Cold War

Cold War

I. Roots

a. Three conferences in Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam (Yalta – Stalin agreed to democratic elections, in Potsdam he recants) Yalta – occupational zones in Germany and Berlin

b. Views

i. USSR View – they felt that it was under attack (they suffered the greatest losses during the war), they were still suspicious of Operation Ark Angle. Stalin was also really pissed that UK and US didn’t start a real second front until 1944. The US and UK froze Stalin out of the A-Bomb project (he didn’t know that US had dropped the only ones they had at the time). US will terminate Lend-Lease in USSR before in UK. USSR created buffer zones “Satellite States”

ii. US View – upset that Stalin was creating spheres of influence, he wasn’t allowing elections, that he wasn’t allowing the unification of Germany. They thought that more democracy would help keep the peace in Europe.

iii. World View – Three parts. “Iron Curtain” coined by Winston Churchill

c. Adenauer and Walter Ulbricht (49-71)

II. Containment Policy – George Kennan – memo to Truman in 46 and it became official policy in 47

a. To keep USSR from disrupting the West, so contain to keep it from spreading anyplace new, but not rolling it back, solution to domino effect

b. 1947 – Truman doctrine – result of the idea of containment, 1^st concrete application of containment – Turkey and Greece were in danger of going communist so they offered them aid to prop up their economies and keep them from going communist

c. Will evolve into the Marshall Plan (Marshall former commander of Allies forces is now secretary state)à extended the Truman doctrine to ALL of Europe, not just western Europe, but Stalin forces its satellite states to refuse the aid

d. First Berlin Crisis (1948-1949)- the big one – Berlin Airlift USSR blockage Berlin

e. NATO (1949) – Stalin retaliates with the Warsaw Pact (1955), no longer under Stalin though

f. China will fall to communism in 1949 – Mao

g. USSR tested their bomb in 1949

h. Korean War – not technically war, but a UN action. While the USSR were boycotting the UN security council pushed through for troupes to go and stop the violence in Korea (Douglas McArthur pushes north Korean forces back) Chinese forces come to help

i. Truman authorizes the H-Bomb – first one in 52, Soviet in 53

i. Dulles – sec of State – new policy to replace containment under Eisenhower called Brinkmanship à pushing until you are on the very brink of war

ii. Massive Retaliation – make more bombs and if they attack us or any of our allies we will hit them with everything we’ve got and triple annihilate them

III. Soviet Union and the Easter Bloc

a. Stalin runs the USSR from the beginning of the Cold War until his death in 53, but as he got older he got crazier. He did relax some of his terror tactics because he didn’t need them anymore because they were patriotic against the Germans

i. After the war he begins to use it again and oppresses everyone, even in the satellite states

ii. During this period Stalin will be so paranoid that he will engage in a series of purges and kill as many if not more than were killed during the holocaust

iii. New 5 year plans (1/6 of all new construction during this period was done by forces labour)

iv. Satellites: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, E. Germany, Albania, Bulgaria

v. Yugoslavia – Broz *(Tito) – used a mixed economy, there was some socialization, bad dictator, but not dominated by the USSR

vi. Stalin – killed half a million Czechs, massive arrests, 200,000 Hungarians 180,000 Romanians, 80,000 Albanians killed, brutally puts down an E. German uprising in ‘53

vii. Satellite states forced to have the same economy as the USSR – except Czech because it was already heavily industrialized

1. Benes and Masaryk – wanted a social democracy that had a relationship with the USSR – removed by Stalin

viii. Dies in 1953

b. Khrushchev

i. The country is in shambles, agriculture was destroyed under Stalin

ii. 1956 – De-Stalinization

iii. 20^th Party Congress – Khrushchev takes a stand against the hardliners in the party and gives a secret anti-Stalin speech – lists his crimes

iv. Engages in a new direction à Gosplan

v. Stalin wanted to focus on heavy industry and Khrushchev wants to focus more on agriculture and consumer goods à “worker’s paradise” – communism is the way to go, not capitalism

1. Wanted to focus Africa and Asia to influence them to become communist

c. Arts in the Soviet Union – were conservative patriotic, and realistic up until this point à there is then more leeway and play

d. Dr. Zhivago – Pasternak

e. Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovisch – Solzhenitsyn

f. Poland – uprising, release of political prisoners

g. Hungary follows suit – Nagy – put in place by students

i. Nationalists start demonstrations demanding the legalization of non communist parties

ii. Hoped for help from the US, but Eisenhower said no, didn’t have the ground troupes

iii. Kadar put in place

IV. Cold War and Khrushchev - He redefines the USSR’s view of the cold war

a. He wanted peaceful coexistence with the US

b. Steps taken:

i. Independence of Austria

ii. Geneva Conference

c. Sputnik – Russians send a satellite into space – terrified the Americans à begin of the Space race – NASA created

d. Ultimatum on Berlin, told to allies to be out in 6 months, then extended it indefinitely

e. U2 – American’s best spy planes – shot one down over USSR air space Embarrassment for Eisenhower (1960)

f. Events leading to the Wall

i. People wanted to leave to the West – brain drain

ii. Cuba – it was communist, a mere 90 miles from US territory, so they created a scenario which they did not engage in, Kennedy did – Bay of Pigs

iii. Khrushchev sees this as America’s weakness, builds the wall, expects Kennedy to capitulate, but instead he started a smaller Berlin airlift

g. Cuban Missile Crisis – puts there by USSR, could get most of the US, Kennedy put US ships in a blockage of Cuba

i. Mutual agreement – missiles out of Cuba and US take missiles out of Turkey

ii. Installed the red phone

iii. This leads to the first nuclear test ban treaty in 1963 – except France, agreed not to test above ground

h. This all brings about the fall of Khrushchev, he is ousted in 1964 for his failures: The Berlin Wall (he was supposed to get it all), Cuban Missile Crisis

i. New Ruler – Brezhnev

V. Cold War and Brezhnev

a. Politburo – they turn back the clock

b. Czechoslovakia (1968) – Prague Spring – voted out their Stalinist leader and elect Dubcek

i. Socialism with a human face

ii. Crushed by USSR troupes – Brezhnev doctrine – reserved the right to intervene in any socialist country when needed

c. Ostpolitik – Willy Brandt – German Chancellor from 69-74

i. Negotiated treaties agreeing on the German borders

ii. “Two German states within one German nation”

iii. He was ousted because one of his main advisors was a Stasi spy

d. Nixon and Kissinger – adopt their own version of Real Politik – dealt with dictators to check to power in USSR – Détente (reducing tensions, playing the communists off against each other)

i. Decided t play China and USSR against each other – pays state visits to both, but China first

ii. SALT I (1972) – signed by Nixon and USSR to stop making ballistic missiles, but they really had MIRV’s

iii. Détente ends in 1980 – Carter – Russians invade Afghanistan

1. Olympic games boycott in 1980 and 1984

2. Cut grain shipments to the USSR

e. Solidarity – the rattling of the USSR starts in Poland

i. 1979 – Polish Pope

ii. Lech Walesa led the solidarity movement

iii. 1981 - general Jarazelsky – imposes martial law and outlaws solidarity

VI. Cold War and Revolutions (1980’s)

a. Change in leaders ship in the USA (Reagan, Kohl (CDU), and Thatcher)

b. The west starts confronting the USSR direct ”Star Wars Project” – shoot down USSR missiles from the sky – pushed the soviets to increase their defense spending and they didn’t have the capacity

c. Brezhnev dies

d. Three leaders later in 1985, Gorbachev becomes leader

i. Two policies – Perestroika and Glasnost

ii. He tried to reduce east-west tensions

1. Encourages reforms in Poland and Hungary

2. Takes troupes out of Afghanistan

3. Repudiated the Brezhnev doctrine

e. Reagan likes him, so he negotiates an INF Treaty in 1987 – gets rid of a class of nukes

f. George Bush – also signs an agreement which reduced nukes (US reduce by 10% and USSR by 25%)

g. Fall of the Wall

i. Promised free elections in June 1989 (Poland)- sparks freedom movements all throughout eastern Europe

ii. Hungary declare themselves free (October)

iii. Berlin wall falls in November

iv. October 1990, Kohl unifies Germany

v. Czech Republic has its own velvet revolution, declare independence in December 1989 – 1993 – split into Czech Republic and Slovakia due to ethnic differences

vi. Bulgaria – no organized reform movement – forced leader to resign, purged all the Stalinist and changed the direction of the government

vii. Romania – Ceausescu – babies in orphanages

viii. Albania – fell in 90/91

VII. Fall of the Soviet Union

a. Long Term causes – eastern Europe – massive military expenditures and lack of muscle to pull it off

i. Middle class developing and wanting reform

ii. Calls for reform caused by OPEC (oil crisis) – really bad on the inflexible Eastern European economies

iii. Nationalist resentments – people didn’t like their soviet masters

iv. “It was the economy, Stupid” – soviet economy sucked

v. Gorbachev loosens things up, but them people want even more

b. Hard liners coup failed because the military didn’t back them up

i. Yeltsin was instrumental

ii. The coup destroyed Gorby’s government

iii. Russia withdrew from the USSR and domino effect – CIS – Common wealth of independent states

VIII. Post – 1991 Challenges in Central and Eastern Europe

a. Russia struggle to convert to a capitalist economy – corruption

i. Chechnya

b. Eastern Europe – equally difficult time – no precedence for a market economy

i. Most successful was Poland

ii. Unemployment huge problem

iii. Inflation – have to buy expensive western goods

iv. Some communist governments brought back in the late 90’s

v. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic join EU in 1997, rest in 2004

IX. Nationalism since WWII

a. De-colonization - wave of it after WWII, European powers pulled back, took a while (1946/7-1960’s) – most of the European colonies are let go

i. They thought that lack of self-determination could have been a cause for war

ii. Decline in European prestige after WWI, beaten by Japan

b. Asia – India let go –GB allowed the development of the Indian National Congress à Congress Party, led by Nehru after Gandhi

i. Lord Mountbatten appointed to oversee India à breaks up into India and Pakistan

c. France tried to get Indochina back… Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam

i. Dien Bien Phu – French army surrounded in 1954

d. Arab Nationalism – loosely organized, 1917 – Balfour Declaration in GB – declared itself in favor of a Jewish Homeland – withdraws from Palestine in 1948 -UN votes for the creation of one Jewish and one Muslim state – civil war- Israel created and not recognized by Palestine

e. Africa – Arab nationalism surfaces there – Egypt nationalist revolution, GB was still in control and are kicked out by 1952

i. Nasser takes over – gets in trouble with GB and other and nationalizes the Suez canal - Israel and GB and France attack Egypt

ii. Algeria – bloody nose for France – colony wanted to remain French, civil war, becomes independent in 1962 and many French Algerians flee to France

iii. Sub-Saharan Africa – GB created commonwealth – free most colonies

iv. Continue trade

v. Cultural Imperialism

f. Eastern Europe v. Russia

i. East Germany 1953

ii. Poland 1956

iii. Hungary 1956

iv. Czechoslovakia 1968

v. Solidarity – Poland 1980’s

vi. Czech republic and Slovakia 1992

g. Fall of the USSR – 1991

i. Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania

ii. Eastern Europe – Russia, Belarus, Moldau, Ukraine

iii. Armenia

iv. Muslim SSR’s – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan

v. Yugoslavia – Tito dies, Milosevic (Serb) takes over

1. Breaks into Croatia and Slovenia

2. Bosnia Herzegovina

a. Ethnic Cleaning – moving, murder

b. NATO bombs Serbia – McDonalds rule

c. Dayton Accords – 1995

d. Kosovo – 1999 – Bombing by Nato

3. Milosevic out 2000

vi. Montenegro

h. Nationalism Western Europe

i. Germany East vs. West

ii. Britain

1. IRA

iii. France

iv. Xenophobia – illegal aliens

v. France – Algerian immigrants LePen

vi. Austria – Haider (Austrian Freedom Party)