Chapter 31: The Cold War and Decolonization

Geography and Other Possible Influences

Civilization

Accomplishments

Africa, Asia, and Latin America were all powerfully affected by nationalism in the postwar period. In Africa and South Asia nationalist forces gathered strength and swept away colonial rule. In China nationalist frustration with the weak and corrupt government, viewed as incapable of defending national sovereignty.

U.S. begins economic aid to South Vietnam

- Montgomery Bus Boycott; Martin Luther King becomes prominent.

- Women ordained in Presbyterian Church

- Churchill resigns as British P.M.

- U.S. Supreme Court orders immediate desegregation of schools

US INCREASES INVOLVEMENT IN VIETNAM

- U.S. breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba

- U.S. supports abortive “Bay of Pigs” invasion of Cuba

- JFK institutes the Peace Corps

- Berlin Wall constructed

- CORE attempts to desegregate interstate bus lines

- Black Muslims advocate black power and separation of races

• Berlin Aircraft

• NATO Formed

The United Nations

1958

1954

1969

1961

1955

1949

South and Southeast Asia

• After partition in 1947 the independent states of India and Pakistan were very dissimilar. Muslim Pakistan defined itself according to religion and quickly fell under the control of military leaders. However, 90% of India's population was Hindu, and the rest were Muslim.
• In the Dutch East Indies, Achmad Sukarno cooperated with the Japanese in the hope that the Dutch would never return. After military confrontation, Dutch withdrawl was finall negotiated in 1949, and Sukrano became the dictator.

• Jacobo Arbenz over thrown in Guatemala, supported by CIA

• CIA intervention in Guatemala; defeat at Dienbienphu ends French hold on Vietnam

First Xerox machine

- Soviets launch “Sputnik”

- First trans-Atlantic jet passenger service.

- DDE sends U.S. Marines to Lebanon to suppress Arab nationalists.

U.S. - Vietnam peace talks start

- 400,000 people attend “Woodstock”

- My Lai massacre – Lt. Calley convicted in 1971

- Golda Meir becomes Prime Minister of Israel

- Yale, Bowdoin and Colgate admit women

Africa

• South and Southeast Asia
• Africa
• Japan and China

• There was a big struggle to gain independence in Africa. The postwar French government was as determined to hold on to Algeria as it was to keep Vietnam. Since invading the country in 1830, France had followed policies very different from those of the British in India. French settlement had been strongly encouraged, and Algeria had been declared an actual part in France rather than a colony. There was a revolt in 1954 called "The Algerian Revolt." It was pursued with great brutality by both sides. The Algerian revolutionary organization, the Front de Liberation National, was supported by Egypt and other Arab countries.
• In 1912, the African National Congress and other organizations led oppositions to apartheid. After police fired on demonstrators in 1960 in a small African town, all peaceful protest was banned. An African lawyer named Nelson Mandela, organized a resistance. Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in 1964. The ANC later had him released in 1990.

Japan and China

• The Japanese turned their talents and energies to rebuilding their industries and engaging in world commerce. Peace treaties with countries in Southeast Asia specified reparations payable in the form of goods and services, thus reintroducing Japan to that region. Bitterness over wartime oppression remained strong, and Japan had to move slowly in developing new regional markets. The Cold War isolated Japan and then excluded it from most world political issues.
• While Japan benefited from the being outside the Cold War, China was deeply involved in Cold War politics. When Mao Zedong and the communists defeated the nationalists in 1949 and established the People's Republic of China.

Brief Summary

Important People

• Dwight Eisenhower- Supreme military commander of Allied Forces in Western Europe. He ended the Korean War in 1953, but sent the first US troops to Vietnam and prepared to intervene in Cuba.
• John F. Kennedy-He helped to diffuse the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1961, he ordered the expanse of the Space Race programme.
• Pope John Paul II-met with the main protagonists of the Cold War and led to improve relations between the Soviet Union and the Vatican.

After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union

were the world’s strongest nations. They were called

superpowers. They had different ideas about economics and

government. They fought a war of ideas called the Cold War.

The Soviet Union was a communist country.

The Cold War began in Europe after World War II. The

Soviet Union won control of Eastern Europe. It controlled

half of Germany and half of Germany’s capital,

Berlin. The United States, Britain, and France controlled western

Germany and West Berlin. In June 1948, the Soviet Union

blocked roads and railroads that led to West Berlin. The

United States, Great Britain, and France flew in supplies.

This was called the Berlin Airlift.

Miscellaneous Events

The CIA was formed by the United States as a covert organization dedicated to carrying out secret external missions designed to gain information about allies and enemies alike.

Important Periods of Time

Important Periods of Time

• 1962-Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, over the presence of missile sires in Cuba; one of the "hottest" periods of the Cold War. The Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, placed Soviet missiles in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy set up naval blockade of Cuba and insisted that Khrushchev remove the missiles, which he did.

• 1949-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Orginization) is formed in Washington D. C., comprising the 12 nations of the Atlantic Pact together with Greece, Turkey, and the Federal Republic of Germany, for the purpose of collective defense against aggression.

Chapter 31: The Cold War and Decolonization

Important Periods of Time

1950-1953- The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, between North Korea, aided by Communist China, and South Korea, aided by the United States and other United Nations members forming a United Nations armed force: truce was signed July 27, 1953.

1955- Bandung Conference was a meeting of representatives of 29 African and Asian nations, held at Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955. The aim-to promote economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism-was more or less achieved in an atmosphere of sincereness.

• 1957-Soviet Union launches first artificial satellite into earth's orbit.
• 1957-Ghana becomes first British colony in Africa to gain independence.
• 1960-Shootings in Sharpeville intensify South African struggle against apartheid; Nigeria becomes independent.