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Cold War

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USA vs USSR (Cold war) 

  1. After WW2 the Soviets created a sphere of influence in E Europe dominating the countries where the RED Army had pushed back the Nazis (Winston Churchill - Iron curtain has descended Europe) 
  2. Stalin 
  3. Europe was the first battleground of the cold war (Esp Germany) 
  4. Germany Berlin 2 parts 
  5. Berlin Wall 
  6. US policy of containment (Standing up to the soviets where they seemed to expand) 
  7.  Marshall Plan (rebuilt western Europe) 13 Bn $ 
  8. So that it would create consumerism to US products 
  9. NATO  
  10. CIA interventions 
  11. Nuclear arms race 
  12. MAD (US & USSR agreed ) Mutually assured destruction 
  13. Close to nuclear war 
    1. Cuban missile crisis of 1962 
    2. 1983 US forgot to give USSR a heads up 
  14. Other fields 
    1. Korean war 
    2. Vietnam war 
    3. Nicaragua (the US supported the rebels to overthrow the leftist Govt) 
    4. El Salvador 
    5. Guatemala 
    6. Suez canal crisis 
  15. Mikhael Baryshnikov 
  16. Mikhael Gorbachev 
  17. Glasnost & Perestroika (Opened up Soviet Economic & Political ) 
  18. 1989 (Berlin wall collapsed) 
  19. 1990 (Germany was reunited) 

THE COLD WAR

  • End of 2nd World War - Rise of U.S.A, U.S.S.R - Super Powers.
  • Strained relationship b/w 2 countries till the collapse of the U.S.S.R - known as the Cold War
  • The Cold War
  • Existence of continued tensions and conflicts between the western world and the Communist countries in general and between the United States and the Soviet Union in particular.
  • Ideological war or a propaganda war or a diplomatic war. It was neither a condition of war nor a condition of peace. It was a state of uneasy peace.

Beginning of the Cold War

  • Before end of 2nd World War - Soviet Union had imposed Communist regimes - East European countries of Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary and Yugoslavia.
  • After War - Soviet Union had East Germany under her influence
  • West Germany - influence –of U.S.A.
  • Soviet Union blocked roads to west occupied zones in Berlin (Berlin Blockade)
  • Tense situation b/w two blocs.
  • U.S.A assumed responsibility of containing Communism.
  • On 5th June 1947, the Marshall Plan was announced by the U.S.A. by which economic assistance was to be provided to the western European nations
  • In response the Soviet Union initiated Molotov Plan.
  • On 12th March 1948, Truman Doctrine [Truman was the President of USA] was announced and accordingly the U.S.A. provided economic and the military aid to Greece and Turkey to the tune of 400 million dollars in order to stop the Soviet influence in those countries.

NATO

  • U.S.A. - military alliance -prevent further spread of communism into Western Europe- Brussels Treaty in March 1948 -Britain, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg signed - military collaboration - in war.
  • 4th April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty -military power bloc North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The U.S.A., Canada, Britain, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and Norway – members- Military help - an attack on any one of them.

Warsaw Pact

  • B/w (1955 – 1958) - West Asia - center - Cold War.
  • Western military pact – Baghdad Pact – 1955- Central Treaty Organization (CENTO).
  • In response - Soviet Union - Warsaw Pact on 14th May 1955 with her satellite powers.
  • In this phase a number of military pacts were concluded, but the tension between East and West was somewhat reduced

China

  • Establishment - Peoples' Republic of China -Mao-Tse Tung - October 1949 strengthened - Soviet bloc.
  • The U.S.A refused to recognize the Communist Government of China.
  • U.S.A. helped Chiang Kai-Sheik to establish - Nationalist Government in Taiwan.
  • The U.S.A recognized - Nationalist Government - legal Government of China – made - permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
  • The Communist China or the People's Republic of China was prevented by the U.S.A. to become a member in the UNO.

Korean Crisis

  • 1950- Arena of the cold war - from Europe to East Asia.
  • After – 2nd World War - Korea - split - north and South Korea.
  • North Korea - Soviet supported communist government
  • South Korea - American - sponsored government.
  • Two Korean governments - conflict.
  • On 25th June 1950 North Korea (fighting with Soviet weapons and Chinese) attacked South Korea (U.S.A. in the name of U.N. force was fighting on behalf of South Korea).
  • Korean War - Cold War - open armed conflict.

Vietnam War

  • Cold War - extended - Vietnam.
  • Fall of Dien Bien Phu - 1954 - final collapse of France in Indo-China.
  • Geneva Agreement-Vietnam - partitioned - 17th parallel b/w North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
  • Conflict b/w North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
  • U.S.A. entered the war supporting South Vietnam.
  • To contain Communism in South East Asia- South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) 1954.

The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

  • Soviet Union stationed - nuclear missiles in Cuba- communist country (Soviet ally)
  • U.S.A-considered - great threat to security-John F. Kennedy sent - 7th nuclear fleet towards Cuba.
  • This brought the two super powers to the verge of war.
  • Good sense prevailed on both the sides - crisis – averted –Subsequently- U.S.S.R dismantled the missiles

Decline of Cold War- Détente (Reduction of Tension)

After 1960- U.S.A, U.S.S.R. - developed equality- nuclear weapons.

Nuclear war - lead to co-destruction- inevitability of peaceful co-existence.

Therefore - Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) - Followed by - 'Hot Line Agreement' b/w Washington and Kremlin.

After 1970s- friction b/w Soviet Union, Communist China -Sino-Soviet rift.

People's Republic of China - admitted - UN.

President Nixon (U.S.A) visited Moscow in May 1972 and concluded the SALT -I Treaty (Strategic

Arms Limitation Treaty).

In June 1973, Brezhnev paid a nine-day visit to the United States and further progress was made in the direction of strategic arms limitation. This reduction of tension between the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. is known as era of détente.

End of the Cold War

  • Disintegration -Soviet Union- collapse of Communism -in the Soviet Union- Eastern Europe bi-polar to unipolar
  • 1991- George Bush, Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev -START - I Treaty (Moscow Summit) - end of the Era of Cold War
  • Cold War - five decades since 1945
  • The world saw the vertical division of nation-states.
  • Military alliances were made. Arms race developed.
  • Ultimately ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.