1. The Cold War 1945-1990
US vs Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
2. Definition
• A political, strategic and ideological
struggle between the US and the Soviet
Union.
• Spread throughout the world-Europe, Asia,
Africa and Latin America.
4. Causes of the Cold War
• Different political systems
-US is based on democracy, capitalism
and freedom
-USSR is based on dictatorship,
communism and control
• Both thought their system was better and
distrusted the others intentions
• Stalin despised capitalism
5. Causes of Cold War
• Stalin breaking his promise to allow free
elections at the Yalta Conference
• American fear of a communist attack(Red
Scare) and USSR’s fear of a US attack
• USSR’s fear of the atomic bomb
• USSR’s actions in their German zone
• USSR’s goal to spread communism around the
world
• This feeling of suspicion lead to mutual distrust
and this did a great deal to deepen the Cold
War
8. Yalta Conference
Feb 1945
• Before the end of the World War II, Stalin,
Churchill and Roosevelt met at Yalta to plan
what should happen when the war ended. They
agreed on many points:
1. The establishment of the United Nations.
2. Germany to be divided into four zones.
3. Free elections allowed in the states of eastern
Europe.
4. Russia promised to join the war against Japan.
9.
10. Post WWII/Cold War Goals for
US
• Wanted to promote open markets for US
goods to prevent another depression
• Promote democracy throughout the
world, especially in Asia and Africa
• Stop the spread of communism
11. Post WWII/Cold War Goals for
the USSR
• Wanted to create greater security for itself
-lost tens of millions of people in WWII and
Stalin’s purges
-feared a strong Germany
• Establish defensible borders
• Encourage friendly governments on its borders
• Spread communism around the world
12. Key Terms
• Iron Curtain Speech
• Domino Theory(Effect)
• Policy of Containment
• Truman Doctrine
• Marshall Plan
• Brinkmanship
• Massive retaliation/Mutual
Deterrence/Mutual Assured Destruction
• NATO vs. Warsaw Pact
• CIA vs. KGB
17. Winston Churchill “Iron Curtain”
Speech
• “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
Adriatic an iron curtain has descended
across the Continent. Behind that line lie all
the capitals of the ancient states of Central
and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin,
Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade,
Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities
and the populations around them lie in
what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all
are subject in one form or another, not only
to Soviet influence but to a very high and,
in some cases, increasing measure of control
from Moscow. Athens alone -- Greece with
its immortal glories -- is free to decide its
future at an election under British,
American and French observation. The
Russian-dominated Polish Government has
been encouraged to make enormous and
wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass
expulsions of millions of Germans on a
scale grievous and undreamed-of are now
taking place. The Communist parties,
which were very small in all these Eastern
States of Europe, have been raised to pre-
eminence and power far beyond their
numbers and are seeking everywhere to
obtain totalitarian control. Police
governments are prevailing in nearly every
case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia,
there is no true democracy.”
18. Truman Doctrine
• In 1947 the British were
helping the Greek
government fight against
communist guerrillas.
• They appealed to America for
aid, and the response was the
Truman Doctrine.
• America promised it would
support free countries to help
fight communism.
• Greece received large
amounts of arms and
supplies, and by 1949 had
defeated the communists.
• The Truman Doctrine was
significant because it showed
that America was prepared to
resist the spread of
communism throughout the
world.
19. Marshall Plan
• In 1947, US Secretary of State
Marshall announced the
Marshall Plan.
• This was a massive economic
aid plan for Europe to help it
recover from the damage
caused by the war.
• There were two motives for
this:
– Helping Europe to
recover economically
would provide markets
for American goods, so
benefiting American
industry.
– A prosperous Europe
would be better able to
resist the spread of
communism. This was the
main motive.
24. • In 1948, the three western controlled zones of
Germany's(US,France, UK) were united, and
grew in prosperity due to Marshal Aid.
• The west wanted the east to rejoin, but Stalin
feared it would hurt Soviet security.
• In June 1948, Stalin decided to try to gain
control of West Berlin which was deep inside
the eastern sector.
• He cut road, rail and canal links with West
Berlin, hoping to starve it into submission.
• The west responded by airlifting in the
necessary supplies to allow west Berlin to
survive.
• In May 1949, Russia admitted defeat and
lifted the blockade.
27. Alger Hiss Trial
• In 1948, Alger Hiss was accused of being
a member of a Communist cell whose
purpose had been to infiltrate the U.S.
government
• Hiss vigorously maintained innocence.
• In 1949, the trial ended with a
deadlocked jury- 8-4 in favor of
conviction.
• The second trial began on later in 1949,
and ended two months later in early
1950,
• The new jury found Hiss guilty
28. • Hiss' conviction was later upheld by the
Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme
Court.
• Hiss served five years in prison.
• In 1992, a former Soviet intelligence
officer said that Hiss was not a Soviet
spy, but rather a victim of Cold War
hysteria.
29. NATO
• In 1949 the western nations formed the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization to co-
ordinate their defense against Russia.
• NATO was a defensive alliance
• This was the first peacetime alliance in
US History
• It consisted of:
-America, Canada, Britain, France, Holland, Belgium
Luxembourg, Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Italy
• Still around today
36. McCarthyism
• Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) was a
Republican Senator from Wisconsin
• In 1950, he gave a speech where he
claimed to have a list of 205 Communists
in the State Department
• No one in the press actually saw the
names on the list, but McCarthy's
announcement made national news and
caused panic throughout the country
• McCarthy became one of the most
powerful people in the US
37. Supporters of McCarthy
1. Republicans
2. Catholics
3. Conservative Protestants
4. Blue-collar workers
5. Joseph and Robert Kennedy
38. McCarthy’s Downfall
• In the spring of 1954, McCarthy charged the US Army
had promoted a dentist accused of being a Communist.
• For the first time, television broadcast allowed the
general public to see the Senator as a blustering bully
and his investigations as little more than a misguided
scam.
• In late 1954, the Senate voted to censure him for his
conduct and to strip him of his privileges.
• McCarthy died three years later from alcoholism.
• The term "McCarthyism" lives on to describe anti-
Communist fervor, reckless accusations, and guilt by
association.
39.
40. US Test Hydrogen Bomb-1952
• 1000 times more
powerful than the
Hiroshima atomic
bomb
• Set off on Bikini
Island in the Marshall
Islands
51. Eisenhower Embarrassment
• Khrushchev:
• “I must tell you a secret. When I made my
first report I deliberately did not say that the
pilot was alive and well… and now just
look how many silly things [the
Americans]” have said.
65. Thirteen Days
• Be able to describe what
happened in the crisis.
• Be able to describe the
different choices that
Kennedy had to choose
from in dealing with this
threat.
• Be able to explain the
compromise that was
reached to end the crisis.
• Be able to explain how
this crisis was an
example of
brinkmanship.
72. Kent St. Massacre
• The Kent State Massacre occurred at Kent State
University in the Kent, Ohio on May 4, 1970
• The incident was the shooting of unarmed college
students by the Ohio National Guard
• The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of
13 seconds, killing four students and wounding
nine others
• Some of the students who were shot had been
protesting against the American invasion of
Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon
announced in a television address on April 30
73. • There was a significant national response to
the shootings: hundreds of colleges and
high schools closed throughout the US due
to a student strike of four million students
• The event further affected the negative
public opinion over the role of the United
States in the Vietnam War
76. Nixon Visits Moscow
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev toasted United States President Richard Nixon in
Moscow,
marking the signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty on May 26, 1972.
78. • SALT I froze the number of strategic ballistic
missile launchers at existing levels
• Limited new submarine-launched ballistic
missile (SLBM).
• FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
RICHARD NIXON
President of the United States of America
FOR THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST
REPUBLICS:
L.I. BREZHNEV
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU
103. Discussion
• Why did the US win the Cold War?
• Why did the USSR lose the Cold War?
104. 1. We had close ties with our Allies and
the USSR didn’t.
2. China started siding with us after 1972.
3. The Soviet economy was in shambles
whereas the US’s was flourishing.
1. Huge deficit
2. High inflation
3. Corruption
4. Social problems
5. Shortage of basic needs(food, housing)
105. 4. The strong anti-communist presidency of
Reagan.
5. Gorbachev’s willingness for change and
reform.
1. glasnost and perestroika
2. admitted Soviet mistakes
3. took blame for the Cold War
4. communist system had failed
5. allowed Eastern Europe to do what they
wanted
6. Arms Reduction Talks
1. SALT, INF, Reagan-Gorbachev
meetings
106. 7. Soviet Mistakes
1. invasion of Afghanistan
2. ignoring social concerns
3. spent everything on military
107. Post-Cold War
• In the 1990’s, the world seemed to be a
much more peaceful place
• President Clinton closed down numerous military
• 9-11 caught the US off guard
