The Cold War

During the Second World War, the US and the Soviet Union fought as Allies against Germany. In May 1945, American troops triumphantly entered Berlin from the West, while the Red Army moved in from the East. However, celebrations rapidly turned to mistrust and suspicion. Within three years, the bulk of Eastern Europe was under the control of the Soviet Union, and the former allies were deeply embroiled in a conflict that became known as the Cold War. What went wrong in the international arena?

Historical writing on the Origins of the Cold War (Who was to blame for the Cold War?)Over time, historians have written about the Cold War in a number of different ways. They have differed in their approach to, and understanding of, the origins of the Cold War. Each different stage of historical writing about the Cold War has led to different interpretations of who caused the Cold War. Was it the Soviet Union? Was it the United States? Was it both? These are questions that historians have grappled with, and often their own ideological perspective or bias has determined the way in which they have interpreted the Cold War. It is important to identify the different trends in historical writing on the Cold War in order to understand it and to place these different views in context.Stage 1: The orthodox view or traditional view (1940s and 50s)The orthodox or traditional view was developed by Western historians in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They believed that the Soviet Union was primarily responsible for the outbreak and continuation of the Cold War. Josef Stalin was viewed as the arch villain who aimed to extend his communist and totalitarian system throughout the world. The Soviet regime was seen as extremely antagonistic and threatening to the West. The United States thus adopted a defensive stance, in which it aimed to stop the spread of communism. This anti-communist attitude was widespread in the US and often reached hysterical proportions. This view has never really disappeared.The orthodox Soviet view justified the role that the USSR played in international relations during the Cold War period. They tended to justify Stalin’s policies, viewing his actions as defensive against the growing aggression and expansionism of the USA.Stage 2: The revisionist view (1959, 1960s)This view represented a major shift in attitude among a school of western American scholars of the Cold War. They agreed with the Russian interpretation, and took the view that the US had started and sustained the Cold War. They claimed that the US had over-reacted to Soviet actions. They claimed that the USA acted according to economic interest. According to this view, the Soviet Union was motivated not by the desire to expand its territory, but by the need to secure its borders with a buffer of states and establish a strong line of defence against any form of Western invasion.

Stage 3: The post-revisionist view (1970s)American historians who support this view based their analysis on new sources and evidence made available by the Freedom of Information Act. This view did not try to blame one or the other side for the Cold War. It argued that the Cold War was the product of mutual suspicions and over-reaction on both

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sides. They tend to see the causes of the Cold War as complex rather than a single cause.

Stage 4: The Cold War as history (1990s)With the collapse of the Soviet Union, a further shift in our understanding of the Cold War is likely to take place. The end of the Cold War means that the Cold War as history is just beginning. Much of our understanding of the Cold War has been based on the work of Western historians. Now the Soviet archives are open to scholars of the Cold War and, for the first time, it seems likely that new evidence will emerge which will shed light on the Cold War in a way that examines the evidence from both sides. The new evidence suggests that the Soviet leaders were genuinely trying to avoid conflict with the West, suggesting the US was more to blame. Many of the recent studies of Cold War history portray it as a clash of ideologies.

What was the Cold War?(Post 1991)In 1989, the Soviet Union collapsed and thus brought to an end an almost 55-year period of antagonism, tension and distrust between the US and the Soviet Union. This antagonism (a state of ongoing hostility stopping short of actual war) between the two superpowers was termed the Cold War. Why did this struggle occur?

Origins of the Cold War (broad outline) 1917 – emergence of USSR as the first major communist power.(Revolution – violence –

communist principles in the economy(loss of land and assets) – no religion – debt to West not repaid – pulled out of World War 1, giving Germany a one front war)

1918-20 – involvement of West (USA, Br., Fr) in the Civil War in Russia, on the side of the Whites against the Communists. The USSR feared being encircled by the capitalist West.

1920s, 1930s – limited trade and diplomatic links: atmosphere of suspicion. 1930s – Nazi threat grew. Stalin was convinced of Western hostility towards the Soviet Union

long before the ‘Cold War.’ At the Munich Conference in 1938, the West had excluded the Soviet Union from the decision-making process on the fate of Czechoslovakia, and had refused to side with the Soviet Union against Germany before the war. At this point, the West viewed the Soviet Union and the spread of communism with more fear than it did Hitler's aggressive policies.

Stalin appealed to West for treaties against Nazi aggression. West not interested – practicing policy of Appeasement with Hitler. Stalin resorted to forming an agreement,the Non-Aggression Pact in 1939, with Hitler as a form of protection. He started WW 11 on Hitler’s side, assisted in the invasion of Poland.

Stalin colonised the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in 1940. After a hundred-day war, Russia invaded and conquered Finland.

1941 – Operation Barbarossa – Hitler turned on his ally and invaded USSR. Hostility between the 2 sides was suspended as they united to destroy a common enemy. Even when the Soviet Union became an ally of the Western powers, this mistrust continued. The inability of the Western powers to open a second front in Western Europe until 1944 despite Soviet appeals to the West for assistance meant that the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the German attack for a prolonged period. Stalin viewed this as a deliberate attempt by the West to weaken Soviet forces

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in order to reduce Soviet strength in the post-war period. USSR subjected to massive losses (people/assets – scorched earth policy).

The Western powers also refused Stalin any participation in the liberation of Italy, which further strengthened his suspicions.

The West failed to reveal and pass on nuclear bomb secrets. (Only revealed after successful testing of the bomb.)

The Teheran Conference, November 1943 At Teheran, the Big Three decided that there would be no Anglo-American invasion of Germany through the Balkans. This left only Soviet forces and troops from Balkan nations to clear Eastern Europe of German troops. By recognising Soviet supremacy in the eastern zone, the Teheran Conference limited the West's participation in the postwar political affairs in that area.

Stalin was also encouraged to believe that he had a free hand in Eastern Europe as a result of the October 1944 agreements that he negotiated with Churchill. When Soviet troops liberated Romania and Bulgaria in August to September 1944, it was agreed that the Soviet Union should have 90% control over Romania and 75% control over Bulgaria. In return, Churchill gained 90% jurisdiction over Greece. Churchill's agreement convinced Stalin that the West would accept Soviet control in these areas.

The Yalta Conference: February 1945In February 1945 it was clear that Germany was losing the European war, so the Allied leaders met at Yalta in the Ukraine to plan what would happen to Europe after Germany's defeat. The Yalta Conference went well. Despite their differences, the Big Three - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill- agreed on some important matters:

Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan once Germany had surrendered. They agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones: American, French, British and Soviet.

The German capital, Berlin, was deep in the Soviet zone so it was agreed that Berlin itself would also be divided into four zones

As Allied soldiers advanced through Germany they were revealing the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. The Big Three agreed to hunt down and punish war criminals who were responsible for the genocide.

They agreed that as countries were liberated from occupation by the German army, they would be allowed to hold free elections to choose the government they wanted.

The Big Three all agreed to join the new United Nations Organisation which would aim to keep peace after the war,

The Soviet Union had suffered terribly in the war. An estimated 20 million Russians had died. Having suffered so greatly in the war, Stalin was concerned about the future security of the USSR. The Big Three agreed that eastern Europe should be seen as 'a Soviet sphere of influence'.

The only real disagreement was about Poland. Stalin wanted the border of the USSR to move westwards into Poland. Stalin argued that Poland, in turn, could move its border westwards into German territory. Churchill did not approve of Stalin's plans for Poland, but he also knew that there was not very much he could do about it because Stalin's Red Army was in total control of both Poland and eastern Germany. Roosevelt was also unhappy about Stalin's plan but Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to accept it, as long as the USSR agreed not to interfere in Greece where the British were attempting to prevent the Communists taking over. Stalin accepted this. It seemed that, although they could not all agree, they were still able to negotiate and do business with one another.

Despite differences and mutual suspicions, the Allied powers worked together because they

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agreed on a common purpose. With the defeat of Germany in 1945, there was no common purpose left, and the mutual suspicions and distrust then came to the surface.

The Potsdam Conference: July-August 1945 Three months after the Yalta Conference, Allied troops reached Berlin. Hitler committed suicide. Germany surrendered unconditionally. The war in Europe was won. A second conference of the Allied leaders was arranged for July 1945 in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam. However, in the five months since Yalta a number of changes had taken place which would greatly affect relationships between the leaders.

Stalin’ s armies were occupying most of eastern Europe Soviet troops had liberated country after country in eastern Europe, but instead of withdrawing his troops Stalin had left them there. By July, Stalin's troops effectively controlled the Baltics, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania and refugees were fleeing out of these countries fearing a Communist takeover. Stalin had set up a Communist government in Poland, ignoring the wishes of the majority of Poles. Britain and the USA protested but Stalin defended his action.

America had a new president On 12 April President Roosevelt died. He was replaced by his Vice President, Harry Truman. Truman was a very different man from Roosevelt. He was much more anti-Communist than Roosevelt and was very suspicious of Stalin.

The Allies had tested an atomic bomb On 16 July the Americans successfully tested an atomic bomb at a desert site in the USA. At the start of the Potsdam Conference Truman informed Stalin about it.

Disagreements at Potsdam The Potsdam Conference finally got under way on 17 July. Not surprisingly it did not go as smoothly as Yalta. In July there was an election in Britain. Churchill was defeated, so half- way through the conference he was replaced by a new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. In the absence of Churchill the conference was dominated by rivalry and suspicion between Stalin and Truman. A number of issues arose on which neither side seemed able to appreciate the other's point of view:

They disagreed over what to do about Germany. Stalin wanted to cripple Germany completely to protect the USSR against future threats. Truman did not want to repeat the mistake of the Versailles Peace Treaty.

They disagreed over reparations. Twenty million Russians had died in the war and the Soviet Union had been devastated so Stalin wanted compensation from Germany. Truman, however, was once again determined not to repeat the mistakes at the end of the First World War and resisted this demand.

They disagreed over Soviet policy in Eastern Europe. At Yalta Stalin had won agreement from the Allies that he could set up pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe. He said, 'If the Slav [the majority of east European] people are united no one will dare move a finger against them'. Truman became very unhappy about Russian intentions and soon adopted a 'get tough' attitude towards Stalin.

It was clear by 1946 that the wartime friendship between the Allies bad broken down. It had been replaced by suspicion and accusation. “Unless Russia is faced with an iron fist and strong language another war is in the making.” Truman in a confidential letter to his Secretary of State. However, the distrust between the USA and the USSR was soon so great that leaders were talking in public about the threat of war between the two countries. Instead of running down arms expenditure after the war, as could be expected, the two sides actually increased their stock of weapons. When Stalin was told about the bomb, he was angry he had not heard about it before, and gave orders to his own scientists to develop the Soviet weapon. The nuclear arms race had begun. The development of the bomb appeared to encourage Truman to become more aggressive against the USSR. He replaced the pro-Soviet advisors with anti-communist advisors.

Each side took every opportunity to denounce the policies or the plans of the other. A propaganda war developed. In this atmosphere of tension and recrimination people began to talk about a Cold War. This Cold War was going to last for 30 years and would dominate relations between the countries for much of that time.

By 1945 the Soviet Union had been invaded twice by Germany in the past 30 years. Thus, it was determined to prevent a further invasion by the West. Stalin, therefore, aimed to build up a series

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of buffer states on his western borders. The dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was seen by Stalin as to be more directed against the USSR than Japan. He felt that the West was trying to intimidate the USSR and as a result became tougher on the West. His comment on the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima: “War is barbaric, but using the A-bomb is a super-barbarity”.

The occupation of the countries previously occupied by the Nazis by the Soviets and the promotion of communism in those countries increased the West’s fears.The basis of the Cold War was fear. But, the Western powers feared that the Soviet Union would do everything in its power to spread communism throughout the world. The US was determined to prevent this.

The capitalist ideology of the US conflicted with the communist beliefs of the Soviet Union. And each side wanted to prevent the other from spreading its belief system to other countries.

What was the impact of the Cold War in forming the world as it was in the 1960s?What was the nature of the Cold War?

The Cold War was a period in world history between 1945 and 1994 when the two superpowers, the United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), confronted each other without breaking into a 'hot' war or 'shooting' war. The USA followed democracy and capitalism while the USSR adopted one-party rule and communism. Both states competed for influence in the world and wanted to advance their economic interests, spread their ideologies, gain allies and weaken their rivals.

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Ideological and political differencesThe USA supported a political system of democracy where political leaders were elected in regular, generally free and fair elections where they could also be voted out of power. The two main parties in America, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, constantly competed for power. Critics of American democracy point out that most candidates were wealthy individuals and that powerful corporations donated so much money to the campaigns of politicians that they became too influential over government policy.

In the USSR the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was the only party allowed and all opposition parties were banned. Only one candidate, who had to be a member of the Communist Party, could stand in each constituency. Voters could either vote for or reject the candidate. It was unusual for voters to reject a candidate. Defenders of the system claimed that only the communists represented the interests of the majority of the people who were workers and peasants.

In the USA a liberal constitution and Bill of Rights protected basic human rights like the freedom of the press. Defenders of the American system point out that Americans could not be arrested and imprisoned without good reason because the 'rule of law' dominated the system. Critics point out that during the 1950s 'Red Scare' under Senator McCarthy, many Americans were victimised by the authorities and lost their jobs because of claims that they were communist or communist sympathisers.

In the Soviet Union the state owned the media. No criticism of the state was tolerated. Defenders of the communist government claimed that they protected more 'fundamental' human rights like the right to work, the right to food and the right to shelter. Critics believed that the USSR was a totalitarian 'police state' where citizens were arrested and imprisoned on minor charges.

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Social and cultural differences USA

Americans valued individualism, freedom and choice highly. Yet, despite the influence of advertising, most Americans in the 1950s, were surprisingly conformist. They dressed the same, ate the same food, watched the same movies and listened to the same music. Most Americans were churchgoing Christians who would drive one of just two or three makes of motor car, mow the lawn and have a barbecue in the backyard of their almost identical suburban homes. The 'Red Scare' of the 1950s made Americans even more determined to 'fit in' because anyone who was 'different' (for example, gay, feminist, leftist, pacifist or pro-environment) could be accused of being 'un-American'. Youth culture did challenge this to an extent with the introduction of rock 'n' roll and the 'hippie' culture in the late 1950s.

USSRRussian society, as it developed under communism, was also conformist. Unlike the USA, however, ostentatious displays of wealth were frowned upon. In the early years of the USSR, everyone called each other 'comrade' and most ate the same food and dressed the same. This was not as a result of advertising (which was banned) but because mass production of consumer goods meant that there was little choice. Most people lived communally and learnt to share services and bathroom and kitchen facilities. The Soviet Union was an atheist state that strongly discouraged religion. The USSR was also a highly militarised society where the main holiday, Workers' Day or 1 May, was celebrated with military parades taking place near the Kremlin in Moscow.

Economic differences USA

The USA's system of capitalism was based on the ownership of private property and was driven by the desire to make money. In theory, people could achieve the 'American Dream' of 'rags-to-riches' if they had talent, determination and were prepared to work hard. While few individuals achieved this dream, most wealthy people had inherited their wealth over many generations. Many rich Americans made nearly all their money by speculating on the stock market without producing anything. Most ordinary American workers could never attain a wealthy lifestyle. They worked to pay rent and to feed and clothe their families and not to pursue wealth and profit. Most worked longer hours than in other industrial countries. The USA was one of the most unequal societies in the world with large gaps between the rich and the poor.

Critics claim that American society was essentially based on greed. They claim that American society was an extremely materialistic society that valued the possession of luxury cars, houses, jewelry and clothes highly. Defenders argue that America was a country where 'anything was possible' and where penniless migrants could become millionaires within a few years of their arrival.

USSRThe Soviet economy was based on communism where the state planned how many goods were produced and sold. Everything that was produced was supposed to be shared equally based on the principle of 'from each according to his ability to each according to his needs'. In reality, party members and officials lived in much better apartments, and party leaders often had a country house or dacha. Critics claim that the standard of living of ordinary people in the Soviet Union was low and most people were equally poor.

Admirers of the Soviet Union point out that it had a system of cradle-to-grave social welfare that included free creches, hospitals and schools. Workers were paid low wages but the prices of basic food like bread were kept low. All people had food on the table and a roof over their heads. Productivity was low and when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was asked by a Western visitor how many people worked in the factory that they were touring, he replied with a dejected grin, 'about half'.

Russian workers grimly said 'they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work'. Russia became famous for long queues in shops whenever rare goods like sugar or meat were on sale. Soviet towns were uniformly grey and boring, apartments frequently collapsed because of poor workmanship, and alcoholism became rife. Yet no one starved in the USSR and the

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problems of homelessness, vagrancy and unemployment, which were relatively common in the West, were nearly completely absent in the Soviet Union.

Thus, both the USA and the USSR had positive and negative features. Apologists and critics of both systems have many reasons either to support or attack America and Russia. There were many striking differences but also, perhaps surprisingly, many similarities.

What did the USSR under Stalin want after World War 11?1 Expansion and security. 2 Domination of the whole of Europe.

What did the USA and its allies want after World War 11?1 Security and with this a post-war settlement that a world war would never occur again.2 Governments in Europe based on self-determination. This means that the people of a country

have the right to decide how they should be governed and who should govern them.3 They wanted to set up an international organization to punish aggression from any country

and to encourage co-operation amongst nations.

The USSR and USA create spheres of interest in Europe.

The main issue for the two super powers for the first 2 years after the end of the war was who would control Europe. A sphere of influence is when a country has certain advantages, politically, economically or militarily. The other country then uses its influence to persuade or coerce the first country to serve its needs.

How and why did the USSR establish a sphere of influence over Eastern Europe between 1945 and 1947?

In 1941 Nazi Germany launched 'Operation Barbarossa', an invasion of the Soviet Union to gain lebensraum or living space. However, with the help of the USA and Britain, which provided supplies to the USSR and opened up a second front in June 1944, and the recruitment of fresh troops from the Soviet Union's Asian Republics, Stalin managed to push the Germans back. As the Red Army (the Soviet army) liberated Eastern Europe from Nazi control, its troops became armies of occupation that established Soviet control and satellite states were set up. (Satellite state– a state which is effectively under the control of another state)

By the Allied agreements, elections would take place soon after the war. In Eastern Europe, the elections were held while the Soviet forces were still occupying the countries, and this resulted in Communist governments coming into power. The Soviets ensured that only governments friendly to the USSR were elected in these countries by rigging the elections to favour the communist parties in these states. The West did not regard these as free elections but could do nothing to change the situation.

By 1946 Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and Albania all had coalition governments. Even though communism had many supporters in these countries and many people were grateful to the USSR for liberating them from Nazi rule, the communists still did not win sufficient votes to dominate these governments. The USSR worked hard behind the scenes to ensure that communists controlled important government posts like the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Police and Defence. When the time was right, a coup would be launched and the communists would take over, banning all other political parties. By

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1948, all the territories that Russia occupied in Eastern Europe were under the control of one-party communist states. The Soviet Union also seized territory directly for itself in Eastern Europe. Yugoslavia and Albania also became communist countries, but did not have this imposed on them by the USSR.

(Orthodox historians: Stalin was determined to assert full control over the area and did what he needed to do so. Revisionist historians: Stalin would have left the coalition governments alone if it was not for the hostility of the West.)Stalin’s apparent motives:

Stalin was concerned about the security of the USSR and wanted to safeguard his country from future attack. He needed Eastern Europe to act as a buffer between the USSR and the West, preventing another German invasion of the USSR.

He also wanted to use the area to help develop the economy of the USSR. East Europe would act as trading partners with the USSR and their raw materials would be used to promote industrialization of the USSR.

American president, Theodore Roosevelt, and British Prime minister, Winston Churchill, believed that they fought to free Europe and wanted to see democratic states in Eastern Europe that would trade openly with their countries. Roosevelt, who had struggled to pull the USA out of the Great Depression before the war, wanted access to East European markets for American goods, as he feared that America could be plunged into another severe depression after the war. America and Britain had signed the Atlantic Charter in 1941 promising to restore democracy and self-determination to countries like Poland. In America, Polish American immigrants made up a large percentage of voters in states like New York so Roosevelt and his successor Truman had to be tough towards the USSR on Poland if they wanted these votes.

In Germany, the USSR refused to consider uniting East Germany with the other sectors occupied by the West until they were sure that a communist – led government sympathetic to the USSR was in place in East Germany. This occupation of eastern Germany enabled the Russians to extend their influence further into Europe than ever before.

How and why did the USA establish a sphere of influence over Western Europe?

Containment was a US policy that used numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism during the Cold War. The policy was developed as a response to a series of moves by the USSR to extend her influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea and Vietnam.

The term was first used in 1946 in a report used by US diplomat in Moscow, Kennan. This report was sent in the now famous ‘long telegram’. He stated that Sovietforeign policy was dictated to by the belief that the USA was a permanent enemy which would one day have to be fought and defeated. He also recognized that the USSR felt deeply insecure because of her long history of invasions, and felt the need to defend herself. He said the USA needed to be patiently vigilant and to contain Soviet expansionist tendencies.

On the 5th March 1946 Churchill gave a speech at Fulton in the USA. Speaking to a crowd of 40 000, he declared an ‘iron curtain’ had descended across Europe, dividing Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe from the West. He also spoke about how they wanted the fruits of war without going to war, and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. This speech was to have profound effect on how the American government and people thought about relations with the USSR.

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Both the speech and the telegram were to help shape America’s policy of containment. The policy meant that the USA and its allies would hold back the power and expansion of the USSR by whatever means possible.

Two components of the US’s policy of containment were the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.

The Truman Doctrine (1947)From 1945, Britain tried to help the pro-West Greek government to suppress a communist rebellion in the Greek civil war. The Greek government was close to collapse. However, owing to its own serious economic difficulties, Britain could no longer afford to provide economic aid to Greece by 1947. The USA was approached to provide the aid instead. Turkey was also under pressure from the USSR as she controls access to the Mediterranean via the Black Sea.

Truman decided not only to support the Greek government but also to supply aid to Turkey ($400 million) and any other 'free' country under threat of communism, either from internal rebellion or from foreign invasion. Truman knew that it would be difficult to persuade Congress to grant him aid and he was advised by a sympathetic senator to 'scare the hell out of the country'.

Ibelieve that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining those freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world.

President Truman speaking on 12 March 1947, explaining his decision to help Greece.

His speech seemed to achieve this goal and the 'Truman Doctrine' was established as the cornerstone of American foreign policy despite strong opposition from influential quarters like former Vice-President Henry A Wallace. The Truman Doctrine was Truman’s commitment to stop the further spread of communism in the world – a policy of containment.It took the form mainly of economic and financial aid, although the USA did set up a nuclear base in Turkey.

The Marshall Plan (1947)The 1946 - 47 winter was unusually severe, and the 1947 harvests were likely to be poor. Western European countries could not pay for American imports. There was also a sense of exhaustion amongst the population – 6 years of terrible war, followed by 2 of post-war hardship. The serious poverty in western parts of Europe after the war increased the potential for the spread of communism. Support for the communist parties in Italy and France increased rapidly as communists promised solutions to post-war problems. It seemed likely that communists could even win elections if conditions were not improved. In Italy, for example, the communists threatened to do so well that the America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spent millions of dollars to influence the elections. Thus, America's critics point out that the USA engaged in the rigging of elections in the same way the Soviet Union had interfered in the elections in Eastern European countries. A large financial aid package would keep Western Europe within the capitalist camp by helping these economies to recover. This aid package was the 'European Recovery Plan', known popularly as the 'Marshall Plan'. Critics claimed that America was buying the loyalty of West European states with 'dollar diplomacy'.

President Truman and his Secretary of State, George C Marshall, managed to convince Congress to accept a plan that would provide 17 billion dollars of aid to Western European nations over a four year period, but only after a communist coup took place in Czechoslovakia. Marshall Aid was also offered to East European countries, and even to Russia, but only if they made certain political reforms and

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accepted certain controls, which the USA knew would not happen. These were that they had to work together on how to use the money and submit their plans to the US government.

The Soviet ResponseStalin viewed these plans as the first shots fired in the Cold War. The USSR feared that her states would become subject to too much American influence and would try to leave the Soviet bloc. He tightened his control over the satellite states, forcing them to remove non-communists from their governments. The Soviet Union also rejected this aid and persuaded all the Eastern European countries under its control to do the same. These countries were forbidden to receive Marshall Aid although Tito of Yugoslavia refused to obey this order.

The USSR formed its own 'Molotov Plan' to provide aid to Eastern European states, in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the Comecon

She also formed the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) to coordinate the activities of the European communist parties, and to assist the spread of propaganda in the Soviet bloc.

This was done to counter the growing US influence. Tito of Yugoslavia refused to take orders from the USSR and was expelled from Cominform in 1948.

Berlin and West Germany, 1948.At the meeting between the war time allies at Yalta in the Ukraine in February 1945, the Allies had agreed to divide Germany into 4 different zones of occupation.( Britain, France, USA, USSR). Capital city, Berlin, 160km inside the Soviet zone, would also be divided into 4 similar zones and run jointly. However, at the wartime conferences, the Allies failed to reach a conclusive decision about how to treat Germany. The Soviet Union and France were in favour of the destruction of Germany's war-making potential, as well as disarmament; the USA and Britain opposed the idea of dismantling Germany. They also disagreed over the issue of reparations. Stalin wanted a specific sum set, while Churchill and Roosevelt opposed this idea.

Since no major post-war peace conference was held because of the animosity among the Allies, the issue of reparations was left to the occupation zones set up at Yalta, and was confirmed at Potsdam. At the meeting of the Allies in Potsdam (a suburb of Berlin) in July-August 1945, it was agreed that each occupying power could remove property from its own zone as reparations, but not in a way that would jeopardize Germany's economic stability. In addition, the Soviet Union was to receive 25% of the dismantled industrial equipment from the western zones, since most German industry was located in the West. And, the Soviet Union would exchange industrial equipment for food supplies which were predominantly in the East.

The zones of occupation; The division of Germany and the Blockade (1948-49)Stalin aimed to keep Germany weak, to use it to help rebuild Soviet industry, and to prevent the emergence of any groups that might challenge his control of the Soviet zone. The Soviet Union thus immediately began to dismantle factories and machinery in its zone in order to use them to repair the extensive damage suffered by the country. Bitterness soon developed between the Soviet and Western zones. They could not agree on the relative value of industrial equipment and food. The Soviets refused to supply the set amount of food from their zone. They accused the Western zones of not sending enough industrial equipment to the East. In return, in 1946 the Western Allies refused to dismantle and ship industrial equipment to the Soviet zone.

The Western zones were faced with severe food shortages and economic chaos, making it very difficult

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to carry out joint occupation policy. Inflation and shortages had destroyed the value of the German currency, the mark, and recovery was slow. While the western zones benefitted from Marshall Aid, the USSR extracted as much as it could in the way of reparations. It was this economic misery, as well as mistrust of Stalin's intentions, that led the Western zones to change their occupation policies. The American and British zones were fused into one zone in 1946 in the hope of making it a more economically viable unit. (France at this time refused to co-operate as it feared that any attempts at unification of the zones would lead to an enlarged and threatening Germany.) The US and Britain began to encourage the revival of the German economy. Economic aid funded by the Marshall Plan was critical in the restoration of the economy. In 1948 they reformed the currency by creating the Deutschmark, and, within months, there was definite evidence that the Western parts of Germany were recovering. France reluctantly joined with Britain and the USA to form a single zone in 1948. The USA hoped that the new state would become an ally, and a buffer against communism in central Europe.

The USSR responded by introducing its own new currency in the Soviet zone. He feared though that a strong currency in the western zone would destroy the weak German currency in the eastern zone. Stalin also feared a strong Germany and stronger Western Europe. Stalin felt that the USA's handling of West Germany was provocative. He could do nothing about the reorganisation of the western zones, or the new currency, but he felt that he could stamp his authority on Berlin. It was deep in the Soviet zone and was linked to the rest of West Germany by vital roads, railways and canals.

Stalin did not want a capitalist, democratic West Berlin in the heart of the Soviet sector, so on 23 June 1948 in order to squeeze the Western powers out of Berlin, he ordered all roads and railway tracks linking the western sectors to West Berlin to be cut off. The 'Berlin Blockade' meant that the people living there would starve or freeze to death as they were cut off from access to food and fuel. Stalin believed that this would force the USA to hand over West Berlin to Soviet control. The US were reluctant to use tanks on the blockade as this could be regarded as an act of war.

The USA instead launched the 'Berlin Airlift', sending transport planes every few minutes, day and night for over a year to bring food, medicine and coal to West Berlin. Stalin eventually backed down and the Berlin Blockade ended after 11 months on 12 May 1949. He did not do so because he was afraid of the USA's nuclear weapons but rather because he saw that his plan was not working. This was a definite ‘victory’ for the West.

In April 1949, shortly before the end of the blockade, the Western powers formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), uniting the USA, Canada, the UK, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Iceland, France, Denmark and Belgium against the USSR, with joint military action planned in the face of a possible attack by the USSR. An armed attack on one of the members would be seen as an attack on all; resulting in the countries coming to each other’s defence. Its headquarters were in Brussels. The assurance that the powerful USA would come to their defence brought the Western European countries much greater confidence and stability.

The Soviet Union only detonated its first nuclear bomb in August of 1949, after the blockade was over.

After the Berlin blockade, in August 1949, the USA and its Western allies combined their sectors and created a new state, the Federal Republic of Germany or 'West Germany'. West Germany's capitalist 'miracle economy' grew rapidly while East Germany's socialist economy lagged behind.

In September 1949 Stalin established the German Democratic Republic (GDR) or 'East Germany' as a

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new state. Berlin remained divided into East and West Berlin, deep inside the new communist German state.

In 1955 the East European satellite states formed a military pact called the Warsaw Pact in response to the inclusion of the German Federal Republic in NATO, and the fact that she could now rearm. The USSR had the right to station troops in any of the 8 member countries, thus strengthening its hold over the satellite states. (USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania)

This effectively divided the world into two huge power blocs, each fully armed and with carefully laid plans of action in case of war. These two military alliances strengthened the ideological differences and entrenched the differences. It also meant that both super powers embarked on an armed race that increasingly militarized the world at the time.

The Space Race, the Arms Race and attempts to make the world safer in the 1960sThe USA tested the world's first successful atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico on 16 July 1945. Its explosive yield was 19 kilotons (1 kiloton equals one thousand tons of dynamite), equivalent to all the bombs dropped simultaneously by over three thousand B-29 bombers. Truman told his ally Stalin about the bomb a week later. He simply informed Stalin that the USA had developed a new weapon of 'unusually destructive force'. Stalin was alarmed but did not show any emotion. When he later met with the Russian nuclear scientists, he slammed his fist on the table and shouted at them to build him an atomic bomb because the Americans had destroyed the balance of power. By 1949, with the help of spies like Karl Fuchs and Alan Nunn May, the USSR exploded its first nuclear bomb. The nuclear Arms Race had begun.

'NATO and Warsaw Pact military doctrines, which determine how each alliance builds and organises its military forces, are quite different... the Pact prefers a large number of major weapons and formations ('tooth') over training... logistics, and the command and control functions. .. (often referred to as 'tail') ... In terms of military operations, Pact doctrine tends to extol the advantages of the offence. This is fairly explicit in Soviet military writings. On the other hand ... NATO tends to a more balanced view of the relative advantages of defensive and offensive tactics... The net result... is that the Warsaw Pact generates military forces that, at first glance, look substantially more formidable than those of NATO. Although official comparisons of defense spending have consistently shown NATO outspending the Pact... the tendency in both official and unofficial balance assessments has been to highlight Pact advantages in tanks, guns, planes or divisions. The possibility that NATO's higher spending might be generating less visible, but equally important... military capability seldom receives much consideration'.

(Barry Posen, academic, 1984) [cited in Dunbabin, JPD, The Cold War. the GreatPowers and their Allies, Longman, London, 1994, p. 151]

In 1950, an important American foreign policy and security document, NSC 68 1950, predicted that the USSR would have 200 nuclear warheads by 1954 and recommended that defence spending must be massively increased. By 1953 the USA's defence budget was over 50 billion dollars, accounted for nearly 14% of the US budget. By then, the USA had about a thousand nuclear warheads. Its ally, Britain, had also exploded its first nuclear bomb and joined the Nuclear Club in 1952. The USA also exploded the much more powerful hydrogen bomb in that year.

Under President Eisenhower, however, the US spent a smaller proportion of its total budget on arms under his 'New Look' approach.

The Soviet Union began to catch up and even overtake the USA in some aspects. On 4 October 1957,

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Soviet scientists sent the first satellite into orbit, calling it 'sputnik' or 'fellow traveller'. This launched a new 'Space Race' as the USA tried to catch up. The Soviet Union also sent the first dog, 'Laika' into space on Sputnik II and on 12 April 1961, sent the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into orbit. The USSR could now place a nuclear warhead onto a rocket, which could reach the USA. This was called an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) also known as a 'strategic nuclear weapon'.

When President Kennedy took office in 1961, he was convinced that the Soviet Union had an advantage over the USA in terms of ICBMs (the 'Missile Gap') and bombers (the 'Bomber Gap'). This was not the case. If anything, the gap existed heavily in the USA's favour. By 1963 the USA had over 500 ICBMs while the USSR had less than 100. The Soviet Union invested heavily in conventional weapons and built the Warsaw Pact into a formidable force with far more tanks, pieces of artillery and soldiers in uniform compared to NATO. However, NATO's weaponry was technologically superior and its approach to war was to use nuclear weapons in the early stages rather than use conventional forces.

In the early 1960s both France and China became nuclear powers and this caused concerns about nuclear proliferation, particularly in the light of the growing tensions between the American and Soviet camps that came to a head during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 (to be discussed later in these notes). This crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction, forced the USA and the USSR to reconsider the Arms Race. Both superpowers recognised that if either launched a nuclear first strike against the other, sufficient nuclear weapons remained for a devastating counter-attack. This was known as Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD. Churchill called this the “balance of terror”.

In response to these concerns, the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed by both countries and Britain on 5 August 1963, banning all nuclear tests in the atmosphere, on land, on water and under the sea. Only underground tests were permitted and only up to a specific explosive yield. In 1967 the USA and the USSR also agreed to ban nuclear weapons in outer space and in orbit while Latin America became a nuclear-free zone. Finally, in 1968, the United Nations managed to persuade virtually all its members to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which prohibited the transfer of nuclear technology by nuclear states to non-nuclear states. South Africa, Israel, France and China were important countries that refused to sign the treaty.

In 1969, the USA and the USSR began the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I) to place a limit on the number of nuclear weapons that each side could have. These developments were small moments of sanity during an increasingly irrational Arms Race. Also in that year, the Space Race reached its climax as America beat the Soviet Union by landing the first human beings on the moon when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the moon's surface. The early 1970s seemed to mark the end of the Arms Race and Space Race as a policy of detente between the two superpowers promised a new era of peace.

The 1960s: Tensions in Eastern Europe

The Berlin WallWhy was the Berlin Wall built?With the more permanent division of Germany and Berlin, many East Germans envied the lifestyle and opportunities of their fellow Germans in West Germany who had a much higher standard of living as well as political and intellectual freedom. Their country had been stripped of raw materials and machinery, taken by the USSR as reparations. The East therefore lacked capital for growth. They emigrated through West Berlin to West Germany. Over two and a half million educated and skilled

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people left East Germany between 1948 and 1960 in a constant flow. This further weakened the East and threatened the collapse of East Germany itself.

In 1953 there were widespread strikes and revolts against the Communist control of the east. The attempts to gain human rights were quickly crushed, 170 being executed, but some Soviet demands for reparations were relaxed. In the 1950s East Germans were still able to travel freely into West Berlin despite increasing military control. From there they could travel on into West Germany. In the late 1950s an increasing number, with half under the age of 25, were going through and never coming back. The crushing of the Hungarian uprising in 1956 had confirmed for many people in Eastern Europe that it was impossible to fight the Communists. For many it seemed the only way of escaping the repression was to leave the country altogether. Some wished to leave Eastern Europe for political reasons - they hated the Communists - while many more wished to leave for economic reasons. As standards of living in Eastern Europe fell further and further behind the West, the attraction of going to live in a capitalist state was very great. The contrast was particularly great in the divided city of Berlin. Living standards were tolerable in the East, but just a few hundred meters away in West Berlin, East Germans could see one of the prize exhibits of capitalist West Germany - shops full of goods, great freedom, great wealth and great variety. It had been deliberately made so by the Western powers. They had poured massive investment into Berlin. East Germans could also watch West German television.

Those who were defecting were very often highly skilled workers or well-qualified managers. The Communist government could not afford to lose these high-quality people who up to this stage numbered about 20% of the population. The East Germany's leadership complained bitterly about the loss of skills to Nikita Khrushchev, who took over after Stalin's death in 1953. Khrushchev was unable to convince the Americans to hand over West Berlin or to even negotiate over its future. More importantly from Khrushchev's point of view, the sight of thousands of Germans fleeing Communist rule for a better life under capitalism undermined Communism in East Germany and Communism generally. It was a bad advertisement for communism.

In 1961 Berlin became the focus of the Soviet Union's latest attempt to maintain control of its east European satellites.

At two o'clock in the morning on Sunday 13 August 1961 East German soldiers erected a temporary barbed-wire barrier along the entire frontier between East and West Berlin. They ended all free movement from East to West. This caught the Americans by surprise as they anticipated another Berlin Blockade and did not expect East Berlin to cut itself off from West Berlin. The Americans failed to act and in three days a more permanent and large concrete wall went up across Berlin. Families were divided; Berliners were unable to go to work, chaos and confusion followed. Border guards kept a constant check on anyone trying to cross the wall. They had orders to shoot people for trying to defect. Hundreds were killed over the next three decades.

On the 25th August 1961, a crisis developed at Checkpoint Charlie (a crossing point in the wall) when US representatives wanting to cross over into the Soviet zone were subjected to searches. It caused outrage and led to the deployment of tanks on either side of Checkpoint Charlie. The crisis was averted after the intervention of Kennedy and Khrushchev.

Soon border guards and attack dogs appeared on the wall and over the years, electrical fence, mines, searchlights and alarms were added. The wall itself and its surrounds would be upgraded and modified over the decades to come.

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The wall not only divided Berlin. Over the following years it became a symbol of division - the division of Germany, the division of Europe, the division of Communist East and democratic West. The Communists presented the wall as being a protective shell around East Berlin. The West presented it as a prison wall. In the following decades, many hundreds of East Germans were shot trying to get across the wall to West Berlin. President Kennedy and subsequent presidents condemned the Berlin Wall.

It did however lead to some stability with both sides accepting the permanent nature of the division of Berlin.

(2015 syllabus) What was the role of China in shaping the world in the 1960s?

Introduction (NOT EXAMINABLE)1911-1949 China was in turmoil. 1912 A nationalist revolt sparked by a military mutiny overthrew the imperial Manchu dynasty. Tibet and Mongolia pulled away from the rest of China. Warlords fought each other for control of the country. The nationalist KMT (Guomindang) were challenged by a growing communist force. (The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921.) 1930s Japanese invasion China forced the rivals to work together.1946 the end of WW2 saw the civil war resume with the USA showing a clear preference for the KMT. In 1947 the Truman Doctrine formalized US support for the KMT.

In 1949, aided with Soviet weapons, the forces under Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese Communist Party, drove the KMT under Chiang Kai-Shek out of China to the island of Formosa (Taiwan). Here they established the Republic of China with the USA as defender.China in 1950 was a devastated country. She had been looted by both the Japanese and Soviet Union. Decades of war had laid waste to the country.

Significance of the creation of the People’s Republic of China 1949The declaration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) or communist China meant that, together with Eastern Europe, the USSR, North Korea and North Vietnam (a third of the Earth's surface and over a

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billion people) lived under communist rule.

This communist victory surprised and disturbed the USA, which refused to recognise communist China (Nationalist China or Taiwan held China's permanent seat on the Security Council until 1971). She feared that communism would spread through Asia. As part of her policy of containment, the US got involved in a series of wars in Asia including the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The US believed that it had a duty to stop the spread of communism wherever it saw it growing. With the creation of the People’s Republic of China, the Cold War took on global dimensions.

As early as 1950-1953, during the Korean War, Chinese troops fired upon Americans who formed the vast bulk of the UN troops fighting in Korea. In 1955, China took up a leading position in the world, attending the Afro-Asian Bandung Conference that year. China would have been even more influential if it were not for its 'Great Leap Forward' economic policy designed to modernise China, but which failed in the late 1950s, resulting in widespread famine and virtual economic collapse.

The Cultural Revolution1966-1976 (NOT EXAMINABLE)

1949 Mao was elected the first Chairman of the Peoples Republic of China. He was in fact a dictator, and China was a one-party state. No criticism of the party was allowed. Approximately 1 million warlords were executed. Their land was redistributed amongst the landless peasants. Heavy industry was nationalized, but light industry was allowed to be privately owned. It grew quickly.

He attempted to solve his country’s problems by: Improving industry, agriculture, education and health care. He was determined to improve conditions for women who had long been regarded as second

class citizens

In 1955 he decided to embark on radical transformation of his society believing his previous policies had created inequalities. He forced his individual farmers into cooperatives, controlled by party officials (which led to widespread corruption).1956-1957 was a period when free thought and expression were encouraged by the CCP. It was called The Hundred Flowers. When this led to criticism of the way the party was running China, it was stopped. Critics were ‘re-educated’ while doing hard labour.

1958 – 1961 He implemented a second five year plan that was called the Great Leap Forward (aka ‘Three bitter years’ by the people). He knew the transformation would be traumatic, and stated that “Half of China may well have to die.”This was done to:

ensure control of China remained in the hands of the workers and peasants. Solve the unemployment problems To raise more capital

The co-operatives were forced into giant communes (5 000 households). Collectivisation was implemented but unlike the Russians, they had to produce farm products as well as their own iron and steel. The policy was a spectacular failure. The steel produced in backyard furnaces was unusable, the landscape was denuded of trees and bushes to fuel the furnaces (an environmental disaster) and as agriculture had been ignored a great famine resulted. Cannibalism was widespread. The numbers of dead are estimated at between 20 and 30 million – the largest man-made famine in history.

Mao stepped down as Chairman of the PRC although he remained as Chairman of the CCP. He spent some time reading, writing and planning for his comeback. His thoughts were compiled into the ‘Little Red Book’. Millions were distributed and this helped spread the cult of Mao; the ‘Great Helmsman’.

1965 - The Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution began. Mao attempted to stamp his authority on the party and get rid of

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perceived enemies of communism; and people too influenced by Khrushchev. He mobilized frustrated youth and students (poor education and a lack of opportunity) who were urged to criticize the CP and rebel against old ideas and customs. Mao believed that an elitist class had emerged as a result of Chinese progress. He believed a new class of mandarins was developing (engineers, scientists, factory managers) and they were gaining power at his expense. Educational institutions were seen as too academic and elitist. Writers, economists and anyone who criticized Mao and anyone who was deemed to have developed a superior attitude were targeted as an enemy of the people. With massive support from the Red Guard (revolutionary units made up of the youth), China was pushed into turmoil:

Schools and colleges were closed The ‘Four Olds’ were to be destroyed (old culture, old ideas, old habits and old customs) Artwork and ancient buildings were destroyed Many of the older people were killed. Capital punishment was used in the streets. The rivals of Mao in the CCP were purged in their thousands. The economy suffered. Industrial production dropped 30% in 2 years. The Red Guard fought amongst themselves with almost ‘religious’ fervor to be right, using

Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’. Foreigners were attacked in some areas.

In 1968 Mao called on the PLA to restore order.

Zhou Enlai (China’s PM) realized the country was spiraling out of control. He urged for a return to normalcy. He called for a Programme of the Four Modernisations (agriculture, defense, industry, science and technology) – a focus on what was essential. He died in 1976, followed shortly by Mao.

In 1971, there was an attempt at overthrowing Mao which failed.

In 1978 Deng Xiaoping took power and introduced new reform policies. Finally, in 1981, the period of the Cultural Revolution was acknowledged as a ‘grave’ mistake by the Chinese government and Mao was blamed for it. However, it was stated that his positive contributions far outweighed the negative.

Chinese relations with the USSR and the USA from 1949 to 1973.

1. USSR/Chinese relations (1949-1973)

The news of the success of the communists and Mao was welcomed by the USSR in 1949. They now believed they had a major ally against the USA. This huge Soviet dominated communist power is exactly what the USA had feared. Appearances were however deceiving as there was no real harmony between the USSR and China. Stalin did not trust Mao’s ambitions. He did everything to limit his power and influence. As long as Mao did not challenge Stalin’s dominance of Comintern, Mao was welcome. China initially accepted Stalin as leader of the communist world.

What caused the Sino-Soviet split?In 1950 a Sino-Soviet Treaty was signed. The treaty gave China some important gains, and recognized the USSR as the senior partner in the communist alliance. The treaty promised that:

1 The two countries would give each other military assistance in the event of aggression by Japan or any supporter of Japan (the USA)

2 The Soviets would give the Chinese a loan of $3 billion at a very low interest rate of 1%.

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3 The USSR would return to the Chinese the naval base at Port Arthur and the South Manchurian railway line.

4 The Chinese would recognize the independence of Outer Mongolia.5 The USSR would help run services between the two countries.6 The USSR would help China exploit deposits of gas, oil and metals.

Although the two countries shared the same broad Marxist ideology, there remained an intense national and personal rivalry. Each country put its own national interests ahead of any common interest.

When Stalin died in 1953, China’s relationship with the Soviet Union at first was a good one. Khrushchev gave the Chinese economic aid on a scale more generous than Stalin. However, the relationship became strained for the reasons bulleted below. By the late 1950s, a serious rift occurred between the USSR and China, resulting in both placing troops along their common border.

Khrushchev attacked Stalin’s cult of personality in 1956 (this angered Mao on a personal level)

Mao also felt the USSR was departing from the true doctrines of Marxism-Leninism when Khrushchev denounced the economic failures of Stalin and encouraged capitalist style methods of paying higher wages for good work. He believed that the USSR was no longer fit to lead the world communist movement, and that China should assume this role.

China disagreed with Khrushchev's policy of "peaceful co-existence" with the West which had allowed the Cold War to "thaw" to some extent. Khrushchev believed that communist parties in many countries around the world would win power through the ballot box rather than violent revolution. Mao strongly disagreed and considered such thinking as "revisionism" or a softening of communism.

China had become a communist state in 1949 without any external help. She therefore regarded Russia as an ally, and an equal. Russia saw her as the junior partner in the alliance.

Mao wanted the USSR to threaten the use of nuclear weapons in order to force the USA to withdraw its support for Taiwan and the Guomintang.

Mao was angered by the emergence of a new, rich middle class in the USSR which contradicted communist principles.

Mao wanted to industrialise China very rapidly and make her economically independent, and so he abandoned the Stalinist model of five-year plans for what became known as the "Great Leap Forward", an ambitious plan to turn China into a modern state in a single generation, based on peasant communes. His plan, for example, was to create "backyard furnaces" where every peasant family would produce crude steel out of iron ore.

China favoured national liberation movements and guerrilla struggles while the Soviet Union preferred to work through workers' movements such as trade unions to promote revolutionary change.

The communist theory underpinning the two states was different:o Maoist communism - the majority of people were peasants, and Mao believed they would lead

an armed uprising. The Soviets criticised that this was not Marxist.o Marxism - socialist revolution involves the industrial working classes in a struggle against the

capitalist middle classes. Khrushchev grew increasingly frustrated with Mao Zedong. A war of words started between the

two capitals. In 1957 Khrushchev sent Soviet technicians with instructions to supply the Chinese with everything they needed to build their own atomic bomb. In 1959 Khrushchev cancelled

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these plans to help China to obtain a nuclear bomb and when border clashes occurred between India and China, the USSR sided diplomatically with India. These incidents angered Mao. By 1960 the USSR withdrew its last technicians from China while providing generous aid to India.

Many communist parties in other countries started dividing their loyalty between the two, becoming either pro-Soviet, or pro-Chinese. The USSR began to put in place a series of alliances and puppet states in an Asian collective security system, aimed at containing Chinese aggression.

In 1962, Mao supported the building of nuclear missiles on Cuba and criticized Khrushchev for backing down in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In 1963, China refused to sign the Test-Ban treaty with the USSR and USA. This deepened the rift.

Mao and Khrushchev had developed a deep dislike for each other. Khrushchev called Mao a nationalist, an adventurist and a deviationist.

This rift in the friendship between China and the USSR became known as the Sino-Soviet split. The split deepened when China developed its own nuclear bomb in 1964. With the development of the Chinese hydrogen bomb in 1967, which posed a serious threat to the USSR, relations worsened.

The Soviet Union responded by placing large numbers of troops and substantial quantities of military equipment on its border with China. Several serious border incidents or skirmishes broke out between Chinese and Soviet border guards. In 1969 fighting in a border conflict nearly brought the Soviets and Chinese into full out war. Serious fighting broke out along the Ussuri and Amur River borders.

As a result of this, each side sought to isolate the other side diplomatically. This effectively kept the communist bloc divided to the West’s relief.

The rivalry between these two powers found expression in Africa and the Middle East where both powers gave support to different parties and movements. This sustained conflicts in Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as in Mozambique and Angola. Although China did not actually fight in these conflicts, its continued support for different groups helped create instability in these regions (Zimbabwe – Zanu.)

The relationship would only improve in the 1980s, leading to Gorbachev’s visit to Beijing in 1989.

How the Sino-Soviet split shaped the world in the 1960sInstead of the USSR and China developing a strong power bloc in the East, they became embroiled in a serious battle for domination of the communist world. This split the communist world. After the Sino-Soviet split China was isolated. It had one of the largest armies in the world and became a nuclear power in 1964 but had antagonised both superpowers and was desperate for allies.

It turned to the newly independent states in Africa and Asia as well as South America to establish trade and diplomatic ties with these states. At the same time China also sponsored national liberation movements in many different parts of the world such as South-East Asia. China wanted to export its model of communism - Maoism - which is basically peasant-based rather than worker-based communism.Steps China took to expand its influence were:

China, like the USSR, also began to supply arms and economic aid to North Vietnam and encouraged its infiltration of South Vietnam in order to bring about a united Vietnam under communist rule.

China pledged funds for a guerrilla training centre in Algeria and in Ghana. In 1964, the PRC shipped arms to the Congo through Uganda and Tanzania to help one of the factions in the civil war there.

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In southern Africa, China supported a number of national liberation movements including the ComiteRevolucionario de Mocambique(COREMO) in Mozambique, the UniaoNacional Para aIndependencia Total de Angola (UNITA) in Angola, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in Zimbabwe, the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) in South Africa and the South-West African National Union (SWANU) in Namibia.

China built the Tan-Zam Freedom Railway to free landlocked Zambia from dependence upon Rhodesia. Rhodesia, under Ian Smith, was hostile to the newly independent Zambia. This railway enabled Zambia to transport its valuable copper to the port at Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. It cost China 400 million dollars, an enormous sum, which was lent to the two counties as an interest-free loan to be paid back over 25 years. Construction began in 1970 and was completed in 1975.

China had one of the largest armies in the world and became a nuclear power in 1964. It began to influence events in south-east Asia. In particular, it supplied arms and other forms of assistance to North Vietnam and the Viet Cong communist rebels in South Vietnam throughout the 1960s, helping to shape this region. The United States formed the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) in 1955 in a bid to halt Chinese influence and contain its expansion. It consisted of the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines and South Vietnam.

The Sino-Soviet split was a factor in the weakening of Khrushchev’s position and fall from power in the USSR in 1964. NOT EXAMINABLE

If the Soviet-Chinese relationship had not soured, they planned to set up a joint naval base in the Pacific. This would have tipped the control of the Cold War in the favour of communism.

2 China’s relations with the USA

Containment 1949-1969Despite the corruption and inefficiency of the Chinese nationalists, the USA had supported them. When they were defeated in 1949, the US referred to this as ‘the fall of China’. The US viewed the communist victory in China as a disaster. It meant the advance of world communism which had to be halted. Therefore the US attitude towards China from the beginning was hostile.

She refused to recognize Mao’s government as the lawful government of China, and excluded Communist China from the UN repeatedly through her power of veto on the UN Security Council.

For 20 years the USA tried to disrupt, destabilize and weaken China’s communist government. She saw the Chinese as an aggressive, expansionist power that threatened the security of its non-communist neighbours. Therefore:

The USA established an off-shore line of military alliances along China’s eastern and southern borders – with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

In Korea, the US took a more active role, supporting the south against communist North Korea. The US managed to get the UN to send in forces mainly composed of Americans against the illegal communist invasion. The US fought the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 in order to contain the spread of communism. The Chinese also fought vigorously with the North Koreans, with Mao sending in over a million poorly equipped soldiers, suffering thousands of casualties (an estimated 900 000).

The US formed SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organisation) in 1955 in a bid to halt Chinese influence and contain communism. It consisted of the US, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Phillipines and South Vietnam.

It formed the ANZUS treaty linking New Zealand, Australia and the USA. She placed military bases with large numbers of troops in Japan and South Korea. Americans were banned from travelling to China.

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Allies were discouraged from entering into diplomatic relations with the Chinese. The USA cut off trade with China and organized an international embargo of China. [embargo: a

government order restricting or prohibiting commerce with a nation] The USA pursued a ‘wedge’ strategy: by being tougher on China than the USSR, they aimed to

encourage a split between the two communist countries. They were successful in maintaining this split.

By the mid-1960s China experienced the "Cultural Revolution" which, in particular, attacked Western culture and ideas. However, by the early 1970s the climate between the USA and China began to change.

Improved relations between the USA and China 1970-1979.

As the relations with the USSR deteriorated, relations between China and the USA improved. Both powers were alarmed at Soviet aggression. The new policy of the USSR – the Brezhnev Doctrine – stated that the USSR and its allies would intervene by force if necessary to prevent any socialist state from giving up its socialist policies. This was implemented in Czechoslovakia in 1968, ending attempts to liberalise the country. By the early 1970s, however, China opened up diplomatic relations with the USA with firstly a secret meeting with Henry Kissenger (US Secretary of State) and then welcomed a visit by President Richard Nixon in 1972.

Tensions between the USA and China were eased and the USA was able to reduce the number of its troops in Southeast Asia as a result. This was known as a period of rapprochement [friendly relations]

The USA wanted to end the Vietnam War and the Chinese were looking for support against the USSR. The USA wanted China to reduce its support for the VC and persuade them to end the war.

China did not want the prospect of a possible war to her north against the USSR, while at the same time a battle raged on her southern border in Vietnam with the other super-power. Mao realized he could not confront both the USA and USSR at the same time (and there was apparent equality between the two super powers in terms of nuclear power.). He believed the USSR was the greater threat to China, so he entered into negotiations with the USA, and some accommodation between the two countries was reached.

In 1971, the US agreed that China could have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and became poised to shape the world in new ways.

China established diplomatic relations with many independent countries in Africa and established cultural contacts as well.

When Nixon visited China in 1972, it was regarded as a breakthrough in American-Chinese relations. The two leaders signed the Shanghai Communique.

On this basis, unofficial relations began to develop with trade, educational and cultural exchanges.

Within 2 years US/Chinese trade had increased 100fold.

China’s Changing Relationships with neighbouring states

The ideas that influenced her relationships with her neighbours:1 China has a hatred of foreigners, especially Europeans and Americans.2 As China was a poor peasant based country, she often allied herself with poor Third

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World countries in Asia and Africa.3 As they had become a communist country without any help, they saw themselves as

friends of the USSR, but not an equal one with the two quickly becoming enemies.4 She cut off contact with all countries except communist ones.5 Several of the minority groups of China’s 55 ‘national minorities are dissatisfied with

Chinese rule. Independence movements here have elicited international support. This impacts on Chinese foreign relations.

6 The Chinese communists attempted to consolidate all the land once held by the emperors. This expansionism has led to clashes with neighbouring Taiwan, Tibet, Vietnam and India.

https://modernworldhistoryk16.wikispaces.com/TIBET+MAPS

Tibet

Background For 1500 years the balance of power has shifted back and forth between Tibet and her neighbor

China. In 1950, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the new Chinese Republic (PRC) invaded Tibet

in order to assert China’s right to rule over Tibet. The PLA inflicted a total defeat on the small Tibetan army. China drafted a Seventeen Point Agreement incorporating Tibet as an autonomous region of

PRC. It was agreed that there would be no socialist land reform in Tibet. The spiritual and political leader, the 14th Dalai Lama and his government was forced to sign the ‘agreement’ in 1950.

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The people of Tibet’s response to Mao’s policies The ‘agreement’ was rejected in 1959 due to the actions taken by the Chinese in Tibet. After the invasion, the Chinese took a hard line against all established religions, including

Buddhism, in an effort to transform them into organs of state. After invading Tibet, the Chinese government attempted to remould Tibet’s identity, culture and

religion through intimidation and‘re-education’. This has been seen as a ‘cultural genocide’. Mao embarked on land redistribution in Tibet:

o Land belonging to the monasteries and nobility was seized and redistributed to the peasants

o This was in an effort to destroy the power base of the wealthy and Buddhists in Tibetan society.

In response, an uprising was led by the monks from June 1956 to the end of 1959. The poorly equipped Tibetans used guerrilla tactics against the Chinese.

The Chinese responded by destroying whole villages and monasteries. They also threatened the life of the Dalai Lama but did not carry out the threat.

86 000 Tibetans died in the 3 years of conflict. 1st March 1959, there was an attempted abduction of the Dalai Lama. He was considered a threat

to the Chinese plans in the region. This was publicized by the guards and the next day 300 000 Tibetans surrounded the Potala Palace to protect their leader.

The Chinese army moved its artillery into range of the major monasteries and the Dalai Lamas’ summer palace. The much smaller Tibetan army, despite intensifying its efforts, moved to secure an escape route for the Dalai Lama into India. He escaped successfully on 17 March.

Fighting in Tibet began on the 19th. In two days the Tibetans were defeated. The Chinese rounded up thousands of monks and executed many. They destroyed temples and

monasteries. All the Dalai Lamas bodyguard were executed publicly by firing squad. By 1964, 300 000 Tibetans had gone ‘missing’ – either secretly imprisoned, killed or in exile.

6 000 monastries had been destroyed by the Chinese. In punishment, the Chinese government revoked most aspects of Tibetan autonomy. They

initiated resettlement and land redistribution (mostly to Chinese farmers than to Tibetans) across Tibet. The Dalai Lama has remained in exile since then.

During the Cultural Revolution, more monasteries were destroyed and thousands of Tibetan monks and nuns were killed, or imprisoned and tortured.

In an effort to weaken the Tibetans, the Chinese since 1978 have given the majority of Tibetan government posts to Chinese people. (the Western China Development Program)

At present Tibet does not exist; not one foreign government recognizes the Tibetan government-in -exile. The Dalai Lama lives in exile in India and hopes to return to Tibet one day.

India

After Pakistan became independent from India in 1947, there was ongoing conflict between the two countries over who would control the northern region of Kashmir. India turned to the USSR for support; Pakistan to the USA. This led to tension between China and India.

India and Tibet had had close political ties over the centuries. The invasion and occupation of Tibet on the Indian border threatened an Indian ally and brought an enemy along a large portion of its border.

In 1954 China and India reached a trade agreement despite these tensions.

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When the Dalai Lama fled across the border into India in 1959, he was given protection by India and allowed to set up a government-in-exile in India, adding to the tensions with China.

The border between Tibet and India had therefore not been settled when the Chinese decided to build a highway over the disputed territory.

These border disputes resulted in a short war between India and China in October 1962. The Chinese were able to push back the unprepared Indians who suffered serious casualties and a

ceasefire was called on 21 November 1962. The Chinese withdrew having made their point. Relations continued to deteriorate over the 1960s and 1970s. Relations between China and Pakistan, India’s rival, improved as a result of the 1962 conflict.

Pakistan turned to China for a military alliance. While India and Pakistan were both capitalist countries, both allied themselves with communist

countries – breaking normal Cold War relations. The key here was ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’

Presently, relations between India and China have improved with the formation of BRICS (in 2006); an economic relationship between 5 newly advanced countries of similar economic development. By 2008 China had become India’s largest trading partner.

Vietnam

China got involved in the struggle between North and South Vietnam hoping like other powers to gain influence there.

She gave significant financial and military aid (second only to the USSR) to the North Vietnamese, but never sent her soldiers to fight there.

Relations between Vietnam and China go back 1500 years. They have rarely been good. Tensions developed between between China and Vietnam over the Vietnamese opposition to the

Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia. This extremist communist party had caused the death of between 1 and 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. In 1978 the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia ousting the Khmer Rouge government.

As the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Chinese seized control of islands in the Gulf of Tonkin to access oil resources. Vietnam moved away from China and closer to the USSR.

In 1979 the Sino-Vietnamese war was launched by the PRC as an ally of the Khmer Rouge, in an effort to consolidate power in the region. It was a failure for the Chinese who suffered significant casualties (40 000 in 2 weeks).

Through the 1980s, both sides stationed almost 500 000 troops along their mutual border. In 1991 relations normalized between China and Vietnam. This only lasted a while. China has recently attempted to take disputed islands off Vietnam in the South China Sea. She

has also built an oil rig in non-Chinese waters.

Taiwan

After fleeing the communists in 1949 to Taiwan (Formosa), the KMT leaders of the Republic of China regarded the communist Chinese government as illegitimate. They saw the mainland as rightfully theirs.

The Chinese government regarded Taiwan as a breakaway province and in an effort to consolidate their regional power has made repeated attempts to get them to return through threatening invasion.

In 1950, the USA moved its 7th Fleet into the straits between the two Chinas to protect the island against the mainland.

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In 1954-55 and 1958 two crises were caused by China bombing smaller islands offshore of Taiwan. In both cases the USA intervened and China backed off.

A state of war existed between the two until 1979. They established a fragile relationship with a diplomatic truce that is cordial. Trade, postal and

transport links were established. Between 1998 and 2008 relations soured with a move in Taiwan for formal independence from

China. Talks were held and tensions eased with the investment of billiuons by Taiwanese into China. Military tension however remains.

To what extent was China established as a super power by the time of Mao’s death in 1976? Definition of a super power: it needs to be exceptionally large in terms of land and population

and has to exercise great power in four main areas:o Military powero Economic powero Political powero Cultural influence

Mao attempted to create an economy that was self-sufficient. To this end they devised a system based on Stalinism. They collectivized the land and organized the peasants into communes. The party-state took capital from agriculture and used it to build state-owned industry; with profits being poured back into industrial development.

Industrial growth in the 1950s was rapid. The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution slowed the growth.

Women held equal status with men. Railways, roads and electricity supply had expanded significantly. By 1976, the Chinese economy was stagnant and technology lagged 20-30 years behind world

standards. The people lived in cramped conditions with poor food and clothing, few comforts and no freedoms.

In the 3 decades after 1976, China has become self-sufficient in nearly all resources and is a technological giant. This has been at massive environmental expense.

China was a strong, centralized state. It was a strong military state with nuclear capacity and 4 million available for the PLA. While she was a major power by Mao’s death, she lagged well behind the other 2 super powers.

The Chinese impact on relations with the rest of the world since Mao’s death to present. [NOT EXAMINABLE] China supported many liberation movements around the world including Peru, Angola, the Congo and Algeria. The

Chinese also supported guerrilla movements in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), South West African National Union (SWANU) in South West Africa (Namibia), National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in Angola, COREMO in Mozambique and the Pan-Africanist Congress in South Africa.

China became actively involved in guerrilla warfare in Africa when Rhodesia defied Britain and refused to negotiate with representatives of Zimbabwean political organisations like the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) under Robert Mugabe.

o China sent military aid and helped to build up ZANU's armed wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA).

o China worked with a number of African states to look for ways to impose sanctions on Rhodesia and to isolate it. Zambia, under Kenneth Kuanda, wanted to impose sanctions but as a landlocked country had to depend on a railway link that passed through Rhodesia for its imports and exports.

o In the late 1960s, China offered to build what later came to be called the Tan-Zam 'Freedom' Railway that linked landlocked Zambia's copper mines to the port of Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania. This enabled Zambia

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to bypass Ian Smith's regime in white Rhodesia. The railway was over nearly 2 000 kilometres long and cost China 400 million dollars. It enabled Zambia to free itself from pressure from Rhodesia, becoming an important base for guerrilla movements fighting for independence in Rhodesia, Mozambique and South Africa.

o This placed these countries under increasing pressure until democratic elections were held there in the decades that followed.

China helped to build a guerrilla training centre in Algeria and supplied arms to leftist guerrillas in the Congo.

It spread its influence to South America in the 1960s by supplying arms to communist groups in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia.

The Americans and Chinese established full diplomatic relations after 1979. The US had to break with Taiwan to do so.This coincided with the new ‘reform and opening’ policy implemented by the government. This saw a rapid development of trade and investment ties with the west. This also extended to cultural and academic ties. The PRC and the USA are now major trade partners. By 2011 China’s economy was second only to the USA. There are predictions that China will ultimately replace the USA as global super power.

There are unresolved issues between the countries. From the American side:1 Chinese human rights policies2 Chinese trade surpluses with the USA3 Chinese sales of missiles and nuclear technology to the Middle East and beyond.

From the Chinese side:1 Continued American sales to Taiwan2 The American global policy which enforces American interests without much

consideration of other countries.

CONTAINMENT AND BRINKMANSHIP: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS OF OCTOBER 1962

Brinkmanship is the act of pushing dangerous events to the brink (edge or verge) of disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome.

Cuba is an island about 150 kilometres from the United States that was a Spanish colony until America defeated Spain in the 1890s. America considered the Western Hemisphere its "backyard" and had strong political and economic interests in Cuba. This made her very sensitive about any foreign interference in this region.

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Cuba became an independent state but was a poor country dependent on the sale of sugar to the USA. American companies controlled over half of its economy and propped up the dictator, Batista. On 26

July 1953 Fidel Castro launched a revolution to free Cuba from Batista's oppressive regime, immorality and exploitation by American companies. In 1959 Castro was victorious and Batista fled to America. At this stage Castro was not a convinced Marxist. Although Castro's brother, Raul, was a communist and he

co-operated with the famous revolutionary Che Guevara, Castro did not openly support communism before this. He declared he was a nationalist who wanted what was best for Cubans. He did therefore

have plans to reform Cuba.

These included plans to nationalize the land. This made the revolution look communist. When he applied to the US for loans, he was refused and the US threatened to cut off its sugar

imports from Cuba. Castro nationalized the sugar industry and American oil refineries in 1960. He saw this as the

only way to put money back into the pockets of ordinary Cubans. American president Eisenhower responded by imposing sanctions (economic embargo) upon

Cuba and by refusing to buy its sugar.The American sugar quota from Cuba accounted for about 60% of Cuba's sugar sales.

In retaliation Castro then nationalised all American-owned property in Cuba. The USA ended all trade with Cubain July 1960. Castro was forced to turn to the Soviet Union which agreed to buy Cuba's sugar, provide 100

million dollars' worth of credit and send Cuba cheap crude oil and machines. The USA cut diplomatic ties with Cuba in January 1961. Castro declared that he was a communist and that he welcomed the Soviet Union as an ally. Cuba established diplomatic relations with both the Soviet Union and China. The Soviet Union supplied Cuba with arms, fearful that the USA would attempt to bring down

the only pro-communist state in Latin America, an area that the US considered to be its 'backyard'.

The Bay of Pigs fiascoA group of anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the USA planned a counterrevolution. As early as March 1960, President Eisenhower approved a CIA plan to train Cuban exiles and support an invasion of Cuba to overthrow Castro. John F Kennedy inherited this plan when he became President in January 1961 and ordered an invasion, which proved to be a disaster. He gave his approval because he did not want to be seen as "soft" against communism.

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On 15 April the USA launched a bombing attack on the Cuban Airforce in order to clear the way for their attack on the Bay of Pigs. However they failed to destroy the Cuban airforce. An angry Castro declared on that day that Cuba would from then on follow a "socialist road".

On 16 April 1960, 1 400 Cuban exiles trained by the US landed at the Bay of Pigs . They hoped this invasion would be supported by an uprising inside Cuba, but this never happened.The attack was a complete disaster being poorly organized and the invaders were easily captured by the Cuban army.

Kennedy was humiliated by what came to be known as the 'Bay of Pigs Fiasco'. Kennedy was determined to overthrow Castro and approved a CIA plan to assassinate Castro known as 'Operation Mongoose'.

Khrushchev's decision to send missiles to CubaCastro asked the USSR to supply arms to help to defend his island. Khrushchev was concerned that the USA would follow up the Bay of Pigs fiasco with another, better-organised attack on Cuba. He offered Soviet nuclear missiles to Cuba. The missiles were able to reach most American cities and would kill an estimated 100 million people if launched in less than half an hour. This was the first time the Soviet Union had based nuclear missiles outside of the USSR's borders. However, the USSR also had many long-range bombers and submarines that could launch nuclear missiles, so its ability to destroy the USA was not changed. The USA still had many more nuclear missiles than the USSR.

By June 1962, medium range offensive missiles and bombers had arrived covertly on Cuba. The Americans grew suspicious and sent U2 spy planes over Cuba, which took photographs of the missile installation sites. Experts confirmed on the 14th October that Soviet missiles were on the island and informed the president, JFK.

The Cuban Missile CrisisKennedy was advised that he had 10 days to act before the missile bases would be ready. He put US troops on alert and set up a secret National Security Council to advise him. Kennedy's military leaders wanted to launch an immediate air strike to destroy the missiles before they became operational and some wanted an invasion of Cuba. Inaction was not an option as the USA would appear weak. The missiles posed a serious threat to America and Kennedy knew that he would never be re-elected unless he acted firmly. He decided to impose a naval blockade around Cuba, putting her in quarantine, and using American battleships to search all ships heading for the island. He insisted that the Soviet Union withdraw its missiles from Cuba. He stated that any use of the missiles by Cuba anywhere in the Western Hemisphere would be seen as an attack on the USA.

This ultimatum placed Krushchev on the defensive. He stated that the only purpose of the missiles was to defend Cuba against attack. The Soviet Union objected to American 'piracy' on the High Seas (the American action was illegal under international law) and pointed out that the USA had recently placed Jupiter class nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey that could reach the Soviet Union. Khrushchev ordered the 20 Soviet ships approaching the line to defy the blockade. The American battleships fired across the bows of the first ship to cross their lines (an oil tanker) but then allowed it to proceed without being searched. The rest of the Soviet ships carrying missiles then turned back.

Khrushchev wrote a first letter to Kennedy agreeing to remove the missiles from Cuba in return for a promise never to invade Cuba.

In a second letter Khrushchev also demanded that the USA withdraw its missiles from Turkey

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which were seen as a threat to the USSR in return for the removal of the missiles from Cuba

The crisis was resolved after some secret diplomacy in which Kennedy accepted the terms of the 2 nd

letter, as long as they were not made public. Kennedy secretly promised he would withdraw the missiles from Turkey six months later. (This information has only become public after the declassification of the documents surrounding the crisis.)

'The other guy blinked', Kennedy later boasted as if this nuclear confrontation was just a game. America promised never to invade Cuba and learnt to live with a communist state within its sphere of interest in Latin America.

Consequences of the Cuban Missile CrisisThe crisis had important results for the following:

For Khrushchev: he secured an American promise not to invade Cuba and was seen as a responsible peacemaker. However, because it was he who had backed down, he was never forgiven by the Soviet armed forces and it cost him his career. In October 1964 he was forced to step down as Soviet leader.

For Kennedy: his reputation was greatly enhanced both at home and abroad. He had avoided nuclear war and forced the USSR to back down. However, the US now had a communist neighbour for the foreseeable future. He also had to withdraw the missiles from Turkey.

For Cuba: she remained a useful ally for the USSR and continued to be dependent on Soviet Aid. The ‘balance of terror’ (Churchill) of MAD had kept both sides from using the bomb. The bomb

had proven to be a greater threat to both sides than they were to each other. For international relations and the Cold War: despite the use of brinkmanship, both sides acted in

a restrained manner and avoided nuclear war. It helped thaw relations at a diplomatic level between the 2 sides – called a detente. Communications were improved and a ‘hotline’ was created between the White House and the Kremlin in order to prevent misunderstandings during a crisis. This crisis encouraged both sides to avoid confrontation in future.

It led to the 1963 Test Ban treaty (no testing above ground) and the 1968 Non-proliferation Treaty which attempted to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to countries that did not already have them.

Areas of conflict: AsiaThere are a number of reasons why Asia became a Cold War battleground.

Asia was the most populous continent and therefore a desirable market. Asia is a source of many important raw materials. Asia seemed a fertile area in which to spread communism. China and North Korea became

communist by the late 1940s and North Vietnam did so in 1954. In the early 1960s, North Vietnam began to supply arms and military training to communist rebels called the "Viet Cong" in South Vietnam who began to gain control over large parts of the countryside. Both the USSR and China sent military supplies to North Vietnam and sometimes directly to the Viet Cong.

From the USA's point of view, it appeared that they were "losing" the Cold War in Asia. US officials feared that communism would spread throughout Asia to US allies such as the Philippines and to US controlled territories such as Hawaii (which became a state during the 1950s), crossing the Pacific Ocean until it threatened the United States itself. This was known as the "Domino Theory" and helps to explain why Asia, which was located so far from the USA, became strategically important to the USA.

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VIETNAM 1954-1975 (a proxy war)

Background: an overview of the struggle against colonial powers prior to World War 11

1. Colonial Period (Not examinable background)

The Vietnamese fought against Chinese occupation for nearly a millennium. They were invaded by the Mongols three times who were defeated by the Vietnamese using guerrilla tactics. They were invaded again by the Chinese in the fifteenth century and subjected to a brutal regime where they were suppressed. They were finally freed from Chinese domination in 1802 with the help of the French. The Vietnamese then expelled the French. In 1858 the French sent an army to Vietnam and occupied the south. By 1887 France had colonised all of Vietnam, along with Laos and Cambodia, calling it French Indo-China. It was shamelessly exploited by the French. The colonial rule was very harsh and much of the traditional society and culture was destroyed. The French found Vietnam as a country of land-owning peasants. They left it in 1954 as a country of landless peasants. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, a young Vietnamese representative stood up and demanded his country’s freedom. He was ignored. This man was Ho Chi Minh (‘He who enlightens’) who together with a friend Vo Guyen Giap founded the Vietnamese Communist Party in 1930.

2 World War 11 (1939-1945)During World War II, Japan invaded and occupied the colony. The Vietnamese communist leader Nguyen Tat Thanh or Ho Chi Minh, as he was later called, started a strong anti-Japanese resistance movement called the 'Viet Minh' (the League for the independence of Vietnam) that fought against the Japanese occupation forces. He was to be the political leader, and Giap its military leader. Giap formed guerrilla bands to resist the Japanese. These bands would later become the basis of the North Vietnamese Army. The Viet Minh were aided by the USA. When Japan surrendered at the end of the warthey handed their weapons over to Viet Minh out of respect for them rather than to the French. Giap led his troops into Hanoi (capital of the north). On 2 September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh as President. The British who had occupied the south decided to hand the southern territory back to the French.

3 The French War or the First Indo-China War (1946-1954)The French wanted to re-establish their control in Indo-China and this led to war between France and the Viet-Minh for control of Vietnam. From 1946 to 1954, the Vietnamese were at war with France. From 1950 the Chinese supplied the Vietnamese. At first, the USA had not been involved, but when the Viet Minh received military aid from the newly-established communist China, the US started supporting the French effort with huge sums of money. America provided about half of France's costs. The French tried to suppress the Viet Minh but were soundly defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. It was a clear and humiliating defeat for the French.

France had suffered 90 000 casualties in all between 1945 and 1954.The whole war had cost France 1,6 trillion francs to keep a large force of 150 000 soldiers permanently stationed in Vietnam. This was twice the amount that France received from the Marshall Plan, and France's economy was lagging behind Germany and Japan. France was forced to accept this humiliating defeat and to give independence to Vietnam and to the other parts of French Indo-China (Laos and Cambodia) by the Geneva Accords of 1954.

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The Accords from the Geneva conference, which had been attended by Britain, France, the USA, the USSR and China, stated that Laos and Cambodia were given their independence. Vietnam was to be divided temporarily into two halves along the 17th Parallel, with a 5 mile wide demilitarised zone along it. North Vietnam would be temporarily ruled by communist Ho Chi Minh, and South Vietnam would temporarily have a pro-western government under Ngo Dinh Diem. This was to be the arrangement until elections were to be held in 1956. The aim was to have a united Vietnam. The French then withdrew from Vietnam and the US moved in to support the South Vietnamese.

The countrywide elections were meant to take place in 1956. They never took place because it became clear to the US and Diem that he would lose and that Vietnam would become a united country run by communist Ho Chi Minh, backed by the Viet Minh.

South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia all became independent states under America's protection through the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) Pact.

The war took place in the following stages: 1957-1965 Struggle between the South Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong 1965-1969 North-Vietnamese-USA struggle 1969-1975 USA withdrawal from Vietnam

The Vietnam War (USA); the Second Indo-China War 1965-1975 aka The American War (Vietnam)

In 1960 the National Liberation Front, consisting of many anti-government organisations was formed in the South. It was the ‘Trojan horse’ in the conflict, and formed a guerrilla movement of communists

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called the 'Viet Cong' that began a guerrilla war against the pro-west South Vietnam in 1960, and later the USA. At first they were poorly armed, but later were to gain Soviet and Chinese support. By the end of 1964 the VC were about 300 000 strong.

The civil war in Vietnam became a major Cold War conflict when the USA became involved to prevent a communist government from coming to power in South Vietnam.

Why did the USA get involved in the Vietnam War?

The USA helped the anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem set up the Republic of South Vietnam. When Diem did not hold the proposed elections, the US did not protest as they suspected that the communists would win, with Ho Chi Minh becoming leader of the whole of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh set up a communist state in North Vietnam

South VietnamDiem’s government of the south proved unpopular and repressive. The government under Ngo Dinh Diem was oppressive, tyrannical and corrupt. He was a Catholic and persecuted the Buddhist majority mercilessly. It was a police state in which 70% of the people owned only 13% of the land. He refused to introduce any reforms, especially not to help the peasants regain their land. More and more of the peasants began to support the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, the NLF, with its armed wing, the Viet Cong. This was a communist resistance group supported by North Vietnam.

Diem's government began to rely more and more on economic and military aid from the USA, including 'military advisors'.

The 'domino theory'Since 1945 the USA had been committed to stopping the spread of communism, her policy of Containment, and to win the Cold War. She was concerned that communism would spread to South Vietnam. In 1964, President Johnson committed the USA to full-scale military involvement in Vietnam. His decision to do so was based on the 'domino theory'. This theory had been invented by President Eisenhower in 1954 to describe what might happen if the free world did not stand up to communism. This theory was later accepted by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. They all believed that if the policy of containment was to work, then South Vietnam must be held against the communists of the north. Americans thought that if Vietnam became communist, then other countries in South-East Asia would fall to the communists, like a row of dominoes. So they were determined to stop that spread.

The phases of the WarJohn F. Kennedy (1961-63)

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1960: the NLF demanded a democratic national coalition government which would introduce reforms and negotiate peacefully for a united Vietnam. Diem ignored the demands.

The VC began a guerrilla campaign in South Vietnam. They received supplies, equipment and troops from North Vietnam through the route called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. North Vietnam was receiving economic and military assistance from China and the USSR. North Vietnam in turn supplied Soviet and Chinese arms to the Viet Cong through a complex network of trails called the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail', a supply route from the North skirting Laos and Cambodia. The Ho Chi Minh trail was upgraded and included roads; bridges; an anti-aircraft weapons system, barracks, workshops, hospitals, warehouses and fuel depots. By the time the US made the decision to send in troops in 1965, the VC were ready for them. This trail was crucial to the VC effort and the Americans tried to disrupt and destroy it by bombing, land mines and barbed wire.

To help support the South Vietnamese government, President Kennedy sent 3 000(16 000?) US military advisors, support personnel and supplies in 1961.

In 1962, the US began to clear vegetation on either side of highways and railways to prevent ambushes. Over time extensive stretches of South Vietnam's thick jungle were burnt to the ground using a highly toxic herbicide called 'Agent Orange'.

In the same year Americans began to group small villages together into larger 'hamlets' that could be more easily protected in what was known as the 'Strategic Hamlet Programme'. In this 'safe village' policy the peasants were moved en masse, leaving the VC isolated outside. This policy failed because most peasants were in the VC and simply carried on operating inside the village. It was also implemented too quickly and left villages unprotected. It was unpopular because it involved people being forcibly removed and placed elsewhere. Because they practiced ancestral worship they were deeply unhappy at leaving the graves of their ancestors. By 1963 it was apparent this policy was a failure. By 1964, the VC controlled 40% of the villages of the south.

The VC beat the ARVN (South Vietnamese army) at the Battle of Ap Bac in Jan 1963. As the opposition in the South to the war increased, Diem was overthrown and executed by a South Vietnamese army coup. This was welcomed by the US, and probably assisted by the CIA. Diem's successors were not much better at gaining local support.

In 1963 Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and his Vice-President Lyndon B Johnson became the new president.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-68)Johnson was determined to destroy the communist threat to South Vietnam. He believed that the war could be won quickly with a massive increase in American involvement. LBJ used two minor incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 to justify the increase. In the one, an American ship in North Vietnamese waters was attacked by a North Vietnamese torpedo boat. In August Johnson won the US Congress's support for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This gave the president the power to do whatever he felt was necessary to win the war in South Vietnam and to protect the troops there. Johnson increased the number of US troops in South Vietnam: this policy was known as escalation.

1963 15 000 military advisors1964 23 000 US servicemen in Vietnam1965 165 000

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1967 485 600 (9 377 US soldiers died; Americans began to protest strongly against the war; and 100 000 attended a peace demonstration in New York.)

1968 over 500 000 (supported by Australia and New Zealand.)

TACTICSIn this war of attrition, the USA used continual bombing, the policy of ‘search and destroy’ and technological weapons: helicopters, Agent Orange, Agent Blue and napalm. The NVA and VC used guerilla attacks, some major offensives and the Tet Offensive of 1964.

Operation Rolling ThunderIn March 1965 the Second Indo-China War began when the US airforce launched a massive bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder, to try and stop the supply of weapons from North Vietnam. The Americans dropped three times more bombs on Vietnam than the total number of bombs used against Germany and Japan during World War 11. 860 000 (8 million) tons of bombs were dropped. 52 000 civilians killed. 27 000 tons of unexploded bombs and shells are still lying around the countryside.

America claimed Operation Rolling Thunder was directed only at military and industrial targets, but many thousands of civilians were killed. It lasted for 8 years, during which 3 were intensive. It failed ultimately because Vietnam was mainly a farming country and there were not many military or industrial targets in the north. The Russians and Chinese also kept the supplies of weapons continuous.

The ‘Search and destroy policy’It was not easy to find the enemy and destroy him. It was hard to identify the enemy. It was a ‘hit and miss’ policy with atrocities like the My Lai Massacre.

The American sentiment turned against involvement in 1969 when the My Lai Massacre of March 1968 was made known:A platoon led by Lieut. W. Calley launched an assault on a village called My Lai 4. They had lost many in their unit already to enemy sniper, booby traps or mines. Believing there was a VC headquarters there, and under pressure from their superiors to raise their ‘body count’, they swept through the village, shot people and animals, raped women and bayoneted others, and destroyed crops and houses. No evidence of the VC was found. Only 3 of those killed (between 347 and 504) were known members of the VC. Survivors were lined up next to a drainage ditch and were then killed. Calley was to later stand trial for murder. 25 others were charged with related crimes. Calley received a life sentence with hard labour, but

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eventually served 3 1/2 years of house arrest. (The reason given was that Calley was a scapegoat for the whole American chain of command.) The rest were acquitted. Calley apologized 40 years later for his role in the killings.My Lai Massacre

Another important turning point was the exposure of the 'My Lai Massacre' by American newspapers. What had happened was that US marines, an elite body of American soldiers, from 'Charlie Company', led by Lieutenant William Calley, entered the village of My Lai in March 1968. The marines had been under heavy attack and a substantial number had been killed or wounded by the Viet Cong.

They were frustrated that they could not find their enemy that used 'hit-and-run' tactics and blended with the Vietnamese villagers. The US soldiers blamed the unarmed civilians of My Lai for hiding and protecting the Viet Cong and took out all of their frustrations on the village. What happened next was a war crime. Over 30O villagers, mostly old men, women and children were shot and killed. Some of the victims were praying while others were shot in the back. Old men were bayoneted to death. Some of the women and girls were raped.

Lieutenant Calley personally shot and killed about sixty Vietnamese that he lined up along a ditch so that they would fall in after he shot them and could be easily buried. He was later charged and convicted of murder. President Nixon later freed him in 1974.

Technological Weapons

Science was applied to warfare:o Helicopters were used to transport troops quickly and at short notice to the front and back again.o The coast was blockaded by the 7th Fleet, and aircraft carriers sent bombers and fighter planes to

the North.o Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant, was used to destroy the bush where the VC were hiding.

More than a million hectares were destroyed.o Agent Blue was a herbicide which was sprayed over crops to deprive the guerillas of food. Not

only did the people starve then, but the land remained infertile for many years. Napalm was used to spread fire. It burns with an intense heat, attaching itself in a thick gel to the

skin and burning through the skin to the muscle and bone. This caused much damage to the American image.

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Guerilla Attacks

Dressed like the locals, the VC attacked at random. The guerrilla 'hit-and-run' tactics proved to be effective and soon large parts of rural South Vietnam were under Viet Cong control. The key point for the success of these tactics was the support for the VC by the local peasantry who gave food, shelter, and hiding places in return for promises of land when the enemy had been defeated. Using the peasant villages as their base, the VC went out and attacked units of the South Vietnamese Army (and later American patrols). They then disappeared into the jungle and were hidden either by peasants in villages or in the underground tunnels. (The Cu Chi Tunnels). The larger size of the US soldiers meant that they could not easily pursue the VC into the tunnels. They recruited dogs and tribesmen from Laos or Cambodia to pursue the VC underground. The VC responded with decoys and traps. Only direct hits by B52 bombers could destroy the tunnels which were cleverly hidden.

Paths in the jungle and villages were booby-trapped against the Americans, using a large variety of undetectable and unpredictable methods. This wore the American morale down severely. Dogs were brought in to assist them against snipers and the booby traps. The dogs and their handlers were then

targeted by the VC.

The Tet OffensiveThe Viet Cong unleashed a massive offensive on 30 January 1968, at the start of Tet or the Vietnamese New Year, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops launched a widespread attack on nine major cities and 100 towns, and hundreds of villages, in South Vietnam, including the capital Saigon in the Tet Offensive. They captured nearly 80% of all towns and villages. It came as a total surprise as there was an agreement between North and South to observe a ceasefire during the holiday and caught the Americans completely off guard.

The US embassy in Saigon was held for 6 ½ hours in a bloody siege. In Hue – the old Imperial capital – the communists held out for 25 days. Bitter street fighting took place. Some 3 000 people who were

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believed to have cooperated with the South Vietnamese government were shot, clubbed to death or buried alive in one of the worst atrocities of the war.

Eventually the Communist attacks were defeated and the US declared a victory. The losses were high: 2 000 Americans; 4 000 South Vietnamese soldiers; 50 000 North Vietnamese and VC.

The Tet Offensive was a great propaganda victory for the Communists. Prior to this, no one in the US had thought the communists were capable of such a well-coordinated and massive attack. The Americans had been led to believe the war was being won. Many now found this hard to believe. Disillusionment and opposition began to set in. Americans were angry because they felt that the US president had lied to them. The Tet offensive played a major role in turning American public opinion against the war. Johnson suspended the bombing in 1968, but had no intention of withdrawing.

Johnson decided not to stand for re-election and Richard Nixon became the next president.

Richard M Nixon (1969-74)Despite the vastly superior resources and weapons of the US, they were unable to beat the Viet Cong. By 1968, public opinion in the US was increasingly critical of America’s involvement. In 1969, 14 000 Americans had been killed. The war was costing $200 million a month. As a result, President Nixon looked for a way of withdrawing from Vietnam without it looking like a victory for the communists. As the greatest power in the world, they were not prepared to admit defeat to a ‘forth-rate power’. The US was looking for ‘peace with honour’.

He started bringing back American troops, but at the same time promised aid to South Vietnam so that it could defend itself. His new policy was called Vietnamisation. This meant that South Vietnamese men would carry out all the fighting while America provided arms. His aim: to spend money on arming and training the ARVN to fight the Viet Cong. He also said he wanted to see the withdrawal of all US troops.

Rather than ending the war as promised in his election campaign, Nixon widened the war by bombing the Viet Cong's supply lines in Cambodia and Laos. He also restarted the heavy bombing campaign. The VC, however, remained as active as ever. The North Vietnamese invaded both countries and set up communist governments there.

Many serious riots broke out on America's university campuses and Nixon ordered the National Guard to suppress these protests. In May 1070, at Kent State University American soldiers used live ammunition and killed four unarmed, protesting American students. By 1971, anti-war protesters were disillusioned as US troops were still in South Vietnam. Massive public pressure eventually forced Nixon to withdraw from Cambodia.

Congress finally refused to vote the money needed to continue the war. In January 1973 a ceasefire was agreed upon and US troops began to withdraw. With the terms of the ceasefire, elections would take place in the South. The last US troops left Vietnam in 1973. (Nixon resigned the same year as a result of the Watergate Scandal.)

Gerald Ford (1973-1975)Almost immediately both sides started violating the ceasefire. The North launched a new offensive on the South. North Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of South Vietnam in 1975 and Saigon fell on

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30 April 1975. Saigon was immediately renamed Ho Chi Minh City. In April 1975 North and South Vietnam were reunited as a communist country.

What was the impact of the war on the people of Vietnam? The war had a devastating effect on Vietnam. It would be decades before they even began to

recover. The chemical warfare (Agent Orange) used by the Americans destroyed millions of hectares of

jungle, farmland and the animals living there. (32% of South Vietnam) It also caused horrific injuries to people caught in its path, inflicting deep burns. Agent Orange was to leave a long term imprint in the community as it has caused genetic abnormalities in babies, and cancer in adults. Napalm left people terribly injured.

Over 5 million villagers were forced to flee from their homes as a result of US efforts to find and destroy the Viet Cong.

At least 2 million Vietnamese died. Many more were injured when they got caught up in the fighting. 900 000 were NVA. Over a million civilians were injured and 430 000 South Vietnamese civilians were killed.

Most of its industries, harbours and bridges had been destroyed 18 million lost their homes. Many died in‘re-education’ camps. (those sent there supported capitalism or the Americans in

the South) Hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese fled the country to avoid punishment and in search

of a better life. Many took to the seas in open vessels – the ‘Boat People’. Many died, but thousands did find permanent homes elsewhere,

It is a source of great pride to the Vietnamese that they defeated the USA. She is proudly independent.

Why did the United States lose the Vietnam War?

Failure of political willThe US military blamed the politicians for not having the political nerve or will, and especially Johnson’s policy of gradual escalation. General Westmoreland believed that an all-out war would have succeeded. The military also blamed the media which contributed to anti-war feelings back at home.

Military failure: The military used inappropriate strategies. US troops were woefully unprepared for a new kind of war. The military failed to understand

the nature of guerrilla warfare. The initial limited, defensive role quickly changed to a 'search

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and destroy' approach (ie conventional war) The US depended on mobility and firepower to catch and destroy the enemy The VC responded with guerrilla war, the 'war of the flea', to which the US had no real

answers. Constant ambushes made the US troops nervous and desperate. The booby trap campaign inspired fear and sapped their morale.

The military campaigns failed to stop the supplies and reinforcements coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The Vietnamese were trained and led by a brilliant general – Giap–who made them into determined and outstanding soldiers. They had a clear sense of purpose and this kept them going during some bad times when hungry, homesick and under attack.

. The VC and the NVA were dedicated to their cause: the unification of their country. They were prepared to die for it.

The inexperienced raw recruits from the US struggled in the new environment. The American troops had little knowledge and even less commitment to the fight they were in. Most just wanted to finish their 'tour' of duty and return home.

The ARVN were also unwilling partners in the war and many did not believe in risking their lives for a war in which they did not believe. Most were peasant farmers who had become increasingly disillusioned. They were not pro-government and therefore not willing to lose their lives.

Failure to understand the Vietnamese context or perspective The US underestimated and ignored the powerful hold of nationalism and the utter determination

of the Vietnamese to be free of any kind of foreign rule after over a thousand years of occupation.

It was therefore not a war about communism or capitalism to the Vietnamese; these ideologies were secondary to nationalism. This was the opposite of the American perspective.

The willingness of the US to support a corrupt government in the South made the local people believe that this was an example of freedom and democracy.

The people of South Vietnam were also killed by the American use of chemical warfare, and attacks on their villages (1965 100 000 dead; 1968 300 000). They were also horrified at the damage to their country. This increasingly turned them to support the VC.

The US failed to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the local people. On the contrary, they alienated the locals, and the more ordinary Vietnamese got hurt alongside the fighters, the more the US lost support.

Lack of support for the war within the USA. The lack of support led to loss of morale and the inability to sustain the conflict. The television

war made increasing numbers question the conflict. By 1967, anti-war protests were part of the nightly news. In 1964, the American people overwhelmingly supported involvement in the war. However, it was the first television war, where nightly they were confronted by the horrors of the war. As the years passed, they began to increasingly question the war. By 1967, the anti-war protests were growing all over the country. Things then worsened when the My Lai massacre became known. 8% of the armed forces were black; 23% of those killed in 1965 were black. This added fuel to the fire of the Civil Rights Movement.

In a poll in 1990, 57% were against the war; 58% of the veterans thought it was right. Returning servicemen were not treated as heroes; but rather as killers. Many suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that was not well understood.

The memorial to the 58 132 soldiers who died (and 8 women) was finally built in 1982, based on

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donations, not state funding. This reflects the divisions in US society.

How did the Vietnam war affect the policy of containment?

This war highlighted the failure of the policy of containment. South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia all had communist governments by 1975.

What was the impact of the war on Cold War politics? The Vietnam War was a humiliating military and political defeat for the US. It took a while for

the USA to regain her confidence after the war. The strongest military power in the world had been defeated by a guerrilla army. It had failed to stop the spread of communism in Asia, and if anything had sped it up. The people

of Laos and Cambodia, angry about US bombing raids into their countries, gave their support to communism instead.

A communist group, the Khmer Rouge, came to power in Cambodia under Pol Pot. They were to carry out one of the worst acts of genocide in modern times-killing more than 2 million people between 1975 and 1979. Anyone seen as an obstacle to the revolution was killed. (The educated, the wealthy, Buddhists, doctors, teachers, and other professionals.)

Thewar was a propaganda disaster for the US government. People around the world, including in the US itself, were horrified at the tactics employed by the Americans. (eg the My Lai massacre). Several major anti-war protests took place with a full scale riot in London in 1968.

The Vietnam War highlighted the failure of the US policy of containment. The failure in Vietnam affected American policy towards the communist states. After the war,

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she tried to improve relations with China. She stopped blocking China's membership of the UNO, American presidents visited China, and formal diplomatic ties were established.

Relations between the US and USSR also improved in the 1970s. People have questioned the domino theory: Cambodia and Laos did fall to communism, but

Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Indonesia, Burma, and India all remained essentially capitalist. Many now question whether the war should have been fought; in retrospect it seems today to have been a simplistic and unproven idea. Vietnam now has good economic ties with the US and others as a communist country with private enterprise; and Cambodia and Laos have moved away from socialist economies to a great extent.

Why did the USA get involved in the Vietnam War?

The USA helped the anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem set up the Republic of South Vietnam. When Diem did not hold the proposed elections, the US did not protest as they suspected that the communists would win, with Ho Chi Minh becoming leader of the whole of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh set up a communist state in North Vietnam

South VietnamThe government under Ngo Dinh Diem was oppressive, tyrannical and corrupt. He was a Catholic and persecuted the Buddhist majority mercilessly. It was a police state in which 70% of the people owned only 13% of the land. He refused to introduce any reforms, especially not to help the peasants regain their land. More and more of the peasants began to support the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, the NLF, with its armed wing, the Viet Cong. This was a communist resistance group supported by North Vietnam.

Diem's government began to rely more and more on economic and military aid from the USA, including 'military advisors'.

At the same time, North Vietnam was receiving economic and military assistance from China and the USSR.

The 'domino theory'Since 1945 the USA had been committed to stopping the spread of communism, her policy of Containment, and to win the Cold War. She was concerned that communism would spread to South Vietnam. In 1964, President Johnson committed the USA to full-scale military involvement in Vietnam. His decision to do so was based on the 'domino theory'. This theory had been invented by President Eisenhower in 1954 to describe what might happen if the free world did not stand up to communism. This theory was later accepted by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. They all believed that if the policy of containment was to work, then South Vietnam must be held against the communists of the north. Americans thought that if Vietnam became communist, then other countries in South-East Asia would fall to the communists, like a row of dominoes. So they were determined to stop that spread. By 1968 there were over half a million US troops there, supported by Australia and New Zealand.

The phases of the WarJohn F. Kennedy (1961-63)

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1960: the NLF demanded a democratic national coalition government which would introduce reforms and negotiate peacefully for a united Vietnam. Diem ignored the demands.The VC began a guerrilla campaign in South Vietnam. They received supplies, equipment and troops from North Vietnam through the route called the Ho Chi Minh Trail.By 1964, the VC controlled 40% of the villages of the south.Kennedy restricted US involvement to advisors and military supplies. He sent about 16 000 advisors and soldiers to advise and train the South Vietnamese army, the ARVN. He also introduced the 'safe village' policy in which peasants were moved en masse, leaving the VC isolated outside. This policy failed because most peasants were in the VC and simply carried on operating inside the village.In 1963 Diem was overthrown and executed by a South Vietnamese army coup. This was welcomed by the US, and probably assisted by the CIA. Diem's successors were not much better at gaining local support.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-68)He believed that the war could be won quickly with a massive increase in American involvement. LBJ used a minor incident in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 to justify the increase. An American ship in North Vietnamese waters was attacked by a North Vietnamese torpedo boat. He used this as an excuse to ask Congress for a massive increase in the US role in Vietnam.

1964 23 000 US servicemen in Vietnam1965 165 0001967 500 000

This policy was known as escalation.

The US airforce launched a massive bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder, to try and stop the supply of weapons from North Vietnam. Towns in North Vietnam, and areas of Laos and Cambodia along the Ho Chi Minh trail were bombed. This was a trail through the jungles of South East Asia along which supplies from North Vietnam were sent to supply the Viet Cong. The Americans dropped more bombs on Vietnam than the total number of bombs used against Germany and Japan during World War 11. 860 000 tons of bombs were dropped. 52 000 civilians killed.

This did not stop the Viet Cong from unleashing a massive offensive in February in 1968, the Tet Offensive, in which they captured nearly 80% of all towns and villages. The Tet offensive also played a major role in turning American public opinion against the war. Johnson suspended the bombing in 1968, but had no intention of withdrawing.

The American sentiment also turned against involvement in 1968 when the My Lai Massacre was made known:A platoon led by Lieut. W. Calley launched an assault on a village called My Lai. Believing there was a VC headquarters there, they swept through the village, shot people and animals, raped women and bayoneted others, and destroyed crops and houses. No evidence of the VC was found. Only 3 weapons recovered. Survivors were lined up next to a drainage ditch and were then killed. Calley was to later stand trial for murder.

Richard M Nixon (1969-74)Despite the vastly superior resources and weapons of the US, they were unable to beat the Viet Cong. By 1968, public opinion in the US was increasingly critical of America’s involvement. In 1969, 14 000 Americans had been killed. The war was costing $200 million a month. As a result, President Nixon looked for a way of withdrawing from Vietnam without it looking like a victory for the communists. He

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started bringing bringing back American troops, but at the same time promised aid to South Vietnam so that it could defend itself. His new policy was called Vietnamisation. His aim: to spend money on arming and training the ARVN to fight the Viet Cong. He also wanted to see the withdrawal of all US troops.

He also restarted the heavy bombing campaign, ordering the bombing of Cambodia, and Laos as well. The VC, however, remained as active as ever. The North Vietnamese invaded both countries and set up communist governments there.

Congress finally refused to vote the money needed to continue the war. In January 1973 a ceasefire was agreed upon and US troops began to withdraw. The last troops left Vietnam in 1973. US supplies were sent to the ARVN for the next 2 years, to no avail. In April 1975, the VC captured Saigon and North and South Vietnam were reunited as a communist country.

Why did the US lose the Vietnam War?1. The nature of the war US troops were woefully unprepared for a new kind of war. The initial limited, defensive role

quickly changed to a 'search and destroy' approach (ie conventional war) The US depended on mobility and firepower to catch and destroy the enemy The VC responded with guerrilla war, the 'war of the flea', to which the US had no real answers.

Constant ambushes made the US troops nervous and desperate. The booby trap campaign inspired fear and sapped their morale.

2 Aid for the enemy The VC received aid from North Vietnam, China and Russia. After 1970, the Russian

contribution was vitally important.3 The determination of the enemy

The VC and the NVA were dedicated to their cause: the unification of their country. They were prepared to die for it. Their leadership under General Giap was brilliant. Their sense of purpose held them up when hungry, homesick and under attack.

The raw American troops had little knowledge and even less commitment to the fight they were in. Most just wanted to finish their 'tour' of duty and return home.

4 Lack of support The Americans lacked support from all quarters which added to their growing loss of morale and

inability to sustain the conflict. The ARVN were unwilling partners in the war, most being peasant farmers who had become

increasingly disillusioned. They were not pro-government and therefore not willing to lose their lives.

The people of South Vietnam were also killed by the American use of chemical warfare, and attacks on their villages (1965 100 000 dead; 1968 300 000) They were also horrified at the damage to their country. This increasingly turned them to support the VC.

In 1964, the American people overwhelmingly supported involvement in the war. However, it was the first television war, where nightly they were confronted by the horrors of the war. As the years passed, they began to increasingly question the war. By 1967, the anti-war protests were growing all over the country. Things then worsened when the My Lai massacre became known.

What was the impact of the war on Cold War politics? The Vietnam War was a humiliating military and political defeat for the US. The strongest military power in the world had been defeated by a guerrilla army.

44

It had failed to stop the spread of communism in Asia, and if anything had sped it up. The people of Laos and Cambodia , angry about US bombing raids into their countries, gave their support to communism instead.

A communist group, the Khmer Rouge, came to power in Cambodia under Pol Pot. They were to carry out one of the worst acts of genocide in modern times-killing more than 2 million people between 1975 and 1979. Anyone seen as an obstacle to the revolution was killed. (the educated, the wealthy, Buddhists, doctors, teachers, and so on.)

Thewar was a propaganda disaster for the US government. People around the world, including in the US itself, were horrified at the tactics employed by the Americans. (eg the My Lai massacre)

The Vietnam War highlighted the failure of the US policy of containment. The failure in Vietnam affected American policy towards the communist states. After the war,

she tried to improve relations with China. She stopped blocking China's membership of the UNO, American presidents visited China, and formal diplomatic ties were established.

Relations between the US and USSR also improved in the 1970s.

What was the impact of the war on the people of Vietnam? The war had a devastating effect on Vietnam. It would be decades before they even began to

recover. The chemical warfare ( such as napalm) used by the Americans destroyed millions of hectares of

jungle, farmland and the animals living there. It also caused horrific injuries to people caught in its path, inflicting deep burns.

Over 5 million villagers were forced to flee from their homes as a result of US efforts to find and destroy the Viet Cong.

Large numbers of civilians were killed or injured when they got caught up in the fighting.

ReferencesJ.Bottaro, et al, In Search of History, Oxford, 2007Pape, Friedman, et al, Making History, Heinemann, 1998Claire,Deftereos, et al, Making History 12, 2007, HeinemannDugmore,Mooney, et al, Viva History 12, 2007,VivliaFriedman, Kros et al, Focus on History 12, 2007, MMLGrove, Mamemzhe et al, Via Afrika Grade 12, 2013, Via AfrikaFernandez, McMahon et al, Focus on History Grade 12, 2013, MMLL. Mostert, Mind Action Series Grade 12, 2013, Allcopy.

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