Cold War (1945-1990): Origin,

Evolution; Arms Race;

 Defining the Cold War
• The conflict that existed between the United States and Soviet Union
from 1945 to 1991.
• State of continuous tension/ permanent hostility
• “cold” because the two sides never went to war directly with each other.
• No “hot” wars between the two superpowers
• Both wanted to fill the power vacuum created by the end of WW II
• But several wars were fought between Communists (supported by the
USSR) and anti-Communists (supported by US)
• The superpowers competed for power and influence by using their
political, economic, and military clout throughout the world
• Both sides felt their national survival was at stake
• The term was popularised by Walter Lippman, an American journalist in
1947
 Significance of the Cold War
• Shaped the post-World War II era
• Brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction
(1000s of nuclear weapons were built--Cuban
missile crisis 1961)
• Was the direct cause of wars in Korea and Vietnam
• Led to the scientific great advancements, especially
in space (USSR launched first satellite Sputnik in
1957; Yuri Gagarin; Armstrong landed on moon)
• Star wars-Reagan
 A bit of history
• The USSR was created in 1922.
• It consisted of Russia and 14 other large
Republics
• spanned 11 time zones
• the world’s largest nation
• After Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin took
control and created a totalitarian regime
 Causes for US-USSR tensions
• Ideological: Capitalism and democracy
vs Communism and dictatorship
• US felt Communism
– discouraged hard work and promoted laziness
– took away personal freedom and individuality
– opposed to religion and promoted revolution
– The USSR was a brutal dictatorship
 Reasons for USSR’s hostility to the US
• USSR thought they had won WW II
– Lost the most lives (around 25 million)
– Wanted to gain land as prize
– Saw U.S. as threat
• Stalin wanted security because of the high
prize it paid in WW II.
• Believing that the West was a threat to any
Communist nation, he sought a “buffer zone.”
• This meant control of Eastern Europe
 2. Trust deficit
• Each felt that the other was out to weaken
them. When disagreement arose, both sides
assumed the worst.
• For example: The Soviets remembered the
attempt by US forces to overthrow the
Communist Government during their civil war.
• The US felt that Stalin had broken promises
about free elections in Eastern Europe after
World War II.
 3. Competition for Power
• The US and USSR emerged from World
War II as the most powerful nations in the
world.
• Both wanted to create a “new world order”
that would protect their interests.
• Often, the 2 sides would disagree on what
that should be. This produced conflict.
 4. History
• Following Russian revolution in 1917, Communists led by Lenin took over
• Civil War from 1918-1921.
• Communists or Red Russians (also called Bolsheviks) vs anti-Communist
White Russians
• A number of nations sent troops to the aid of the White Russians,
including the USA.
• The Communists won the war and firmly established the Communist
dictatorship
• The US did not establish relations with the USSR until 1933
• Us and allies did not start a second front in Europe to ease pressure on
the Eastern front until the D day landing in France in 1944 though
Roosevelt had promised to do so in 1942.
• Details about the Manhattan Project (1941) was shared with Britain and
Canada, but not with the USSR-Stalin saw this as a lack of trust
 Significant events---Yalta Agreement
(February 1945)
• The “Big 3” Meet at Yalta
• The USSR agrees to enter the war in the Pacific
against Japan, getting in return land lost in the
1904-05 war.
• The leaders agreed to require Germany’s
unconditional surrender and to set up in the
conquered nation four zones of occupation to be run
by their three countries and France
• Stalin demands control of Eastern Europe but
makes vague promises to allow free elections in the
future.
• By 1946, Stalin had declared that there would
be no lasting peace with capitalism. At this
time, he controlled Eastern Europe and refused
to hold elections in Poland.
• Truman took a tough approach to dealings with
Stalin (Britain, France, Italy and Germany-
giving parts of Czechoslovakia to Germany-
appeasement)
• (The Non-aggression Pact Between Hitler And
Stalin In 1939. Molotov-Ribbentrop pact)
 Kennan’s Telegram-1946
• Early in 1946, Soviet expert George
Kennan sent a 16-page telegram from
Moscow to Washington. “The sources of
Soviet Conduct”/article X
• He argued that the Soviets were fanatical
and that the US must act firmly to
CONTAIN Soviet aggression and influence.
• Containment became the overall US policy
toward the USSR.
 1946: Iron Curtain Speech
• British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech at a small
college in Missouri in which he warned of growing Soviet Power.
• “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie
all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern
Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade,
Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations
around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are
subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to
a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control
from Moscow.”
• Some consider this speech a declaration of Cold War pitting East
vs. West.
 1947: Truman Doctrine
• In the Spring of 1947, it looked as though Communist
forces would overthrow the governments of Greece and
Turkey [CIVIL WARS’].
• Truman asked Congress for aid to prevent this from
happening. This became known as the Truman
Doctrine.
• Gave $4OO million to support Greece and Turkey.
Became the foundation of American foreign policy during
the Cold War
• “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to
support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by
armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
 1947: Marshall Plan
• Convinced that all of Europe was susceptible to Communism
because of the economies were in shambles, the US pledged
a massive aid program totaling $17 Billion-food, blankets, fuel
• Stalin was offered the Marshall aid, but turned it down and forced
other Eastern European countries to do the same. Saw the
Marshall Aid as an attempt to create an American economic
empire in eastern Europe
• It worked: Western Europe Recovered and Communism did
not take root.
• As past of the containment policy, US refused to trade or aid
countries in order to punish them
• USSR responded with the Molotov Plan
 1948: Berlin Airlift

• Germany had been split in half. Berlin had also

been split, but was in East Germany. The West
refused to give up West Berlin.
• Stalin tried to force surrender by blockading
West Berlin.
• The West refused to give up and airlifted
supplies to West Berlin for almost a year.
• In may 1949-USSR lifted the blockade
• The Soviets built the Berlin wall to keep people
from escaping to the American sector
Improve your knowledge
• The Russians took very high casualties to
capture Berlin in May 1945. They spent the
early occupation trying to take over all
zones of the city but were stopped by
German democrats such as Willy Brandt
and Konrad Adenauer. Reluctantly the
Russians had to admit the Americans,
French and British to their respective
zones.
The Berlin Wall
 1949: NATO Formed
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization consisting of the US,
Canada, and Western Europe becomes the first peace-time
alliance in US history.
• Nations pledged support to each other if attacked by
communism-collective security-to keep Russians out, Germans
down and Americans in
• SEATO in 1945- Stop the spread of communism in
Southeast Asia, following Korean War
• The USSR counters with the Warsaw Pact in 1955.
• NSC 68: Top-secret report suggests that the USSR is bent
on “World domination” and that the US should quadruple
its defense spending. The US follows this policy
 1949: Year of Fear
• Communist win civil war in China
• Soviets explode first atomic bomb (US gets
Hydrogen bomb in 1952 followed by the USSR
in 1953)
Domino Theory-Communism spreads like a disease
 1950-1953 Korean War
• June, 1950—North Korea (communist)
invades South Korea, crossing the 38th
parallel (non-communist)
• The United States sponsored a resolution in the
UN Security Council calling for military action
against North Korea.
• China enters the war; Soviet Union supplies arms
to North Korea
• Armistice in 1953-38th parallel remains the border
 Warsaw Pact-1955
• Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East
Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the
Soviet Union, which was signed in Poland in 1955
• 1955: The Baghdad Pact formed (Britain and Iraq and
later Iran and Pakistan). After 1959 it was known as
the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) when Iraq
withdrew from the Baghdad Pact.
• Hungarian (1956) and Czechoslovakian (1968)
anti-communist revolts forcefully repressed by
USSR
 Gautemala 1951
• The United States viewed Latin America and the
Caribbean as its backyard. Its aim was to exclude
communism from the Western hemisphere
• 1951: Jacobo Arbenz elected president in Guatemala
• Started land reform by seizing unused land owned by the
US United Fruit Company
• Eisenhower saw it as the prelude to a communist reform
programme and authorized a CIA plan to overthrow
Arbenz
• The CIA supplied the anti-communist Castillo Armas with
funds, mercenaries and the base in Honduras
• In June 1954, Armas invaded Guatemala supplied with
two planes flown by US pilots and Arbenz fled to Mexico
 Iran 1953
• The Iranian military, with the support and financial assistance
of the United States government, overthrew the government
of PM Mohammed Mosaddeq and reinstated the Shah of Iran,
Mohammed Reza Pahlevi.
• Thought Iran would move into Soviet orbit
• [Wanted to nationalize oil fields and attacked British oil
companies
• Nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company half owned by
Britain
• Britain and the US then led a boycott of Iranian oil on the
world market. Communist and anti communist demonstrations
were orchestrated. Mossaddeq quit and was arrested)
 Vietnam War-1960s-1973
• US supported France in its colonial war in Vietnam in spite of the fact that one of
Roosevelt’s aims for the post-war era had been decolonization.
• Americans were afraid that withdraw of the French from Vietnam would swell the
rising tide of communism in Asia
• 1954: The French defeated at the Dien Bien Phu by Vietminh (the communist forces
of Ho Chi Minh)
• Negotiations opened and the Geneva Accords concluded (in 1954)
• Vietnam temporarily divided along 17th parallel and provisions made for national
elections to unify the country within two years
• 1956: Eisenhower decided that South-Vietnam would not participate in the
nationwide elections agreed at Geneva
• In the late 1950s: “Vietcong” and the National Liberation front established. Began
to conduct guerrilla warfare against the government of South-Vietnam
• Through the Kennedy years, US troops trained S. Vietnamese troops to fight
the Reds.
• Under LBJ, US troops started to fight more.
• 1973-US troops leave
 Poland 1956
• Khrushchev’s speech at 20th Party Congress
denouncing "crimes of the Stalin era”
• Inspired demands for reform from satellite countries
• In June a revolt against Soviet influence erupted in
Poland, and it was defeated by Poland's communist
controlled army.
• But gained some concessions from Moscow.
• Got control over economy, but remained part of
Warsaw Pact
 Hungary 1956
• Part of the Soviet bloc from 1945
• Khruschev-destalinisation-Protests
• In October 1956, students and workers took to the streets of Budapest and issued
their Sixteen Points which included personal freedom, more food, the removal of the
secret police, the removal of Russian control etc.
• Poland had already been granted rights in 1956 which had been gained by street
protests and displays of rebellion.
• Imre Nagy, a critic of Stalin, was appointed PM and Janos Kadar foreign minister
• Nagy broadcast that Hungary would withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and announced
elections. This was pushing the Russians too far and Kadar left the government in
disgust and established a rival government in eastern Hungary which was supported
by Soviet tanks. On November 4th, Soviet tanks went into Budapest to restore order
• Nagy was executed, Kadar became the leader and Soviet rule re-established
• Similarly, Czechoslovakia 1968
 Cuban Missile Crisis-1962
• Castro comes to power in 1959 and initiated a
programme of land distribution and confiscated US
assets.
• Bay of Pigs: The CIA trained and funded an invasion
of communist Cuba. The invasion failed.
• A U2 spy plane found Missile silos in Cuba, 1962.
• The Soviets removed the missiles in Cuba.
• In exchange, USA pledged to not invade Cuba
again. And to remove missiles in Turkey
• A direct phone line was set up between Kennedy
and Khrushchev’s offices to bypass other channels.
 Afghanistan
• As one of its bordering neighbors, the Soviet Union had a long history of supporting and providing
aid to Afghanistan.
• On April 27, 1978 a Soviet supported communist government took over the country. Many Afghans
did not like the new communist government, primarily because many of the laws went against
their Muslim religion. They began to rebel against the current government. The rebels called
themselves the Mujahideen.
• In September of 1979, when Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin had the current president killed and
took control of the communist government.
• On December 24, 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. They had President Amin put to
death and installed their own leader, President Babrak Karmal. Njaibullah took over from him.

• The Soviet Afghanistan War was fought between Afghanistan rebels called the Mujahideen and the
Soviet supported Afghanistan government. The United States supported the Afghanistan rebels in
order to try and overthrow the communist government and to prevent the spread of communism.

• All these are examples of “proxy wars”

The Berlin Wall is torn down-1989
• Triggered by flood of refugees flowing east
to west through Hungary
• Wall came down Nov. 1989; Germany
began reunification process
 Fall of the USSR
• Stalin’s successors
– Nikita Khrushchev 1956-1964 – hard line
communist
– Leonid Brezhnev 1964-1982
• Practiced a policy of détente (lessening of
tensions) with the U.S.
• Characterized by
– Arms control talks
– Cultural exchanges
– Trade agreements
 Détente Between the US and USSR (1968-79)

Time Track

Year Event
1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty signed

1969 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks began

1971 Communist China admitted to the United Nations

1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 1) signed

1975 Helsinki Agreement signed- Together they recognized existing boundaries and agreed to observe human
rights
Joint American-Soviet space mission

1979 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 2) signed

USSR invaded Afghanistan; Détente ended

 Reasons for Detente
• The USSR-PRC split in the 1960s-ideological-sino-India war-no aid for its nuclear
programme
– Both therefore wanted better relations with the US
• The US table-tennis representatives visited China in 1971; Kissinger in 1971
• The membership of China in the United Nations was resumed in 1971
• US President Nixon visited Mao Zedong in China in 1972
• Full diplomatic relations were established in 1979
• US defeat in the Vietnam War forced it to adopt a policy of non commitment
• Fear of nuclear war. So decided to hold arms limitation talks
• Burden of military expenditure
• High costs of the arms race affected their development
• Both the US and USSR wanted to use its own resources to develop its
home economy and to solve the problems of home poverty
• Detente ended in 1979 with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan-Second
Cold War began
• The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1963
• The Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed in 1968
• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT Talks) were held in
1969-72
• Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 1) were signed in
1972
• Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 2) were signed in
1979
Mikhail Gorbachev
1. Glasnost-openness to democracy/ debate government
policy
2. Perestroika-reshaping of economy
3. Economic movements
4. Freedom Movements
led to
1. Formation of Commonwealth of Independent States
2. Loss of role as superpower
3. End of Cold War
4. Economic Hardship
5. Minority Revolts and ethnic conflicts
• 1989- Poland breaks away from Soviet Union
– Solidarity- movement that called for economic and political
change led by Lech Walesa
• September 12, 1990: A treaty signed where the Soviets accepted
German reunification as well as its membership in NATO
• October 3, 1990: The Federal Republic of Germany absorbed East
Germany
July 1, 1991: The Warsaw Pact formally dissolved
• Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania left USSR 1991
• USSR dissolved in Dec. 1991
• Commonwealth of Independent States, led by Russia
under Boris Yeltsin
• Economic, religious, and crime problems
 Why did Cold War end?
• While most scholars agree that the Cold War ended when the
leaders of the Soviet Union decided it was no longer worth fighting,
the reason for the shift in Soviet policies are still in dispute.
• Two theories:
• 1. some scholars claim that the Soviets shifted to less
confrontational policies in response to the US military build-up and
political offensive. In this view, US actions under Reagan raised the
costs of confrontation and forced the Soviets into a corner from
which there was no escape save for surrender
• 2. Others argue that the new generation of Soviet leaders that
emerged in the 1980s had already concluded that the policies of
their predecessors had been counterproductive and that continued
conflict threatened their goal of overcoming the disastrous legacy of
Stalinism, reforming their economy, democratizing their policies,
and revitalizing their society. So, US actions did not cause the
changes in Soviet domestic and foreign policies