Cold war 2 post 1953

Reading notes
- Heated up in 1949- US abandons unilateral diplomacy moved to roll back
- US percieves SSR as permanent aggressive menace
- Counter with us military presence
- Alliance system
- 1947
- Starts with rio oacr
- Us and latin america
- 1949- NATO
- Integration of military forces into unified military command
- US Strategic air command SAC
- Establishes air bases in western europe and north atlantic
- Even non nato countries
- Develop bases in japan
- Attack USSR from all directions
- Soviet reaction
- Increase army size
- Outnumbered NATO forces
- Create array of atomic weapons
- Detonates first atomic bomb 1949
- Arms race
- Ever more destructive power
- Hydrogen bomb in 52 and matched in 53
- Eisenhower decides a military policy of massive retalliation
- Any soviet attack US destroys soviets
- John Foster Dulles- US military superioriyt would back up
brinkmanship
- Press to the limit
- By 55 both possessed weapons of intercontinental range
- Could destroy an urban center
- Us maintained 4 to 1 lead in aircraft
- In 1954 US orgainzes SEATO
- Enlarges the string of SAC
- Defend nations in the middle east from “international communism”
- Lebanon
- Could bomb USSr from almost every direction
- USSR creates competing military alliance- warsaw pact
- In 1955 GErmany had been officially divided
- Living standards
- Dissatisfaction lead to riots in easy germany
- Challenges against the soviet union in poland and hungary
- US caught in a dilemma
- Wanted roll back
- Werent willing to risk full on war for eastern europe
- Distracted by suez canal
- Thaw
- Under krushchev
- Death of stalin
- Secret speech
- Criticized stalin
 - Weaken the power of his political rivals by using stalin
- Destalinization
- Wanted to improve living standards
- Change of leader in US too
- More willing to negotiate with each other
- Began to limit propaganda
- Missile races
- USSR launched sputnik
- Space race
- USSR had ICBM
- Missile age
- Warned that multipower occupation of berlin had to end
- Prompted reactions in the US
- Depressed by soviet success
- Fear of attacks
- Missile gap where the USSR was way ahead of the US
- Poured money into scientific research and education
- ties universities to military industrial complex
- Created NASA to support space exploration
- Nuclear submarines
- Wanted to base missiles in NATO countries
- Missile gap had been reversed
- US lead
- Diplomatic exchange
- Summit meetings
- He wanted to go to disneyland but he couldnt:(
- Critical of cultural differences
- Budapest 1956
- Eastern europe experiencing tension in early 1950s
- Turned communists into servants of foreign domination
- Stalinist economics policies
- Five year plans
- Social and economic costs were high
- After 1953
- Khrushchev wanted to purge stalinist regimes
- Imre Nagy became president of Hungary
- More moderate and jovial/charming than the other guy
- Liberalization
- Greater economic freedom
- Release of some political pisoners
- Secret police wasnt reformed
- Reforms encouraged by Khrushchev
- Gero who replaced Nagy was oblivious to the developing
crisis
- Took no action against planned rebellions
- The actual rebellion at budapest
- Govt lost control of budapest
- Red Army made a major error
- Tried to crush rebels with only tanks
- But couldnt get into small spaces
- Rebels used antitank weapons and molotv cocktails
 - New govt formed on oct 27 and negotiations ith soviet
representatives
- Soviet leadership divided on how to respond to events
- After a few days soviet leaders decided that they needed to
intervene to guarantee a dependable regime in budapest
- Nagy pulled out of warsaw pact as they were encircled
- Eisenhower uses American forced to ensure Britain and Frances
cooperation in the suez and ignored Hungary
- Red Army invaded Budapest and crushed city center
- Repression followed
- Eastern europe would be part of soivet sphere
- Arms Race
- Began in 1945
- US and Soviets wanted the atomic bomb
- Rushed to develop nuclear technology
- US first in 1945 then followed by soveits in 1949
- US responds be deveoping Hydrogen bomb and USSr matches in months
- Both th evictor and the defeated woulf be destryoed by the use of
these weapons
- Public anxiety
- Campaign for nuclear disarmament
- America first deploys ICBMs in 58
- USSR follows 61
- No defence against them
- Deterrence through MAD
- Equally destructive attack
- Provided some kind of stability
- No temptation for surprise attack
- Both agreed not to deploy ABMs
- If any confrontation did arise there would be mutual and total
destruction
- Number of nuclear weapons being built
- Expensive and difficult to maintin
- Greater risk of mistake
- How much was enough
- In 77 there were 11000 between them
- Rose to 30000
- MIRVs
- Overkill
- Chemical and biological weapons as well
- Cause famine or disease
- Only interested in managing instead of stopping arms race
- Limits
- But no real limits existed
- Appearances
- Most likely wouldnt escalate into real warfare
- Wars in the developing world showed a willingness to spill blood
-
Krushchev secret speech
- Could exist together
- Peacfeful coexistence
 - USSR stopped taking reparations from east germany
- Granted diplomatic recognition of greece and israel
- Challenges
- US policy of massive retaliation
- SEATO
- Domino theory
- West germany into nato
- Warsaw pact
- Hungarian uprising
- Berlin crisis
- U2 spy plane incident
- Destalinization
- Thaw in the cold war period
- Significant consequences in satallite states
- New direction in soviet leadership
- Movement towards reform and relaxation of hardline stalinist
policies
- Fear terror use of secret police
- Hope for better time will be dashed
Eisenhower
- Respected military general
- Reduce military spending on conventional forces
- New look policy
- Balance military demands with fiscal responisbility
- Built bombs so everyone would be scared of him
- Massive retaliation
- Nuclear gap
- Fear that the soviets will be drastically ahead, arms race and space
race are somewhat tied, fear that soviets have exceeded capabilities of
US
- 53 eisenhower replace trumann
- Somewhat of a desire to imporve relations
- People within the state department that dont like this
- Americans dont rlly buy in but soviets are practical
- Concerned about military spending
- Want to invest in agriculture industry and technology
- Want to improve living standards in USSR
- Both agreed that its more effective to invest in
nuclear
- Balance military with finances
- Militarily prepared with nuclear weapons
- Brinkmanship
- Bringing the other to the brink of war but not going to war
because of fear of nuclear repercussions
- Climax is the cuban missile crisis
- Brink of nuclear war is realized
- Closest the world will come to a nuclear war
- MAD- mutually assured destruction
- Detterence by having more weapons you detter the other side from
engaging in war with you
 - Highest point - the other side doesnt want to get fucked so they
dont declare war
Timeline
- 1942 beginning of the manhatten project
- Begins in 1945
- 45-53 testing atomic/hydrogen bombs
- 54- massive retaliation
- 57- USSR tests ICBM
- 58- US places ICBMs in NATO countries
- 60- nuclear submarine (US)
- 61- advice to build shelters
- 62- Cuban missile crisis brink of nucelar war

Causes of arms race

- Want advanage over the other
- Ensure safety
- Offensive and defensive sides
- Launch of sputnik leads the US to believe that theres a gap
- Desire to cut defense expenditures
- Cheaper to produce and more destructive
Effects
- Greta costs
- Financial
- Psychological fear
- environmental/social
- Urbanization- houses have bomb shelters
- Social-
- Protests and movements
- Nuclear disarmament
- Detrimental on cold war
- Costs become so great that soviets collapse?
Eisenhower speech
- Military industrial complex
- 1961
- Advertisements for new war materils
- Defense spending shouldnt be encoursges by companies
- Money making that goes into war
- In the aftermath of WWI people took companies to senate off making
money from americans dying
Hungary
- 1956 soviet tanks into budapest
- As WWII started endeing the ussr psuehd against the germans and the
hungarians welcomed them
- Communists worked with other political parties
- When free elections were held the commies didnt win
- Land redistribution policy
- Noone safe
- Turned hungary into one party state and stalinist oppression began
- Communist propaganda machine
- The grain battle
- Communists used news for propaganda
 - Warm materials were too expensive
- Forced collectivization
- Lack of food in the shops
- Problems int he countryside
- Russians took food
- Shortage of potatoes and bread
- Make hungary a country of iron and steel
- High production targets
- Stakhonovites
- Shoes fallingn apart
- Propaganda machine
- Free markets returned
- Soviets
- Khrushchev force the guy
- Limited independence
- Hoped

American Foreign policy- why we fight

- The american public is uninformed
1956
Hungary
- Series of protests and strikes against communist govt
- The hardline stalinist govt
- Fell under soviet control
- Rakosi- hardline leader since 46
- Suffering from the five year plans
- Economic challenges
- Command economy
- Directed in moscow
- Overseen by the gosplan
- Shortage of consumer goods
- Shortages in housing
- Things arent good politically or economically
- Political
- They wanted the secret police gone who was apying on poeple
- Poeple cant express ideas freely
- Does what the secret police does
- Social
- Access to goods and services
- Housing and food shortage
- Repressive regime
- Attack on the church
- Why 1956?
- Krushchev takes govt
- DE STALINIZATION
- Revolution
- A series of anti-govt strikes
- The protestors are demanding a leader of their choice
(multiparty system)
- Elimination of secret police
- Consumer goods
 - Increasing trade opportunities
- They want an end to censorship/ want free speech
- Imprvement to the economy
- Removal of the warsaw pact members
- Supported by Nagy
- Says hungary will remove itself from the warsaw pact
- Appeals to the americans
- Initially they (the USSR) supported nagy but after he
wants more independence and a multi-party system they
go in with the tanks
- However he gets killed (execution)
- Appeal to americans for help
- But theres a conflict in the suez with britain france
and israel
- They dont wanna go into war
- Especially during the thaw
- Wouldve brought an end to the honeymoon period
- Didnt benefit them
- Follow containment at this point
- Doesnt apply here
- Dont rlly care that much about them
- Poland 1956
- Polish succession crisis
- Hardliner commies, moderates, reforming communist
- Dplit on direction they should go
- Vladisaw gomulka
- Promises land refomr
- Relzation of secret police
- Relaxation of censorship
- Doesnt call fro exit of warsaw pact
- Still associated with USSR
- Reverses all his promises
- Not deemed as a threat to USSR
- Societs not willing to give up control over eastern satallite
states
- 1956 in hungary
- Movement is squished
- May 1960
- USSR shoots down the plane
- The U2 spy plane
- Flying over soviet airspace
- Americans denied they were spying
- Gary Powers
- Causes rift in relations between eisenhower and krushchev
- Shift in foreign policy
- Khrushchev is criticized for being too soft
- Kennedy replaces eisenhower
- Fear that USSR is getting tobad
- Cuban missile crisis
-
- Warsaw pact forces go into eastern ruope 13 yrs yater 68
 - Czecholslovakia
- Prague spring
-
How do poeple shape history?
- JFK
- Follows eisenhower in 60
- Eisenhower is viewed as too soft with communism
- Except he wasnt lol
- SEATO
- Moved bombers to Taiwan
- Domino theory
- VP johnson
- Serves for 2 yrs
- Kennedy vs nixon
- The New Frontier
- The space race
- The soviets won lol
- Establishment of NASA
- Construction of the berlin wall
- In Aug 61
- Physical representation of the cold wal
- Physical divide between two ideologies/ways of like
- Built by the east berlin side because too many people were
leaving
- High class/ young skilled, educated individuals
- More opportunity in the west/ wages
- Poverty
- The US is using west berlin as a window to the rest of what
theyre offering
- Things are not good in the east
- Secret police and censorship
- Despite attempts to stop people leaving theyre still
leaving
- Losing all their best people
- Preference for the wester way of life
- Cuba
- US was interveneing in Cuba before
- Plaid amendment
- Puppet state
- Economically had considerable investments in the cuban economy
- Sugar and rum
- Americans own 80% of the cuban economy
- Castro is a nationalist
- Want to get ride of colonizers
- Independence strugll
- Has support from the cuban farmers
- Happens under eisenhower first
- Stop importing cuban sugar
- Causes problems to the soviet economy
- Soviets agree to help him only if they get
-
 - The cuban missile crisis
- JFK announced that soviets were building missiles in Cuba
- Calling for the withdrawal of weapons and sites dismantled
- Closest point to nuclear war
- Communal kithens and few luxuries
- Free medicine free education
- Cuba had significance for both powers
- Castros struggle
- Castro was bad for the americans
- Cuba were seen as soviet brothers
- Thought the americans were just trying tofind a new reason for
aggression
- Trade deals had lead to arm deals
- Worried about the use of cuba as a soviet bse
- Intercept missiles
- Force krushchev to resolution
- All the russian media insists there werent missiles in Cuba but the
west insistedthey did
- The americans had missile in turkey
- Mutual fear and suspiscion
- Brink of war
- American bombers were flying 24 hour missions
- the blockade
- American navy vs soviet ships carrying military cargo
- Panic buyig
- Fear of nucler war
- What is going to happen
- Russians werent super scared
- Didnt know what kind of war it would be
THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
- October 1962 ends october 28
- Main actors
- America
- Cuba
- Soviets
- New approach to foreign policy measures
- Quid pro quo
- Both gain something from the other to reach a conclusion
- Under eisenhower and krushchev it was peaceful coexistence and
thaw
- Use of things like the CIA and covert operations
- Bay of pigs
- April 1961
- CIA trying to overthrow castro
- Gained power in 59
- Align himself with soviet sphere
- Originally an eisenhower plan
- Kennedy
- Failed lol
- Thought that the world had become too soft onthe commies
 - Fear that soviets pulling ahead in the space race
- U2 spy plane
- Discovered bases to house
- Mutually assured destruction
- Nuclear brinkmanship
- Desire to confron the other sides ideology
- Climax of the cold war
- Causes
- Intervene because
- They were making money
- Tied to cuba since 1898 with economic reasons
- Us business interests
- Own a lot
- Monroe doctrine says western hemisphere
- Close geographically
- They have military bases in the region
- Had had gvts that were friendly with america
- Good neighbour policy
- Spread of ideologies globally
- Doesnt want commies in their own backyard
- Cuban revolution
- Castro promising safety and land reform
- America owns 90% of oil ad most industry
- Former govt not helping people at all
- Conduct guerilla warfare
- Seen as a piberator
- Using propaganda
- Keeping the message alive of what they need to do to tke
back their nation
- US not providing Bautistas army
- Loses middle and upper class
- Gaining popularity from the people
- Marches into Havana as leader of the government
- However dont have money or resources
- US Blockades
- Refusing to buy up stuff
- Go to the soviets for a series of negotiations with
trade deals and resources
- Soviets purchase cuban sugar
- In 1961 kennedy tried to topple castro
- Failure
- Significance
- American weakness andembarressment
- Brings castro closer to soviet
Video
- When castro comes to power he nationalized cuban industry
- Threat to american business interests
- Wanted to overthrow castro
- 6 years earlier designed by the CIA
- Killing castro would strengthen foreign policy
- Wanted to appear that he wasnt soft on communism
 - Limited us air support for the mission
- Chose more remote landing site fr the invasion
- 1511 exiles
- April 1961
- castro s army was not surprised
- US didnt send military support
- Foreign policy failures
- Underlying premise that ordinary cubans would help wasnt right
- Recognize the potential for failure
- Operation bumpy road
- Failed because
- Didnt recognize what the people wanted
- Objectives different from the objectives of the region they were
intervening in
- Badly organized and managed
- Didnt have american military intervention and refused to
intervene
Missile crisis
- Soviets introduced missiles into cuba aimed into the US
- Significance
-
- What happens
- American spy plane sees soviet missile bases being constructed
- The weapons hadnt arrived there yet
- Orders a naval blockade to cuba so the missiles wont arrive
- Other options
- Invade cuba
- Airstrike cuba/bomb
- Nothing
- blockade/quarantine
- Settled peacefully
- Through diplomatic means
- Negotiated behind closed doors- quid pro quo
- If Sviets removed from cuba theyd remove from turkey
- Done in secret
-

Reading #2
- Major changes in asia involving vietnam
- Impact on us economy and politics
- Vietnam was the striking failure of the us containment policy
- Timeline
- 1946- fighting begins between france and the viet minh
- 1949- france grants limited independence to vietnam- bao dai
- 1950- ho chi minh is recognized as the legitimate ruler of
vietnam by the ussr and china
- 1954- Us decides to increase aid to france in war against the
viet minh, however the french were defeated
 - 1954- the geneve accords- vietname is temporarily divided up
along the 17th parallel
- 1954- US sets up SEATO, Taiwan straits crisis
- 1956- south vietnam- backed by the US- refuses to hold
unification elections
- 1958- viet cong set up in south vietnam and begins a guerrilla
war against the govt
- 1958- second taiwan crisis
- 1959- soviet technicians withdraw from china
- 1959- sino-indian border dispute
- 1960- NLF set up and receives aid from north vietnam
- 1961- kennedy becomes president
- 1963- Diem murdered after CIA coup, kennedy assaassinated and
replaced by johnson
- 1964- gulf of tonkin incident, tonkin gulf resolution
- 1965- Star of operation thunder, first US troops sent to south
vientam
- 1965- 180000 US troops sent to south vietnam
- 1968- Tet offensive
- 1968- My Lai Massacre, peace negotiations start in paris
- 1968- Johnson announces temporary halt to the bombing of norht
vietnam
- 1945- the US was against france returning to indo-china
- War broke out between communists and french in 1946.
- After other developments in asia, the US decided to give aid to
the french to contain communism- seemed to be a threat in asia
and they were influenced by the domino theory
- In 1954- the vienna conference
- Seemed to show agreements for korea and vietnam but then the
french were defeated badly at Dien Bien Phu
- Geneva accors
- Temporary division of vietnam
- North and south along 17th parallel
- Unification elections to be hed in 56
- US set up military mission and economic and military
aid to the south
- The US-south refused to hold elections because they thought he commies
would win
- In 58 the viet cond began a guerrilla war against the south govt
- In 60 the national liberation front was founded to include
everyone against the south
- The Us increased military aid tot the south
- Helped south army overthrow Ngo Dinh Diem in 63
- Refused to send regular combat troops
- When johnson took over he committed Us troops
- Gulf of tonkin incident 64
- Us congress passed the tonkin gulf resolution
- Bombing of north vietnam
- Sent regular us troops to the south
- US involvement escalted under johnson
- Anti-war protests
- Since 1947
- US policy had been based on truman doctrine
- After 49 it was based on domino theory
- Truman was prepared to make military stand on defensice perimeter
- US policy wanted to fund anti-communist forces
- Particularyly vietnam
- Seen as vital to blocking communism and access to the rice
growing areas
- Outbreak of korean war
- Turning point
- NSC 68 proposals
- Economies of the west couldnt afford to lose more
population territory and resources to communism
- John Foster dulles
- Truman decided to increase aid to french
- US was soon providing 1 bil per year to the vietnam war
- Indo china had been part of french empire before WWII but during the
war the region was taken by japan. After the war the french wanted to
go back and regain their southeast asian colonies
- However there was strong opposition from the viet minh
- Vietminh- led by ho chi minh
- Had liberated much of the country from japan before
45 and was led by commie/nationalist mvt
- At the end of the war the announced the formation of
the democratic republic of vietnam
- The US had wanted these countries to be independent originally so they
could have allies so they pressured france to withdraw
- But once truman assumed presidency they hardened
- In 46 fighting broke out and there was a long guerrilla war first
against the french then against the US
- Later the US halped france stay in indochina to stop the spread of
communism
- In 49 the vietnamese were offered limited independence under the french
appointed Bao Dai, but this was rejected by Viet Minh
- In 50 Ho Chi Minh was recognized as the official leader
- After this the US decided that HCM was action on instructions
from moscow and started sending military aid to the french to
help defeat the viet minh
- In 52 when eisenhower came in he brought in a new foreign policy
- Still saw HCM as an “instrument of international communism”
- Believed in domino theory
- Saw the loss of indochina as crucial to us interests in asia
- By 53 policy shifted to maintaining nuclear superiority
- Force concessions from USSR and china by fear
- However, the french are afcing significant resistance from the
viet minh
- At first eisenhower continued helping the french
- However the US didnt want to get involved in another korean war
situation and send in troops because that was unpopular with the
public
- Also didnt want to provoke the chinese
- In 54
- Defeat of the french in battle of Dien Bien Phu
- Eisenhower ruled out use of US troops because congress said
so and britian didnt wanna join
- DBP fell on may 7 1954 and ended french colonial rule of
indochina
- After DBP the french withdraw from vietnam but US and USSR/China want
to negotiate end to the conflict
- USSR wanted HCM to accept division which was finally agreed upon at the
geneva accords in 54
- US refused to aign the accords but agreed to not break them
through force
- All parties believed viet minh would win unification elections
- US started training South Vietnamese army and propped up south vietnam
as a block to communism
- By 55 most french troops had withdrawn and US removed french Bao Dai
and replaced him with Ngo Dinh Diem to be a new head of state
- Catholic and US educated
- Announced that National unification elections not held
- USA wanted to create a legit state in South vietnam to prevent
communism
- Moved to make SEATO- anticommunist treaty
- In defiace of the geneva accords
- NDDs rule because corrupt and repressive and he lost
support
- Continued to alienate most of the population because of social and
political reforms
- Tended to only appoint catholics when most of the country was
buddhist
- In 63 there were massive buddhist demonstrations which were fired
on by police
- Kennedy approved napalm and agent orange and rejected sending in combat
troops but authorised the CIA to assist a coup against NDD
- Tnesions in indo-china
- Create NATO type alliance
- SEATO- control communism in a now key area
- Member countries would interve where there was a threat of
communism taking over
- Supposed to be only when communist forces were clearly dominant
and first action would be taken by air, no intervention was
supposed to happen without approval from senate
- Soviet response was to give suppoort to the non aligned movement
- Mao didnt like the formation of SEATO
- Thought theyd try to separate taiwan and so the shelled some
offshore islands
- In 55 china started shelling the tachen islands reulting in the
taiwan straits crisis
- US military recommended use of nuclear weapons
- The taiwan resolution said that the president could take whatever
military action he deemed necessary to which China responded that
China would only use peaceful means to regain taiwan
- In 58 China resumed shelling islands and Dulles declared a
Chinese invasion of Taiwan
- US threatens the use of nuclear weapons
- Ceasefire arranged
-