Modern History HSC Course - The Cold War Notes

International Studies in Peace and Conflict: The Cold War 1945-1991

Origins of the Cold War 1945-1953
1945 conferences and the emergence of the superpowers	Yalta - Occurred from February 4 to 11, 1945 Attendees were the “Grand Alliance” (USSR, UK, US) The focus of this conference was to establish voting procedures and membership rules for the UN, to decide the fate of Poland, to determine the treatment of Germany and Austria, to focus on Soviet participation against Japan, as well as talks of a second Western Front. At this time, the USSR was desperately needed for aid and support in the war against Japan, and so both Churchill and Roosevelt were willing to offer the USSR control on Eastern and Central Europe. Potsdam - Occurred from July 17 to August 2, 1945 Attendees were the “Big Three” The focus of this conference was to negotiate the terms for the end of World War II. The agreements of these conferences were: allied control council to look over Germany occupation zones, Germany would become 1 economic unit, and the 21 Protocols. The disagreements are as follows: USSR demanded $10 billion reparations from Germany, Poles would not hand back land on the Oder-Neisse Line to Germany, instead they would look to Soviets to protect their borders in the west, disagreements on Polish self-determination, and no agreement on USSR control over straits or any military bases on the Black Sea.
Emerging differences between the superpowers	Where this was displayed: The Potsdam and Yalta conferences The Iron Curtain speech and subsequently, Stalin’s response to this The Truman Doctrine The Marshall Plan The Berlin Blockade China becoming communist The Korean War
The Truman Doctrine and its consequences	The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were the turning point between the US and Soviet relations, and resulted in the end of friendly relations between the East and West. Truman publicly stated, “... the world has been divided between two ways of life: the free and the unfree” The Marshall Plan was detrimental to relations between the USSR and USA, as the USSR did not trust the US; weakness Europe became more firmly divided between East and West. Stalin prevented Eastern European countries from becoming involved. He accused the US of using the plan for their own selfish interests – to dominate Europe and help the American economy. USSR was concerned about the threat of being placed in a bloc They feared that the possibilities of world revolution would completely die out, For the first time in US history, the nation’s peacetime vital interests were extended far outside of the Western Hemisphere to include Europe and, indeed, much of the world. According to Truman, it is “the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
Impact of the early crises: the Berlin blockade and airlift, China becoming communist in 1949 and the Korean War	Berlin Blockade [1948-49] - Airlifts by West = Soviets: saw West as throwing money at problem (capitalism) → embarrassing for Soviets West: Positive as West Berlin were given aid & they forced end of Blockade → saw it as Soviet expansionism IMPACT = NATO created (West) Stalin responds by creating Warsaw Pact China Becoming Communist [1949] - Mao Zedong = Communism was the result of ongoing Civil War (Soviets virtually had no impact on China becoming communist) Natural alliance between China and USSR West: spread of communism Saw this as the result of USSR spreading communism Korean War [1950-53] - Civil War North & South divided at 38th Parallel (West) South ⇒ Leader: Syn Gnan Rhee Democratic leader (USSR) North ⇒ Leader: Kim Il Sung Autocratic leader (was groomed by Stalin) Was educated in Stalinist ways Asked Stalin for permission to invade Korea They both had wanted to unify Korea Communist China agree to provide aid/soldiers because they see US as threat to communism USSR and China form an alliance Provides aid but only after China provides aid first USA was in direct combat during this war The flights coming in and out of the USSR were the only form of almost-combat between USSR and USA No one wins → 38th parallel remains today The first place where fire is shot and casualties emerge as a result of war in the Cold War
Development of the Cold War to 1968
Policy of containment, domino theory and the emerge of peaceful co-existence	Containment - US policy to stop the spread of Communism USA were under the perception that all communist uprisings were the result of Soviet influence Under Truman, the policy of isolation in foreign affairs changed Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan were ways to contain communism within Europe US success in response to the Berlin Blockade was an example of success in containing communism Some historians believe that the overall success of the US in the Cold War because of their long-term policy of containment Issues with containment Presidents needed to dramatise Soviet threat in order to justify spending Propaganda had to be self-sustaining Supporting anti-communist regimes (but regimes that may be corrupt or dictatorial) Build up of armed forces during peace time The Domino Theory - Spread of communism in Indochina and Southeast Asia US President Eisenhower suggested: “You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly.” Became the rationale for their containment policy Peaceful Co-existence - Began with the death of Stalin in 1953 Peaceful co-existence took place in the 1950s and 1960s Khrushchev attempted to de-Stalinize the USSR Soviet Policies 1956 Khrushchev made a speech to the Twentieth Party Congress in which he criticises the excesses of Stalin’s rule and spoke of the possibility of ‘peaceful co-existence’ Khrushchev's approach is to avoid confrontation but to compete in every other way because he felt that the USSR was free to compete for influence in countries that were not yet part of either system Peaceful co-existence did not amount to allowing any greater freedoms to nations in Eastern Europe under Soviet domination American Policies Eisenhower, and is Foreign Secretary, John Foster Dulles, adopted the rhetoric of the need for the “rollback” of communism and the possibility of threatening “massive retaliation” with America’s nuclear arsenal
Superpower rivalry; the arms race and space race	Key Events of the Arms Race - The US atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945) The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb (1949) Both the US and USSR have developed the hydrogen bomb (1955) Soviet development of the SS-33 (mid 1950s) Development of ICBMs (1957) US development of the Minuteman missile (late 1950s) US development of the Polaris submarine (1960) Soviet development of SLBMs (1968) Both the US and the Soviets have ABM capacity (1972) The Soviets have developed MIRVs (1975) Key Events of the Space Race - First artificial satellite = Sputnik 1 = October 1957 First US satellite = Explorer 1 = 1958 First man in space = Yuri Gagarin = April 1961 First American into space = Alan Shepard = 1961 First American to orbit earth = John Glenn = 1962 First woman in space = Valentina Tereshkova = 1963 First man to walk in space = Alexai Leonov = 1965 First manned craft to orbit the moon = Apollo 8 = 1968 First moon landing = Apollo 11 = 1969 First orbital space station = Salyut 1 = 1971 First US space station = Skylab = 1973
Nature and impact of crises; Berlin Wall 1961, Cuba 1962, Czechoslovakia 1968	Berlin Wall 1961 - Nature: The Berlin Wall ‘came down’ in November 1989 For 28 years it stood as the most enduring symbol of the Cold War and the division of Europe For decades Berlin was the centre of east-west espionage, the setting of John Le Carre novels and the place where the Americans and the Soviets exchanged their spies For post-Cold War generations, it is difficult to grasp the potency of ‘the wall’ as a symbol On Khrushchev’s orders, at 1 am on 13 August 1961, 50,000 East German police surrounded West Berlin and contractors began building a barbed-wire fence, cutting through Berlin between the Eastern and Western zones The 2.5 million inhabitants of West Berlin were now cut off from East Berlin The construction of the wall transformed the Cold War Impact: To the west it epitomised the bankruptcy of communism East Germany was in a worse condition than other East European countries prior to the Berlin Wall → “... Nobody has the intention to build a wall,.”, within two months the city had been permanently divided Kennedy was criticised at the time for allowing the wall to go up Kennedy’s concerned was not East Berlin, but West Berlin and the access routes to it across East Germany On the plus side for the west, the wall was a massive propaganda gift West Berlin was to be developed as a showcase for western liberty and economic prosperity Between 1961 and 1989, over eighty people died trying to escape East Berlin Many ingenious methods were attempted to escape, yet few prevailed Cuba 1962 - Nature: In April 1961, a CIA-backed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs was launched to remove Castro. It was a disaster. Kennedy had inherited the plan from Eisenhower but refused to involve the US directly by providing air cover for the rebels. Kennedy’s reputation suffered dramatically because of this failure. Subsequently, Cuba moved more closely to the Soviet Union economically, ideologically and militarily. May = USA begins to implement CIA’s “Operation Mongoose” to destabilise Castro’s hold on power; Soviets begin planning “Operation Anadyr” to stabilise Castro’s hold on power → economic and military assistance In August and September 1962, the Soviet Union placed SAM missiles, Ilyushin bombers and thousands of Soviet technicians in Cuba In October 1962, American U2 spy planes discovered evidence of these installations. 27 October = The US guarantees that it will not invade Cuba and that it will remove its missiles from Turkey. 28 October = The Soviets agree to dismantle their missile pads in Cuba. The crisis is officially over. Impact: In October 1962 the world was taken to the brink of nuclear war. American U2 planes detected the build up of missile bases in Cuba. The Soviet Union had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Kennedy’s immediate political situation improved dramatically He was hailed as a far-sighted statesman The Kennedy legend was off and running long before his assassination. Khrushchev’s political fortunes went into reverse Though his esteem rose in the west, inside the Soviet Union he was increasingly being seen as reckless His failure over Cuba, Berlin, Sino-Soviet relations and agriculture, culminated in his overthrow in October 1964 when was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. Cuba was removed as a source of tension The US-Soviet agreement meant there would be no more Bay of Pigs invasions However, this did not stop US presence on Cuba (still present in 2010). The bizarre attempts to murder Castro continued. Kennedy’s determination over Cuba meant that any future Soviet pressure on Berlin was unlikely. The major irony of the Cuban Missile Crisis was that it made possible a major improvement in US-Soviet relations. The Soviet achievement of nuclear parity was a key factor that made possible détente. It brought home to both sides the dangers of nuclear confrontation. In June 1963, Kennedy stated: “... Let us reexamine our attitude to the Soviet Union. The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the divine energies of free nations and free men.” In 1963, a “hot line” was established between Washington and Moscow which it was hoped could in the future prevent crises getting out of control by allowing leaders to communicate directly. A Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed by the US, the Soviet Union and Britain which forbade future nuclear testing in the atmosphere. In 1963, the US sold $250 m worth of wheat to the Soviet Union

c. Madison F