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Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor
Marked the introduction of America to the Second World War -
Causes of the Cold War
America:
• The richest country
• A democracy with elections and an elected president.
• Freedom of speech
• Followed capitalism
• Wanted reconstruction of Germany
• Had the atomic bomb. The Soviet Union:
• The largest country.
• Led by a dictator and electors could only vote for the Communist Party.
• State control
• Followed Communism
• Wanted to destroy Germany
• Had the largest army -
Period: to
Cold War
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Yalta Conference
•Leaders of Great Britain, United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation controlled by the Allied military forces.
•Germany would also have to pay for the losses in the Soviet Union.
•Stalin also agrees to join the war against Japan as long as other European nations followed a policy friendly to Russia. -
US Containment and the Truman Doctrine
• President Truman adopted a foreign policy called containment that was directed at blocking Soviet influence and stopping the expansion of communism.
• Helped weaker countries by forming alliances and resisting Soviet advances. • The Truman Doctrine was the support for countries that rejected communism.
• Many did not like the doctrine because it interfered with foreign affairs. Others thought that the US could not go and fight against communism. -
US Containment, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan
The US acted this way because president Truman did not want communism to spread to the rest of the world, so they helped anyone who chose democracy. He did not want the Soviet Union taking control of other, weaker countries and install a communist system, so he took action in steps to stop Stalin. -
The Marshall Plan
• The US Secretary of State proposed a plan that would give European countries supplies, machinery, money, and other materials to rebuild after the war.
• Congress debated the $12.5 billion plan when the Soviets seized control in Czechoslovakia. The plan was put immediately into effect and it was a success.
• Communist Yugoslavia received aid after it broke away from the Soviet Union too. -
US, Franec, and Britain Withdraw Troops From Germany
The US acted this way because the government wanted to reconstruct Germany and form a democracy. It wanted to help Germany because even though the government thought that Germany had struggled, Germany tried to do what was right. The Soviet Union acted the way they did because they wanted to see Germany destroyed after the damaged it had caused to the Soviet Union during World Wars I and II. The Soviet Union wanted reparations to pay for the damages in towns and lives lost. -
US, France, and Britain Withdraw Troops From Germany
•The Soviets respond by holding West Berlin hostage
•Highway travel, water and rail traffic were cut off to West Berlin because Stalin took a chance that the Allies would either give up West Berlin or give up their idea of reuniting Germany.
•American and British officials flew food and supplies into West Berlin for 11 months until the Soviets admitted defeat and lifted the blockade in May of 1949. -
Iron Curtain and the Split of Germany
• The Soviet's troops held a strip of countries along the Soviet border. These were regarded as a necessary buffer by Stalin, who ignored the Yalta agreement.
• Stalin installed Communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia.
• Stalin's Iron Curtain, the phrase Winston Churchill used to describe divided Europe, split East and West Germany. -
NATO and the Warsaw Pact
• Ten Western countries joined the US and Canada in 1949 at the height of the Berlin Blockade and formed a defensive military alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO. • The Soviet Union saw NATO as a threat and formed its own alliance with East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania in 1955 called the Warsaw Pact. • Not every country joined the alliances though; some chose to remained non-aligned, such as China and India. -
NATO and the Warsaw Pact
The US formed NATO because they wanted to have some backup in case the Soviet Union attacked the United States or any other member country during the Berlin Blockade. The Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact because they felt threatened by the formation of NATO. The Soviets wanted to make sure that America did attack to end the blockade, they wanted to have allies as well. -
Mao Zedong Siezes Power in China
• The Nationalists received over 2 billion in aid from the US and outnumbered Mao's army three to one. But the tide was beginning to turn on the Nationalists.
• With little popular support, the Nationalists faced a collapsing economy and the desertion of troops to the Communists.
• Using guerilla warfare, Mao Zedong and his Red Army took most of the major cities in China.
• The remaining Nationalist fled to Taiwan.
• Mao Zedong proclaimed it is the People's Republic of China and takes power. -
Threat of Nuclear War
• In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its own atomic weapon and President Truman was determined to develop a more deadly weapon before the Soviets did.
• Thermonuclear work was authorized in 1950.
• The United States created the H-bomb which was a thousand times more powerful than the A-bomb.
• The H-bomb was tested by the US in 1952 and by the Soviet Union in 1953.
• The United States strengthened its air force and began producing stockpiles nuclear weapons. The Soviets followed suit. -
Threat of Nuclear War
The US began creating and stockpiling weapons because the government was afraid that the Soviet Union would create a more destructible bomb first and drop it on America first. The president was determined to respond with a larger bomb if the time ever arose. The Soviet Union began creating and stockpiling weapons because they did not want have very few weapons if the US did decide to attack to break the blockade. The Soviet Union also made these bombs in case of political unrest in a buffer -
North Korea Launches a Surprise Attack on South Korea
Invaded past the 38th Parallel, the border between North and South Korea which lay at 38˚ north latitude. The start of the Korean War. -
Period: to
Korean War
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North Korean Control
• Most of the Korean peninsula was controlled by the North Koreans except for a small area around Pusan.
• That month, General Douglas MacArthur lead the United States, Great Britain, and 15 other nations in a surprise attack.
• The forces in Pusan met up with the forces that landed in Inchon. About half of the North Koreans surrendered and the rest retreated. -
The Fighting Continues
• UN forces pushed the North Koreans to the Yalu River at the Chinese border.
• Feeling threatened, the Chinese came to North Korea's aid, pushing the UN forces back past the 38th Parallel, capturing the capital, Seoul.
• Over the next two years, the UN fought to drive the Chinese forces back and regain control of South Korea.
• In July 1953, The UN and North Korea signed a cease-fire, ending the war. The border between the Koreas was set near the original 38th Parallel. -
Korean War
The US acted the way it did because they were trying to rid the world of communism, starting in North Korea. Taking sides with the non-communist South Koreans reflected on Truman’s idea that communism should be put to an end everywhere. -
The Great Leap Forward
The First Five Year Plan
• This plan called for even larger collective farms. By the end of 1958, there were about 26,000 farms.
• Living in the commune was strict, peasants worked together, ate in communal dining rooms, slept in communal dormitories, and raised children in communal nurseries.
• The people owned nothing and had no incentive to work hard when only the the state profited from the labor.
• This program ended when crop failures in 1961 caused a famine and 20 million deaths. -
Berlin Wall is Built
Divided East Germany and West Germany. Created to stop East Germans from escaping into West Germany after the split because of the harsh conditions in East Germany. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
• Soviet leader NIkita Khrushchev began building 42 missile launching sights in Cuba.
• US President John F. Kennedy demanded that the missile be removed when an American spy plane discovered them in October.
• The US declared a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent the Soviets from installing more missiles.
• Many people thought this demand from Kennedy would result in nuclear war, but Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles so long as the US would not invade Cuba. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The US acted the way they did because they did not want missile launching stations so close to home from their enemy’s country. The Soviet Union acted the way it did because it wanted to have close contact with the US if they wanted to send missiles to the United States in retaliation or in battle strategy. -
Cultural Revolution
• High school and college students responded to Mao's speech, "learn revolution by making revolution".
• Militia units of these students were called the Red Guards. They caused widespread chaos, destroying the non-Maoist way of life. • Intellectual and artistic creativity were considered useless and dangerous. The Red Guards targeted anyone who resisted their regime. Thousands were executed or imprisoned.
• By 1968, Mao said the Cultural Revolution had to end and the Red Guards shut down. -
Berlin Wall Destroyed
• New East German leader Egon Krenz gambled that allowing people to leave East Germany would restore stability to East Germany
• The Berlin Wall was opened on November 9, 1989.
• Egon Krenz's gamble to stabilize the city failed.
• By the end of 1989, the East German Communist Party ceased to exist.
• Germany officially reunited on October 3, 1990. -
August Coup
•The conservatives who opposed the reform demanded the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet president. Hundreds of tanks rolled into Moscow.
• Protesters gathered at the Parliament building where Boris Yeltsin climbed up on one of the tanks.
• The conservatives ordered the troops to attack the parliament building on August 20th, but they refused and the military withdrew a day later. -
Soviet Union Collapses For Good
• The August Coup sparked anger against the Communist Party that would ultimately end it.
• Latvia and Estonia declared independence and 13 other republics soon followed.
• Yeltsin met with the leaders of other republics and agreed to form the Commonwealth of Independent States which was a loose federation of former Soviet territories.
• On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president of a country that no longer existed, the Soviet Union.
