1. It is a compilation of powerpoint 
presentations based on the works of:
 Fatima Al Mansoori and Sara Al Jassmi
Grade: 9c.
An overview of the cold war
by Patricia Guzman, Head Teacher at ISFD Nº
1097 on Sep 16, 2013.
Cold war part_2_crises_of_the_cold_war 
by k0socha on Apr 24, 2013 


2. Done by: Fatima
Al Mansoori and
Sara Al Jassmi
Grade: 9c

3. 
The cold war was the continuing state from roughly 1946
to 1991 of political conflict, military tension and economic
competition between the communist world and the western
world.
 Truman doctrine is a policy set forth by president
Truman in a on march 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. Would
support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to
prevent those countries falling into the soviet sphere. Often
consider it as the start of the cold war.
 Communism is a social, political and economic ideology
that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless,
stateless society based on common ownership of the means
of production.

4. 
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satellite state − small country controlled by a
more powerful neighbor
iron curtain − imaginary barrier separating
Soviet-controlled countries and the free world
containment − American policy to keep
communism contained within its existing borders
Marshall Plan − U.S. aid program to help Western
Europe rebuild after World War II
Berlin airlift − operation in which the U.S. and
Britain broke the Soviet blockade of West Berlin

5. The United States was
a capitalist democracy.
Its citizens believed in
free elections,
economic, and
religious freedom,
private property, and
respect of individual
differences.
The Soviet Union
was a
dictatorship. The
Communist Party
made all key
economic,
political, and
military
decisions.

6. 

The nations of Eastern Europe and the
eastern part of Germany became satellite
states of the Soviet Union, separated from the
free world by an “iron curtain.”
With the Truman Doctrine, the U.S. promised
to support nations struggling against
communist movements.

7. Money was sent to
Greece and Turkey
to provide aid to
people who
needed it.

8. 
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Its relative prosperity and freedom stood in
contrast to the bleak life of East Berliners.
Stalin was determined to capture West Berlin or
win other concessions from the Western allies.
In June 1948, Stalin stopped all highway, railway,
and waterway traffic from western Germany into
West Berlin. Without any means of receiving aid,
West Berlin would fall to the communists.
For almost a year, the US and Britain supplied
West Berlin through a massive airlift. Food, fuel,
medical supplies, clothing, toys-everything the
residents of West Berlin needed was flown into
the city.

12. The Cold War featured the US and the
USSR, two SUPERPOWERs with
completely different political systems
(Capitalism v Communism) competing
for influence around the world. The
presence of nuclear weapons held by
both sides made the stakes of the cold
war very high, as a direct total war
between the two sides would have
resulted in a nuclear war, killing
millions of civilians. Neither side
wanted to provoke the other into
resulting to a nuclear attack.
The US under President Truman
decided they could not remove
communism where it existed but
instead focused on containing it and
stopping its spread.

Truman knew containment
was our best option in
stopping communism
while avoiding nuclear
war.


14. Europe had been divided
along communist and
Capitalist lines following
WWII and this continued
throughout the Cold War.
The US made an Alliance
known as NATO (the North
Atlantic Treaty
Organization) with many
countries, promising that
an attack on those
countries would be
regarded as an attack on
the USA.
The USSR formed their own
alliance, the Warsaw Pact to
counter NATO. This alliance
included the Iron Curtain
countries, the “satellite”


Europe divided: Capitalist and Communist

15. NATO and
the Warsaw
Pact. Map
includes
how much
US aid $
each
received
under the
Marshall
plan.

16. One Cold War Crisis
occurred surrounding the
city of Berlin.
Berlin (along with the rest of
Germany) had been divided
amongst the 4 allied powers
of WWII. West Berlin was
controlled by the US, UK,
and France while East Berlin
was controlled by the USSR.
Berlin though was totally
surrounded by the Soviet
portion of Germany, and the
USSR (led by Stalin) resented
having an enclave of
capitalism in its zone. Stalin
looked to remove the US
support from the city and
take over W Berlin.
Defending W. Berlin became
the frontline and first test of
the US policy of
containment.

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West Berlin was in the heart of
Communist East Germany.

17. In 1948, Stalin decided he would
try to blockade the roads that
led to West Berlin, this would cut
off their supplies and hopefully
get the west to abandon its
stake in the city. He figured the
US would not risk a conflict and
confrontation trying to go
through the blockade.
The US and Britain developed a
different plan and responded by
airlifting all supplies needed for
W. Berlin. The US also put their
army on full alert, basically
daring the USSR to try and stop
the airlift.
Stalin chose not to shoot down
US planes and instead reopened
roads to the city in 1949 after a
year of supplies being airlifted
into the city.


For a full year, American and British
troops airlifted supplies to the
blockaded W. Berliners


18. Josef Stalin died in 1953 after
almost 30 years in power as ruler
of the USSR.
He would eventually be replaced
by a man named Nikita
Khrushchev
Khrushchev sought to “deStalinize” the Soviet Union.
He openly stated the atrocities
that Stalin had committed and had
numerous monuments to Stalin
destroyed.
However, Khrushchev was still a
communist and sought to lead his
country to victory in the Cold War.

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Khrushchev wanted to move the
USSR away from Stalin’s
brutality

19. West Berlin had become
a prosperous capitalist
city, while East Berlin
did not see such a quick
recovery under the
communist system.
Many of the welleducated in East Berlin
started use West Berlin
as their way to escape
communism and flee to
the Western World.
In addition as long as
people had access to
West Berlin, they would
be able to see the
success of the capitalist
system and would
desire to leave
communism.




20. In 1961, wanting to
prevent the “brain drain”
of skilled people leaving
communist East Germany,
the BERLIN WALL, a
concrete and barbed wire
wall around W. Berlin, was
put in place to keep
people from leaving the
communist system.
The US was prepared to
defend W. Berlin’s freedom
but did not destroy the
barrier out of fear of
starting a nuclear war. It
would divide the city until
1989. Its significance was
that it served as a physical
symbol of the division of



21. Cuba was the site of another major
cold war crisis.
In 1959 under a revolution led by
Fidel Castro, Cuba became a
communist country. The US had vital
economic interests in Cuba (casinos,
hotels) and lost them when Cuba
became communist.
The US tried and failed to remove
Castro from power in an invasion
known as the Bay of Pigs, and the
CIA tried and failed to assassinate
him. The US was worried as they
faced a potentially hostile neighbor
only 90 miles off of the coast of
Florida. This was a failure of the
policy of containment as
communism had now spread.

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

22. The USSR had fallen
behind in the nuclear
arms race with the US.
They did not possess
the long range missile
capability or the number
of missile sites that the
US did.
However, the USSR
supported Cuba and
desired to use this
country as a valuable
ally in the Cold War.
Since it was close to the
US it represented an
area from which the
USSR could potentially

Castro and Khrushchev became allies

Cuba is only 90 miles off of Florida’s coast

23. Khrushchev decided to
secretly build missile
sites in Cuba that he
could hit the US with.
US spy planes spotted
the missile sites in
October of 1962.
President John Kennedy
declared that the
presence of missiles in
Cuba was unacceptable.
He ordered a blockade of
Cuba, to prevent any new
missiles from being
delivered and demanded
that the missiles in Cuba
be removed.

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A U-2 spy plane identified the
missile sites

24. Khrushchev renounced
the blockade.
Meanwhile, Kennedy
prepared a large force to
invade Cuba.
He also announced that
any attack on the US or
country in Western
Hemisphere would be
met with a direct attack
on Cuba or the Soviet
Union.
The Two powers
appeared to be headed
for Nuclear War.



Nuclear War was a real
possibility during the crisis


25. The Crisis finally broke
after two weeks of tension,
when Soviet ships decided
to stop and not resist the
US blockade.
The 2 sides negotiated a
settlement where the USSR
would remove the missiles
from Cuba and the US
would promise to never
invade Cuba in the future
and remove some of its
missile sites in Turkey
(although this 2nd condition
was not made public).
Finally the crisis reached a
peaceful end.

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
Negotiations at the UN and direct
communication between President
Kennedy and Khrushchev
thankfully helped the Crisis end
peacefully

26. The Cuban Missile crisis was the height of
tensions between the US and USSR, and the
closest the war came to being a “hot” war.
Sadly, President Kennedy was shot and
killed the next year.
The USSR viewed the crisis as an
embarrassment and Khrushchev was
replaced as the head of the Soviet Union a
few months later.
Still, the Cold War would continue for
another 25 years.

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


27. How can a war be
‘cold’?
What were the
Hotspots of the Cold
War?

28. The USA and the USSR were
the two world Superpowers.
The USA was a capitalist
society with a democracy.
The USSR was a communist
country with a dictatorship.
Both wanted to be the most
powerful nation in the
world.

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29. The USA had shown its atomic power when it
exploded the A-bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki at the end of World War 2.
The USSR was also developing atomic
weapons/bombs.
The USA and the USSR were in competition with
each other to have the best, most powerful
weapons in the world – this was called the Arms
Race.

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

30. Many countries became communist after World
War 2 including:
Czechoslovakia (1948)
Poland (1947)
Hungary (1947)
China (1949)
Cuba (1959)
North Korea (1945)

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31. Germany, which had been
ruled by the Hitler and the
Nazis until their defeat in
1945 was split in two.
The western side became
West Germany and the
eastern side became East
Germany.
East Germany became
another communist country.

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

32. The USSR had a lot of influence over many of the
new communist countries (especially those in
Europe).
The USA was very worried that the USSR’s
influence over these countries was making the
USSR and communism more powerful.
The USA did not want communism to spread any
further – they were worried about the domino
effect (one country becomes communist, then
another, then another etc)




33. The tension and rivalry between the USA and the
USSR was described as the Cold War (1945-1990).
There was never a real war between the two sides
between 1945 and 1990, but they were often very
close to war (Hotspots). Both sides got involved in
other conflicts in the world to either stop the
spread of communism (USA) or help the spread
(USSR).



38. Cold war part_2_crises_of_the_cold_war 
by k0socha on Apr 24, 2013. URL: http://www.slideshare.net/k0socha/coldwar-part2crisesofthecoldwar?qid=cb579f13-35c4-4969-a62aad19386566a0&v=qf1&b=&from_search=2
Fatima Al Mansoori and Sara Al Jassmi 
Grade: 9c. URL:

An overview of the cold war 
by Patricia Guzman, Head Teacher at ISFD Nº 1097 on Sep 16, 2013 URL: 
http://www.slideshare.net/guzpat/an-overview-of-the-cold-war26238921?qid=de01238e-2f38-4989-b2e80d19431536dd&v=qf1&b=&from_search=8
