pay, poor working conditions, lack of rights

  • Against: Charles DeGaulle (resigns due to several months-long protests)

  • Result

    • Worker’s Rights

    • Liberal government in the 1970s

European Economic Integration

  • 1947: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

    • 23 Nations

    • Became the foundation of postwar global commerce

    • Set up procedures to handle commerical complaints

    • By 1990, 99 nations were participating

  • 1952: European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

    • HQ in Luxembourg

    • Inner Six nations

    • Placed coal and steel industries under supranational authority

    • Eliminated tariff duties and quotas on coal and steel

  • 1957: European Economic Community (EEC)

    • HQ in Brussels

    • Treaty of Rome

    • Same six countries

    • Created a larger free trade area

    • Eliminate all trade barriers

    • One common tariff with the outside world

    • Free movement of capital and labor

  • 1967: European Community (EC)

    • HQ in Brussels

    • European Parliament

      • Eurocrats

      • 518 members

      • Only limited legislative power

    • Court of Justice

    • Adds justice and legislative element

  • 1992: Maastricht Agreements/European Union (EU)

    • EU created from the EC

      • One currency, one culture, one social area, and one environment

    • Create a frontier-free Europe and a common EU passport

    • One large “common market”

    • Common currency (Euros)

    • 60,000 men Defense Force was created

Brexit

  • British exit of the EU

  • Led by conservative party

  • Issues:

    • Value of British pound

    • Free flow of migrant workers

    • Money given to help poor EU countries

    • Trade outside EU

Economic Results in Europe

  • Western Europe:

    • Rapid economic growth, modernization, and increase in standard of living

    • Long-term economic interdependence

  • Eastern Europe:

    • Shortage of consumer goods

    • Stagnant technology progress

    • Lower standard of living

Culture and Society

Changing Class Structure

  • Middle Class Changes

    • 19c - independent, self-employed who owned a business or practiced a liberal profession such as law or medicine. Often inherited property and had family connections

    • 20c - white collar workers, ability to serve the needs of an organization

    • Caused by rapid industrial and technological expansion less sustainability for small businesses

Welfare State

  • Belief that governments ought to ensure economic prosperity, social security, and political structure

    • Christian Democratic Parties

    • Labor and Social Democratic parties

  • Governments spend more on welfare than the military

    • National health services, insurance, social security

  • European Economic Cycles since WWII

    • 1st Period: 1945-1953

    • 2nd Period: 1953 - 1978

    • 3rd Period: 1979 - 1990s

    • 4th Period: 1990s - today

Migration

  • Postwar Migration

    • Guest worker programs to recruit needed labor for booming postwar economies. Mostly young and unskilled

    • Post colonial migration fueled economic recovery and added to growing ethnic diverse population

    • Socialist and Green Party fought against the inequalities placed on these people

  • Pivotal Dates: Early cold war attitude changes from pro to anti migrant workers around 1980

Science

  • Medical discoveries: antibiotics, insulin, vaccines

  • Technology: radios, TV washing machines

  • Nuclear Physics

    • A-Bomb, ICBM, salt treaties

    • US/USSR had 25,000 nuclear weapons a piece

  • Space Race

    • Sputnik, Star Wars, European Space Agency

  • Social Impact

    • Government and industry subsidized research

    • Pollution and waste

    • Overpopulation

    • New sciences

Philosophy

  • Existentialism

    • Exist without purpose and find meaning through experience

  • Deconstruction Theory

  • Annales

    • French historical writers of social history

Art

  • Modernism - successful insubordination against ruling authority

    • Nonobjective, abstract

    • Mirrored political turbulence of the times

    • Disillusionment with rationalism and optimism

    • Influenced by Freud

  • Postmodernism

Religion

  • Ecumenical Movement

    • Crusade against Darwin

    • United the many branches of Protestantism and reconciled their differences

  • Vatican II

    • Reshaped Catholic pluralism

  • Pope John Paul II

    • First pope since 14th century not from Italy

    • Reached out to Western and non-Western world

    • Strong supporter of freedom, worked to bring down communism

  • Fundamentalist

    • Rise and spread of militant religious reform movements

    • Rejected modern secularism and turned to the literal reading of ancient texts for guidance

Student Movements

  • Year of the Barricades

  • Counterculture

  • Baby Boomers

  • White, middle-class students

  • Political liberalism

  • Anti-big business

Women

  • No longer defined as just being a mother

    • Labor: economy shifted from heavy industry to white collar work

    • Feminists demanded an end to barriers

    • Push for equal rights

  • Margaret Thatcher

    • PM of England

    • Cut taxes, curb inflation, roll back socialism, privatize national industries, set England on Capitalist path

Terrorism

  • Conservative Parties elected in 70s and 80s

  • IRA

    • National and religious violence pitted Catholics in Northern Ireland with the dominant Protestants

  • Separatist region in the Basque

End of Cold War

Most important European events 2nd half of the 20th century

  1. Withdrawal of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe

  2. Collapse of USSR

Cold War II - Detente

  • 1970s - Detente - reduction of tension in the USSR/USA relationship

    • Nixon introduced greater flexibility into the policy of containment

    • Linked Western trade and technology to USSR

    • 1972 - SALT Treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)

    • 1975 - Helsinki accords - 35 nations pledged to respect Soviet sphere of influence

  • Rekindled War

    • President Carter’s foreign policy involved human rights

      • Attacked Soviets for their treatment of Jews and invasion of Afghanistan

      • Withdrawal from Salt II, embargo on USSR products, supported Jihadists fighting against the USSR, boycotted Olympics

      • Largest peacetime defense spending in US history

Recession

  • Oil replaced coal as a major source of energy

  • 1973 - 1979

    • Arab-Israeli War: Embargo, increased prices

    • Inflation over 20%, bankruptcies, unemployment at 10%

    • Technology eliminated jobs

  • Reaction

    • 2 options: Curb inflation or reduce unemployment

    • West Germany - control inflation

    • GB - New Conservatives/Neoliberals

      • Free market capitalism

      • Cut social services

      • Privatization

      • Side economics and trickle down

Margaret Thatcher

  • Positives

    • Cut government expenditures on health care, education, public housing

    • Reduced imports, taxes

    • Focused on investment and growth

    • Privatized 1/3 of state industries

    • London became important financially again

    • Reversed economic decline

    • Involvement in Falkland war

  • Negative

    • Gap between rich and poor widen

    • Increase in poverty, crime, racial protest

Gorbachev

  • Perestroika - Restructuring of the Economy

    • Decentralization

    • Self-management for industry and agriculture

    • End of rigid party policies

    • Incentives for productivity

    • Not very successful

  • Glasnost - Openness

    • Freedom/Tolerance of religion

    • New history books prepared

    • Newspapers, theater, art

    • Allowed to leave country

    • Successful program

  • Internationalism

    • Changed the image of USSR as a military threat

    • Removed troops from Eastern Europe

    • Ended war in Afghanistan

    • Nuclear arms reduction

  • Criticism

    • Believed in gradual reform, but this was not fast enough for some

End of USSR

  • Boris Yeltsin - Populist president

    • Elected first president of Russia in 1991

    • Demanded independence of Baltic states and self-government for Russia and other ex-Soviet republics

  • Attempted coup of Gorbachev’s union to force USSR to stay together

  • 1992: USSR ceased to exist and Soviet Union became the Russian Federation with 21 “Federated Republics”

    • Chechen Republic attempted to secede from federation but failed

    • Nuclear Arms stayed in Russia

    • Russia remained on the UN security council

  • Communism lost its importance as an applicable political philosophy, and no major European nation is now called communist

  • 2000 - Putin became president - authoritarian and aggressive foreign policy

Eastern Europe

  • Poland

    • Solidarity- independent trade union federation.

    • 1978- Pope John Paul II, first Polish Pope, inspired huge demonstrations during his visit to Poland.

    • 1981- Brezhnev Doctrine sent in military intervention and it was banned, leaders arrested.

    • 1983- Lech Walesa wins Nobel Peace Prize

    • 1989- free parliamentary elections- Solidarity win all, but 1 seat

    • 1990- Walesa elected President of Poland

  • Hungary

    • 1988- Communist party moved away from central planning and encouraged private enterprise and western investment.

    • Nagy’s body was exhumed and given a hero’s reburial.

    • Opened up a barbed wire barrier on the Austrian border to allow free movement.

  • East Germany

    • Improved relations with West Gemany

    • By 1989, over 350K had left EG via Austria

    • Berlin Wall comes down

    • Helmut Kohl: Christian Democrat who reunites Germany

  • Czechoslovakia

    • Alexander Dubcek becomes president of Czechoslovakia

      • Dissolved Secret police

      • Free Press

      • Free elections

    • 2 nations in 1993: Czech Republic, Slovakia

  • Romania

    • Nicolae Ceausescu - Stalin-like communist dictator

    • Distanced himself from USSR

    • Executed by firing squad

  • Yugoslavia