AP World Unit 8 Cramming Notes

⚔ UNIT 8: COLD WAR & DECOLONIZATION (1945–1990)

Theme: Power Struggle + Freedom Struggle

🧊 1. COLD WAR BASICS = USA 🇺🇸 vs USSR 🇷🇺

• Cold War = no direct fighting between US + USSR, but tons of proxy wars, nuclear threats, and ideological conflict:

• 
  ➤ Capitalism/democracy vs. Communism/dictatorship

• Iron Curtain: Term for division between democratic Western Europe and communist Eastern Europe.

☢ 2. COLD WAR ESCALATES

• Marshall Plan: US gives $$ to rebuild Western Europe → stop communism from spreading.

• Truman Doctrine: US will help anyone fight communism (start of “containment”).

• NATO (US + allies) vs. Warsaw Pact (USSR + allies) = military alliances.

🧠 Think: “Contain the Commies” = US foreign policy

🔥 3. HOT COLD WARS (Proxy Wars)

➡ Korean War (1950–1953)

• N. Korea (communist, USSR-backed) vs. S. Korea (US-backed).

• Ends in stalemate at 38th parallel.

➡ Vietnam War (1955–1975)

• Ho Chi Minh (communist leader) wants independence.

• US fights against him → major loss → US pulls out in 1975 → Vietnam becomes fully communist.

➡ Afghanistan War (1979–1989)

• USSR invades to support communist gov.

• US supports mujahideen rebels (including future Taliban)

• USSR = their “Vietnam” → bankrupts them → leads to collapse of Soviet Union

💣 4. NUCLEAR MADNESS

• MAD = Mutually Assured Destruction (you nuke me, I nuke you, we all die 😃)

• Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) = closest we got to WWIII — USSR put nukes in Cuba → US blockades → Khrushchev backs down.

✏ MEMORIZE: “Cuban Missile Crisis = closest to nuclear war”

📉 5. COLLAPSE OF THE USSR

• Mikhail Gorbachev: Reformer leader of USSR in the '80s

  • Glasnost = “openness” (free speech-ish)

  • Perestroika = “economic restructuring”

• These reforms backfire → economic chaos → protests →
  ➡ 1989 Berlin Wall falls
  ➡ 1991 USSR officially collapses

💀 END OF COLD WAR: US “wins,” communism collapses in Eastern Europe.

✊ 6. DECOLONIZATION (Freedom Time)

After WWII, colonies said “nah” to empire — they want independence!

🔹 Africa & Asia:

• India: Gandhi leads nonviolent resistance → India gains independence in 1947.

• Algeria: Violent revolution against France.

• Kenya: Mau Mau rebellion against British rule.

🔹 Key Decolonization Movements:

🌐 7. NEW GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONS

• United Nations (1945) – keeps peace, protects human rights

• World Bank / IMF – help economies grow

• Non-Aligned Movement – countries that refused to side with US or USSR
  ➤ Led by India, Egypt, Yugoslavia

🌍 8. ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

• Green Revolution – new farming tech (pesticides, GMOs) = more food, but hurts environment

• Feminist movements rise globally

• Civil Rights Movements: in US, S. Africa (Nelson Mandela), etc.

🔑 BIG IDEAS TO REMEMBER:

• 🌏 Decolonization is everywhere → leads to newly independent nations (some successful, some struggle)

• 🧨 US and USSR NEVER fight directly, but they fight everywhere else (proxy wars)

• 💬 Cold War ends because USSR collapses (Gorbachev reforms, economic failure)

• 🌿 New movements = feminism, environmentalism, civil rights

WHAP CED

Topic 8.1 — Setting the Stage for the Cold War and Decolonization (Continuity and Change)

Learning Objective:

• Explain the historical context of the Cold War after 1945

Historical Developments

• Hopes for greater self-government were largely unfulfilled following WW1; however, in the years following WW2, increasing anti-imperialist sentiment contributed to the dissolution of empires and the restructuring of states

• Technological and economic gains experienced during WW2 by the victorious nations shifted the global balance of power

Topic 8.2 — The Cold War (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain the causes and effects of the ideological struggle of the Cold War

Historical Developments:

• The global balance of economic and political power shifted during and after WW2 and rapidly evolved into the Cold War. The democracy of the United States and the authoritarian communist Soviet Union emerged as superpowers, which led to ideological conflict and a power struggle between capitalism and communism across the globe

• Groups and individuals, including the Non-Aligned Movement, opposed and promoted alternatives to the existing economic, political, and social orders

Illustrative Examples:

• Non-Aligned Movement:

  • Sukarno in Indonesia

  • Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana

Topic 8.3 — Effects of the Cold War (Comparison)

Learning Objective:

• Compare the ways in which the Unite States and the Soviet Union sought to maintain influence over the course of the Cold War

Historical Developments:

• The Cold War produced new military alliances, including NATO and the Warsaw Pact, and led to nuclear proliferation and proxy wars between and within postcolonial states in Latin America, Africa, and Asia

Illustrative Examples:

• Proxy wars:

  • Korean War

  • Angolan Civil War

  • Sandinista-Contras conflict in Nicaragua

Topic 8.4 — Spread of Communism after 1900 (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain the causes and consequences of China’s adoption of communism

Historical Developments:

• As a result of internal tension and Japanese aggression, Chinese communists seized power. These changes in China eventually led to communist revolution

• In communist China, the government controlled the national economy through the Great Leap Forward, often implementing repressive policies, with negative repercussions for the population

Learning Objective:

• Explain the causes and effects of movements to redistribute economic resources

Historical Developments:

• Movements to redistribute land and resources developed within states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, sometimes advocating communism or socialism

Illustrative Examples:

• Land and resource redistribution:

  • Communist Revolution for Vietnamese Independence

  • Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia

  • Land reform in Kerala and other states within India

  • White Revolution in Iran

Topic 8.5 — Decolonization After 1900 (Comparison)

Learning Objective:

• Compare the processes by which various peoples pursued independence after 1900

Historical Developments:

• Nationalist leaders and parties in Asia and Africa sought varying degrees of autonomy within or independence from imperial rule

• After the end of WW2, some colonies negotiated their independence, while others achieved independence through armed struggle

• Regional, religious, and ethnic movements challenged colonial rule and inherited imperial boundaries. Some of these movements advocated for autonomy

Illustrative Examples:

• Nationalist leaders and parties:

  • Indian National Congress

  • Ho Chi Minh in French Indochina (Vietnam)

  • Kwame Nkrumah in British Gold Coast (Ghana)

  • Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt

• Negotiated independence:

  • India from the British Empire

  • The Gold Coast from the British Empire

  • French West Africa

• Independence through armed struggle

  • Algeria from the French empire

  • Angola from the Portuguese empire

  • Vietnam from the French empire

• Religious, regional, and ethnic movements:

  • Muslim League in British India

  • Quebecois separatist movement in Canada

  • Biafra secessionist movement in Nigeria

Topic 8.6 — Newly Independent States (Continuity and Change)

Learning Objective:

• Explain how political changes in the period from c. 1900 to the present led to territorial, demographic, and nationalist developments

Historical Developments:

• The redrawing of political boundaries after the withdrawal of former colonial authorities led to the creation of new states

• The redrawing of political boundaries in some cases led to conflict as well as population displacement and/or resettlements, including those related to the Partition of India and the creation of the state of Israel

Illustrative Examples:

• States created by redrawing of political boundaries:

  • Israel

  • Cambodia

  • Pakistan

Learning Objective:

• Explain the economic changes and continuities resulting from the process of decolonization

Historical Developments:

• In newly independent states after World War 2, governments often took on a strong role in guiding economic life to promote development

• The migration of former colonial subjects to imperial metropoles (the former colonizing country), usually in the major cities, maintained cultural and economic ties between the colony and the metropole even after teh dissolution of empires

Illustrative Examples:

• Governments guiding economic life:

  • Gamal Abdel Nasser’s promotion of economic development in Egypt

  • Indira Ghandi’s economic policies in India

  • Julius Nyerere’s modernization in Tanzania

  • Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s economic policies in Sri Lanka

• Migrations:

  • South Asians to Britain

  • Algerians to France

  • Filipinos to the United States

Topic 8.7 — Global Resistance to Established Power Structures After 1900 (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain various reactions to existing power structures in the period after 1900

Historical Developments:

• Although conflict dominated much of the 20th century, many individuals and groups—including states—opposed this trend. Some individuals and groups, however, intensified the conflicts.

• Groups and individuals challenged the many wars of the century, and some, such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela, promoted the practice of nonviolence as a way to bring about political change

• Militaries and militarized states often responded to the proliferation of conflicts in ways that further intensified conflict

• Some movements used violence against civilians in an effort to achieve political aims

Illustrative Examples:

• Responses that intensified conflict:

  • Chile under Augusto Pinochet

  • Spain under Francisco Franco

  • Uganda under Idi Amin

  • The buildup of the military-industrial complex and weapons trading

• Movements that used violence:

  • Shining Path

  • Al-Qaeda

Topic 8.8 — End of the Cold War (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain the causes of the end of the Cold War

Historical Developments:

• Advances in the U.S. military and technological development, the Soviet Union’s costly and ultimately failed invasion of Afghanistan, and public discontent and economic weakness in communist countries led to the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union

Topic 8.9 — Causation in the Age of the Cold War and Decolonization (Causation)

Learning Objective:

• Explain the extent to which the effects of the Cold War were similar in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres

Main Key Concepts:

• People and states around the world challenged the existing political and social order in varying ways, leading to unprecedented worldwide conflicts

  • Hopes for greater self-government were largely unfulfilled following the WW1; however, in the years following the WW2, increasing anti-imperialist sentiment contributed to the dissolution of empires and the restructuring of states

  • The Cold War conflict extended beyond its basic ideological origins to have profound effects on economic, political, social, and cultural aspects of global events

• The role of the state in the domestic economy varied, and new institutions of global association emerged and continued to develop throughout the century

  • States responded in a variety of ways to economic challenges of the 20th century