The Cold War progressed from the 1943 Tehran Conference between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Key events included the establishment of opposing spheres of influence in post-war Europe, the Marshall Plan and formation of NATO, the Berlin Blockade and airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis, escalation of arms race, Vietnam War, and Gorbachev's reforms of perestroika and glasnost leading to the collapse of Soviet control over Eastern Europe and end of the USSR. Throughout this period, the US and USSR established rival military alliances and faced off over the spread of communism around the world.

1. The Progression of the Cold War
1943-1990

2. Opposing Ideologies

3. Teheran Conference
●
Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill
●
November 1943
●
Plan D-Day

4. Moscow Conference 1944
●
Stalin & Churchill
●
Make divisions of occupied Europe
●
Soviets in E.Europe but agree to give
sovereignty to nations

5. Yalta – Feb. 1945
●
Create UN – San Francisco conference
planned
●
4 occupation zones will be made in
Germany
●
US wants help in Pacific after defeating
Nazis
●
Free-elections guaranteed for all of Europe

6. Potsdam Conference – July 1945
●
Stalin, Churchill, Truman
●
Soviets are not shy about creating Comm.
gov'ts in E Europe
●
US refuses to give $6 billion to USSR
●
“communist conspiracy” as seen by US

7. Post-War Europe

8. Post War Status of the Soviet
Union
●
Continued industrialization (and its
problems); many women worked (40%)
●
Scarcity of consumer goods
●
Anti-Western policies (i.e. Censorship)
●
Anti-intellectual
●
Strict one-party system; secret police
●
Continued gulags and executions until '53

9. Post War Status of Western
Europe
●
Economic recovery thanks to the USA
●
Decolonization of Africa, India, SE Asia
− France had to be coerced into giving up
colonies in Africa
− By 1962 all former colonies have independence
− Former colonies become known as “third world”

10. Post War Status of Eastern
Europe
●
1948-53 these countries are “Stalinized”
●
5 Year Plans put into place for industry
●
Secret police forces
●
Strict (forced) loyalty to Soviets
●
Collectivization of agriculture
− No private farms
− State-controlled production of goods

11. Post War Status of Eastern
Europe
●
1946 – Czech resists bringing communists
to power
●
1948 – Soviets send troops to Czech and
dissolves non-communist parties
− Klement Gottwald is the comm. President now
●
1958 – Yugoslavia is communist under Tito,
but refuses to “stalinize”; stays allied to
USSR but independent
●
Red Army ensured loyalty and dependence

12. Tito and Gottwald

13. Superpowers Face Off 1945-49

14. The Iron Curtain

15. Superpowers Face Off 1945-49
●
Pro-Soviet regimes installed in Hungary,
Poland, Romania, Bulgaria as “buffers”
●
Truman Doctrine (1947) gives $400 mill to
help free Greece & Turkey from Communist
forces
− Sets a precedent for any country “threatened”
by Communism
− Prevents “domino effect” of communism

16. Superpowers Face Off 1945-49
●
Marshall Plan (1947)
●
$13 billion given for European rebuilding
●
Economic turmoil=communist expansion?
●
Soviets saw this as economic bribery of
small, weak European nations
●
E. Europe & USSR refuse to participate
●
See political cartoon on p. 849

17. Superpowers Face Off 1945-49
●
Blockade of Berlin in 1948 prompts
“containment of communism” to be a formal
U.S. Foreign policy
●
Soviets prevent France, Britain & US from
entering W. Berlin to try to keep a
democratic West Germany from forming
●
13,000 tons of supplies were flown into
Berlin
●
Neither side is ready to have WWIII!

18. Superpowers Face Off 1945-49
●
Communists (Mao Zedong) take over China
in 1949
●
USSR detonates atomic bomb in 1949
●
Arms race escalates!
●
Extensive arsenal of nukes was only
supposed to scare the enemy...not really to
be used!

19. Superpowers Face Off 1945-49

20. Superpowers Face Off 1945-49
●
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
is formed in 1949 as an anti-communism
military alliance
●
COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic
Assistance) is formed in 1949 as an anti-
west military alliance
− Turns into the formal Warsaw Pact in 1955
●
Two big alliance camps...sound familiar??

21. Korean War 1950-53
●
Following liberation from Japan in 1945,
North Korea is supported by USSR
●
South Korea is supported by USA
●
38th parallel divides the two halves
●
June 1950 N. Korea invades S. Korea
●
UN (under Gen. MacArthur) attempts to
unify Korea under a non-communist regime

22. Korean War 1950-53

23. Korean War 1950-53
●
Forces march north past the 38th parallel
●
Communist Chinese join in and drive the
UN forces south
●
BLOODBATHS!
●
Armistice signed in 1953; Communism is
contained to N. Korea
●
USSR seen as the ones that sent China into
Korea (they didn't really)

24. Korean War 1950-53

25. Developments 1953-1959
●
President Eisenhower adopts “massive
retaliation” policy
− US will strike will all nukes in the event of a
Soviet attack on Europe
●
CENTO (Central Treaty Org) allies US with
Middle East
●
SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Org) allies
US with SE Asia (duh)
●
US has 42 allied nations!

26. Developments 1953-1959
●
1953 Stalin dies – Kruschev takes over
− He's not a Stalin fan!
●
1956 Soviets overthrow Hungarian revolt
●
1957 Soviets launch Sputnik I - 1st satellite
− Now the US freaks out and makes all kids take
math and science!!! :) (Blame the
communists!)
●
1959 Fidel Castro overthrows dictator
Bautista in CUBA; supported by Soviets

27. Sputnik I

28. Here's Fidel!

29. Cuba's Only 90 Miles from
Florida!

30. Cuban Missile Crisis
●
1961 – CIA attempts to assassinate Castro
●
1962 – USSR sends nukes to Cuba (just in
case)
●
President Kennedy threatens to invade
Cuba if nukes arrive
●
Kruschev threatens to use nukes if the US
invades Cuba
●
BTW...the US already has nukes in Turkey!

31. Turkey is very close to USSR

32. Cuban Missile Crisis
●
Kennedy orders a blockade of Cuba
●
Discussions between him and Kruschev
ensue
●
USSR agreed to stop the ships; US agrees
not to invade Cuba and overturn
communism
●
Nuclear War was avoided...but it was very
tense (ask someone who can remember
1962!)

33. War Preparation!

34. Post - Cuban Missile Crisis
●
1963 a hotline is installed between
Washington and Moscow (the Red button)
●
1964 – Kruschev forced from power for
being too “soft” and for lessening the
privileges of party officials
●
1964 – Leonid Brezhnev assumes the
leadership role (against reform)
●
1968 – reforms in Czech are crushed by
Red Army (no “human face” for
communism)

35. Alexander Dubcek's “Prague
Spring”
●
Reforms are given
in Czech
●
Poland and
Hungary begin
stirring for reforms
●
USSR won't let this
“spring fever”
spread

36. Castro, Kruschev, Brezhnev

37. Vietnam War 1963-75
●
1954 – French rulers overthrown
●
N. Vietnam is Soviet supported
− Nationalist Ho Chih Minh
●
S. Vietnam is US supported
− Autocratic Ngo Dinh Diem
− Corrupt; hated by people
●
1963 - Kennedy supports a military coup in
hopes of resisting communist guerillas
(Vietcong).

38. Vietnam

39. Vietnam War 1963-75
●
1964 – much communist support in S.
Vietnam because of weak military regime
●
1964 – President Johnson sends many US
troops to Vietnam to defeat Vietcong
●
Goal: Keep Asia from falling to
communism!
●
Guerilla warfare no match for US war tech.
●
First TV war in the West = antiwar
sentiment

40. Vietnam War 1963-75

41. Vietnam War 1963-75
●
Mounting US losses over a 10 year period
●
1973 – President Nixon talks w/N. Vietnam
●
Troops begin to be withdrawn
●
1975 – Communists capture Saigon in S.
Vietnam
●
Communism rules Vietnam, but it doesn't
turn out to be as catastrophic as once
believed.

43. Soviet/US Detente 1972-1990
●
1972 – Antiballistic Missiles Treaty
●
1972 – Nixon opens economic relations with
China
●
1975 – Helsinki Agreements – US officially
recognizes postwar E European borders
●
1979 – SETBACK! - Soviets invade
Afghanistan to spread communism
●
1980 – embargo on US grain to USSR
●
1980 – US doesn't go to Moscow Olympics

44. Life in Soviet Union 1972-1990
●
Poor economy
●
Dependent on western grain exports
●
High rate of alcoholism (vodka)
●
Inefficient bureaucracy
●
No incentives for collective farmers
●
Party rewards
●
Corruption and the KGB (secret police)
●
Great space program; bad earth technology

45. Soviet/US Detente 1972-1990
●
1982 – President Reagan calls the USSR
an “evil empire”
●
US missile production and defense system
are increased
●
Arms race is renewed
●
1983 – 11 year olds (like me) truly believed
there could be a nuclear war!
− “Don't push the red button!!!”
− The Day After

46. Star Wars!

47. Soviet/US Detente 1972-1990
●
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the communist
leader of USSR in 1985
●
He wants arms limitations
●
Both US and USSR realize that their military
budgets are too high and the economy is
affected
●
Gorbachev allows autonomy in E. Europe
●
Many E. European countries overthrow
communism (E. Germany in Oct. 1990)

48. Gorbachev

49. Perestroika under Gorbachev
●
“restructuring” of the Soviet Union 1985
●
Market economy encouraged
●
Private property OK
●
Conservative party members feared rapid
change
●
Radicals thought it was too little
●
“glastnost” = openness (free speech)
− Leads to nationalist movements and the end of
the USSR by 1990!

50. Perestroika under Gorbachev
●
Boris Yeltsin becomes the 1st president of
the Russian Republic
●
Gorbachev kidnapped by conservatives in
1991
●
Attempted coup fails and the Soviet Union
ceases to exist
●
Former Soviet republics gain full
independence
●
Ethnic problems continue (ex. Chechnya)

51. 1990s Europe

52. The Berlin Wall