History Notes (Cold War)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) -> started to stop communist

influence
-> started in January 1949

NATO members -> USA

-> Canada
-> Norway
-> Denmark
-> UK
-> France
-> Italy
-> Turkey
-> Greece
-> Netherlands
-> Belgium
Cold War -> War between ideologies, Capitalism (US) vs Communism
(USSR)
-> Consists of a series of proxy wars (no direct conflict as
both countries had nukes)

USSR -> developed its own Atomic bomb (August 1949)

-> created the bomb from stolen US documents
(2 countries having the bomb was a good thing as there was a power balance since
both were scared if retaliation)

Berlin Blockade -> West Berlin -> not given food, electricity (1948)
-> solved by Berlin Airlift (West sent aid to
West Berlin with planes)
Truman Doctrine -> establishment by President Truman of the USA
-> Political, military, economic assistance would be given
to any democratic under threat of an external force

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North Korea (China, USSR backed) -> invaded South Korea (US backed)
(On orders of Stalin)
This event -> known as the Korean War
-> Ended officially in 1953 (No borders changed)

Stalin -> died in 1952

Warsaw Pact -> Pact created to rival NATO (1955)

-> consisted of -> East Germany
-> Czechoslovakia
-> Hungary
-> Romania
-> Bulgaria

Sputnik -> 1st satellite launched in space (1957)

-> How space race begun

(The Soviets fell behind as they did not have as much missiles as they said they
did)

John F Kennedy -> elected as president of USA (1960)

Cuba -> had communist revolution which succeeded

-> successfully deflected an invasion by the US (“Bay of Pigs
invasion”)
-> Received missiles from the USSR (seen by US spy planes)(1962)

USA -> Did a blockade on Cuba (due to the missiles)

-> confronted the USSR

USSR -> refused to acknowledge the missiles (until confronted with

photographic evidence)

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The crisis ended -> US and USSR made secret agreement
The US -> removed missiles from Turkey
The USSR -> removed missiles from Cuba
(In the media it was said that the US forced the USSR to withdrawal its missiles)

The US -> supported Vietnam -> scared of Domino effect

Domino effect -> if Vietnam fell to communists, other nations around it
would follow
The US withdrew from Vietnam (1973) -> the war could not be won
-> it was unpopular

Main reasons US pulled out of Vietnam:

-> Many unexperienced teens were drafted
-> Strikes to end the war
-> The terrain was unfamiliar to the US
(In the media it was said that the US withdrew from Vietnam but it was still
undefeated by the North Vietnamese)

After World War 2 -> Afghan elites -> wanted to modernize country
-> got help from both US and USSR
-> Students sent abroad (brought back
ideologies)
The monarchy -> toppled with coup (helped by communists)
Islam cannot go together with communism as:
-> Islam was more correlated with capitalism’
-> Communism involved aspects that were atheists

Communists (in Afghan) -> took over -> tried to modernize country
-> People resisted (as they felt is
was attacking their religion and
culture)
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Soviets -> invaded Afghan -> to stop Islamists from taking over the
country
Mujahedeen -> someone who wages a holy war in the name of Allah

After WW2 -> Berlin (Capital of Germany) -> divided into 4 occupation
zones
West Berlin -> modern democratic state surrounded by a communist state
-> Consisted of -> US
-> UK
-> France

East Berlin -> USSR

Germany -> dictatorship

-> low living standards
-> a lot of people were spies for the Stasi (secret police)

Barbed wire, some concrete walls (Berlin Wall) -> built to stop people
from
-> built on the 13th August
1961
-> easy to cross (more
fortifications were built
later on)

Standoff -> 33 Soviet tanks & 10 NATO tanks (October 1961)

-> Took place at Checkpoint Charlie

Kennedy -> said “I am a Berliner” (in a speech) in 1963

-> this stated that he wanted -> the wall gone
-> freedom for the people of Berlin

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Iron Curtain -> imagery line dividing Europe showing Soviet and Western
influence
Joseph Stalin -> rejected economic help (Marshall Plan)
This was for -> all countries in Europe -> justified this by saying it was a
 plot to undermine communism
-> actual reason was to prevent
the US from invading it easily

After WW2 -> France, UK, US -> considered invading -> USSR
After Stalin’s death -> Nikita Khrushchev took power

Nikita -> launched Sputnik -> was proud of it

-> said he was catching up to the US in the nuclear race (not true)
-> thought he could pressure -> Kennedy (young and inexperienced)

Many Soviet leaders -> thought they were humiliated -> Nikita removed
from office
French colonists -> kicked out of Indochina (Vietnam)
Indochina -> Split into -> North Vietnam
-> South Vietnam
UN -> set demilitarized zone -> when North and South fought
Elections were promised in 2 years (to reunite the country)

The South -> rejected elections -> since leaders knew they would lose
Protests began due to this -> saying that -> president was corrupt

Viet Cong -> armed resistance by people of the South

A coup was staged -> the North-Vietnamese army took power (1963)
Gulf of Tonkin incident (instigated by US) -> why the US got involved in
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh Trail -> Trail North Vietnam used to transport supplies to Viet
Cong
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Vietnam War -> tied US down (Good thing for USSR)

-> reduced chances of direct nuclear war

Soviets -> divided if they should invade Afghanistan

-> Decided to invade (their leader was ill and possibly drunk)
Soviet System -> glitched -> detected nukes and almost made a retaliatory
strikes (1983)
-> 1 Guy stopped this -> stated that the US would send more
than 5 missiles if they attacked

Soviets -> almost launched a nuclear attack (1983)

-> believed military exercises were preparations for war on the
Warsaw pact

China -> was not allies with USSR -> Nikita tried to de-Stalinize the
country (After Stalin’s death)
-> Mao admired Stalin, so he found
it unacceptable

China’s Great Leap Forward -> disaster -> led to famine

Mao -> wanted to industrialize country rapidly (in short time)
-> wanted to increase steel and crop production

Farmers -> taken to factories (ones left were forced to make steel)
This caused -> crops to rot, backyard furnaces to be common
(Steel was also later wasted)

People who spoke against the government -> executed

After the Great Leap Forward -> some leader denounced it

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Mao -> wanted to gain power -> started the Cultural revolution
-> brainwashed teens

Little Red Book was introduced

Red Guards -> para-military force
-> made up of young people
 -> made to destroy 4 olds -> Old Habits
-> Old Customs
-> Old Ideas
-> Old Culture
-> Later put down for being too fierce
(After this Mao died)

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