Chapter 23: The Cold War Era

I. Postwar Confrontation
Background of the Cold War

Industrialized nations
Democratic, capitalist
Communist countries
Controlled economies
Third world
Mix of military dictatorships and fledgling
democracies
Background of the Cold War

Heritage of Mistrust
Communist Motives
 Motives for Soviet Expansion

1. Suspicious of the West

2. Communist ideology: Violence
used to spread Communism
3. Desire for power
 Motives for Soviet Expansion

Soviets desired control of countries in

Eastern Europe
Sphere of influence
Resources
Communists placed in power
Soviet Expansionist Policies

Virtual colonial control

Revolts were swiftly and brutally
crushed
Hungary
Czechoslovakia
American Containment Policies

American Ideals
Prestige and goodwill
Containment
Truman Doctrine made it the major
objective of American foreign policy
during the Cold War
American Containment Policies

The Marshall Plan

Economic assistance to help rebuild
Europe
Eagerly accepted in Western Europe
Rejected by Soviet Union and its puppet
governments
U.S./Soviet Confrontation

Germany
Four zones
Berlin divided into four zones
West Berlin cut off from West Germany by
Soviets
Airlift
U.S./Soviet Confrontation

NATO
Regional military alliance
Soviets responded with the
Warsaw Pact
U.S./Soviet Confrontation

Arms Race
Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb
in 1949
Truman ordered production of hydrogen
bomb
Both sides wanted a military edge
Chapter 23: The Cold War Era

II. Spread of Communism

The Fall of China

Civil war resumed after the end

of WWII
Nationalist forces driven to the
island of Formosa (Taiwan)
U.S. recognition
The Korean War

Invasion and Reaction

Korea had been divided into zones
North Korea invaded South Korea
Appeal to the United Nations
The Korean War

Success and Stalemate

North Korea initially overran most of
the peninsula
General Douglas MacArthur
Amphibious assault at Inchon
Pursuit almost to the Chinese border
The Korean War

Success and Stalemate

Debate over a wider war
Truman and Bradley wanted a limited war
MacArthur wanted a wider war
MacArthur went public with his opinions
and was relieved of command
The Korean War

Success and Stalemate

Armistice signed
Demilitarized zone
The Vietnam War

The French Phase

Ho Chi Minh
French wanted to reclaim their colony
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
Vietnam divided into two parts
The Vietnam War

The French Phase

Viet Cong began subversive activity in South
Vietnam
SEATO
Domino Theory
The Vietnam War

The American Phase

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Number of American troops rose to 542,000
Tet offensive
Propaganda victory for Communists
The Vietnam War

The American Phase

President Johnson initiated peace talks
Vietnamization
Peace with honor
South Vietnam fell to the Communists
Chapter 23: The Cold War Era

III. Showdown Between

the Superpowers
Coexistence and Tension

Nikita Khrushchev
Peaceful coexistence
Sputnik
American response
Coexistence and Tension

U-2 Incident
Berlin Wall
Cuban Missile Crisis
Thaws in the Cold War

President Nixon
Visited China
Dtente
SALT Treaty
President Reagan
SDI
Collapse of the Soviet Empire

Reasons for Decline

Unrest of Eastern Europeans
Unsettled leadership in Soviet Union
Economic woes
Economic drain of defense spending
Collapse of the Soviet Empire

Perestroika and Glasnost

Mikhail Gorbachev
Perestroika = restructuring
Glasnost = openness
Set in motion forces that led to the undoing of
the Soviet state and rejection of communism
Collapse of the Soviet Empire

Unrest in Eastern Europe

Poland
Solidarity
Lech Walesa
Hungary and Czechoslovakia
Berlin wall fell in 1989
Chapter 23: The Cold War Era

V. Other Post-World War

II Developments
China

Mao Zedong
Communist dictatorship
Atheistic state
Great Leap Forward
Cultural Revolution
China

Maos successors seemed more

realistic
Tiananmen Square
Persecution of Christians
Japan

MacArthur became the real leader of postwar

Japan
Political stability
Economic success
Problems