Cold War (1947 – 1991)

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as
allies against the Axis powers. However, the relationship between the two nations
was a tense one. Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and
concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical rule of his own country.
For their part, the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the
USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed
entry into World War II.
The cold war was more a propaganda war because you had to show that your
system of government was superior and that you had the best ways to achieve what
you wanted and the best supplies to do so.

Allies against Hitler during WWII.

Hitler was the common danger that united Roosevelt (USA), Winston Churchill
(Britain) and Stalin (Russia). But both Britain and the USA didn’t like communism.
Relations between Britain and Russia were harmed in the 30s by the policy of
Appeasement. Stalin had the idea that Britain was ok with Germany growing power,
meaning that Hitler could attack him. So Stalin decided to sign a pact with Hitler
and they promised not to attack each other and divided Poland between them. But
in 1941 Germany invaded Russia and the soviets defended their territory. In this
situation, Churchill and Roosevelt started to send supplies to the soviets.

The USA.

Capitalist. Property was private.

It was a democracy: the government was chosen through elections.
World’s wealthiest country but there were extremes: great wealth and great poverty.
Being free of the control of the state was more important than being equal.
People in the USA felt threatened by the communist theory because it talked about
spreading revolution.

The USSR.

Communist. Everything was owned and run by the state.

It was a dictatorship because even though elections were held, all candidates
belonged to the communist party.
The general living standard was lower than in the USA, but despite that
unemployment and poverty were rare.
The rights of individuals weren’t as important as the good of society as a whole.

Superpowers.

The USA and Russia had emerged from the WWII as “superpowers”.
In 1945, Americans stated that every communist action would have an American
reaction since they opposed that kind of system.

The Yalta conference, 1945.

Allied leaders met at Yalta in Ukraine to pan what would happen to Europe after
Germany’s defeat.

Agreements.

Japan: Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan once Germany had
surrendered.

Germany: it would be divided into 4 zones: American, French, British and Soviet.

Elections: they agreed that as countries were liberated from the Nazis, they would
be allowed to hold free elections to choose the government they wanted.

United Nations: Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to join the United Nations
Organization, which would aim to keep peace after war.

War criminals: they agreed to haunt down and punish war criminals who were
responsible for the holocaust. (Nuremberg Trials)

Disagreements.

Poland: Stalin wanted the border of Russia to move into Poland and argued that
Poland could move its border into Germany. Churchill didn’t approve.

The Potsdam Conference – 1945.

In 1945 the Allies reached Berlin, Hitler committed suicide and Germany
surrendered. The Allies had a conference in Potsdam (in Berlin)
Since Yalta, there had been a number of changes:

1. Stalin’s armies were occupying most of eastern Europe: soviet troops had
liberated countries in eastern Europe, but instead of withdrawing his troops, Stalin
stayed there. In Poland he set up a communist government. He said that his control
in eastern Europe was a measure against possible future attacks.

2. the USA had a new president: Roosevelt had dies and was replaced by Harry
Truman who was an anti-communist. He saw the soviet actions as preparations for
the soviets to take over Europe.

3. The Allies had tested an atomic bomb: in 1945 the Americans had tested an
atomic bomb at a desert site in the USA.
Elections were held in Britain and Churchill was replaces by Attlee.
The iron curtain

It was the name that Churchill had for the countries that had a communist
government and were under the rule of Stalin. The countries were: Poland,
Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.

It seemed to Americans that not only Greece and Czechoslovakia but Italy and
France were vulnerable to Communist take – over.

Greece, 1947.

When the Germans retreated from Greece, there were two rival groups: the
monarchists and the communists who wanted to rule the country.
The communists wanted Greece to be a part of the Soviet Union.
The monarchists wanted the return of the king.
Churchill supported the monarchy and he sent British troops to help and supervise
elections. The king returned to power.
The Soviet Union protested to the United Nations that British troops were threat to
peace and, as the United Nations took no actions, the communists tried to take
control of Greece by force and a civil war was quickly developed. The British
withdrew because they couldn’t afford the cost of another war but Truman helped
the British and by 1950 the monarchy was in control of Greece (very weak
government, always in crisis).

The Truman doctrine

Under the Truman doctrine, the USA was prepared to send money and equipment
to any country which was threatened by a communist take – over. The aim was to
stop communist from spreading any further. This policy became known as
containment.

The Marshall plan

Through the Marshall Plan, Truman would send economic help to Europe to avoid
countries from turning into communists because he believed that communism
succeeded when people faced poverty and post war Europe was devastated: there
were shortages of all goods and they were economically ruined. Americans were
doing this for self-interest: they wanted to create new markets for American goods
to prevent another crisis like the one in the ‘30s.
Stalin forbade any country of the eastern union to apply for it. He felt that the USA
was trying to dominate as many states as possible by making them depend on
dollars.
The berlin blockade

USA and the Soviet Union increased their stock of weapons. A propaganda war was
developed.

After the war, Germany was divided into 4 zones. All of them were economically
weak.
It was clear to the Allies that Germany wouldn’t be able to recover and feed its
people if they couldn’t rebuild their industries. That’s why Britain, France and the
USA united their zones and formed a new one called “trizonia” and then in 1949
became known as western Germany. The zone started to recover.

Berlin was in the Soviet zone and was linked to the western zones by railways,
roads and canals. In 1948, Stalin blocked the supply lines because he thought that
would force the Allies out of Berlin and make the city depend entirely on the Soviet
Union.
The only way into Berlin was by air. So in 1948, the Allies decided to air lift
supplies during several months. However, there were shortages in Berlin and many
people decided to leave the city.
In 1949, Stalin reopened communications because it was clear that the blockade of
Berlin wouldn’t make the Allies go away.

As a result of the Berlin blockade, Germany was divided into 2 zones:

- Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) under the rule of Britain, France
and the USA.
- German Democratic Republic (East Germany) under the rule of the Soviet Union.

Berlin became a powerful symbol because Americans saw this city as freedom in
the middle of repression and the Soviets saw this as a growing evil.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

In 1949, the western powers met in Washington and signed an agreement to work
together. A new organization was formed: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization).
In 1955, NATO allowed West Germany to join in. as a response, the Soviet Union
and the stated in Eastern Europe formed the Warsaw Pact alliance: the members of
this alliance promised to defend each other. They also promised not to interfere in
the internal affairs and declared the independence of each member of the alliance.

The Korean war

Korea had been ruled by Japan until 1945. When the Second War ended, the North
was liberated by Soviet troops and the South by Americans. After that, the North
remained Communist and the South anti – communist and reunification didn’t
seem likely. By 1950 the North and the South fought a war and almost all the
territory ended up under Communist control.
The United Nations used its members’ armies to try and drive the North troops out
of the South. The Korean troops were driven back.
The commander of the UN army was American. He drove the North troops out of the
South but he didn’t stop there. Even though China’s leader, Mao Tse Tung, had
warned MacArthur not to press on China, the army advanced and reached the
border with China. Truman saw this as an opportunity to remove communism from
Korea.
As a consequence, China joined the North Korean troops. They had modern tanks
and planes because they had supplies from the Soviets. They managed to push the
UN troops back into the South. Besides, the conditions were not favourable for
American troops because of the cold and snowstorms that they were not used to.
MacArthur wanted to invade China and even use nuclear weapons if necessary, but
Truman felt that it was enough with saving South Korea. In 1951, MacArthur
threatened an attack on China and Truman sent him back to the USA, accepting
that he couldn’t drive the Communists out of North Korea.
1952: Truman dies and is replaced by Eisenhower, who wanted to end the war.
1953: Stalin dies and this made the Koreans and Chinese less confident. The
armistice is signed. South Korea remained out of Communist hands.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

Americans owned most of the business on the island and they also had a naval
base there. They provided Batista, the dictator of Cuba, with economic and military
support because he was also an anti-communist.
In 1959 Fidel Castro got to power and relations between Cuba and the USA went
down. First, because of the exiles from Cuba and secondly because Fidel took
control over American’s business in Cuba and also their land and distributed it
among Cuban population.
In 1960, Cuba allied with the Soviet Union and the leader, Khrushchev, sent Fidel
money and arms.
In 1961, USA President Kennedy broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba and Fidel
thought it was because Kennedy wanted to invade and he actually wanted to do
that but not directly: Kennedy supplied anti – Castro exiles with arms and
equipment so that they could invade Cuba and defeat Castro. In 1961 they arrived
at Bay of Pigs but there they met Cuban troops armed with tanks and weapons so
the North American invasion failed.
By 1962, Cuba had the best equipped army in Latin America. USA was worried and
wanted to know whether the Soviet Union would dare to put a military base with
missiles.
In 1962, an American spy plane flew over Cuba and saw nuclear missile sites that
were being built by the USSR. Kennedy knew about this and he decided to do a
blockade and called the USSR to withdraw the missiles. Khrushchev said that the
missiles in Cuba were for defence in case of North American attack. Khrushchev
also said that he would remove the missiles from Cuba if USA withdraw its missiles
from Turkey. Kennedy said that if the Soviet Union didn’t withdraw, there would be
an attack.
Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba? It was the first time that
any Soviet leader had placed nuclear weapons outside Soviet territory. Some of the
reasons:
- To test the USA and see how strong the North Americans really were.
- To defend Cuba as it was the only communist country in America.
- To strengthen its own position.

Consequences

For Kennedy and the USA:

- Kennedy showed he could face the Soviet Union leader.

- He had to remove missiles from Turkey because the USSR made him to do so.
- He had to accept that Cuba would remain communist.
- Economic restrictions against Cuba.

For Khrushchev and the USSR:

- He was able to show himself as a peacemaker as he was willing to take the first
step into compromise.
- He kept Cuba safe from the USA and Cuba became an ally and became a base to
support Communism in America.
- Khrushchev made Kennedy withdraw the missiles from Turkey.
- Britain didn’t see reasonable that the USA had missiles in Turkey and then
object to Soviet missiles in Cuba.
- He removed the missiles.

For the Cold War:

- The conflict almost ended in nuclear war.

- In 1963 a pact was signed: The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (it didn’t stop the
development of weapons but it limited the tests).
- It made USA respect the USSR as they now knew the Soviet nuclear arsenal.

For Castro and Cuba:

- Cuba stayed communist and armed.

- The nuclear missiles were removed.
- Cuba remained as a base for communist supporters in America.