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
zones

West Germany free

East Germany
communist
controlled

Berlin Airlift
Communists forced
blockade of West
Berlin
U.S. , Britain flew in
food almost a year.

Cold War Alliances

NATO-North Atlantic
Treaty Organization

Free nations pledged

support to each other if
attacked by communism

SEATO-Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization

Stop the spread of

communism in
Southeast Asia,
following Korean War

Warsaw Pact
Included Soviet Union
and its seven satellite
nations

Cold War Heats Up

1940s-50s

Hungarian and
Czechoslovakian
anti-communist
revolts forcefully
repressed by USSR

Beginning of
Atomic Age

1949 Soviet
Detonation of
Nuclear 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 Soviets 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

Stalins successors
Nikita Kruschev 1956-1964 hard line
commie
Leonid Brezhnev 1964-1982
Practiced a policy of dtente ( lessening of
tensions) with the U.S.
Characterized by

Arms control talks

Cultural exchanges
Trade agreements

The Fall of the Soviet Union

Causes
1.

Leadership
of Mikhail
Gorbachev

2.

Glasnostopenness to
democracy

3.

Perestroikareshaping of
economy

4.

Economic
movements

5.

Freedom
Movements

Effects
1. Formation of
Commonwealth of
Independent States
Fall
of
Sovie
t

2. Loss of role as
superpower

Unio
n

4. Economic Hardship

3. End of Cold War

5. Minority Revolts
and ethnic conflicts

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 contd

Milosevic arrested tried for war

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