COLD WAR1945 TO 1991

POST WORLD WAR IIGERMANY JAPAN

Nuremburg trials: Began November 1945 and was an international military court

Witnesses testified of Nazi atrocities, 12 sentenced to death, 7 went to prison and 3 were acquitted

Potsdam Conference: Allied leaders agreed to split Germany into four areas and they divided Austria into 4 areas

The main goal was to help rebuild Germany

US occupied Japan from 1945 to 1952

US helped rebuild Japanese economy

Destroyed militarism and established democratic government

US helped Japanese write a new constitution in 1947 that included voting rights for women, freedom of religion, it abolished the military, gave land to farmers and got rid of monopolies

UNITED NATIONS Created in 1945 to

promote World Peace Provides for a General

Assembly and a 15 member Security Council that has Veto Power

The first problem that the UN had to deal with was Palestine and the creation of Israel in 1948

COLD WAR WAS A POLITICAL CONFLICT BETWEEN DEMOCRACY AND COMMUNISM

NATO WARSAW PACT North Atlantic Treaty Organization

, created in 1949 to protect Democracy throughout Europe

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/winstonchurchillsinewsofpeace.htm

Stalin had created a “buffer zone” that Winston Churchill called the “Iron Curtain”

These Eastern European countries became known as the Satellite countries and all supported the Soviet Union

COLD WAR POLICIES Containment: Inspired by

George Kennan, the idea of using diplomacy and the military to “contain” communism and not allow it to spread

Truman Doctrine: This was an extension of the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary that stated the US must support people fighting oppression throughout the world

COLD WAR POLICIES Marshall Plan 1947:

Secretary of State George Marshall believed that if the US helped rebuild Europe they would oppose Communism. $17 billion went to Europe, the Soviet Union declined because Stalin believed it would undermine Communist Rule

COLD WAR POLICIES In 1948 the zones controlled by

the US, France and Great Britain united and became West Germany

West Germany was booming as result of the Marshall Plan. As a result the Soviet Union blockaded West Berlin

This prompted the Berlin Airlift, where allies flew 2 million tons of food and supplies into Berlin

The Berlin airlift was successful and very embarrassing for the Soviet Union

In 1961 the Soviet Union created the Berlin Wall that would become a symbol of Cold War Divisions for nearly 40 years

COLD WAR POLICIES Brinkmanship: The

idea that you use the threat of Nuclear Weapons to get to the verge of going to war

Détente: President Nixon utilized this technique which helped to ease tensions between the US and Soviet Union

KOREAN WAR In 1948 the Korean Peninsula was

divided at the 38th Parallel. North Korea was Communist and South Korea was Democratic

In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea

The US encouraged the UN Security Council to call for a cease fire and pledge support to South Korea. 15 nations pledged support, but the US and South Korea did most of the fighting

The fighting lasted until 1953 with the US losing 54,000 and another 103,000 wounded, not to mention the nearly 1.5 million Chinese and Korean casualties and deaths

The outcome was that Korea was divided at the 38th parallel with the North being communist and the South democratic

RED SCARE: MCCARTHYISM Throughout the 1950’s

many believed that Communists had infiltrated American Institutions

Actors known as the Hollywood 10 were blacklisted, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of espionage, HUAC and Hoover were investigating many Americans.

Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin played on these fears and told everyone that he had a list of communists that had infiltrated the government and military

People were scared, did not know who to trust and many lost jobs, houses and reputations

Eventually it was proven that McCarthy did not have any evidence and he was censured and his political career ended

SPUTNIK Technology was a huge

aspect to the Cold War There was an intense

competition to have the best weapons and this carried over to the Space race.

Millions of dollars were spent on NASA and then the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957

The US feared that Soviet technology was surpassing us and that could only lead to defeat

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS In October of 1962 U-2 spy planes

took pictures of Soviet workers building Nuclear silos in Cuba

This began a 13 day period of intense fear and threat of nuclear war

President Kennedy had 3 options: invade Cuba, bomb the missile sites or blockade Cuba

On October 22, President Kennedy went on TV and announced a blockade of Cuba and that the US would fire on any ships that attempted to pass the blockade

Soviet ships approached the blockade on October 24 but stopped.

An agreement was reached and the Soviets removed missiles from Cuba and the US removed missiles from Turkey and promised not to invade Cuba

END OF THE COLD WAR In the early 1980’s the

Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and they began to use too many resources that their economy struggled

President Reagan increased the defense budget from $150 billion to $250 billion because he new the Soviet Union would try and keep up, they could not

New technology like the Star wars was being developed and the Soviet Union was losing the support of its people

Mikhail Gorbachev to control in 1985 and instituted Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost was designed to create more freedom for the people and Perestroika was designed to increase trade and reduce military spending to help the economy

END OF THE COLD WAR Gorbachev and

Reagan were working together and signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) that eliminated medium range nuclear weapons

In 1989 Gorbachev announced the Soviet Union would not intervene in Eastern Europe any more

This prompted revolutions and free elections to take place in Romania, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and finally in the Ukraine. The Iron Curtain had fallen

SYMBOLIC END TO THE COLD WAR

The Berlin Wall was the symbol of the divide between Communism and Democracy for nearly 40 years

In the fall of 1989 thousands flocked to the Berlin Wall and began to protest, when the wall was finally opened in November of 1989 many began to tear it down