The Cold War

Chapter 1, What was the Cold War? (pages 2-9)

2-5

Significance and causation

• 1945-1991 Cold War

• US and USSR superpowers after the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945

• Ideological conflict

• Conventional and nuclear arms race

• Proxy wars in Asia, Africa, Latin America

Communism versus Capitalism

• Bolshevik Revolution 1917

• USSR Communist and one-party state

• USA Capitalist and democracy

Increasing Hostility

• Mutual suspicion caused by Bolshevik Revolution 1917 and the start of WWII 1939

  • West intervened in the Russian Civil War against the Bolshiviks

  • USSR did not receive recognition or join the League of Nations until 1934

  • Fear of Soviet communism greater than fear of German facism

  • Non-Aggression Pact (Nazi-Soviety) allowed Hitler to concentrate on attacking the West

Idealism versus Self-Interest

• Each thought their system was best

• Foreign policies impacted by idealism or imperialism?

What was the significance of Stalinism?

• Stalin took over after Lenin in the late 1920s

• Collectivization of all farms leading to deaths of agricultural workers

• Five year plans

• 1930s Great Terror - purges of political opponents as well as regular people who were executed or sent to gulags (slave labor camps)

• Stalinism

  • Complete dominance of Stalin over party

  • Party dominated the state

  • Powerful state security machine

  • Eliminating opposition

  • Paranoia and violence

Stalin’s role in World War Two

• Tried to delay attack from Hitler by Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939

• June 1941 Germans could not hold of action on Eastern Front and they launched Operation Barbarossa against Soviet Union on 1941

• Red Army wasn't ready to resist Nazis

• Were able to prevent them from taking Moscow and then pushed them back to Berlin

• Victory over Nazi Germany made him more secure and powerful

6-9

Why did the USA and the USSR emerge as superpowers after 1945?

• 19th century world structure was gone - old powers of Britain and France could not maintain peace on their own 

• The USA and USSR emerged from WWII more powerful than before the war due to…

Military reasons

• USA was number one air force power in world

• USSR was number one land force power in world 

• France and Britain were second rank powers

• USSR lacked strong military neighbors - they were a regional power

Economic reasons

• US’ economy strengthened by war - out produce others put together

• US committed to more open trade (markets flourished) 

• US had economic strength to prevent instability in europe 

• USSR replaces germany in supporting small european countries that were formed post WWI

Political reasons

• For west - WWII shows that democracy triumphed over fascism (US on right path)

• For USSR - communism triumphed over facism and it gained respect in Europe

• USSR’s losses and use of Red army to defeat Nazis gave Stalin claim to great influence in forming a post-war world

• USSR has political strength to prevent instability in europe 

• In 1945 - US and USSR become key players in establishing the post-war settlement in Europe

  • During this process, the alliance collapsed, and in 1949 Cold War emerges (lasts 40 years) 

Vocab

• Liberalism - emphasis on freedom of the individual (minimal economic interference by the state and promotion of free trade)

  • Believe in civil liberties, universal suffrage, parliamentary constitutional government, independent judiciary, diplomacy 

• Facism - rooted in ideas opposite of liberalism

  • Believe in limited individual freedoms in the interest of the state, extreme nationalism, use of violence to to achieve ends, keeping power in hands of elite group/leader, aggressive foreign policy

• Socialism - developed in the context of the industrial revolution 

  • Believe in a more egalitarian social system, governments providing for the more needy members of society, international cooperation and solidarity 

• Conservatism - a belief in maintaining the existing or traditional order

  • Believe in respect for traditional institutions, limiting government intervention in people’s lives, gradual and/or limited changes in the established order

• Maoism - form of communism adapted by Mao Zedong

  • Believed revolution could be achieved by the peasants, not necessarily by the proletariat, class conflict was not as important in revolution as using the human will to make and remake the revolution, revolution should be ongoing

Chapter 2, Breakdown of the Grand Alliance 10-27

10-19

Causation and change

• 1945 American and Soviet soldiers met at River Elbe which signified the final defeat of Germany

• Due to successful collaboration of USA and Allies in Grand Alliance

• 1949 two separate “spheres of influence” in Europe

• After Berlin Blockade, Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) established, then a month later German Democratic Republic (East Germany) established

The breakdown of the Grand Alliance

• 1941 Nazis attacked Russia and US and UK sent aid to Soviets which marked the beginning of the Grand Alliance

• Churchill still didn't like Stalin, mutual suspicion

• Stalin still wanted more aid and help from the two countries

• 1943 after the first of three wartime conferences relations seemed to improve some

• Proposed date for Normandy invasion

Step 1: the wartime conferences

• Discussed the state of the war, the status of Germany/Poland/Eastern Europe/Japan, the UN

• The Tehran Conference 1943

  • Nov 1943

  • State of the war

    • 1943 Allies were winning following turning-point victories in 1942

  • Germany

    • What to do with Germany after it was defeated

    • Soviet and US/Britain had different ideas

    • Drew from failure of Treaty of Versailles

    • Unconditional surrender of Germany

    • Roosevelt supported Operation Overlord (Allied invasion of northern France)

  • Poland

    • Stalin concerned about security, wanted territory

    • Shape of Poland’s post-war borders

    • Puppet regime with USSR in control

  • Eastern Europe

    • Soviets wanted the territories

    • US and Britain agreed but it went against the 1941 Atlantic Charter

  • Japan

    • US and UK wanted USSR to enter war with Japan and have a second Soviet front in Asia, Stalin would not until they beat Germany

  • The United Nations

    • Americans especially wanted to replace League of Nations with new international organization

    • Collective security

  • Conclusions

    • New international organization

    • Needed weak postwar Germany

• The Yalta Conference 1945

  • The state of the war

    • Germany almost defeated

  • Germany

    • Allies decided Germany would be disarmed, demilitarized, de-Nazi, divided

    • Temporary division with four zones of occupation between USA USSR UK France

    • Allied Control Council would be set up to govern Germany

    • Stalin wanted lots of reparations from Germany

    • Germany would pay $20billion, USSR would get 50%

  • Poland

    • Lots of uncertainty about where borders would be drawn

    • And what would be the political makeup of the postwar government

    • New borders decided at Yalta

  • Eastern Europe

    • Agreement at Yalta about the future of Eastern European governments

    • Stalin agreed for free elections for Eastern Europe

    • Major victory for US and UK

  • Japan

    • Stalin would now enter war with Japan

    • Wanted territory from Japan and US and UK agreed

  • United Nations

    • Soviets joined

    • Five permanent members of security council with veto power

    • Stalin wanted 16 separate seats for Soviet Republics, US and UK agreed on three - Russia, Ukraine, Belarus

  • Conclusions

    • Agreement on UN

    • Soviet agreement to join Pacific war against Japan

    • Big Three signed “Declaration on Liberated Europe” pledging support for democracies in Eastern Europe

• What were the crucial developments that took place between the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences?

  • Roosevelt died April 1945 and was replaced by Truman who was tougher on USSR

  • Germany surrendered unconditionally May 1945

  • Churchill and Conservative party lost 1945 general election, succeeded by Labour party Clement Attlee

  • Soviet Red army occupied as far west as in Germany

  • Right after Potsdam Conference began, US successfully tested first atomic bomb

20-27

• The Potsdam Conference 1945

  • The state of the war

    • Germany surrendered unconditionally, war in pacific raged on  - US ready to attack Japanese mainland and atomic bomb tests were successful

  • Germany

    • Allies decided they would carry out deNazification of Germany in their own ways in their own respective zones of occupation 

    • German economy limited to domestic industry and agriculture, soviets receive 25% of their reparation bill from western zones

  • Poland

    • Truman insisted polish government was reorganized - said there was not a free and democratic vote 

    • Stalin offered to include more London Poles within the Lublin-led government

• Eastern Europe 

  • US unhappy about Percentages Agreement that was made bilaterally between Stalin and Churchill in October 1944 (spheres of influence were discussed in terms of percentages when deciding the future fate or countries in Eastern Europe) 

  • Truman challenged Stalin’s influence over Romania and Bulgaria but Stalin was already in control so the West couldn't force him to make changes 

• Japan

  • Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan soon agreed to unconditional surrender 

  • Truman didn’t tell Stalin about the bomb

• United nations

  • Officially created in 1945 - 50 nationwide signed, USSR was only communist power in the Big Five (US, USSR, France, Britain, Nationalist China)

• Conclusions

  • The agreement of the immediate, practical control of the defeated Germany and the establishment of the UN emerged

• Key developments 1946-1947

  • Salami tactics (USSR secured Communist control in Eastern Europe like slicing off salami - piece by piece)

    • Stage 1: established a broad alliance of anti-fascists in Eastern Europe; Stage 2: each countries’ governments were sliced off, one after another; Stage 3: Communist ‘core’ was left, and local Communists were sometimes replaced with Moscow-trained people

    • 1946 - Baggage Train (leaders trustworthy to Stalin) returned to their countries - ensured communism 

    • Free elections held in Jan 1947, campaign of murder, censorship, and deportation prior to election

    • In Poland - many candidates disqualified, arrested, murdered; voters taken off electoral register - Soviets viewed it as a victory over Western expansionism 

  • Soviet pressure on Iran 

    • UK and USSR agree to withdraw troops, but Stalin left 30000 in the north, they encouraged a Communist uprising 

    • US and UK demand he removes troops but he refuses, wants Iranian oil, Truman threatens war

    • UN convinces Stalin

  • Greece and Turkey

    • Anti-imperialist and anti-nationalist rebellions in Greece and Turkey, UK and US believe they were being directed by Soviets 

  • Italy and France

    • Communist parties grew stronger, US suspicious that these new parties were receiving encouragement from Moscow 

• Step 2: Kennan’s Long Telegram, Feb 1946

  • George F Kennan (US diplomat in Moscow) sent telegram to US State Department abt Soviet foreign policy (they withdraw when faced with strang military resistance, not logic of force) 

  • USSR had insecure view of world, Soviets wanted to advance Muscovite Stalinist ideology, Soviet regime was cruel and repressive, hostility to outside world sustained this system, USSR was fanatically hostile to the West

  • The same year, NV Novikov (Soviet ambassador to US) also sent a telegram, set out concerns about US actions he saw as imperialism and threatening 

• Step 3: Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, March 1946

  • Churchill’s speech in Fulton, Missouri with Truman sitting behind him

  • Said by 1946 Soviet Communism would be prevalent in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, this Eastern European control would be extended to East Germany in two years

  • Red army was in the countries liberated from Germany by the Russians 

  • Soviet ration: Stalin saw the speech as racist and a call to war with the Soviet Union

    • Soviets withdrew from International Monetary Fund (IMF), increased anti-Western propaganda, initiated a new five-year economic plan of self-strengthening 

Chapter 3, Breakdown of the Grand Alliance

29-36 - Stop at Step 8 - Addie

Step 4: The Truman Doctrine 

• Truman Doctrine - speech made my Turman on March 12 1947, US obligated to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by outside pressures 

• Radical change to US foreign policy - it was traditionally isolationist 

• Britain can’t help Greek government with communist guerrillas, its economy is too damaged 

• Truman issued doctrine in Feb 1947 - military advisors sent to greece

  • Soviets say this as US trying to expand its sphere of influence

  • Beginning of US policy of containing communism 

Step 5: The Marshall Plan 

• Jan 1947 - George Marshall replaces Byrnes as US secretary of State, believes Western Europe economies need immediate help from USA

• Economic extension of the Truman Doctrine 

• Strict criteria for countries that qualify for US aid - allowing US to investigate financial records of applicant countries, USSR wouldn’t tolerate this condition; US invited USSR to join the Marshall Plan

• Aims to 

  • Revive European economies to ensure stability

  • Safeguard the future of the US economy

• Four-year aid program of $17 billion passed in March 1948, successful due to Czech Coup 

• Soviet Reaction: they rejected Marshall plan, viewing it as dollar imperialism (establishing political control through economic domination and dependence) 

• US now trying to unite the West militarily

• Soviets come up with Molotov plan - a series of bilateral trade agreements aiming to tie the economies of Eastern Europe to USSR

  • Created COMECON in Jan 1949, linking Eastern bloc countries to Moscow, controlling economic development

•  Cominform - Communist Information Bureau set up in September 1947, instrument to increase Stalin’s control over Communist parties of other countries 

  • Comprised of USSR, Yugoslavia, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania

  • West concerned this org would spread Communism 

• In the 1920s and 1930s,  Stalin developed his idea of Europe being divided into ‘two camps’ - this idea became a foundation for USSR foreign policy post WWII

• Feb 1946 - Stalin’s speech emphasizes the creation of two camps opposing each other

  • Andrei Zhdanov’s speech - Americans organized an anti-Soviet bloc of countries, second bloc was USSR and those who were sympathetic to USSR (this is the two camps doctrine) 

Step 6: Red Army occupation of Eastern Europe, 1945-1947

• USSR created satellite empire - countries retained legal identities but were tied into following Moscow through military power, salami tactics, state police and security/spy networks, and COMECON

• Stalin posed a coup to oust non-Communst members of the government in Czechoslovakia 

• By the end of 1948, the satellite states were economically and militarily under the USSR’s control - US saw this occupation as a breach of the agreements made at Yalta and Potsdam

• X article - written by Kennan for Time Magazine in 1947 - argued US policy towards the USSR should be long term containment of expansionism (US should view USSR as a political rival) 

  • Influential to President Truman - US policy of containment is essential 

Step 7: The Czechoslovakian Coup, February 1948

• Soviets saw Czechoslovakia was moving West - expressed interest in receiving aid from the Marshall Plan, Czechoslovakia had abandoned the Munich Agreements of 1938

• Feb 1948 - stalin put pressure on the Czech government and twelve non-Communist members were forced to resign, leader demanded the formation of a Communist-led government 

• Two weeks later, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Massaryk found dead suspiciously, Truman calls the events in Czechoslovakia ‘coup’

• Financing for Marshall Plan had not been passed by Congress, Truman used coup to push the bill through 

• Bloody purges of allegedly disloyal Communists continued during 1948 in the Eastern bloc 

36-41 - Start at Step 8 - Claudia

Step 8: The Berlin Crisis of 1948

• Post-war Germany

  • Divided into 4 zones

  • By 1949, divided into two separate states

  • Why did the post-war powers fail to unify Germany? Several reasons

    • Germany’s key strategic position and the differing aims of the main powers

      • Central Europe

      • Soviets wanted reparations

    • The increasing lack of trust between East and West as the Cold War developed

      • Mutual suspicion

      • Didn't want Germany to go to Communism

    • The specific disputes between the post-war powers within Germany itself

      • Food shortages

      • Allocation of resources

      • Political conflict

• The Berlin Blockade 1948

  • Problem for West: Berlin within Soviet zone

  • West in Berlin had to receive resources in complicated ways

  • Stalin blockaded Berlin, created a crisis

  • West supplied Berlin through the air

  • Eventually ended May 1949

  • Results of Berlin Blockade

    • First time since 1945 that war was a possibility

    • Affected development of Cold War

    • Agreement between two sides would be impossible

    • Failure of Berlin Blockade had three main consequences

      • Division of Germany

        • West set up Federal Republic of Germany

        • Soviets set up German Democratic Republic

      • Continuation of 4-power control in Berlin

        • Berlin was divided city

      • Formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO

        • USA, Canada, Brussels Pact Powers, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Portugal

        • West Germany was admitted in Paris Pacts

        • This made Soviets scared

        • Warsaw Pact - brought Eastern Europe together under military command

        • Lacked organization and was more so politically but heightened the divide of Europe

• What conclusions can be drawn about Europe’s situation at the end of 1949?

  • Europe now divided along political, economic, military lines

  • Germany was 2 clear states and not going to be reunited

  • USA was not avoiding anymore, now involved economically (Marshall Plan) and militarily (NATO) in Europe

  • No peace treaty with Germany so borders were not formalized

  • Western countries united due to Soviet threat

• What did this situation mean for international relations beyond Europe?

  • Conflicts were seen as Communist v Capitalist

  • US policy of containment to fight Communism in Europe was now resisting Communism everywhere - leads to fighting in Korean and Vietnam Wars

  • UN could not effectively resolve international conflicts due to USA and USSR opposing one another 

Chapter 5, The Cold War goes global: The Korean War

Pgs 57-69

Addie: 57-62; Claudia: 63-69

US Foreign Policy, 1949-1950

• US optimistic that Soviets contained in Europe thanks to NATO and Truman Doctrine

• NATO power rested on atomic bomb, no money invested into conventional sources; USA demobilized WWII troops but USSR did not

USSR gets the bomb

• USSR developed its own atomic weapons 1949 - us has no ‘ace’

China falls to the Communists

• Mao and CCp achieve victory in Chinese Civil War

The Red scare

• Late 1940s and early 1950s - anti-communist rhetoric in US intensified due to influence of Senator Joseph mcCathy of Wisconsin 

  • Campaign against communists, says Truman was soft on USSR and CHina

NSC-68 - Total Commitment

• 1950 - national security Council produced NSC-68 - secret policy paper about the threat of communism 

• Argues massive military spending increase is essential to prevent Soviet expansion, encouraged economic and military aid for countries resisting communism 

North Korean invasion of SOuth Korea 

• Kim Ill Sung determined to unify peninsula as a communist country, but needed soviet military and financial assistance 

• Stalin gave approval so Sung in 1950 to carry out invasion 

• June 25 1950 - North Korea invaded South korea with goal of reunifying Korean peninsula 

  • Stalin cautions Il Sung that the Soviets would avoid direct confrontation with the US and will not send Soviet troops

Who started the war? 

• orthodox/western historians agree with US that Stalin initiated and led war

• Revisionist historians argued Stalin had no role in invasion - North Korea was responding to attacks from the SOuth 

• Post-Revisionist - Ill SUng planned invasion and uSSR played weaker role than previously thought 

  • Uses evidence like correspondence between USSR & Il Sung

UN and US actions

• June 27, 1950 - North KOrea controlled much of peninsula, including Seoul

• In the UN - US sponsored resolution that called for military action against North Korea - 15 countries send troops 

• UN forces arrive in South Korea at INcheon and push North Korean soldiers back to 38th parallel 

• Eventually, UN forces drive North Koreans to Vaal river, the border between China and North Korea

China’s entrance into conflict 

• Fearful for its own security, Map sends People’s Communist Volunteer Army to cross border and battle Un forces alongside North Korea

• SUccessful counterattack - Un troops driven back to 38th parallel 

The 38th Parallel - Stalemate 

• Stalemate develops on 38th parallel, both sides suffered significant casualties (1951-1953)

• Ceasfire signed in 1953  - conflict ended

Impact of Korean War

• North and south korea went back to pre-war borders - divided at 38th parallel (demilitarized zone) 

• Korean war was the first hot war - first major proxy war between US, USSR China

Impact on US

• Korean war is first containment war - believed to be a success 

• Tripled defense spending budget (recommendations of nsc-68 implemented) 

• Us rearms west germany and strengthens NATO 

• South-East asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed as anti-communist bloc in asia

Impact on CHina 

• Mao declared china saved North Korea from UN forces (China’s reputation grew) 

• Mao and stalin’s relationship strained - stalin insisted China pay excessively for military supplies provided by USSR

Impact on USSR

• Due to US decisions, USSR becomes entangled in a more intense standoff than in 1950

• Red army troops increased from 2.8 million troops in 1950 to 5.8 million in 1955

  • Conflict spread to other parts of world  - not just europe 

Chapter 6, THe USA and containment in Asia (72-88)

Pgs 72-79

Case Study 1: Korea 

• Success fro policy of containment (kept to 38th parallel) 

• Loses for US troops and Korean civilians 

• NSC-68 comes into force, communism contained at a great cost 

Case Study 2: Japan 

• US occupied Japan post 1945

• MacArthur is Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) 

  • Create weak and pacifist Japan, but this policy changed

• Demilitarize the country, new constitution including a bill of rights (emperor's role reduced from demi-god)

• New constitution emphasized rights of individual - cure militarist Japan through fully democratic society, laws passed to break up elite Japanese families

• MacArther needs strong, anti-Communist ally in asia with the cold war (China now fully communist) 

• Japan is that ally = communist wiped out, capable to resist communist threats from other countries 

  • Economy is main objective of SCAP = trade unions banned, restrictions on commies, duty and loyalty important, elite rich can continue, known as ‘reverse course’, red purge 

• No longer seeking weak pacifist Japan - allowed to establish ‘self-defence force’ 75000 deep in 1950

• American-Japanese Security Treaty signed in 1951 - Japan is military protectorate of US (retains military bases)

• Successful containment of Communism, Japan’s economy is strong, Japanese attitudes highly important 

  • US wanted Japna to become a bulwark against Communism, Japan resisted

Case Study 4: In-depth study of US and containment in Vietnam 

• Striking failure of containment - North not contained after decade of military involvement and loss of so many american lives and and money; Asia could fall like dominoes - happened in 1975

• How did the US become involved? 

  • Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos is indochina and occupied by japanese - don't want to go back to French rule

  • Ho Chi Minh led Vietminh - against Japanese, French don’t want independence, US supports France

  • Dominos!!

  • 1954 - Geneva Accords (peace agreement) = french withdraw, temp withdraw at 17th parallel, free elections, Laos and Cambodia independent 

    • US didn’t sign Geneva, they est SEATO instead = laos should remain neutral 

    • Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnam leader - Oct 1955 est Republic of Vietnam 

    • Brutal dictatorship emerging - diem doesn’t hold elections (ho chi minh more popular) 

  • Vietcong formed military units supported by North Vietnam 

  • John F Kennedy expanded fight against Communism 

    • Increased military advisers, started counter-insurgency operations (search and destroy missions, spraying defoliants like Agent Orange, supported Strategic Hamlets Program, introduced Green Berets 

    • Did not reduce Vietcong’s success, Buddhists were banned in South Vietnam 

  • Lyndon Baines Johnson is president after Kennedy assassinated in 1963, he continued war

  • Gulf of Tonkin incident - north vietnam patrol boats fired at Maddox (US ships under attack) 

  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - president repels any armed attack

    • Bombing, forces, dropped bombs, napalm, rockets

Pgs 80-88

The Great Society and the ‘credibility gap’

• Johnson wanted to implement a program called the “Great Society” to improve civil rights, poverty

• Credibility gap: difference between what the Johnson administration told Congress versus reality

The Tet Offensive

• 1968, turning point of the war

• 1967 Johnson told US they were winning

• Jan 30 1968 70,000 communists launched a surprise attack, called Tet

• American public opinion turned against the war

• First televised war

Did President Nixon achieve ‘peace with honour’?

• Nixon elected Nov 1968

• Wanted the war to end but not for the US to “lose”

• Henry Kissinger as foreign policy advisor

• Scaled down troops

The Paris peace talks

• May 13 1972 - Jan 1973

• No one would compromise, all wanted ‘peace with honor’

• Peace settlement Jan 27 1973

  • Americans would withdraw from Vietnam and both North and South would respect 17th parallel

• Last Americans withdrew 2 weeks after settlement

• By the end of 1975 many Asian countries had fallen to communism

Was Vietnam a failure for the American policy of containment? Historians’ views

• Obvious failure to contain communism in Indochina

• Some historians say it was not a total failure

Conclusions on the US policy of containment in Asia

• Up to 1949, successful in Europe

• Asia less successful as communism in Asia was more diverse and linked to strong nationalist movements

• US thought they were fighting Soviet imperialism but were actually fighting local nationalist movements so they were less successful

Chapter 7, Peaceful Coexistence (90-99)

Between 1945 and 1950 the cold war was influenced by other factors:

• Events in Asia

• Nuclear arms race

• Change in leadership in US and USSR, move to establish better relations between East and West (this chapter)

Eisenhower and Dulles in the United States: roll-back, brinkmanship, and the New Look

• Republican Dwight D Eisenhower elected pres in 1952

• Military background, was never soft on communism

• Presidential campaign discussed “roll back”

  • Liberating East European countries held by Soviets

  • This never happened, not even an attempt

• Actually implemented “New Look”

  • Prevent extension of Soviet Communism outside of where it already is

  • Hopefully without expansion the system would collapse

  • How to do this?

    • Alliance with Soviet Union (SEATO)

    • Military power to protect vulnerable areas (West Berlin)

    • Assist forces fighting communism (Diem’s gov in South Vietnam)

    • Use CIA for covert operations

    • Reliance on nuclear weapons

    • Brinkmanship: threats of mass retaliation as an instrument of containment, threaten nuclear war to get someone to back down

      • Was aware of danger, summits to negotiate happened in 1955 and 1959

Khrushchev and co-existence

• 1950s summits were due to Eisenhower but also new leadership attitudes in Soviet Union

• New leader of Soviet foreign policy

  • “New Course” idea later renamed “peaceful coexistence”

  • Move away from inevitability of war

  • Capitalism and Communism should accept continuing existence rather than destroy

  • Thought capitalism would die out due to weakness, thus no need for nuclear war

What other factors encouraged a change in international relations?

• Other leaders supported more communication between East and West because they didn't want a nuclear holocaust

• Economic factors

• Korean War ended by 1954 which removed major source of conflict

East-West relations in the 1950s: the reality

• Example of improved relations: 1953 agreement about Austria

  • April 1955 Austrian State Treaty was USSR peace treaty with Austria, made it an independent and neutral country

  • Then Geneva Convention where nothing really happened

• Was the Geneva Summit a failure?

  • No real progress on Germany or disarmament

  • Was a breakthrough because of cordial discussions

• Why did East-West tension increase again after 1955?

  • Good feeling was gone because of Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization speech and problems in Hungary and Suez Crisis

  • Eisenhower Doctrine Jan 19957: US would help Middle East fight communism

The technology race

• Oct 1957 Soviets launched first satellite

• Americans panicked, Soviet superiority in missile technology

• Khrushchev was overconfident about abilities

• The missile gap

  • US Congress and media promoted “missile gap”

    • Confirmed by Gaither Report - top secret committee

      • Recommended increase in defense power and missile development

      • Increase in conventional forces able to fight

      • Building fallout shelters to protect from nuclear attack

    • However US planes confirmed there was no missile gap, USSR did not have more missiles than US

    • Eisenhower had to alleviate public anxiety

      • Supported creation of NASA

      • Federal aid to science ed in schools

How did events of 1958-1960 affect East-West relations?

• 1958 Eisenhower confident in US nuclear superiority and wanted to ban atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons 

• Stopped in Oct 1958 followed by Soviet Union

• Hoped to lead to formal test-ban treaty

• Khrushchev then heightened tensions by issuing ultimatum to West to leave Berlin in 6 months

• Arranged summit meeting in Paris for May 1960

• The U-2 incident

  • Meeting produced few concrete results

  • Did generate positive atmosphere

  • However then American plane was shot down, lied about it being a spy plane

  • Eisenhower wouldn't apologize

  • No test-ban treaty

Chapter 8, Peaceful coexistence and containment: Berlin (100-107) 

Berlin 1958-1961

Differences between West and East Germany

• Economic - West had larger population and industrial output, received Marshall Aid, known as economic miracle (standard of living increased); East had forced collectivism of farms and socialism, disastrous economy 

• Political - West democracy, East no free elections, 1950s Stalinist authoritarian state, workers revolted, riots of June 1953, first major rebellion in Soviet sphere of influence

  • No further efforts by either side to reunite, change seemed risky, large potential for conflict

Berlin Crisis - Khrushchev and the crisis of 1958

• East German escaped to West Germany through Berlin and emigration was easy 

• Exodus by young and skilled East Germans and was encouraged by West, between 1945-1961 one sixth of population moved to West 

  • West maintained propaganda and espionage base in Berlin 

• November 27 1958 - Khrushchev proposed peace treaty, demanded Berlin should be demilitarized, Western troops withdraw, Berlin changed to “free city” 

  • If West didn’t agree in 6 months, he would turn over control of access route to West to East Germany 

  • East (GDR) would interfere with traffic to FRG (west), forcing Western allies to negotiate - recognizing GDR as legitimate 

• Krushchev’s influences included Soviet fear of West Germany acquiring nukes, concern of East Germany’s economy, and pressure from Walter Ulbricht (GDR leader) 

• Dropped ultimatum when West was outraged, Allies must discuss Germany 

• February 1959 - Geneva conference, proposals, nothing agreed upon

• September 1959 - Krushchev and Eisenhower met in US, no agreement

• Ulbricht grows frustrated with Khrushchev, refugees escaping East Germany grew, JFK is new US president in 1960

Kennedy and flexible response

• Flexible response approach to containment - more spending on conventional forces, enlarging nuclear arsenal, continuing with CIA covert work, aid to countries resisting communism, negotiate with USSR

• Kenney broadened range of options for resisting communism - Communism is more geographically diverse and giving assistance to the developing world 

  • Moving away from Eisenhower’s policy of massive retaliation 

Khrushchev, Ulbricht, and crisis of 1960-1961

• Kennedy met Khrushvhev at Vienna Summit of 1962, Krushchev wanted to exploit inexperience (Bay of Pigs just embarrassed him) 

• Kruschchev renews Berlin ultimatum, Kennedy stands strong, builds nuclear fallout shelters and increases military spending

Berlin Wall

• Increased refugees - august 12 1961 40000 fled to West

• Krushchev had no intention of nuclear war but bowed to Kennedy’s threat and Ulbricht’s pressure, closes East German border in Berlin 

  • August 13 1961, barbed wire between East and West Berlin, followed by concrete wall

What did the building of the wall mean for…

• Krushchev - a defeat, Communist propaganda failed and Soviets had to create barrier to keep people in the East, also meant he could regain control of situation and free himself from Ulbricht’s pressure

• Ulbricht - no peace treaty but he could consolidate Communist control in GdR 

• Berlin citizens - horrifying, families and friends cut off with no hope of reunion

• Cold war - removes Germany as key issue in Cold War negotiations, Americans complained about the wall (US tanks confronted Soviet tanks at Checkpoints Charlie at one point), US relieved no war over Berlin happened 

Symbolism of the Wall

• 1961-1989 - wall was powerful symbol of division between East and West, Iron Curtain became a reality 

• After wall was built, Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave emotive speech 

• Hundreds killed in next three decades attempting to defect to the West, guards instructed to shoot to kill

  • Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, wall eagerly dismantled 

Chapter 10, Sino-Soviet Relations

Pages 126-134

China becomes a Communist nation.

Background

• A lot of tension between Russia and China 

  • During Russian Tsarist times there was much tension along the border and in the 19th century China lost territories to Russia

• China was impressed and grateful when the new Bolshevik regime suggested that it would give up all claims to the former Tsarist empire outside Russia.

  • a year later, the Bolsheviks seized Outer Mongolia

Civil War in China

• The CCP grew in China 

  • their principal aims for China had similarities with another political group, the Guomindang (GMD)

    • Both wanted to Unify China 

• The ruling GMD, led by Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek), came to see the CCP as its key internal political enemy and waged a campaign to wipe it out

  • until an uneasy truce between the GMD and the CCP was agreed on, in order for the Chinese to unify against Japanese invaders.

    • When Japan left the GMD and the CCP once again turned on each other

• October 1949 that Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, emerged victorious

Stalin and Mao, 1945-1953

• The key differences between the USSR and the Chinese Communists were ideological

  • Joseph Stalin felt that Mao’s interpretation of Marxism could not be genuine revolutionary Marxism

  • Stalin also:

    • feared Mao as a rival for the leadership of the Communist world

    • did not want the Cold War to spread to Asia

    • knew that Jiang’s GMD would recognize Soviet claims to the disputed border territory along frontiers in Manchuria and Xinjiang

    • underestimated the CCP and believed the GMD to be the stronger party. He urged the CCP to unite with the GMD, even in the late 1940s, when CCP victory was looking inevitable.

• Mao became convinced that Stalin wanted a divided and weak China to leave the USSR dominant in Asia.

  • saw Stalin’s policies as rooted in self-interest

The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Alliance

• Mao was invited to visit Moscow in 1950.

  • trip produced the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Alliance 

• and the Soviet press poured praise and admiration on Mao and the new PRC

• The Treaty offered the PRC the promise of Soviet expertise and low-interest aid

  • the Chinese were o ended by the rather ‘unfriendly’ treatment they received

• Mao thought the accommodation given to the Chinese was poor. 

• clear that the USSR wanted to exploit the treaty in its own favour –Soviet aid would be loans and the Chinese would have to repay with interest.

• Soviet planners and engineers initially developed 200 Chinese construction projects in the 1950s.

  • Traditional buildings were demolished for Soviet Style buildings

• Soviet scientific technology was prioritized over Western technology in China

• PRC also accepted that Soviet military assistance was necessary,

The USSR, the PRC, and the Korean War, 1950–1953

• When American forces came close to the Chinese border, Stalin encouraged the PRC to send troops into Korea.

  • Soviets gave material assistance to the one million Chinese troops engaged in battle

• Mao bitterly complained when the Soviets demanded that China pay for all weapons and materials the USSR had supplied.

Sino-Soviet Relations after Stalin, 1953–1956

• There had been tensions and suspicions in the relationship between Mao and Stalin.

  • Speculation if Stalin deliberately delayed the end of the Korean War in order to exhaust the PRC

• After Stalin's death things became betters

  • Signed a treaty with Korea 

  • There was a relaxation with the tensions 

  • new Soviet leaders appeared willing to supply further loans and technology to China

  • Made treaties more equal for the PCR as well. 

Mao, Khrushchev, and ‘the split’, 1956–1964

• three key issues undermined the potential for easing tension between the PRC and the USSR:

  • The ‘Secret Speech’ by Khrushchev in Moscow on 24 February 1956 attacking Stalin’s crimes against the party, including comments about the ‘cult of personality’, which Mao saw as an attack on his own style of leadership.

  • The crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in October/November 1956. Mao saw this, and Soviet problems in East Germany and Poland, as failures by the USSR to contain reactionary forces.

  • Khrushchev’s doctrine of ‘peaceful co-existence’ with the West, which implied that global revolution could be achieved by means other than armed struggle. Mao saw this as ideological heresy.

• Mao and the PRC considered these issues a clear departure from Marxist doctrine

  • evidence that the Soviet Union was now dominated by ‘revisionists’

Conference of Communist Parties, 1957

• Mao attended this conference of the world’s Communist parties

  • Mao called on the USSR to abandon ‘revisionism’

    • declared that international revolution could not be supported by working alongside ‘class enemies’ (the west) 

  • Mao believed that the USSR was initiating détente with the West

• Deng Xiaoping- Chiefs chineses spokesperson at the meeting

  • Was there to prove exceptional in putting forward the PRC’s ideological stance

    • Embarrassed the Soviet Union

  • proletarian world revolution could only come to be through force and destruction of capitalism 

• a sound international platform on which to present the PRC as the ‘real’ leaders of international revolutionary Communism

Khrushchev’s visit to Beijing, 1958

• Khrushchev visited beijing to ease tensions with China and the USSR

  • Things didn't go well 

    • Mao apparently went out of his way to make Khrushchev feel uncomfortable.

      • No air conditioning for him, mosquitos everywhere, made him swim (He hated swimming) 

• Deng used the occasion as an opportunity to attack Soviet policy, stating that:

  • the Soviets had betrayed the international Communist movement

  • the Soviets were guilty of viewing themselves as the only true Marxist–Leninists

  • The Soviets had sent spies posing as technical advisers into China.

Taiwan, 1958

• the key issue of the PRC’s Nationalist enemies in Taiwan was not resolved

  • The GMD and their leader Jiang Jieshi could not be tolerated as an ‘independent’ state off the mainland by the PRC.

  • Wanted reunification with Taiwan

• The PRC had bombarded islands of Taiwan in the early 1950s,

  • Deterred from further action by US’s Seventh Fleet patrols

• 1958, Mao decided to test the United States’ resolve

  • ordered a build-up of troop manoeuvres in the region

    • The United States responded by preparing for war with the PRC.

• Mao did not launch an attack.

  • Was not prepared to fight off the US with no support from the Soviet Union

• Khrushchev accused Mao’s regime of being ‘Trotskyist’ in pursuing international revolution at any cost.

  • evidence of Mao’s lack of understanding of political reality

• The Taiwan crisis was negative for Sino-Soviet relations.

  • The Soviets withdrew their economic advisers and cancelled commercial contracts with the PRC.

Sino-Soviet relations and the ‘Great Leap Forward’

What was the Great Leap Forward?

• was initiated by Mao at a meeting in January 1958

• Goal- rapidly develop China’s agricultural and industrial sectors simultaneously.

  • harness the energy of the vast population of China, and by so doing dispose of the need for Soviet aid.

• aimed to create the ‘proletarian class’ required by the Marxist model

• anchored the GLF in the development of two key areas – grain and steel production

• Mao promoted the construction of small backyard steel furnaces

  • Peasants and workers set about attempting to produce steel from scrap metal

    • Mao ignored concerns about the economic value of the poor-quality ‘pig iron’ that these furnaces produced.

• Map continued this even though he knew it wasn't working

  • Mao’s reasoning was a desire not to crush the ‘revolutionary spirit’ of the peasants and workers.

• Public works launched during the GLF were also generally unsuccessful

  • lack of experienced and expert leadership

• As for the broader agricultural picture, some ‘revolutionary’ techniques were experimented with on the communes.

Pages 134-138

Failure and Starvation

• Lushan Conference: Marshal Peng Dehuai spoke out against the disastrous impact of the GLF and because of this Mao had Peng removed and used his denunciation to launch a nationwide campaign against the ‘rightists’ 

• From 1959,  China experienced a widespread famine but Mao insisted that China continue to export grain out of hear of humiliation from the outside world 

• Clear evidence of draughts and floods from 1958 to 1962

• The consequence of the Great Leap Forward was total economic disaster for China - an estimated minimum of 45 million premature deaths in China during famine years 

Soviets denounce the GLF

• In 1959, the soviets declared the rapid industrial change aspect of the GLF ‘faulty in design and erroneous in practice’ 

• Mao was furious at this criticism and it was rumoured that Marchal Peng gave soviets information about the failures of the GLF

• Infuriated at the denunciation, Mao was determined to get revenge. The PRC would now back any communist country that dissented from Moscow’s lead

• Albania

  • In 1961, the USSR withdrew aid to Albania after Khrushchev made a speech that year attaching the Albanian regime for its ‘Stalinist’ doctrines 

  • China interpreted this speech as an attack on their system as well

  • Soon after, the PRC offered to replace Soviet money and technical assistance given to Albania 

  • The conflict over Albania led to the final severance of diplomatic relations between the Soviets and the Chinese Communists after more than ten years of tensions 

• The War with India 

  • In 1962, fighting broke out on the Tibetan border between China and India. Years prior, the PRC had invaded Tibet trying to bring it under Chinese control 

  • China did not recognize the boundary between the two countries and demanded that the border be renegotiated by China and India. India believed there was nothing to negotiate 

  • Clashes increased along this border and the PRC began to prepare for war with India

  • War erupted on October 10, 1962 between the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the Indian military. In the beginning, Soviets were ‘neutral’, but they ended up giving India MIG fighters 

  • The war ended on November 20th, 1962 after China took the disputed areas and declared a ceasefire. Although PRC was technically victorious, this was limited due to the fact that America gained sensitive intelligence and possible access to bases in India

• Cuban Missile Crisis 1961

  • Sino-soviet relations reached new depths of division during the Cuban Missile Crisis 

  • Mao attacked:

    • The placement of detectable missiles

    • Their backing down

    • The negative impact it would have on the struggle against US imperialism

  • To Mao, the idea of existing peacefully with the non-Communist states went against everything their ideology dictated - it was interpreted that the USSR was betraying the revolution dn tolerating the exploitation of pre-revolutionary states by Capitalist powers 

138-141 Claudia

Sino-Soviet Relations and the cultural revolution 1966-1976

• Mao’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution launched May 1966

  • Eliminate culture, re-education

  • Little red book

• Khrushchev left office 1964

• No reconciliation between USSR and PRC

• Soviets denounced Mao for creating state of anarchy

• Soviets also attacked PRC for

  • Illegal trade with apartheid in South Africa

  • West Germany helped them on nuclear research

  • Worldwide opium trade

  • Helped US forces in Vietnam

• Mao said other communist countries should follow Chinese model rather than soviet “revisionist” system

China, the USSR, and nuclear weapons

• Dispute over military/nuclear weapons between two countries

• 1957 USSR beat USA to space

• Mao - brinkmanship - undermine United States

• Mao did not fear nuclear war, believed it unavoidable 

• Khrushchev wanted USSR superiority to promote coexistence

• Two Communist countries disagreed on how to deal with Capitalist enemy

  • This intensified with Test-Ban Treaty 1963

  • USSR and West to stop testing, Mao thought USSR was abandoning communism to work with West

  • Khrushchev said Mao just wanted to see everyone destroy one another

• China: If you are our friend, help us

• USSR: Since you are our friend, you don't need our help since we’ll look after you

• Soviets were inflexible, Mao said Soviets didn't see anyone else as an equal

Pgs. 141-145

• China, the USSR, and nuclear weapons

  • Huge win for china that they made own nuclear weapons

    • PRC was taken serious internationally and no longer need soviet support

    • 59/6 was name of bond year and month soviet scientists left china

    • Mao thins khrushchev deserves credit

  • Not scared of bombs like US and USSR useful tool of diplomacy

  • Key to spurping SOviet Union leader of international communist struggle 

  • With Chinese space satellite in 1970 Soviet UNion feared development of ICBMS

• The PRC and Leoni Brezhev 1968-1982

  • During the leadership period intended no improvement of Sino-Soviet relations despite a period of detente w/ U.S.

• Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968

  • In Brezhnev Doctrine soviet union stated that to maintain order in Eastern Europe satellite states needed to accept Soviet leadership

  • When Czech attempted independence doctrine was put into practice

  • 1968: soviet tanks were sent to crush liberalization period (prague spring)

    • Undermined the USSR’s standings with other Communist states this correspondingly damaged its attempts to isolate PRC

  • Mao condemned use of force against Czech bc soviet union no longer socialist and bc worried soviet military might turn against china

• Sino-Soviet border war, 1969

  • Hostility between soviets and chinese communists →violent clashes along borders

  • PRC denounced Soviets as imperialists no different from tsars of old still had not returned territory taken from chinese in 19th century

  • 1962: border disputes increased to new level along Xinjiang frontier and Amur and Ussuri rivers

  • Both sides increased numbers of troops facing one another across the border

  • 1969: frontier dispute erupted into proper war

  • Soviets violated china's border 4189 times in period up to 1969

  • Tension became fighting on March 2nd 1969 on Chen-pao/Damansky Island in Ussuri River

  • Clearly possibility of war →danger of conflict turning nuclear

    • Mao feared soviet invasion and nuclear strikes so he ordered tunnels be dug in prep

  • There was no escalation to all out nuclear war but war had brought communist countries to brink

  • Some view 1969 as the lowest point in sino-soviet relations bc…

    • Serious border incidents threatened to turn into full scale war

    • PRC and soviet union realigned missiles to face one another

    • There was an intensification of the rivalry to be the leading communist nation

• The PRC, the USSR, and Indochina

  • Indochina was focal part in split

  • PRC was involved in peace talks that brought an end to problems in indochina in 1954

  • U.S, had not wanted PRC there and U.S. secretary of state John Foster Dulles refused to acknowledge PRc representative, Shou Enlai

• Vietnam War

  • When U.S refused to accept free election in vietnam drawn further in civil war through support for south

  • PRC was no directly involved gave support to Ho Chi Minh also attacked U.S. involvement ‘naked American imperialism’

  • Developed struggle between USSR and PRC to win Vietnamese Communists their side in ideological split

  • CHina accused USSR of being in league with the USA Vietnam, and PRC refused to allow USSR to use Chinese airports for Soviet airlifts to Vietnam

  • Nevertheless, USSR eventually won this contest by keeping up steady supply of aid and arms throughout the war

  • 1978: relations were formalized in Soviet-Vietnamese Treaty of Peace and Friendship

• Sino-Soviet clashes over Cambodia and Vietnam

  • Having lost influence over vietnam to soviets chinese attempted to form closer ties with cambodia

    • Cambodia has been communist in 1975 undt pol pot's khmer rouge party

    • Pol pot's regime was modelled on maoism but 1975-1979 brutality of regime was horrendous and exceed anything perpetrated in cultural revolution

    • 2.5 million cambodians died but pol pot was hailed as maoist hero

  • In november 1978: vietnam signed military alliance with USSR

  • After clashes on border vietnam invaded cambodia on 24 december 1978

    • Aim: regime change to overthrow pol pot

    • Vietnamese began to expel all chinese people from territory they occupied

    • Pol pot appealed UN china decided to come to defence arguing vietnam invasion of cambodia was soviet expansionism

  • 17 february 1979: china invaded vietnam

    • Intent to draw vietnamese forces out of cambodia

    • Soviets increased backing for vietnamese, both sides claimed the other as aggressor

    • Vietnamese/soviets also attempted to present their intervention to UN as being humanitarian grounds

  • No quick victory for chinese war dragged on into march

  • Vietnam had clearly won however chinese people liberation army claimed success

    • PLA suffered heavy casualties and had been forced to withdraw war had been major setback for PRC propaganda against the USSR as well as for PRC’S attempt to confirm its role as leader of Communist world

145-148

Sino-Soviet rapprochement, 1982-2000

• Key reasons for tension between PRC and USSR 

  • Mao Zedong’s death in 1976

  • the overthrow of the anti-Soviet Gang of Four in China

  • the adoption by the new PRC leader, Deng Xiaoping, of a more tolerant line in

  • relation to the Soviet Union and the West

  • Brezhnev’s death in 1982.

  • Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

  • Soviet troops on border with China

  • Soviet supports for Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia

• Any attempts towards better relationship failed, mainly because of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 (China viewed as imperial expansionism) 

Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping

• Michail Gorbachev - 1985 becomes soviet leader, Deng Xiaoping leads PRC - chance of improved relations

• 1986 - new trade agreement, full diplomatic relations restored

• November 1987 Gorbachev asked to meet Deng, Chinese refused as Vietnamese hadn’t pulled out of Cambodia yet

• May 1988 they signed a cultural exchange agreement

• 1989 Soviet withdrawal from afghanistan, relations improved

Tiananmen Square, 1989

• PRC decided to brutally crush Chinese pro-democracy movement demonstrations in Tiananmen Square - shows fundamental differences in each country’s regime

• Gorbachec initiated reforms in USSR - first time leader dismantled Stalin’s legacy

  • Perestroika - economic restructuring

  • Glasnost - more political freedom

• Chinese economic reforms but no political

• April 16 1989 students had peaceful protest for more political freedom - 100000 demonstrators

  • May 13 - Hunger strike (embarrassing for leaders, Gorbachev set to arrive in two days), protesters honored Gorbachev and his political reforms

  • May 19 - 1 million hunger strike supporters, May 20 martial law declared, Deng refused to compromise w students

  • June 4 1989 troops sent to disperse the ground, protesters threw rocks, troops opened fire (thousands likely died) 

    • PRC official announcement is a lie

• PRC’s brutal crushing of demonstration condemned around the world, no crippling sanctions applied to PRC by the international community

The Fall of the Soviet Union

• Gorbachev’s reforms brought about his downfall, Deng thought hardline stance against pro-democracy protests

• End of monopoly status of Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1990, USSR dissolved in 1991

• PRC no longer had communist competitor but didn’t seize international revolutionary initiative

  • Instead enhanced China’s position as major world player and continued its economic modernization 

Chapter 11 150-167

151-154 - maddy

Background

• During World War II, the United States gave some material assistance in the fight against Japan, but most aid went to the GMD. After the Japanese surrender, the CCP and GMD fought in a civil war. Americans continued to give assistance to anti-communist forces but a victory did not happen.

• When Mao Xedong and the CCP came to power in October 1949, the US refused to recognize the PRC as a legitimate state. Instead, they backed Chinese Nationalists who fled to Taiwan and Taiwan was given China’s seat at the UN

• Taiwan became the key area of dispute between the US and PRC. However, Korea, Japan, and Tibet also began to cause tension and the US was concerned over the nuclear weapon development 

The 1950s - Increasing tension

• Tibet, 1950

  • In 1950, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet. China saw this as a domestic concern and viewed it as part of their consolidation and reunification plan

  • There followed a reign of terror in the region and the US condemned the PRC for what the US perceived as expansionism and war - was deemed a cultural genocide

• The Korean War, 1950-1953

  • At the end of WWII, Korea was divided along the 38th parallel with the North under a communist regime supported by the Soviets and the South as an anti-communist government backed by the US

  • In 1950, the North invaded the South, which was backed by Stalin and Mao. The PRC was not necessarily concerned with Korea as its major focus was on Taiwan and Tibet

  • Mao condemned US action but US justified by saying the North had been the aggressors

  • PRC organized demonstrations in China and warned the Americans that they would intervene if there was any push into the North

  • October 1950: UN troops crossed over to the North and as they got closer to the Chinese border, the PRC attacked. Over the next three years, millions of Chinese fought in Korea

• Impact of Korean War in Sino-American relations 

  • Korean war led to open conflict between US and PRC

  • Panmunjom Armistice: Post war, the US pledged themselves to the defense of Taiwan and Mao was now less in awe of the potential military power of the US

  • Hostility between US and PRC now became a key factor in international relations

  • Additionally, the PRC had been weakened by the conflict in Korea in terms of both the loss of life and economic loss. Politically, the war strengthened the CCP

• Taiwan, 1954 and 1958

  • Korean war had altered the American perspective towards Asia and the Communist Chinese including the policy in Taiwan

  • Reasons PRC had attempted to take Taiwan

    • Taiwan was well defended and the PRC was not confident it had the air power or landing craft necessary

    • US Navy was now present 

    • At the end of the Korean war, the US stated it would protect Taiwan from aggression

  • In 1954, Mao tested the US commitments to Taiwan by bombing Quemoy and Matsu. Eisenhower responded saying that they would go to lengths of nuclear weapons if Taiwan was directly threatened

  • It was necessary for the US to show strength to its other allies and they were confident that the Soviets would not support the PRC in a war 

155-158 - addie

• 1958 - Mao began shelling Quemoy and Matsu, buildup of PLA troops

• US Navy vessels fired on in Taiwan Strait - US prepared for war with PRC *no full-scale attack came in the end

• US believed PRC was expansionist state - linked to domino effect theory - US pursued following policies

  • US trade embargo with PRC

  • Obstruction of PRC’s entry in UN

  • Economic and military aid to Taiwan

  • Aid program for the region

  • Instigation of regional containment bloc - SEATO

  • Bilateral defense treaties with Sian states seen as under threat from PRC

The Sino-American Cold war in the 1960s

• McCarthyism has impact on US policies during eisenhower and Kennedy administrations (containment and isolation)

• US highlighted failure of Great Leap Forward as failure of Marxism 

• Key issues of dispute in 1960s:

  • Taiwan

  • Vietnam

  • Decolonization movements

  • Chinese Cultural Revolution

The US, the PRC, and Taiwan

• PRC persisted that Taiwan be reunified with mainland

  • Existence of a separate government and other China was an affront to CHinese nationalism 

• No return to the brink of the war that occurred in 1958 crisis, issue still fundamental to China

  • No compromise like two chinas is acceptable - improvement in Sino-American relations only possible without Taiwan as separate state

The US, Vietnam, and the PRC

• Heightened tensions between US and PRC - PRC condemned US’ imperialism 

• Mao claimed UN dominated by imperialist policies 

The PRC and decolonization 

• PRC’s decolonization movement not only ideological pursuit, also aimed to replace USSR as world leader and end AWestern imperialism 

• Bandung Conference - 1955 - Zhou Enlai asserted US was key danger to world peace, meeting set up in response to SEATO 

  • 29 nations asserted neutrality

• 1966 - Rusk outlined US’ policy to China

  • Doesn;t seek to overthrow the PRC

  • US objects to PRC involvement in affairs of other countries (promoting revolutionary forces) 

  • PRC should not be underestimated

• China didn’t have resources to make definitive difference in the developing world 

  • Can’t deliver nuclear weapons to others

  • Rush’s threat of PRC is exaggerated 

US and PRC’s Cultural Revolution

• US saw Great Leap Forward failure as demonstration of Mao’s fanatical leadership - lacks stability and coherence 

• PRC seen as danger to the region and threat to the balanced dominoes

• Chinese increased attacks on US during Cultural revolution, feared American attack, PRC leadership nervous

Sino-American Detente in 1970s

• Four areas for focus for Sino-American relations in 70s

  • Taiwan, Vietnam, the UN, the Soviet Union

• Detente began in 1969 - US eased trade restrictions, US’ parasols in Taiwan Strait halted 

• Major - US changed policy towards PRC’s membership in UN

• Ping-Pong Diplomacy - American team competed in china, secret talks between Kissinger and Zhou ENLAI

• Historic visit - 1972 - Nizon goes to Beijing to meet communist leadership 

  • Joint communique issued - new relationship

159-162 - claudia

Why did the US want to detente with the PRC?

• US thought containment was not possible based on Vietnam and wanted the PRC to help with exit strategy

• US wanted to put pressure on Soviet attempts at detente

• Nixon wanted to make history

• Citizens supported more constructive strategies after the Vietnam war

• PRC developed ICBM capability so the Americans thought it was more dangerous to not have contact

• USA wanted to reduce commitment in Asia while retaining bases in Pacific

• February 1972 Sino-American Statement Shanghai Communique

Why did China want to detente with the US?

• 60s and 70s USSR was the main rival of the PRC so PRC wanted to reduce tensions with USA

• China could gain concessions on foreign policy issues (UN, Taiwan, US withdrawal from Vietnam and Indochina)

• PRC wanted power of a potential resurgent Japan limited

• PRC said detente would be temporary

• Moderation of its stance against West could improve PRC standing in developing world

What did China gain from detente with the United States?

• United Nations membership

  • Couldn't become a member because dominated by West

  • US thought PRC should not be member

    • CCP not legitimate gov, not democracy

    • Not peace loving nation

    • Taiwan had honorable record and shouldn't be expelled

  • More nations started to sway and they could be added

• Result of UN membership for PRC

  • PRC now had veto power

• Taiwan

  • CCP thought Taiwan belonged to China

  • US presidents had different opinions

163-166- abby

• Japan

  • August 12,1978 China and Japan signed a friendship treaty

  • Within 5 years of their friendship treaty

    • China became 2nd only to u.s as trading partners

  • Benefit for PRC as it was a further pressure on theSoviet Union

  • Soviets were concerned at this new friendship between historic enemies, lead to more fears in USSR encircled

• Vietnam

• The Americans attempted to use the PRC to help them get out of Vietnam

  • better relations had been useful in adding weight to the American side in negotiations,more the leverage that the Sino-American détente gave them 

• Pressure had been achieved by new u.s policy toward china

• Wider context

  • U.S.polivy toward China resulted in pressure on the USSR to maintain detente with the U.S. Americans were ultimately unwilling to play China card in relations with USSR

  • America's china policy had some impact on relieving its commitment to mainland Asia

  • Made up U.S. government loss of face changed policy as regards PRC’s seat at UN

• PRC and the Cold War

  • China emerges as a significant factor in the development of the Cold War

  •  The importance of Communist China’s role in the Cold War changed over time. The PRC’s influence grew in line with their nuclear power status, their increasingly hostile relationship with the USSR and, ultimately, their growing rapprochement with the USA

  • This shift in the balance of power resulted in the Cold War becoming a conflict that was more ‘tri-polar’ (USA, USSR, PRC) than ‘bi-polar’ (USA, USSR).

• Tiananmen Square  The PRC and the United States 1989

  • Following the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the removal of the fiercely anti-American Gang of Four

  • relations between the PRC and the United States became more cooperative on one level

  • During the Reagan administration there was some degree of ‘cooling o ’ in terms of the diplomatic developments

  • In 1989, the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing were violently crushed by the government in China

  • abuse of human rights led to protests on the streets in manyWestern countries, including the United States. Despite the public

  • Tiananmen Square made little difference to China’s international position, including its relations with the United States

  • condemnation, but no diplomatic isolation or economic sanctions. 

  • The United States did not want to damage its trade links with the PRC.

• U.S. PRC and end of Cold War

  • 1900’s new Russian government withdrew its forces from Pacific

  • At the same time, the United States did not renew the lease on its naval base in the Philippines. 

  • China was left as the leader of the Communist nations, but this was at a time when Communism was in crisis.

  • The former satellite states in Eastern Europe had all seen their Communist regimes collapse, some quietly and some with bloodshed.

  • Instead of seizing its opportunity to export its particular brand of Communism, new leadership in China focused on its development as a world power

  • establishing its economic power rather than concentrating on its ideological concerns.

  • In 1992 the United States gave the PRC ‘most favoured nation status’

  •  Trade links have boomed and the US and China are now important economic partners

  • tension has again grown between the two countries.

Chapter 12, Why did detente end in a second Cold War?

168-175

• Detente started 1968 to 1980 (Ronald Reagan as president)

  • US and USSR attempted to establish a more cooperative relationsing, improvements between US and China

• Nuclear war dangers fueled detente, especially following Berlin and Cuba

  • Nuclear parity = equality in negotiation 

USSR’s reasons for Detente 

• Stagnating economy - transfer resources from producing arms to good to improve standard of living for Soviets, import western technologies 

• Sought to keep China isolated from the West

US reasons for detente 

• Nixon and Kissenger initiated detente - find  a way to end vietnam war and change international situation so US could have more realistic foreign policy (realpolitik) 

• Use detente to get USSR and China to put pressure on North Vietnam to end the war  but keep US role on international stage

Reasons for PRC-USA rapprochement 

• China worried about international isolation, US wanted to carry out realpolitik approach 

  • Both get leverage with soviets

Reasons for improved East-West relations in Europe

• Political instability in europe - riots and strikes in france following Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia undermined president Charles de Gaulle

• West Germany chancellor Willy Brandt wanted to improve relations between two Germanys

  • Whole continent would benefit - policy of Ostpolitik 

  • Soviet side - formal treaty accepting borders post was never signed, USSR wanted to win Western acceptance of German division and formalize territorial situation in Eastern Europe

Successes of Detente  

Srms agreements between US and  USSR - SALT I

• After the Cuban missile crisis agreements were signed, the most significant was SALT I which covered…

  • ABM Treaty - Anti Ballistic missiles allowed at only two sites, with with no more than 100 missiles (key for MAD and deterrence of nuclear war) 

  • Interim Treaty - limited number of ICBMs and SLBMs 

  • Basic Principles Agreement - rules for conduct of nuclear war and development of weapons - two sides must work together and promote peaceful coexistence

    • 1973 - Agreement on the prevention of Nuclear War - if war looked imminent, both sides would make every effort to avert the risk 

  • Began as process of institutionalized arms control, followed by spirit of cooperation (Nixon visited Moscow in 1972, 1974; Brezhnev visits washington in 1973) 

  • Criticisms of SALT I - didn’t mention MIRVs making treaty meaningless

SALT II

• Negotiations began in 1974, and the treaty was signed in 1979. Agreed to…

  • Limit number of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles on both sides

  • Ban on testing/developing new ICBMs 

• Most extensive and complicated arms agreement ever negotiated - US never ratified (gave advantages to Soviets) 

Agreements between two Germanys and the Soviet Union

• Early 1970s - treaties between USSR, East Germany, and West Germany 

  • Moscow Treaty - recognize border between East and West germany, formally accepted post WWII Poland border 

  • Final Quadripartite Protocol (1972) - victory for Brandt - agreed to status quo in Berlin (more security for West Berlin) 

  • Basic Treaty (1972) - East and West Germany accepted existence of two Germanies 

• These treaties reduced tension in europe

Agreements between US and CHina

• Agreements

• US dropped objections to CHina taking seat on Security COuncil (PRC replaced Taiwan) 

• Trade and travel restrictions between two countries were lifted

• Ping Pong diplomacy 

• Nixon visited China 

• Detentent spurred by deterioration of China-USSR relations - gave US more leverage and bargaining power in arms agreements with USSR (triangle diplomacy) 

• Still supported Taiwan 

The ‘high point of detente’: the Helsinki Agreement 

• Moscow summit of 1972 - Nixon agreed to participate in European Security Conference held in Helsinki in 1973 attended by 22 countries and produces the FInal Act on Aug 1 1975

  • Basket 1 - security blacked following Ostpolitik negotiation with Soviet Union - recognized Europe's frontiers could not be altered by force\

  • Basket 2 - cooperation basket - called for closer ties and collaboration in economics, scientific and cultural fields 

  • Basket 3 - human rights basket - all signatories agreed to respect human rights and individual freedoms like thought conscience, religion, freedom of travel 

• Basket 3 was the most controversial. West hoped to undermine Soviet control in satellite states, organizations set up to monitor Soviet action against principles set out in Helsinki Agreement

  • For Brezhev the important aspects were baskets 1 and 2 - prepared to sign agreement despite basket 3 

176-181

Why did detente between the USA and USSR come under pressure?

Political factors that undermined detente

• US thought arms agreements were benefits Soviets

• Actions in Middle East and Africa showed Soviets were continuing to expand influence

• Yom Kippur War October 1973, US thought USSR knew in advance about Egypt’s surprise attack on Israel

  • US and USSR had an agreement to disclose information like this, US was hurt

• USSR involved in civil war in Angola and supported Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, gave aid

• Soviets and Cubans supported Ethiopia against Somalia 1977

Economic factors that undermined detente

• Late 1960s, detente could help both sides

• US economy recovered late 70s, less incentive to pursue detente

• USSR economy declining

• Jackson-Vanik Amendment restricted trade

Why did detente collapse?

• Struggling by late 1970s, collapsed completely when Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979

• US saw USSR “real intentions” to spread influence

• No US athletes at 1980 Moscow Olympic Games

• Carter Doctrine - US would intervene if Soviets threatened Western interests in Persian Gulf

Did detente fail? The historiography of detente

• Positive view is that it reduced the threat and tension of nuclear war

• Calling it a failure misunderstands its intentions

  • Was not trying to end arms race or reform USSR

  • Was meant to make what used to be dangerous more predictable

• Could also be argued detente was weak and allowed Soviets to strengthen themselves and gain access to Western technology

The Second Cold War

• Ronald Reagan elected on a wave of anti-Communist feeling and belief that US needed to reassert power

• Reagan thought detente was a failure and only helped Soviets

• Reagan was tough on Soviets

  • Increased defense spending

  • More nuclear weapons

  • Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) research for space laser to strike missiles

  • Reagan doctrine, anti-Communist aid

  • Intermediate Range Missiles

  • Restricted trade and therefore Soviet access to US technology and resources

  • Aggressive language toward Soviets

• Soviet Union leadership kept changing

• Second Cold War era most dangerous moment was when Soviets shot down Korean airliner

• Relationship was tense but would change soon with Mikhail Gorbachev as premier in 1985

Chapter 14, Confrontation - The impact of the arms race on the Cold War (pages 200-209

200-204 Addie

Consequence an perspective

• Nuclear weapons - dropping first Atomic bomb on Hiroshima - huge impact on Cold War

  • Started an arms race between major powers - maintaining hostility

  • Caused both sides to rethink military strategy and how Cold War conflicts were handled

  • Huge economic strains on both countries - played role in ending the war

• A-Bomb: Nuclear bomb launched from missile or plane

• H-Bomb: thermonuclear bomb - much more powerful than atomic

• Strategic bombers: planes capable of carrying and delivering nuclear weapons

• ICBM: intercontinental ballistic missiles, 3000 nautical mile range, care nuclear warheads

• SLBM: Submarine-launched ballistic missiles. These missiles with nuclear warheads are carried on submarines

• ABM: Anti-ballistic missiles, which can be used to intercept and destroy nuclear weapons.

• MIRV: Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle. This device is launched by a missile that allows several warheads to be used, each guided to a different target.

How did the nuclear arms race develop during the Cold War? 

• US regarded atomic bomb as vital counter to the larger conventional forces of USSR

• USSR well on its way to developing its own A-Bomb, first successfully tested in 1949

• US achieved development of H-bomb in 1952, USSR in 1953

• ICBMS developed in 1950s, US concerned that USSR was outpacing US in the missile race - “missile gap” 

  • U-2 flights revealed no missile gap

• US makes tons of ICBMs, putting pressure on USSR to respond 

• 1968 - Soviets developed ABM defensive missile system and US developed MIRVs, intensifying race

• 1975 - USSR MIRV programme

Why was the arms race so intense during the Cold War? 

• Both sides viewed stockpiling nuclear weapons as necessary to safeguard interests 

• Continuing technological advances made each side feel vulnerable - stay one step ahead 

What strategies were developed for using nuclear weapons? 

• Bernard Brodie’s The Absolute Weapon explained the invention of nuclear weapons was to win wars, now its purpose was to avert them - military victory in total war no longer possible 

• Both sides recognize the danger of nuclear weapons 

• Both sides believed there had to be a strategy that could be devised in which nuclear weapons could be used (why have them if not?) 

Eisenhower and Massive Retaliation 

• US would fight with every weapon at its disposal if attacked, despite consequences 

  • NATO meeting in April 1954 - treat nuclear weapons as conventional, threat of all-out nuclear war ensured no conflict would take place 

• George Kennan and others realized the concept of a limited nuclear war was problematic 

McMamara and ‘counterforce’ 

• Kennedy determined to widen options beyond massive retaliation - formed flexible response policy 

• Nuclear strategy more limited than massive retaliation 

• McNamara developed ‘counterforce strategy’ - objective of destroying enemy’s military forces, but no cities and civilian populations 

  • Limitations: hitting  target accurately, hitting target without affecting a city, ensuring Soviets also followed ‘no cities’ rule

• USSR angered by policy - implied US would make pre-emptive strikes (not retaliatory) 

• Public opinion not favorable - makes nuclear war more, not less, likely 

205-209 Claudia

The impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis: mutually assured destruction (MAD)

• McNamara thought both sides should aim to target cities and cause max damage

• If no one could survive a war, no war

• Mutually assured destruction: MAD, accepted by all

• Need to manage

  • Test-Ban Treaty 1963: no nuclear testing in atmosphere

  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1968: cannot share info w non-nuclear countries

  • Strategic Arms Limitation Interim Agreement 1972: restricted numbers of land and sea ballistic missiles

The impact of Reagan and Gorbachev

• Reagan built up US arms

• Stealth bomber, neutron bomb, cruise missiles

• Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, Star Wars), space-based missile system to intercept and destroy missiles

  • Would have undermined MAD

• Gorbachev new Soviet premier

  • Nuclear war was not possible so security must be gained by political means

  • Reasonable sufficiency: Soviets should have enough to defend themselves

The role of conventional weapons

• Nuclear weapons were only a last resort so lots of conventional forces needed

The space race

• USSR success in this area in the 1950s

• Claimed everything developed better under Communism

• April 1972 cooperative Apollo-Soyuz Test Project 

Chapter 15 Confrontation and Reconciliation: the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War

211-213 Alyssa

• Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR on Christmas Day 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

  • The cold war was over, The collapse of the USSR ensured this 

    • Ended in no bloodshed

  • The US and Britain were very surprised when the berlin wall was torn down in November in 1989

What was the impact of Mikhail Gorbachev?

• Stalin’s ‘legacy’ meant that politically the Soviet Union remained an authoritarian, one-party state

  • Economically still focus on producing military goods 

• Gorbachev introduced two key reforming ideas:

  • Perestroika- restructuring the economy 

  • Glasnost- the principle that every area of the regime should be open to public scrutiny

    • This was a big change in Soviet policy

    • Both involved greater ‘democratization’

• Gorbachev intended to make the Soviet system more productive and responsive 

  • Meant reducing military spending 

    • not rise to the challenge of matching Reagan’s SDI system

    • Abandoned the arms race- negotiated a reduction of arms with the US

• Chernobyl- heightened Gorbachev’s awareness of the dangers of nuclear power 

• Gorbachev was open to discuss ‘zero option’(eliminate all intermediate-range missiles in Europe)  with Regan

• The two leaders meeting together in four summits to discuss arms control:

  • Geneva Summit, November 1985: No substantial progress was made but the two leaders established a personal rapport and they agreed that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought’.

  • Reykjavik Summit, October 1986:- No agreement made, disagreement over SDI. Soviets want them to be ‘confined to the laboratory’, the US refuses any concessions. Also covered the most sweeping arms control proposals in history

  • Washington Summit, December 1987:- Agreement reached. An Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty (INF Treaty) was signed (agreed to abolish weapons: land-based missiles of intermediate and shorter range). First step to reducing nuclear stockpiles. Agreement was also reached for the first time on inspection of the destruction of missiles.

  • Moscow Summit, May 1988:- Again there was disagreement over SDI, but arms reductions negotiations continued. Standing in Red Square, Reagan confessed that he now no longer believed in the ‘evil empire’.

• By 1988, Gorbachev had announced his plans to withdraw from Afghanistan,

  • He pulled back Soviet aid to its ‘allies’ in the developing world.

• The ‘thawing’ of the Cold War continued under the new US president, George HW Bush.

• At the Malta Summit between the US and Soviet leaders in 1989, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze announced that the superpowers had ‘buried the Cold War at the bottom of the Mediterranean’.

214-215 Claudia

What was the role of Ronald Reagan?

• Gorbachev was willing to tackle nuclear weapons and do business with the west, this can explain the breakdown of the Cold War

• Also can be argued that Ronald Reagan’s approach to the USSR in early 1980s caused arms negotiations

• Reagan’s character and willingness to engage with Gorbachev was important

• Different summits, Reagan convinced Gorbachev of possibility of halting nuclear arms race

Long term factors in ending the Cold War

What was the role of the Soviet economy?

• When Brezhnev died in 1982, political and economic USSR policies were in crisis

• Brezhnev had Soviets spend lots on foreign policy

  • Arms treaties with US

  • But also “parity” or equal nuclear weapons

    • This was very costly

• Brezhnev’s era was also stagnation and decline

• No spending on consumer goods or the domestic economy

• Falling behind on modern technology

• Poor work conditions and low morale

• Gorbachev inherited a failing economy

216-218 Addie

The impact of Gorbachev’s reforms

• Collapse of soviet union (unintended impact) 

  • Wanted to revive economy and modify system through perestroika and glasnost

  • Instead, encouraging private ownership led to chaos - no effective system to cope with market economy 

    • Liberalization coincided with fal in world’s oil prices 

  • Glasnost allowed for openness and discussion - criticism of Soviet systems (old system failed to compete with Capitalism, new reforms failed to solve country’s problems) 

    • = hard to defend legitimacy of existing Soviet system 

What was the role of ideological challenge and people power in ending the Cold War? 

• Late 1980s - resurgence in nationalist movements in most satellite states due to…

  • Continued deterioration of living standards (inefficient quantity and quality of goods produces, goods in short supply; East Germany and Czechoslovakia saw images of West German capitalism, looked superior) 

  • Growing disillusion with Communist Party (shown itself as corrupt - leaders more interested in preserving own privileges; 1980s - regimes led by men with no interest in reform and were out of touch w people they ruled, but maintained positions through police) 

  • Implications of Gorbachev’s reforms of glasnost and perestroika (willing to use force to maintain control over satellite states) 

• Dec 7 1988 - Gorbachev speech to UN - USSR would cut by half a million men its commitment of troops to Warsaw Pact

  • Obvious that force and threat should not be instrument of foreign policy, freedom of choice is universal principle 

  • Eastern Europe now knows the Brezhnev doctrine wouldn’t be applied and countries could do it their way (Sinatra Doctrine) 

• 1989 - series of revolutions in satellite states, whole Soviet system including Stalin’s legacy swept away

The Events of 1989

• May 1989 - Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Németh decided government couldn't afford to maintain border control along Austria - no longer necessary (Hungarians can travel freely) 

  • = escape route fo rEast Germans - cross through Hungary to West Germany 

Events in Poland

• Union movement called Solidarity was suppressed in 1981 by General Jaruzelski who declared a state of martial law 

• Continued support for Solidarity due to economic stagnation and support from Catholic Church 

• In response to Gorbachev’s reforms, Solidarity legalized in 1988, won the first free elections in Poland in 1989

• Jarulzelski remained president, Lech Walesa became prime minister 

• Communist party defeated by huge popular vote - first in Eastern Bloc since 1940s to not be controlled by Communists 

  • Gorbachev had not intervened to support old Communist regime, Polish Communist Party collapsed 

219-221 - Maddy

Events in East Germany

• Erich Honecker: Hardline communist and was the leader of East Germany since 1971. Honecker was hated all around and by mid 80s there was a lot of government pressure to remove him

  • Hoped to consolidate communist control in East Germany but many criticized his repressive system demanding reforms

  • Wanted to use force to control the swell of anti-communist party feeling. 

• The Stasi: East Germany secret police regime that was extremely repressive. Kept files on 5.5 million people 

• Demonstrations began to grow and a new leader Egon Krenz was put in place 

• November 9 1989: Government announces the easing of travel and immigration restrictions and barriers were opened that night and within a few hours the wall was destroyed and was a symbol of the end of the Cold War

• After free elections began in 1990, parties were in favour of reunification with West Germany and on October 3rd, 1990, the two were officially one again. 

Events in Hungary

• Reform came from within the Hungarian Communist party

• Reformers got rid of their harsh leader and then dominated the government 

• First free elections were held in 1990

Events in Czechoslovakia

• Velvet Revolution: a fairly non-violent movement that led to the downfall of the communist regime - government was forced to respond to mass demonstrations advocating for reform

  • Civic Forum: non-violent and anti-communist organization

• Warsaw pact nations issued a statement condemning the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia as illegal and promised never to interfere in others’ internal affairs

Events in Romania 

• Much more violent than in Czechoslovakia 

• Romania’s president, Nicholas Ceausescu and his regime were one of the most repressive in Eastern Europe -

• November 1989: uprising against Ceausescu - him and his wife were arrested and executed by the army on christmas day, 1989

222-223 Abby

End of the USSR

• Gorbachev's policies brought admiration in 1990 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

• Failure to bring about an improvement in the country’s economic situation meant that he became increasingly unpopular

• Events in eastern europe brought about calls for independence from he republics of the Soviet Union

• During 1991 Soviet empire disintegrated in august Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania claimed their independence, as did other republics that had been part of USSR

• Break up of the USSR intensified hostility towards Gorbachev in Soviet Union in August 1991 there was an attempted coup by Communist hardliners against him

• Defeated by Boris Yelsin who had more radical view on how to deal with economy, structure of soviet union and position of communist party

• Gorbachev was restored as a result of Yeltsin standing up to harliners now losing authority

• He was humiliated by Yeltsin on his return and on 25 december 1991 Gobachev resigned as president of USSR 

• Commonwealth of Independent States was established Soviet Union ceased to exist

Impact of the collapse of the USSR and end of Cold War

• Collapse of Soviet UNion had impact on international politics as well as the economic situation of countries that had been dependent on the soviet union for aid

• U.S. seemed as winners international politics became uni-polar with U.S. as the only country now capable of military alliance around world

• Capitalism seemed to have triumphed 

• Communis remained official ideology in only a few states (Cuba North Korea Vietnam and China) 

• For Cuba drying up Soviet economic aid along with U.S. trade embargo bright an economic crisis other regimes in Africa formerly supported by Soviet UNion suffered economically in other states that had been the focus of superpower conflict and fighting  (Afghanistan)

• 11 September 2001 attacks on U.S. led to new focus of U.S. foreign policy war on terror

• Islamic extremism = global enemy