CHALLENGES TO LIBERALISM

RELATED TO FOREIGN POLICY

Chapter 7
The Cold War (USA vs. USSR)
 CHAPTER 7 OUTCOMES
▶ Key Outcome: To what extent does ideological
conflict shape our world?

▶ To what extent did ideological conflict affect

international relations after the Second World War?

▶ In what ways did this conflict of ideologies affect

societies and people’s everyday lives?
THE IRON CURTAIN

▶ Read. Pgs. 232-233.

▶ Describe who came up with the term “iron
curtain”?
▶ What was the “iron curtain” a metaphor for?
▶ Describe the 2 differing perspectives on what
the “iron curtain” represented.
 Pgs. 235-260

International Relations after WWII

OUTCOME: TO WHAT EXTENT DID IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICT AFFECT
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AFTER WWII?
 THE COLD WAR (1945-1991)
▶ Shaped the 2nd half of the 20th century.
▶ Had HUGE ramifications on international relations &
citizenship of people around the world.
▶ Was an ideological conflict based on differing worldviews
(wasn’t just based on weapons, territory or economics)
▶ Split the world into two camps:
▶ Nation-states allied with the Soviets & Communists
▶ Nation-states allied with the Americans & Liberalism.
 How The Cold War Was Fought
ARMS RACE:
▶ Each side, through fear of the other built up and developed weapons
in an effort to gain superiority.

DEFENCE SYSTEMS
▶ In an attempt to reduce the possibility of a surprise attack defense
systems were created. (i.e. NORAD)
▶ North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
▶ is a joint organization of the United States and Canada that provides
aerospace warning and control for North America. Founded in May
of1953 as the North American Air Defense Command.

SPACE RACE
▶ Military control in space.

ESPIONAGE
▶ An information war is fought on both sides to gain secret information
through spies.
USA & USSR

▶ SUPERPOWERS: Both countries became stronger

after WWII, and as a result influenced the world
through their economic & military might.
▶ Look at map on pg. 238 & read the bullets that
highlight some of the key issues that created
tension between these 2 powers.
 COLD WAR STRATEGIES
▶ Precursor- YALTA CONFERENCE
▶ 1) Expansionism/Containment (“Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan”)
▶ 2) Berlin (physical borders “Berlin Wall” “Iron Curtain”)
▶ 3) Alignment (Spheres of Influence)
▶ 4) Non-Alignment (Bandung Conference)
▶ 5) Deterrence (WMD) http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=Aa6dB7aCn
▶ 6) Brinkmanship (Cuba)
hM&list=PLH_VXkc0n
▶ 7) Détente & Treaties 3YqS5mYJdkblx9tuV0
CbQ6zO
▶ 8) Proxy Wars & Liberation Movements
(Korea/Vietnam/Chile/Afghanistan/Iran-Contra)
Pre-Cursor:YALTA CONFERENCE
 YALTA CONFERENCE
FEBRUARY, 1945
▶ Re-ordering of the map of Europe
▶ To put an end to German militarism and
Nazism
▶ To punish war criminals and to exact
reparations
▶ To divide Germany into occupation
zones
▶ Confirmed Soviet possession of
Eastern Poland compensating Poland
with German territory
▶ To assist countries under Allied occupation
in forming democratically elected interim
governments.
▶ Announced a “conference of United
Nations” to be held in San Francisco in April
1945
 THE DIVISION OF GERMANY Pgs 236-237

▶ As Determined at the
Yalta Conference,
Germany and Berlin were
divided into 4 zones
(despite Berlin being
located in the USSR
zone).
▶ Each zone was controlled
by one of the Allies:
▶ USA
▶ Great Britain
▶ France
▶ USSR
 THE DIVISION OF GERMANY

▶ Western powers (USA, GB,

France) joined their zones
together to form the
Federal German Republic.
(West Germany/BIZONIA)
▶ Russians responded by
turning their zone into the
German Democratic
Republic. (East Germany)
▶ West Germany prospered
under the Marshall Plan.
1) EXPANSIONISM/CONTAINMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
1BLeKnrRDuo&list=PLH_VXkc0
n3YqS5mYJdkblx9tuV0CbQ6zO
 EXPANSIONISM & CONTAINMENT
▶ Expansionism: superpowers attempting to enlarge their territorial and
ideological influences beyond their own borders & allies. Read pgs.
241-242

▶ Spheres of Influence: Post-WWII both the USA & USSR established

their spheres of influence in Europe based on what countries they had
liberated from Nazi Germany. (look at the division of Europe into
Sphere’s of influence on pg. 238)

▶ Containment: When the USA & USSR attempted to stop one another’s
“expansionism” into their sphere of influence. Read pgs. 242-243
 TRUMAN DOCTRINE
(CONTAINMENT)

▶ New American foreign policy (1947)

▶ The policy of keeping the expansion of a hostile power or
ideology in check.
▶ Used by U.S. to prevent the Soviet Union from expanding
beyond its borders beginning in the late 1940’s
▶ Keep the USSR contained and to stop the spread of
communism.
▶ Marshall Plan
▶ NATO
▶ Etc.
 FINANCIAL AID
▶ Support of other countries
was bought in the form of
money or military
equipment.
▶ Marshall Plan (1948)
▶ Economic aid given to Western
European nations by the USA.

▶ COMECON (1949)
▶ Economic aid given to Eastern
European nations by the USSR.
U.S ANNOUNCES “CONTAINMENT”
WHAT DOES THIS CARTOON SAY...
SPHERES OF
INFLUENCE
2) BERLIN
 BERLIN BLOCKADE (1948)
▶ Stalin was convinced this was a capitalist plot to eventually reunite
Germany. In 1948 the USSR blocked all land routes into the western
sector of Berlin.
▶ The Soviet’s aim was to prevent the west from sending supplies to
West Berlin causing West Berlin to fall under Soviet control.
 BERLIN AIRLIFT
▶ Allies did not want to use force
▶ USA, Great Britain, & France fly into West Berlin and
drop supplies from airplanes.
▶ 13, 000 tonnes / day
▶ One plane every 3 minutes
▶ Airlift lasts one year
▶ Stalin couldn’t shoot planes down and reopens Berlin to
the Allies.
▶ USSR needed atomic bomb to stand up to US.
 CONSEQUENCES OF BLOCKADE
▶ To the Allies the blockade was proof of USSR intention
to take over Western Europe.
▶ Allies create NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
▶ Stalin sees NATO as threat and creates Warsaw Pact
(1955)
THE BERLIN WALL
▶ Many people living in East Germany were not as well off as West
Germans and escaped into West Germany.
▶ By July, 1961 approximately 10 000 East Germans were leaving per
week.
▶ 3 000 000 people had fled since 1945.
▶ On August 12th, 1961, East German troops locked down the
boarder between East Germany and West Berlin, essentially
surrounding the city.
▶ A second fence was later built inside East Germany, creating a
no-mans land between the two barriers known as “The Death
Strip”
BREAKING FREE FROM THE IRON CURTAIN:
THE HUNGARIAN REVOLT (1956)
▶ The Hungarian Revolution of 1956
was a spontaneous nationwide revolt
against the Communist government
of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed
policies, lasting from October 23 until
November 10, 1956. It began as a
student demonstration which
attracted thousands as it marched
through central Budapest to the
Parliament building. While they
achieved some prisoner releases, they
did not achieve a Soviet withdrawal.
Thousands of Hungarians were
arrested, imprisoned and deported to
the Soviet Union
▶ Read about other revolts on pgs.
247-248
3) ALIGNMENT
ALIGNMENT

▶ Means to form an alliance/agreement with another

country for either political, economic, or security
benefits.
▶ Look at the maps on pg. 249.
▶ What evidence do you see of expansionism and
containment by both superpowers?
4) NON-ALIGNMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
I2zXfKt78no&list=PLH_VXkc0n3
YqS5mYJdkblx9tuV0CbQ6zO
 NON-ALIGNMENT
▶ Non-alignment: position taken during the Cold War by those countries
that did not form an alliance with either the USA nor the USSR. They
pushed for more aid for the developing world.
▶ Many countries wanted to choose their own ideologies and resented a
history of colonization
▶ At the Bandung Conference, held in Java, Indonesia, in 1955, 29 African
and Asian countries met to promote economic and cultural cooperation
▶ This was the beginning of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): When
“Third World” countries such as Belgrade,Yugoslavia, Ghana, Egypt,
India, and Indonesia decided that they would not align themselves with
either superpower.
▶ However, these countries were unsuccessful in trying to use their
membership in the United Nations challenge the hegemony of the USA
and USSR
5) DETERRANCE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
_yF536dG7R4&list=PLH_VXkc0n
3YqS5mYJdkblx9tuV0CbQ6zO
▶ As a method of war—a Cold War,
DETE
rather than a “hot war” of troops and RREN
battles—deterrence is a method of CE
building up one’s capacity to fight such
that neither opponent will fight because
of the expected outcomes

▶ The term for this situation of an

unwinnable, nuclear war is Mutually
Assured Destruction (MAD) and
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)
USA DEVELOPS H-BOMB Dwight D. Eisenhower
January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
• In 1952 America developed an
even stronger nuclear weapon
called the H-Bomb. Soviet
technology however followed
suit and had one by 1953.
 DE-STALINIZATION
▶ After Stalin died in March 1953, he Nikita Khrushchev
was succeeded by Nikita September 7, 1953 - October 14, 1964

Khrushchev. Khrushchev believed

that with or without war
communism would spread and
started an era of De−Stalinization.
This spelled an end to the role of
large-scale forced labor in the
economy, and was a major act
promoting less tension.
KHRUSHCHEV CALLS FOR
“PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE”
Cause: Khrushchev was the new leader, he won the power and carried out
his policy of “de-stalinization”

1956 Feb: At 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev calls for peaceful coexistence
with capitalism; admits possibility of different paths to socialism, revolution
without violence; abandons doctrine of the inevitability of war

Khrushchev expresses that capitalism will eventually bring itself to ruin; thus
waging a war against capitalism was pointless.

Consequence: the east and west, temporarily, had better relations

6) BRINKMANSHIP
 John F. Kennedy
January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
 BRINKMANSHIP
▶ Brinkmanship is the attempt to push a dangerous
situation to the edge, to the brink—as far as
possible without conceding anything to your
opponent

▶ The Cuban Missile Crisis was the best example of this

during the Cold War
 CUBA
▶ 145 km of the US coast.
▶ 1959 Communist
Revolution in Cuba led by
Fidel Castro.
▶ USA is very wary of
Cuba’s new communist
government and growing
ties with the USSR.
▶ A brief trade battle
ensued.
 CUBA CONT….
▶ Cuba nationalized all industry in
Cuba.
▶ All US business and interests in
Cuba were lost.
▶ US claimed they were stolen by
Cuban govt. despite Cuba’s offer
of compensation
▶ US president Eisenhower agreed
to help Cubans wishing to
overthrow Castro.
▶ In January, 1961 John F. Kennedy
takes over as President and
continues this promise.
 BAY OF PIGS
▶ April 1961, 1400
anti-Castro Cubans landed
at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba
to try and overthrow
Castro.
▶ Castro was ready with
troops and artillery and
stopped the threat.
▶ HUGE American
embarrassment
 BAY OF PIGS CONT….
▶ Castro scared that
Kennedy would help other
rebellions asked
Khrushchev for help, and
Khrushchev sends
weapons to Castro.
▶ Kennedy worried about
events keeps a close eye
on Cuba.
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
 THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
▶ Americans discovered Russian missile
bases being built in 1962.
▶ President Kennedy ordered an American
blockade (quarantine) of Cuba to stop
Russian ships from carrying missiles into
Cuba.
▶ Kennedy then ordered Khrushchev to
dismantle the missile bases immediately.
▶ Any attack from Cuba would be treated
as a direct attack on the USA by USSR
and ordered 156 long range missiles
aimed at the USSR to be ready to fire.
THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

▶ On October 29, 1961 4 days after the blockade

began Khrushchev “blinked first” and ordered the
dismantling of all missile bases in Cuba.
▶ President Kennedy called off the blockade and
promised to leave Cuba alone.
DURING THE CRISIS,
US PRESIDENT JOHN
F. KENNEDY
SCRIBBLED NOTES
ABOUT THE
CONFLICT.
THIS MAP WAS
CREATED BY THE CIA
TO SHOW MISSILE
RANGES AND WAS
USED IN SECRET
MEETING DURING THE
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
7) DÉTENTE & TREATIES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
8QJSuV6euho&list=PLH_VXkc0n
3YqS5mYJdkblx9tuV0CbQ6zO
(5:05-end of video)
DÉTENTE: A CHANGE IN SUPERPOWER
RELATIONS
 DETENTE
▶ Because the Cuban Missile Crisis Khrushchev

brought the two superpowers to

the brink of war, some steps
were taken to reduce the
tension between the two
nations.
▶ The period of reduced tensions,
from the late 1960s to 1979
(when the Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan), was called détente
REASONS FOR DETENTE

▶ Both sides realized how dangerous the situation

had become.
▶ US fighting in Vietnam - needed to slow Arms Race
to reduce burden on economy.
▶ USSR concerned about Communist China.
▶ Both sides wanted to reduce economic
expenditure.
 Lyndon B. Johnson LEONID BREZHNEV
OCT. 14, 1964 – NOV. 10, 1982
Nov. 22, 1963 – Jan. 20, 1969
The following timeline illustrates aspects of
détente between the USA and the USSR:
▶ 1963: Hot-line between the White House and the Kremlin is
established; Nuclear Test Ban Treaty restricting nuclear tests to
underground explosions
▶ 1969: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) begin
▶ 1972: Richard Nixon, first USA president to visit the Soviet Union
▶ 1973: Leonid Brezhnev, USSR leader, visits Washington
▶ 1975: Helsinki Agreement — USA, USSR, Canada and Eastern and
Western European powers agree to European frontiers set up after
World War Two and to work at protecting human rights
 Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977

o ld
r C
t he
O r s :
t
Wa siden
Pre

Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan George Bush

January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981 January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993
 And in the Soviet
Union…
Andropov
November 12, 1982 - February 9, 1984
Chernenko
February 13, 1984 - March 10, 1985
8) PROXY WARS & LIBERATION
MOVEMENTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
GzD8fkAhzww&list=PLH_VXkc0
n3YqS5mYJdkblx9tuV0CbQ6zO
PROXY WARS AND LIBERATION MOVEMENTS
▶ The US and USSR never did descend into a direct
“hot war” but they did have what are called proxy
wars, substitute wars in which one super power
might fight in another land or provide support
▶ …in the postwar recovery years were opportunities for the
superpowers to advance their interests in regions around
the world. Each side was willing to provide economic or
military support to a side that was sympathetic to its
ideology
 SOVIET UNION INVADES AFGHANISTAN
▶ The Soviet war in Afghanistan also known as the
Soviet-Afghan War was a nine-year conflict involving
Soviet forces supporting the Marxist People's Democratic
Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) government against the
largely Islamic fundamentalist Mujahideen insurgents. The
initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan
began on December 25, 1979. The final troop withdrawal
began on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989.
Here we can see The Soviets trying to start a new
domino line.
Afghanistan
OTHER PROXY WARS

▶ Read about the other proxy wars on

pgs. 258-260
▶ Korea
▶ Vietnam
▶ Chile
▶ Afghanistan
▶ Iran-Contra Affair
Global, Social, and Personal
Implications of International Conflict
OUTCOME: IN WHAT WAYS DID THIS CONFLICT OF IDEOLOGIES AFFECT
SOCIETIES AND PEOPLE’S EVERYDAY LIVES?
COLD WAR HYSTERIA
 COLD WAR HYSTERIA
▶ Read pgs. 261-263.
▶ Read “Voices on pg. 263-264” and answer the
following questions:
▶ “How was the threat of nuclear war perceived
by people around the world?
▶ What effects might this perception have on
peoples beliefs & values?”
ESPIONAGE
 SPUTNIK (ESPIONAGE)
▶ On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the
very first satellite into space. This was huge at this time
because not only did this prove the Soviets were
winning the space race but had the upper hand on
technology for warfare.

▶ The fear in the USA was that Soviet spy capabilities

had been increased, and the Soviet Union would be
able to pinpoint missiles anywhere.
 U-2 CRISIS (MAY 1, 1960)
▶ The U–2 Crisis of 1960 occurred when an American U–2
spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The U.S.
denied the true purpose of the plane, but was forced to
admit it when the U.S.S.R. produced the living pilot and
the largely intact plane to corroborate their claim of
being spied on aerially.

▶ The Paris Summit (The East-West Summit), intended

to be a diplomatic meeting between Eisenhower and
Khrushchev, was cancelled.

▶ The incident worsened East–West relations during the

Cold War and was a great embarrassment for the United
States.
 SPUTNIK & U2 CRISIS- REVIEW

▶ How were these 2 events tied to espionage?

▶ What were the ramifications on the general

public (how did they “feed” the divide between
the 2 countries?)
▶ http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/perestr
oika-and-glasnost/videos/the-u2-program
RED SCARE & MCCARTHYISM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=07buRRJ6s4k
 RED SCARE!
▶ In September 1945, a cipher clerk named Igor
Gouzenko from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa
defected
▶ He carried with him files that described, in detail,
the extent of Soviet spying in North America
▶ The Gouzenko affair caused tremendous
consternation in the United States and Canada
▶ His defection led to a significant number of
charges against Canadians and Americans for
spying on their own country Igor Gouzenko
▶ Many felt that the Soviet spying extended even
deeper, into the heart of government
McCarthyism
▶ An American Senator (Joe
McCarthy) was so convinced that
Soviet spies were everywhere
that he began a hunt for suspected
spies and collaborators
▶ House Un-American Activities
Committee (blacklisted individuals
that were considered “communist
sympathizers”
Part of the scare
1947 Comic
Book
THE ENDING OF THE COLD WAR
 Mikhail Gorbachev comes to
GORBACHEV
MARCH 11, 1985 - DECEMBER 25, power in the S.U. He inherits a
1991
country where:

A. Living conditions for the average

Soviet did not match those of
people in the West.
B. For too long the Soviets devoted
spending money on the arms
race, underfunding other
important government programs.
 THE FALL OF COMMUNISM
▶ Gorbachev introduces two new political policies that encourage political discussion and
new communication with the west.
▶ Peristroika: economic restructuring
▶ Seeking to bring the Soviet Union up to economic par with capitalist countries.
▶ Gorbachev decentralized economic controls and encouraged enterprises to
become self-financing.
▶ In 1988 a new parliament, the Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies, was created.
For the first time, elections presented voters with a choice of candidates, including
non-communists, though the Communist Party continued to dominate the system.
▶ Glasnost: political openness
▶ began the democratization of the Soviet Union
▶ permitted the criticism of government officials and allowed the media freer access to
news and information. 
▶ People in Soviet satellite countries see this as a relaxing of Soviet grip on their
countries. One by one they begin to replace their Soviet backed governments and
replace them with democratically elected ones. The Soviet Union’s empire
begins to crumble…
http://www.history.com/topics/cold
-war/perestroika-and-glasnost
 GERMANY IS RE-UNITED
• The collapse of the Iron Curtain was in 1989 and was symbolized
by the opening of the Berlin wall on the 9th of November, 1989.
The dismantling of the Soviet Union in December 1991 followed
this event.
• On October 3, 1990 Germany was
reunited and the areas controlled by
American, Soviet, French, and British
forces were left in the hands of a new
Germany. This unfortunately hit the
German economy hard but Germany did
and still is recovering.
WARSAW PACT DISSOLVES
March 31, 1991
•The Warsaw Pact crumbled for a number of
reasons, serving as a prop for the unpopular
Communist regimes of Eastern Europe.
•The treaties became increasingly obsolete once
non-Communists came to power and although
Soviet authorities showed some tenacity in
insisting on maintaining the treaty, it was clear
that the greatest hostilities animating the
organization were internal.
 SOVIET UNION CEASES TO EXIST
Russia declares independence

Dec 25, 1991 Gorbachev announces his

resignation and the Soviet Union ceases to exist
under international law