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  • After World War II, 2 great powers remained, the United States and Soviet Union (the superpowers)

The Cold War started in Europe when the 2 superpowers' confronted each other after World War II.

  • The two powers created opposing military alliances:
  • The US created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with Western European nations
  • The Soviet Union led the Warsaw Pact with Eastern European nations
  • The two alliances in Europe faced each other along the Iron Curtain, the tense line between the democratic West and the communist East.
  • 1972 and 1979, Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty(SALT) limited nuclear weapons and oter anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs)
  • ABM's were seen as a threat to the balance of terror because if one side had them and the other didn't it might provoke an attack.
  • 1980s US president Ronald Reagan created "Star Wars" program
  • 1991 both sides signed Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
  • After WWII Stalin continued his ruthless policies
  • He filled labor camps with "enemies of the state" - he seemed ready to launch purges when he died in 1953.
  • Communist spread their ideology, or value systems and beliefs
  • They wanted to spread their communist command economy (where government bureaus make most economic decisions)
  • Khrushchev's successor, Leonid Brezhnev held power mid-1960s and dies 1982
  • Under Brezhnev, critics faced arrest and imprisonment

Cold War fears led to a "red scare" within the US.

  • Many Americans feared that communists within the US would try to undermine the US Government.
  • The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) attempted to identify supposed communist sympathizers in America.
  • They sought to expose communists in Hollywood's movie industry. These people were blacklisted and could no longer get decent jobs.

During the 1950s and 1960s, boom times in America prevailed.

  • Recessions were brief and mild.
  • Americans grew more affluent and moved from cities to suburbs known as suburbanization.
  • Cultural changes and the US Presidents helped secure America's place as world leaders.
  • In the 1970s, a political crisi in the Middle East led to decreased oil exports, making oil prices skyrocket.
  • This oil shortage cause a recession in 1974 that would end decades of prosperity.
  • After World War II disputes between the Soviet Union and Western powers led to Germany's division into 2 separate countries by 1949
  • Created the Berlin Wall to prevent Eastern Germans from "escaping" to the West
  • 1949-1963, Konrad Adenauer was West Germany's chancellor

After WWII, Japan lay in ruins. Tens of thousands of people were homeless and hungry.

  • Under General MacArthur, the Japanese emperor lost all power. Japan's new constitution established a new parliamentary democracy.
  • They opened the education system for all people, with legal equality for women.
  • In 1952, the U.S. ended the occupation and signed a peace treaty with Japan
  • Over the years Japan develops a democracy, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
  • 1950-1970, Japan achieved an economic miracle, its gross domestic product (GDP) soared years after year
  • then in 1979, the Soviet Union became involved in the war in Afghanistan
  • They battled mujahedin

*it was just like the American's Vietnam war

  • 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union
  • in 1988 East Germans demand for change
  • Communist governments fail so in Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel was elected president
  • In Romania, longtime dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu steps down

The Industrialized Democracies

Japan is Transformed

  • American military forces maintained bases in Japan
  • The two countries were also trading partners, eventually competing with each other in the global economy

GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a nation within a particular year

  • 1st they sold textiles
  • then sold steel and machinery
  • 1970s, cars, cameras, and televisions
  • then electronic goods

Japan protected it's GDP by imposing tariffs and regulations that limited imports.

  • The LDP dominated the government from the 1950s to 1990s
  • The LDP was different than political parties in the US.
  • It was a coalition, or alliance, of factions that compete for government positions

These policies, along with the high quality of Japanese exports, resulted in a trade surplus for Japan - selling more goods than it buys from other countries.

  • What was one reason for the huge rise in Japan's GDP?
  • Japan's low military budget.

The US pushed Japan to open its economy to more imports because it felt there was unfair competition. Nevertheless, Japan's trade surplus persisted.

America Prospers and Changes

Western Europe Rebuilds

Konrad Adenauer guided the rebuilding of cities, factories, and trade.

  • Many of its factories had been destroyed, so Germany built a modern and highly productive industrial base.
  • This modern industrial base caused higher taxes, but West Germans created a booming industrial economy.

Britain's economy was slow to recover after the war. It could no longer afford to keep its colonial empire when these colonies called for independence.

  • Britain's economy would recover during the 1950s and 1960s, helping the standard of living to improve to a tolerable level.
  • Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and other Western European nations that were damaged by WWII would follow Britain's lead in rebuilding after the War.

The postwar Europe experienced expanded social benefits to their citizens. This wasn't new to Europeans, as it was introduced in the late 1800s. What are some examples of social benefits?

  • National healthcare, unemployment insurance, and old-age pensions, as well as programs that give aid to the poor and that create an economic cushion to help people get through tough times.
  • This was called a welfare state - a country with a market economy but with increased government responsibility for the social and economic needs of its people
  • The downside to this is that it costs high taxes and greater government regulation of private enterprise.
  • Because of this cost, many European nations moved to limit social welfare benefits and to privatize state-owned businesses during the 1980s and 1990s.

The industrialized democracies of North America, Western Europe, and Japan grew in prosperity and in social change during the Cold War.

  • The dollar was the world's strongest currency.
  • The US was the world's wealthiest and most powerful nation at first, but when the Cold War ended, Western Europe and Japan rivaled the US economically.
  • The United Nations headquarter was in NYC.
  • The World Bank, an international agency that finances world economic development, was headquartered in Washington, D.C., as was the International Monetary Fund (oversees the finances of the world's nations).

Greater economic cooperation helped fuel Europe's economic boom during the 1950s and 1960s.

  • In 1952, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, and Italy created the European Coal and Steel Community to establish free trade in coal and steel - eliminated tariffs.
  • In 1957, the same six nations signed a treaty to form the European Economic Community, later known as the European Community, creating free trade for all products. It would later expand to include other European nations.

Segregation: Forced separation

Discrimination: Unequal treatment or barriers

Democracy Expands Opportunities

Recessions: periods when the economy shrinks

  • Ethic minorities and women demanded equality in the post-war world.
  • African Americans and other minority groups faced legal segregation and also suffered discrimination
  • In 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as the leader of the civil rights movement and he fought for the rights of people

During the 1960s, The government further expanded social programs to help the poor and disadvantaged.

  • Under both JFK and Lyndon B. Johnson (both Democrats) congress funded Medicare, as well as other programs offering services for the poor.
  • In the 1980s, Republican President Ronald Reagan called for cutbacks in taxes and government spending
  • They believed that cutting taxes was the best way to improve opportunities for Americans.
  • Social programs were closed and defense spending went on the rise. This did nothing to help the poverty level, and in some cases, made it worse.
  • Stalin continued to fill labor camps with "enemies of the state"
  • Under Khrushchev's rule, some government critics were freed from prisons and labor camps
  • 1956, when Hungarians tried to break free, Khrushchev enforced obedience

The Cold War Goes Global

The Soviet Union Declines

  • The victory after World War II brought few rewards
  • Cold War quickly spread around the world when the Soviets were assisting communist forces in China and Korea
  • American leaders developed policies to respond to challenges anywhere in the world
  • In 1995, US and its allies formed another alliance, called SEATO
  • Some European nations created their own alliances, called the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO)

SEATO included, the U.S., Britain, France, Australia, Pakistan, Thailand, New Zealand, and the Philippines

CENTO included, Britain, Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan

The United States in the Cold War

The Soviet Union created its own alliances.

  • In addition to the Warsaw Pact, they had an agreement with governments in Africa and Asia.
  • A Soviet alliance with Communist China lasted from 1949 to 1960.
  • The Soviet alliances were called the Soviet bloc.

Where the Cold War Got Hot

The two superpowers never actually engaged each other directly, but because each power had global reach, local conflicts in many areas played into the Cold War.

  • When communism spread to mainland China, the US feared that communism would spread throughout southeast Asia, sparking local conflicts in that area.
  • On occasion, the Cold War erupted into "shooting wars," especially in Asia.
  • Both Korea and Vietnam were torn by brutal conflicts in which the US, Soviet Union, and China all played crucial roles.
  • The superpowers provided weapons, training, or other aid to opposing forces in Asia, Africa, or Latin America.

Unlike the Soviets, the US established army, navy, and air force bases around the globe, creating a nightmare of military encirclement on the Soviet Union.

  • 1957, first artificial satellite

Cuba Goes Communist

Changes Transform Eastern Europe

Containment: strategy of keeping communism within its existing boundaries and preventing its further expansion

  • Support any government facing invasion or internal reellion by communists.

In Cuba, 1950s, Fidel Castro organized rebellion against dictator of Cuba

  • 1959, Castro led his guerrilla army to victory overthrowing the corrupt Cuban dictator - known as the Cuban Revolution.
  • Castro sought the support of the Soviet Union - he got it.
  • He restricted political freedom. Jailed or silenced opposition.
  • 1961, in US, John F Kennedy had an invasion attempt by U.S.-trained Cuban exiles (Bay of Pigs Invasion) - Failed!
  • 1962, Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba - JFK responded by imposing a naval blockade of Cuba.
  • During the Cuban missile crisis, the world faced a serious risk of nuclear war but Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the nuclear missiles and war was diverted. The event lasted some thirteen days.

Fallout structures: structures, often underground, designed to protect people from fallout, or radioactive particles from a nuclear explosion.

  • US gave citizens freedom to make economic and political choices - called free markets
  • American's basic policy toward communist countries is containment
  • With nuclear dangers they had to build fallout shelters
  • Fear of a nuclear attack reached its peak during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
  • Schools even conducted air-raid drills in anticipation of a nuclear attack, although they would not have protected them...
  • Soviet Union control over Eastern European satellites
  • Demands for freedom increased even more
  • 1968, Hungary quietly introduced modest economic reforms
  • in 1988 and 1989, they finally allowed greater freedoms
  • in Poland, Lech Walesa organized Solidarity

Mujahedin: Muslim religious warriors

It was a struggle in Afghanistan provoked a crisis in morale for the Soviets at home

Solidarity: an independent labor union

  • Gorbachev signed arms control treaties with the U.S.
  • He pulled Soviet troops out of Afghanistan
  • He called for glasnost
  • He ended censorship
  • He urged perestroika of the government and economy
  • He reduced size of bureaucracy and limited private enterprise
  • He allowed farmers to sell produce on the free market

Glasnost: openness

Perestroika: restructuring

The Cold War Unfolds

Then in 1918, Czechoslovakia splits in to Czech and Slovakia ethnic groups

Nuclear Weapons Threaten the World

The Soviet Union in the War

The End of the Cold War

  • In 1949, nuclear weapons were developed by the Soviet Union
  • In 1953, both sides created hydrogen bombs which were much more destructive
  • Both sides of the superpowers launched nuclear weapons in result was a "balance of terror"

Soviet Nuclear Missiles

  • Nikita Khrushchev took place as Soviet leader
  • He shocked the Communist Party members when he denounced Stalin's abuse of power.
  • He maintained the Communist Party's political control, but he closed prisons camps and eased censorship (he called this "peaceful coexistence")
  • By the late 1960s, Britain, France, and China developed nuclear weapons
  • 1968, many nations signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Anti-ballistic missiles: missiles that can shoot down other missiles from hostile

  • American and Soviet arms control agreement that led to the era of détente
  • The era of détente ended, 1979, when Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: a treaty to prevent countries from developing more nuclear weapons or to stop the proliferation, or spread, of nuclear weapons

Détente: relaxation of tensions

"Star Wars": program for missile defense against nuclear attack

Communism Decline Around the World

The Cold War

The United States as Sole Superpower

  • Defeat of communism in Soviet bloc affected communist countries from China to Castro's Cuba
  • After years of thin budgets, Russia's armed forces weakened so only the U.S. could project its power around the world
  • China builds on Deng's reforms
  • in 1980s, Deng's reforms had a result of amazing economic boom
  • China's Communist Party
  • did not take any political reforms
  • Vietnam and North Korea were different
  • Communist Vietnam, in 1990s, opened itself to the world and established diplomatic relations with the U.S.
  • North Korea had isolation and refused to reform its economy or political system
  • Hundreds of thousands North Koreans died of starvation of malnutrition during 1990s
  • Cuba declines
  • the Cuban economy deteriorated
  • many felt that communism in Cuba would not long outlive its founder, Fidel Castro
  • The United States was the world's leading military power
  • There was no rival threat
  • But, people in many parts of the world were less pleased to see any single nation as powerful as the U.S.

Two Sides Face Off in Europe

Superpowers: nations stronger than other powerful nations

Eastern Europe Resists

  • Other explosions of the Cold War tensions included some revolts against the Soviet domination of East Europe:
  • In 1953, 50, 000 workers confronted the Soviet Army in the German capital, spread to other East German cities, demonstrators were no match for the Soviet tanks... Splat!
  • In 1956, Eastern Europeans challenged Soviet authority in the name of economic reform in both Poland and Hungary. Hungarian leader Imre Nagy ended one-party rule and wanted to pull his country out of the Warsaw Pact. The Soviets launched an attack and executed Nagy... Splat!
  • In 1968, Czechoslovakian leader Alexander Dubcek introduced greater freedom of expression and limited democracy. Soviets were afraid democracy would threaten Communist power. Warsaw Pact troops launched a massive invasion that put an end to these freedoms... Splat!

A Wall Divides Berlin

  • In Germany a wall divided Berlin into the democratic West Berlin & communist East Berlin
  • In 1961, East Germany built a wall and sealed off West Berlin after mass numbers of skilled East Germans were moving from East to West Germany.
  • This was the first and only physical barrier that showed the division between the East and West.

1945-1991

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