The Cold War

1945-1990
The Cold War Defined
• A continuing state of
tensions between the
United States and the
Soviet Union
Development of the Cold War
• U.S. saw Soviet Union
as threat to their way
of life
• USSR thought they
had won WWII
– Lost most lives
– Wanted to gain land
as prize
– Saw U.S. as threat
Development of the Cold War
• Iron Curtain-figure of speech by Churchill describing line
separating free and communist Europe
• “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 many cases, increasing measure of
control from Moscow. “
Cold War Doctrines

• Truman Doctrine-promised aid to

countries resisting communism
– Communist pressured Greece and Turkey
– Containment- philosophy of limiting spread of
communism
• Marshall Plan- aid to strengthen
democratic governments
Division of Germany
• Divided into four • Berlin Airlift
zones – Communists forced
– West Germany free blockade of West
– East Germany Berlin
communist controlled – U.S. , Britain flew in
food almost a year.
Cold War Alliances
• NATO-North Atlantic • Warsaw Pact
Treaty Organization – Included Soviet Union and
– Free nations pledged it’s seven satellite nations
support to each other if
attacked by communism
• SEATO-Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization
– Stop the spread of
communism in Southeast
Asia, following Korean War
Cold War Heats Up
• 1940’s-50’s Hungarian • Beginning of Atomic
and Czechoslovakian Age
anti-communist – 1949 Soviet
revolts forcefully Detonation of Nuclear
repressed by USSR Bomb
– U.S. begins work on
hydrogen bomb
– Next 50 years arms
race between two
Cold War Heats Up
• Space Race
– Competition for space
– 1957 Soviet’s launch
Sputnik
– U.S. starts NASA
– Use of Spy satellite
equipment
– 1958- U.S. sent Explorer
– 1969- Man lands on Moon
Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1990

• Triggered by flood of refugees flowing

east to west through Hungary
• Wall came down Nov. 1990; Germany
began reunification process
Collapse of the Soviet Union
• Stalin’s successors
– Nikita Kruschev 1956-1964 – hard line
commie
– Leonid Brezhnev 1964-1982
• Practiced a policy of détente ( lessening of
tensions) with the U.S.
• Characterized by
– Arms control talks
– Cultural exchanges
– Trade agreements
The Fall of the Soviet Union
Causes Effects
1. Leadership
1. Formation of
of Mikhail
Gorbachev Commonwealth of
Independent States
2. Glasnost- Fall of
openness to Soviet 2. Loss of role as
democracy superpower
Union
3. Perestroika- 3. End of Cold War
reshaping of
economy 4. Economic Hardship
4. Economic 5. Minority Revolts
movements and ethnic conflicts
5. Freedom
Movements
Break-up of Soviet Union, 1991

• 1989- Poland breaks away from Soviet Union

– Solidarity- movement that called for economic and
political change led by Lech Walesa
• Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania left USSR 1991
• USSR dissolved Dec. 1991
• Commonwealth of Independent States, led by
Russia under Boris Yeltsin
• Economic, religious, and crime problems
Collapse of Yugoslavia and Civil
War
• Yugoslavia created after WWI
• 6 Major National Groups
– Croats- Roman Catholic
– Slovenes- Roman Catholic
– Serbs- Eastern Orthodox
– Montenegrins- Eastern Orthodox
– Macedonians – Eastern Orthodox
– Bosnians - Muslims
Civil War
• At independence Serbs in Bosnia used
force to remove all non-Serbs
• Ethnic Cleansing-removal or killing of
ethnic group
• Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic led
campaign to remove non-Serbs
• NATO used Military Campaign against
Milosevic
Civil War cont’d

• Milosevic arrested tried for war crimes

• Tensions still exist between ethnic groups
– 2004-Ukrainian (pro-western) Presidential
Candidate Victor Yushchenko poisoned