Cold War

The Cold War

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension and rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, along with their respective allies. It's characterized by ideological, political, and economic competition between the two superpowers, who represented contrasting systems: capitalism and democracy in the U.S., and communism in the USSR.

During the Cold War, a multitude of historical events occurred simultaneously across different regions of the world. As you complete the guided notes, remember ... a LOT is going on at the same time.

Start

Cold War

[1945-1991]

Ideological Struggle

1945

Yalta

Containment

1945

1946

Potsdam

End of WWII

Next

Cold War

[1945-1991]

Truman Doctrine

1945

Potsdam

1946

1945

Containment

Yalta

1946

1948-49

Marshall Plan

Berlin Blockade

Containment in Asia

1947

Containment in Asia

Truman Doctrine

1945

Potsdam

1943

1946

Marshall Plan

1945

Containment

Yalta

1947

1946

1948-49

Korean War

1950-1953

Berlin Blockade

Communism at Home

Actions by Truman

• Executive Order 9835 - Loyalty and Security Program
• Permitted officials to investigate any employee of the federal government for “subversive activities”
• Impact: Any ridiculous reason led to arrests
• Included LGBTQ community and members of the NAACP
• The House Committee on UnAmerican Activities (HUAC)
• Held hearings on alleged Communist infiltration in the movie industry
• Impact: Hollywood writers and directors blacklists
• Alger Hiss: Accused of being Communists
• Convicted, but evidence still debated

Next

Joseph McCarthy

• Senator who accused members of Federal government of being members of the Communist party

• Never offered proof
• Anyone who disagreed were accused of being “soft on Communism”
• Hollywood 10:
• Called to “name names” of Hollywood - refused to cooperate
• Hollywood blacklisted the Hollywood 10

Next

Rosenbergs

• Arrested in 1950 and accused of committing espionage by passing plans for atomic bomb to Soviet Union
• Only evidence was confession by David Greenglass (got 15 years for cooperation)
• Rosenbergs executed in 1953

Next

Containment Overseas

Truman Doctrine

1947

1945

1946

Potsdam

Marshall Plan

1947

1945

Containment

Palestine

Yalta

1946

1953-1979

1948-49

Korean War

Egypt

Iran

1950-1953

Berlin Blockade

1955

Iran

• 1953 (Eisenhower’s administration)
• Iran’s democratically elected leader (Mohammad Mossadegh) nationalized British and American oil properties (meaning….)
• Great Britain controlled Iran’s oil for decades so….
• Iran’s government would take control of oil in their own country

• Great Britain and U.S. lead a coup to depose Mohammad Mossadegh

• Put Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in power
• Terrible to Iranian people
• U.S. government lets Pahlavi come back and die peacefully in U.S.

• Iranian Revolution in 1979 (Carter’s administration)

JFK

Containment

Truman Doctrine

Marshall Plan

Korean War

Potsdam

Palestine

Yalta

1945

1946

1947

1950-1953

Iran

1953-1979

1961

1962

1955

Cuba

Berlin Wall

Bay of Pigs

Cuban Missle Crisis

Vietnam Timeline

Containment

Truman Doctrine

Marshall Plan

Korean War

Potsdam

Palestine

Yalta

1945

1946

1947

1950-1953

1955

Cuba

1961

1962

1964

Gulf of Tonkin

1968

Cuban Missle Crisis

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Berlin Wall

Bay of Pigs

1968

My Lai Massacre

The Homefront

Vietnam Background

• Vietnam was under French colony named French Indochina (along with Cambodia and Laos)
• They begin to fight for independence from France
• Vietnamese revolutionary leader: Ho Chi Minh (Communist)
• French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu
• Geneva Accords: Vietnam temporarily divided on 17th parallel
• North = Communist
• Leader: Ho Chi Minh
• South = Democratic
• Leader: Ngo Dinh Diem

Next

Vietnam Homefront

• Watching events from the war on t.v (never done before)
• Leads to…
• Anti-war movement
• Student lead movement
• Condemned U.S. presence in Vietnam
• Kent State Massacre:
• Protesting expansion of Cambodian Campaign
• National Guard fired 67 rounds in 13 seconds
• Killed 4 and wounded 9

Next

Vietnam Homefront

• Silent Majority
• Nixon references in a speech
• Segment of population who Nixon believed supported Vietnam War
• 26th Amendment
• Can now vote if you’re 18
• Counterculture
• White middle-class youth = hippies
• New left - against Vietnam War
• Believed in a society based on peace and love, rock n; roll
• Embraced sexuality and drugs

Next

Election of 1968

• Nixon wins
• “Peace with honor”
• Vietnamization
• Policy of withdrawing 540,000 troops from S. Vietnam over extended period of time
• Included gradual take over of S. Vietnamese
• Diplomacy of Henry Kissinger:
• Nixon’s National Security Advisor
• U.S. doesn't fully withdraw until 1973
• War Powers Acts
• Meant to check president’s power to get involved in armed conflict without consent of Congress

Next

Coming to an End

Containment

Truman Doctrine

Marshall Plan

Korean War

Potsdam

Palestine

Yalta

1945

1946

1947

1950-1953

1955

Cuba

1961

1962

1964

1970s

Detente

Gulf of Tonkin

Bay of Pigs

Cuban Missle Crisis

Berlin Wall

The Strategic Defense Initiative

• 1983 → President Reagan proposed Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
• Meant as additional check on Soviet nuclear capability
• Envisioned space-based missile defense technology capable of striking down nuclear weapons before they reached the U.S.
• Pressed dubbed plan “Star Wars”
• Many believed it was infeasible due to the enormous expense and technical innovation it would require to become operational.
• Soviets feared SDI would increase risk of the U.S. launching an attack

Next

Soviet Union

• Internal problems…
• Increasing military expenses to keep up with U.S.
• Rising nationalism in Soviet republics
• New Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s makes reforms to save the country:
• More freedom of speech, press, religion
• More free market & private businesses

Next

Brandenburg Gate Speech

• “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!”
• Challenges the morals of the Soviet Union
• Puts pressure on Soviets to allow freedom
• Results….
• Soviet Republics break away & declare independence
• Berlin Wall torn down & Germany reunited
• America wins the Cold War and is the only remaining superpower

Containment

• Calls for “Containment” of Soviet influence where it’s making an appearance around the world
• Started by Pres. Truman
• U.S. will give economic & military aid to stop spread of communism
• Aligns with domino theory
• George Kennan (1946) Writes a telegram from U.S. Embassy in Moscow (the Long Telegram) where he describes the policy of Containment

The War

• Lack of success against Vietnamese guerrilla forces in S. Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Network of jungle paths through Vietnam to transport supplies to Vietcong in S. Vietnam
• Tet Offensive
• Lunar New Year = agree to ceasefire
• VietCong broke agreement and surprise attack
• Able to take over U.S. Embassy
• Crisis in Johnson administration - U.S public thought we were winning war - now harder to convince

Eisenhower’s Administration

1953-1961

• Eisenhower wanted to make Cold War less expensive…
• Pushed for building up of U.S. nuclear arsenal
• Calls for massive retaliation by Soviets and leads to an arms race

Suez Canal

• 1952 → Gamal Abdel Nasser led a military coup that established a constitutional republic
• Nationalized the Suez Canal
• Britain and France attacked Egypt
• Eisenhower encouraged them to back down
• Egypt ended up getting Soviet support

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964) Two destroyers claim to have been attacked by North Vietnamese CAUSE: U.S. is essentially no longer going to hold back with Vietnam

Berlin Wall

1961: Soviets build a wall around East Berlin Splits Communists and Democrats

Korea War Continued...

• War lasts 2 more years
• Eisenhower become president (1953)
• Korea remains divided at 38th parallel
• Impact of War
• Set a precedent for future undeclared wars
• Refusal to utilize atomic weapons
• U.S. becomes more involved in Asian affairs
• Truman ultimately does build up the military
• Atomic weapon development resulted in an enormous supply of radioactive waste – deadly for 10,000 more years, that the government still doesn’t know how to dispose of safely

Palestine

• Post WWII, many Holocaust survivors settled in Palestine
• 1947: UN decides to partition Jews and Arabs
• Arabs fled to refugee camps
• Jews set up state of Israel
• Truman recognizes state of Israel
• Leads to resentment

JFK's Administration

• Increase the number of Green Berets who would train the S. Vietnamese army
• Vietcong (Communist) began to form in oppose Ngo Dinh Diem
• Meanwhile…
• Diem persecuting Buddhist
• Leads to self-immolations
• Diem is assassinated

Containment

The foreign policy of Containment is a continuity throughout the Cold War

Containment

The foreign policy of Containment is a continuity throughout the Cold War

Detente

• Cooling off period in 1970s
• Under Presidents Nixon & Carter
• SALT I and SALT II
• Strategic Arms and Limitation Treaties
• Limit the number of nuclear missiles

• 1962 - Soviets have nuclear missiles in Cuba
• JFK orders them removed
• Eventually Soviets remove and U.S. removes missiles from Turkey

Cuban Missle Crisis

Containment

• Calls for “Containment” of Soviet influence where it’s making an appearance around the world
• Started by Pres. Truman
• U.S. will give economic & military aid to stop spread of communism
• Aligns with domino theory
• George Kennan (1946) Writes a telegram from U.S. Embassy in Moscow (the Long Telegram) where he describes the policy of Containment

Brinksmanship

• Pres. Eisenhower & Kennedy
• Show that the US is willing to go to war
• Like a game of chicken

• One of the first actions JFK will take in his Presidency…
• April, 1961 - wants to overthrow Castro
• 1,400 CIA trainees landed in Cuba, Bay of Pigs
• Quickly destroyed by Castro’s troops & unable to gain any Cuban support
• Exiles were captured and 1,189 were tried and sentenced to 30 years in prison for treason
• After 20 months of negotiation with the U.S., Cuba released the exiles in exchange for $53 million in food & medicine
• The failed Bay of Pigs Invasion severely embarrassed the Kennedy administration and made Castro wary of future U.S. actions

Bay of Pigs

Korean War (1950-1953)

• End of WWII, U.S. and Soviet Union decided to divide Korea in half
• North Korea: Communist control
• South Korea: Nationalists
• June 25, 1950: North Korea launches surprise attack across 38th parallel

• Truman response:
• Ask UN for peacekeeping force in Korea
• (Mostly U.S. forces)
• General MacArthur forced North Koreans to Chinese border
• China pushes U.S. back to 38th parallel
• Truman fired MacArthur

The Truman Doctrine

1946

• Great Britain losing world power (economically hurt from WWII)
• G.B. tells Truman they can’t afford to support Anti-Communists in Greece
• Truman issues doctrine stating…
• U.S. will “support free peoples”
• Will aid any country fighting communism
• Result: Truman sent $300 million to aid Greece and Turkey

The Truman Doctrine

1946

• Great Britain losing world power (economically hurt from WWII)
• G.B. tells Truman they can’t afford to support Anti-Communists in Greece
• Truman issues doctrine stating…
• U.S. will “support free peoples”
• Will aid any country fighting communism
• Result: Truman sent $300 million to aid Greece and Turkey

Palestine

• Post WWII, many Holocaust survivors settled in Palestine
• 1947: UN decides to partition Jews and Arabs
• Arabs fled to refugee camps
• Jews set up state of Israel
• Truman recognizes state of Israel
• Leads to resentment

• One of the first actions JFK will take in his Presidency…
• April, 1961 - wants to overthrow Castro
• 1,400 CIA trainees landed in Cuba, Bay of Pigs
• Quickly destroyed by Castro’s troops & unable to gain any Cuban support
• Exiles were captured and 1,189 were tried and sentenced to 30 years in prison for treason
• After 20 months of negotiation with the U.S., Cuba released the exiles in exchange for $53 million in food & medicine
• The failed Bay of Pigs Invasion severely embarrassed the Kennedy administration and made Castro wary of future U.S. actions

Bay of Pigs

Berlin Wall

1961: Soviets build a wall around East Berlin Splits Communists and Democrats

Korean War (1950-1953)

• End of WWII, U.S. and Soviet Union decided to divide Korea in half
• North Korea: Communist control
• South Korea: Nationalists
• June 25, 1950: North Korea launches surprise attack across 38th parallel

• Truman response:
• Ask UN for peacekeeping force in Korea
• (Mostly U.S. forces)
• General MacArthur forced North Koreans to Chinese border
• China pushes U.S. back to 38th parallel
• Truman fired MacArthur

The Truman Doctrine

1946

• Great Britain losing world power (economically hurt from WWII)
• G.B. tells Truman they can’t afford to support Anti-Communists in Greece
• Truman issues doctrine stating…
• U.S. will “support free peoples”
• Will aid any country fighting communism
• Result: Truman sent $300 million to aid Greece and Turkey

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Congress gives LBJ unlimited support in sending American personnel and materials

Palestine

• Post WWII, many Holocaust survivors settled in Palestine
• 1947: UN decides to partition Jews and Arabs
• Arabs fled to refugee camps
• Jews set up state of Israel
• Truman recognizes state of Israel
• Leads to resentment

Cuban Missle Crisis

• 1962 - Soviets have nuclear missiles in Cuba
• JFK orders them removed
• Eventually Soviets remove and U.S. removes missiles from Turkey

Uh Oh!

• Oh no! A country has been overthrown and it's relatively close to the Soviet Union ....
• Are we practicing Containment if we just stand by and watch?!

The Truman Doctrine

1946

• Great Britain losing world power (economically hurt from WWII)
• G.B. tells Truman they can’t afford to support Anti-Communists in Greece
• Truman issues doctrine stating…
• U.S. will “support free peoples”
• Will aid any country fighting communism
• Result: Truman sent $300 million to aid Greece and Turkey

My Lai Massacre (1968)

• Mass murder conducted by U.S. Army against hundreds of unarmed South Vietnamese citizens
• Most victims women, children and elderly
• Government hid for over a year
• Begins to lead to credibility gap
• Gap between people and government that grew as people became disillusioned with the war

Berlin Blockade & Airlift

• June 1948 - May 1949
• Soviets created blockage to starve out allies in Berlin
• Leads to Berlin Airlift
• U.S. and Britain flew in 2.5 million tons of food into Berlin
• Stalin lifts blockade
• Template for Cold War conflicts – push to the point of war but drawing back just before (“Brinkmanship”)
• Leads to the creation of NATO

Korean War (1950-1953)

• End of WWII, U.S. and Soviet Union decided to divide Korea in half
• North Korea: Communist control
• South Korea: Nationalists
• June 25, 1950: North Korea launches surprise attack across 38th parallel

• Truman response:
• Ask UN for peacekeeping force in Korea
• (Mostly U.S. forces)
• General MacArthur forced North Koreans to Chinese border
• China pushes U.S. back to 38th parallel
• Truman fired MacArthur

Korean War (1950-1953)

• End of WWII, U.S. and Soviet Union decided to divide Korea in half
• North Korea: Communist control
• South Korea: Nationalists
• June 25, 1950: North Korea launches surprise attack across 38th parallel

• Truman response:
• Ask UN for peacekeeping force in Korea
• (Mostly U.S. forces)
• General MacArthur forced North Koreans to Chinese border
• China pushes U.S. back to 38th parallel
• Truman fired MacArthur

The Truman Doctrine

1946

• Great Britain losing world power (economically hurt from WWII)
• G.B. tells Truman they can’t afford to support Anti-Communists in Greece
• Truman issues doctrine stating…
• U.S. will “support free peoples”
• Will aid any country fighting communism
• Result: Truman sent $300 million to aid Greece and Turkey

Cuba

• 1959: Fidel Castro overthrew dictator and declared a revolution
• Soviet Union said would support “Wars of national liberation”
• Castro took over U.S. oil refineries
• Relation with Cuba declines
• U.S. response: Stop buying Cuban sugar
• Castro response: Take over all U.S. businesses in Cuba
• U.S. response: Bans all trade with Cuba

NATO vs. Warsaw Pact

• Military alliance
• Protection from “unprovoked” attack
• Russian communism posed a threat to democracy
• America to be its leader
• Headquarters in Paris

• Military alliance formed by Soviet Union and Eastern European nations
• Response to NATO

Berlin Blockade & Airlift

• June 1948 - May 1949
• Soviets created blockage to starve out allies in Berlin
• Leads to Berlin Airlift
• U.S. and Britain flew in 2.5 million tons of food into Berlin
• Stalin lifts blockade
• Template for Cold War conflicts – push to the point of war but drawing back just before (“Brinkmanship”)
• Leads to the creation of NATO

End of WWII

• Soviet Union & U.S. have conflicting ideologies ....
• U.S. supported democratic governments with free elections
• Wanted to rebuild and stabilize Europe with democratic governments & open markets
• Soviet Union favored one-party rule under communist leadership
• Wanted to spread Communism & create a buffer zone of friendly regimes in Eastern Europe.

Containment

The foreign policy of Containment is a continuity throughout the Cold War

East Asia

• Japan
• General MacArthur drafted a democratic constitution
• Japan accepted peaceful transition
• Accepted military protection from U.S.
• China
• Civil War broke out
• Communists (led by Mao ZeDong) won → aligned themselves with Soviet Union
• U.S. refused to recognize “Red China”