Cold War and Decolonization

Unit 8: Two Superpowers Arise

Cold War Definition

  • State of hostility between two states, characterized by ideological struggle rather than open warfare.

Emergence of Superpowers

  • After World War II, the U.S. and Soviet Union emerged as the two global superpowers due to:
    • Economic advantages
    • Technological advantages
Economic Advantages
United States
  • Economic turnaround during WW2: women took up jobs.
  • Minimal destruction compared to European countries (except Pearl Harbor).
  • Became very prosperous.
  • Marshall Plan: U.S. sent over 13billion13 billion in aid for economic recovery in war-torn nations, leading to economic revivals.
  • Shift in the balance of power towards the U.S.
Soviet Union
  • Economy heavily directed by the state since the 1920s.
  • Rapid economic growth before WW2, despite suffering and deaths.
  • Hit hard by WW2, but post-war recovery was aided by:
    • Centralized command economy drawing natural resources from its large territory.
    • Large population for recovery efforts.
    • Large-scale investment in heavy industry before WW2.
Technological Advantages
United States
  • Developed the atomic bomb, demonstrating their power.
Soviet Union
  • Developed their own atomic weapons, testing the first in 1949.
  • This led to the arms race, with both nations trying to create bigger/more destructive bombs.
  • Both had enough nuclear power/bombs.

Decolonization

  • Imperial powers used troops from colonial holdings during World War I, with many colonial troops hoping to gain independence.
  • Woodrow Wilson advocated for self-determination for all nations.
  • Mandate system: victorious powers organized colonies into a hierarchical system, but it essentially continued the colonial system, angering colonial peoples.
  • World War II accelerated decolonization because:
    • Colonial troops fought again, but imperial countries showed no intention of granting independence.
    • Massive anti-imperial movements broke out.
    • Imperial states lacked resources to resist due to war costs.
    • After 1945, these developments led to worldwide decolonization.

Causes of the Cold War

  • Both ideologies were universalizing ideas.
  • Post-WW2 meetings: The U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviets discussed free elections in Eastern Europe, but Stalin kept those countries under Soviet control as a buffer zone.
  • Those nations became communist which caused mistrust from the U.S.
  • Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones after WW2 (Soviet, French, British, U.S.). But Stalin refused to let go of his zone and turned it into a community satellite state.
  • This created an iron curtain in between europe.

Effects of the Cold War

Decolonization
  • The U.S. and the Soviet Union competed to influence newly formed states.
  • Non-Aligned Movement: Led by Indonesian president Achmed Sukarno, with leaders from India, Ghana, Indonesia, and Egypt.
  • Some non-aligned states gained weapons and resources by playing the two sides.
    • Indonesia took aid from the Soviet Union but killed communists within the country.
New Military Alliances
  • Communist bloc in Eastern Europe led to the formation of NATO in 1949 by Western states.
  • The Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955 with Eastern Europe.
  • An attack on one member state was considered an attack on all, triggering a response from all member nations.
Nuclear Proliferation
  • Cuban Missile Crisis: The Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba after a failed U.S. attempt to oust Fidel Castro; the U.S. had missiles in Turkey.
  • J.F.K ordered a navy blockade around Cuba so that no other weapons could arrive.
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968): called on nuclear powers to prevent non-nuclear countries from developing nuclear weapons.
Proxy Wars
  • Korean War: Communist North Korea invaded anti-communist South Korea. The UN (mainly U.S.) aided S.K., and the Soviets sent guns to N.K. Ended in a stalemate by 1953.
  • Angolan Civil War: After independence from Portugal in 1975, the Soviets backed one group, and the U.S. and South Africa backed others.
  • Contra War (Nicaragua): The U.S. backed the Contras against the socialist Sandinistas (FSLN), who had Soviet support. It ended in a ceasefire and the Sandinistas were defeated in the next election.

Spread of Communism

Communism in China
  • Internal tension brewed in the 1920s against the nationalist party because of their dependency on western powers, their main antagonist was the Chinese communist party under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
  • In 1931 Japan invaded northern China so both parties put their differences aside to unite against the japanese.
  • After Japan was defeated, the communist won and claimed victory with revolution.
  • Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China and nationalized industry and engaged in mass collectivization.
  • Great Leap Forward: An economic plan to rapidly industrialize China through heavy industry.
  • Poor industrial goods and bad harvests led to starvation of 20-50 million people.
  • Mao refused foreign aid and continued to export grain.
Other Socialist/Communist Movements
Egypt
  • Gamal Abdel Nasser led a movement to overthrow the British in 1952 and proclaimed independence.
  • Nasser implemented socialist reforms and nationalized the Suez Canal that was completed in 1869.
  • British, French, and Israeli forces invaded Egypt in retaliation.
  • Nikita Khrushchev threatened a nuclear strike, and the U.S. pressured Britain and France to withdraw.
Vietnam
  • During WW2 Japan occupied vietnam, but after they were defeated, Vietnam declared their independence.
  • Two rival governments were established: Communist in the North and anti-communist in the South.
  • The communist government in the north began land redistribution.
Latin America (Cuba)
  • Fidel Castro led a revolution in Cuba in 1956 and established a communist state.
  • He tried to purge Cuba of dependence on the U.S. economically.
  • With Soviet support, he launched land redistribution and raised wages.
  • Resulted in the transfer of 15%15\% of Cuba's wealth from the rich to the poor.
  • Castro nationalized land belonging to U.S. corporations.
  • The U.S. responded with a failed CIA attempt to overthrow Castro, further radicalizing him.

Decolonization

Negotiated Independence

  • India: Britain invested heavily in India's infrastructure to benefit the British Empire.

    • Modernization created a growing middle class and nationalism.
    • Indians formed the Indian National Congress (1885).
    • Indian troops fought for the British in WW1 and WW2 with no better self-rule.
    • Increasing pressure led to the British government transferring limited authority to the Indians.
    • Britain recognized India's call for independence and gave it to them in 1947 because they were so broke from the war.
    • Partition of India created Pakistan for Muslim minorities, leading to violence.

  • Africa (Gold Coast, Ghana): Led by Kwame Nkrumah and they started negotiating with Britain because they were broke.

Armed Conflict

  • Peaceful or violence depended on the population of white Europeans within the colony.

  • Independence movement in the French colony of Algeria: Violent attacks against French troops and civilians. French soldiers targeted civilians without restraint and committed human rights abuses on a massive scale. Continued until 1962, when Charles de Gualle opened negotiation with the Algerians and declared Algeria's independence.

  • Africa (Angola): Three Angolan political groups opposed Portuguese rule. Violence broke out. The Angolans took advantage to negotiate for independence which was obtained in 1975. Then immediately violence followed once independent with the three Angolan political groups fell into civil war to determine which of them would hold power.

  • Nigeria: Negotiated independence from Britain in the 1960s, but civil war broke out by 1967. The Igbo people tried to succeed and form their own nation called Biafra. The northern government resisted and ultimately won in 1970 and established a united Nigeria.

Conflict in New States

Boundary conflicts

  • Partition of India: After the migrations were done with the Muslims and Hindu, another conflict arose in the region of Kashmir. Pakistan launched attacks in the region to claim Kashmir as their own. The United Nations stepped in to mediate the dispute and insisted that the people of Kashmir themselves vote on the territorial outcome of their state, which never occurred and the region has been a source of conflict for new states and China to this day.

  • Creation of Israel: Under the Mandate system Palestine fell to the British. Zionism gained a lot of traction with jews across europe who wanted their own state specifically in their ancestral lands of Israel which currently was within palestine. After the war the British handed the decision to the UN who declared Palestine would be partitioned into 2 states. One for the jews and one for the muslims. Palestinians took up arms against the Israelis with support of neighboring Arab states.

Government involvement in economies

  • Gamal Adbel Nasser: Nasser played off the cold war rivalry between the U.S. and soviet union in order to get involved helping egypt’s economic development. He nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956. Then in 1970 he oversaw the completion of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile river (Provided electricity and irrigation for much of egypt. Additionally initiated social welfare reforms which included free schooling and healthcare.

  • Indira Gandhi: She implemented a series of five year socialist economic plans which aimed to allow the government to assert more control over the economy instead of relying on foreign aid . One of her major legacies was the adopted Green revolution. oversaw the nationalization of key Indian industries and introduced significant government regulations on others. Her nationalization of banks and the increase of taxes on the wealthy, along with her 20-point economic plan, reduced inflation and increased production throughout india.

Migration of Metropoles
  • India was a colony of Great Britain so Great Britain would be the Metropole of India. Lots of Indians Migrated to Great Britain because imperial states and their colonies developed both cultural and economic connections with one another. So Colonial people grew familiar with the customs and culture of that occupying power.
Nonviolence resistance

  • Mohandas Gandhi: Promoted non-violence and civil disobedience for independence. homespun movement- encouraged his followers to boycott British made textiles and make their own clothes at home. Salt March- Gandhi led a march/protest where they went to the sea to harvest salt along the shoreline to react against the salt monopoly

  • Martin Luther King Jr: Inspired by Gandhi’s fight against Americas racial segregation laws, stages the Montgomery Bus boycott He was also arrested several times due to civil disobedience and affected political change as the US supreme court outlawed racial discrimination in schools in the 1950s and congress passed the anti-segregation laws in the 1960s.

  • Nelson Mandela: He led black south africans in acts of non violence resistance that included boycotts and strikes against South Africa Apartheid, but violence led to anti-apartheid activists to abandon his nonviolent approach and adopt violence in their struggle for freedom. Then he was jailed for more then 2 decades and released in 1994 to run for president and won.

Intensification of conflict

  • Augusto Pinochet: Led a military crew to overthrow the democratically elected president Salvador Allende because he happened to be a marxist and was implementing socialist policies. With that power, he violently suppressed opposition to his leadership.

  • Idi Amin: Responded to ethnic conflict with violence, including labor unions and the catholic church.

  • Rise of military industrial complex: As military spending increased so did the number of people who relied on this industry for their jobs.

  • Terrorism: Al qaeda was a militant islamic group that had grievances concerning the involvement of the united states in middle eastern states most notably Iran, israel, and saudi arabia, and they responded with acts of terrorism against civilians

End of the COLD WAR

Advancements in the United states

  • Detente in the 1970s: U.S. president RIchard Nixon and soviet secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the strategic arms limitation treaty better known as SALT1 in which both states agreed to prohibit further manufacturing of nuclear weapons.

  • Strategic Defense Initiative: Reagan made the strategic defense initiative, it was a system that rendered any attack on the U.S. by nuclear weapons obsolete. The SDI launched a defensive system into space that detected nuclear weapons and shot them down from space with lasers.

  • Failed soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: In 1979 soviets invaded Afghanistan to overthrow but they were aided by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and pakistan. They lost 9 years and badly affected their economy

Gordabachev’s policies
  • Liberal reformer Mikhail Gorbechev enters with some policies which would eventually ruin the soviet union because of a crisis that has been occurring in the 1960-70s.
  • Perestroika: A restructuring of the economy to address economic woes by reducing the level of central planning from the government.
  • Glasnost: Meaning ‘openness’ and with this policy all the dissent and criticism against the government and its policies that had been brutally silenced by previous leaders was now allowed.
  • Ceased military intervention: Soviet union would no longer use military intervention in order to prop up communist governments in its own sphere of influence.
  • Democratic reform movements erupted and the soviet union legislature in 1991 voted to dissolve the soviet union, marking the end to the Cold War