THE COLD WAR

Beatriz Izquierdo, Amaia Uría and Amanda Verbo

WHAT WAS THE COLD WAR?
• The Cold War was a struggle for global
supremacy that pitted the capitalist
United States against the communist
Soviet Union.
• 1947-1991
• There was no direct fighting between
the USSR and the USA.
CAUSES
WARTIME ALLIANCE TENSIONS
• Western powers distrust towards
the USSR due to the former
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

German–Soviet Non-aggression Pact

 CAUSES
WARTIME ALLIANCE TENSIONS
• The USA and the rest of the allies
delayed opening a second front in
France until 1944.
• Stalin suspected it had been a military
tactic to weaken the USSR.
• In the Tehran Conference, he argued
for a communist Poland that would act
as a shield in case of further attacks.
CAUSES
WARTIME ALLIANCE TENSIONS
• Finally, Roosevelt and Churchill accepted a provisional
communist government for Poland and in exchange,
Stalin signed the "Declaration of Liberated Europe”.
CAUSES
WARTIME ALLIANCE TENSIONS
• In order to build the first
atomic bomb before the
Nazis, the US created:
The Manhattan
Project.
• Roosevelt shared information
with Winston Churchill.
• Stalin was kept in the dark to
intimidate the Soviets.
CAUSES
WARTIME ALLIANCE TENSIONS
• Stalin was offended
because he hadn´t
been informed and he
was denied any share
of the occupation in
the Pacific.
• The Soviets managed
to detonate a bomb just
four years later.
CAUSES
WARTIME ALLIANCE TENSIONS
• This led to the nuclear arms race.
 CAUSES
IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES
America Russia
Richest country in the world. Biggest country in the world
Democracy with free elections led by an elected president. A one-party state led by a dictator. There were elections,
but you could only vote for the Communist Party

Freedom of speech and belief. State control: censorship, secret police, terror and purges.

Capitalism-private ownership and the right to make Communism - state ownership of the means of
money. production, and the belief that wealth should be shared.

Led by Truman, who considered communism evil. Led by Stalin, who believed that capitalism was evil.
 CAUSES
DISAGREEMENTS OVER GERMANY
• Stalin sought to destroy
Germany´s economy so
it couldn ´t recover and
rise again.
• The Western allies
wanted a stable
Germany that could
contribute to world trade.
CAUSES
DISAGREEMENTS OVER GERMANY
• By 1949 the Western zones of
Germany were recovering.
• Stalin closed all pathways leading from
the West to the East and refused to
allow supplies into his zone.
• Thus, West Berlin was cut off.
CAUSES
DISAGREEMENTS OVER GERMANY
• The allies created The Berlin
airlift which supplied Western
Berlin.
• Finally, in May 1949 Stalin
ended the blockade of West
Berlin and the allies succesfully
turned it capitalist.
 A TIME OF GREAT TENSION (1945-
1947)
• Truman considered that
Stalin hadn´t respected the
terms established at Yalta
since Eastern Europe had
fallen under Communism.
• He tried to blocked the
expansion of the Soviet
sphere of influence (along
with communism): Truman
Doctrine.
Domino theory Iron curtain

A TIME OF GREAT TENSION

(1945-1947)
THE IRON CURTAIN
A TIME OF GREAT TENSION
(1945-1947)
Every nation must choose between different ways
of life ...
We must help free peoples to work out their own
destiny in their own way.
President Truman, speaking in March 1947.

• The US enacted the

Marshall Plan.
• An initiative which
provided supplies to
western Europe
countries in danger of
becoming communist.
A TIME OF GREAT TENSION
(1945-1947) “The only conflict that is possible in Soviet
culture is the conflict between good and best.”
Andrei Zhdanov
• The Zhdanov Doctrine, a Soviet
cultural doctrine developed by
Andrei Zhdanov in 1946.
• It proposed that the world was
divided into two camps.
• The "imperialistic", headed by
the United States; and
"democratic", headed by the
Soviet Union
PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
(1956-1976)
• Khrushchev said that he
wanted ‘peaceful co-existence
with the West.
• It was a clash of ideologies as
both sides tried to prove that
their way was best.
• America started a series of
public trials of suspected
Communists.
PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
(1956-1976)
US LEADERS SOVIET LEADERS
John F. Nikita Leonid
Richard Nixon
Kennedy Khrushchev Brezhnev
PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
(1956-1976)
• The Cuban Missile Crisis
• In 1962
• The Soviet Union began to
install nuclear missiles in Cuba.
• The United States refused to
allow this.
• After many secret negotiations,
the Soviet Union agreed to
remove the missiles. Washington-Moscow Hotline
THE RESURGENCE OF THE
COLD WAR (1977-1985)
• The situation grew more tense due
to the increase in the arms race.
• SOVIET UNION: deployed SS-20
misiles.
• US: increased military spending,
Star Wars.
• Both were involved in proxy wars:
Soviet-Afghan War, Vietnamese
War etc…
CONSEQUENCES
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
• The USSR set up the Warsaw Pact in
1955 - a military alliance of communist
countries - to rival NATO.
• The NATO is a military alliance between
several North American and European
countries.
• It was created to provide a counterforce
to the Soviet armies of Eastern Europe.
WARSAW PACT NATO

CONSEQUENCES
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
CONSEQUENCES
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
• The Fall of the Berlin Wall
• It was built to separate West Berlin
from of East Berlin in 1961.
• It was built in order to prevent people
from fleeing East Berlin.
• The wall was demolished in
November, 1989.
• West and East Germany were unified.
CONSEQUENCES
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
• The US became the sole superpower
of the world.
• Communism collapsed worldwide,
disintegrating the Warsaw Pact.
• Independence of the Baltic States
and some Soviet Republics.
• Cuba was lost to the Communist
Fidel Castro
CONSEQUENCES
LONG-LASTING IMPACT
• The war developed a basis of ideologies which divided the
whole world into Communist and non-communist.
• Many nations got involved in nuclear warfare.
• Regional conflicts and civil wars reached an international status.
CONSEQUENCES
LONG-LASTING IMPACT
• The new concept of proxy war led
to global terrorism.
• The desire to have political
influence resulted in divisions of
many old nations to control them.
• This created lasting tensions
between sister nations.
CONSEQUENCES
LONG-LASTING IMPACT
• The radical inventions and growth in
the fields of science and technology.
• Many countries in Africa, Asia and
Latin America did not support any
other and acted on their own
interests.
• This would lead to the creation of
the BRICS, made up of Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South
Africa.
 CONSEQUENCES
LONG-LASTING IMPACT
• The number of wars were reduced compare to previous
centuries because of fears of nuclear attacks which led to
the creation of peaceful pacts, agreements and international
organisations.