Cold war, major events

Lecture 3
Main events of the cold war

1) Winston Churchill ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech (1946)

2) Truman Doctrine (1947)
3) Marshall Plan (1948)
4) Establishment of west Germany (1949)
5) Warsaw Pact (1955)
6) U-2 Incident (1960)
7) Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
8) Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)
9) Non-proliferation Treaty (1968)
10)Yom Kippur War (1973)
Iron curtain, Winston churchil speech

› In 1946, former British PM Winston Churchill delivered a famous speech at Westminster

College in Missouri, US.

› At that time leading the Opposition party in Britain after being defeated in re-election
bid

› The “The Sinews of Peace”/Iron Curtain speech is considered the declaration that
pushed the U.S. into the Cold War

› Churchill warned against the ‘dangers’ of communism in speech

› Regions under the Soviet control were expanding their leverage and power without
restriction
'From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has
descended across the continent
› The connotation attached to the term ‘iron curtain’ was that of repression

› Churchill painted a dark picture of post-war Europe and advocated for a strong military alliance against
the U.S.S.R.

› He implied that the iron curtain was a horrific tragedy because those living in Soviet-controlled Eastern
Europe were subjugated, oppressed and lacked basic human liberties

› Churchill’s good timing; the Truman administration was revising its attitude towards the Soviets, and
wanted to adopt a more hard-line stance

› As a result, he greatly influenced US foreign policy & perception of the USSR for the following years

› Contents of the speech believed by some to be pre-planned b/w Churchill & Truman
Marshal Plan

 Purpose:

• Designed to rehabilitate the economies of 17 western and southern European

countries in order to create stable conditions in which democratic institutions
could survive

 Sponsor:

• The United States

 Entry into Law:

• Marshall Plan was signed by U.S. President Harry S. Truman on April 3, 1948
 Reasons for formation:

• The US feared that poverty, unemployment, and dislocation in post-WW2 era were reinforcing the appeal
of communist parties to people in Western Europe

• To reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war

• To remove trade barriers between European neighbours

• To foster commerce between Europe and the United States

 Political Significance:

• Implementation of the Marshall Plan has been cited as a reason for the beginning of the Cold War

• The Marshall Plan is considered a key catalyst for the formation of NATO
 Economic Results:

• Western European countries involved experienced a 15% to 25% rise in their GNPs during this period

• By the time of the plan’s last year, 1952, economic growth in countries that had received funds had surpassed
pre-war levels

 Political Interest of the US:

• The CIA received 5% of the funds allocated under the Marshall Plan

• CIA used these funds to establish businesses in several European countries to further U.S. interests in the region

• The agency also, allegedly, financed an anti-communist insurgency in Ukraine, which at the time was a Soviet
satellite state.
Establishment of west Germany

 The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) formally established as a separate and
independent nation in 1949

 After WW2, Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones, with the British, French,
Americans, and Soviets each controlling one zone

 This arrangement was supposed to be temporary, but as Cold War intensified, the
division b/w the communist and non-communist controlled sections become permanent

 The US and Great Britain combined their occupation zones, forming ‘Bizonia’

 France too became part of this arrangement and thus the Federal Republic of Germany
was established.
 The Soviets reacted quickly and soon the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
was officially announced

 These actions in 1949 marked the end of any talk of a reunified Germany

 For the next 41 years, East and West Germany served as symbols of the divided world,
and of the Cold War animosities between the Soviet Union and the United States

 East and West Germany were finally reunited as one nation many years later in 1990
Warsa pact

 Military alliance between the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, signed on 14th May,
1955

 Members: Communist countries including Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary,

Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany

 Provisions of Treaty:

• The members of treaty will defend each other if one or more members are attacked
by the enemy

• Relations among signatories were based on mutual non- interference in internal

affairs and respect for national sovereignty and independence
 Reason for Creation:

• In the mid-1950s, the U.S and other NATO members advocated to make West
Germany part of the alliance and allow it to form an army under tight restrictions

• The Soviets warned that such a provocative action would force them to make new
security arrangements in their own sphere of influence

• As a result, they signed the Warsaw pact

Warsa Pact

 Purpose:

• To reinforce communist dominance in Europe.

• To counterbalance NATO

• Increase international negotiating power of Soviet Union

• The Warsaw Pact was used as an instrument to keep communist regimes in power in those countries.

• The Warsaw Pact focused on the objective of creating a coordinated defense among its member nations
in order to deter an enemy attack

 The revolts in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968 were put down by Soviet leaders collectively
through the Warsaw Pact rather than by the USSR alone
U-2 incidents

 The U-2 Incident (1960) was a confrontation b/w the US and the Soviet Union that began
with the shooting down of an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union

 It caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the
Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France

 The Incident:

• Worried about rapid military technology developments in USSR, US President Dwight D.

Eisenhower approved a plan to gather information about Soviet capabilities and intentions

• High-altitude U-2 spy planes began making reconnaissance flights over the USSR in 1956,
giving the U.S. detailed looks at Soviet military facilities
• Photographs taken by the spy planes revealed that Soviet nuclear capabilities were significantly less advanced
than had been claimed by Soviet leaders

• Instead of suffering from a ‘missile gap’ or shortage of weapons, the US had nuclear forces far superior to
those of its rival

• For almost 4 years, the Soviets were aware of the reconnaissance flights because they could spot the spy planes
on radar, but could do nothing to stop them

• U-2 planes flew at an altitude of more than 13 miles above the ground, and were initially unreachable by
Soviet jets and missiles

• However, by the spring of 1960, the USSR had developed a new surface-to-air missile with a longer range

• On May 1, that weapon locked onto a U-2 flown by 30-year-old CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers
 • The Soviet leader Kruschev did not announce the capture of the pilot

• Only announced that the Soviet military had brought down an American spy plane

• US officials believed that evidence of the plane’s espionage mission would not have survived the crash, so they responded
that the aircraft was only a weather plane that had accidentally flown off course

• Kruschev disproved US lies by sharing a picture of the captured pilot and the evidence proving that the shot-down plane was
a US surveillance aircraft

 Consequences:
• The incident was a big embarrassment for the US
• Kruschev lost all trust in relations with the US and abandoned talks of nuclear disarmament
• The Paris summit scheduled to be held soon failed because Soviet leaders walked out
• Cold War intensified again
 In the first “spy swap” b/w US & USSR, U-2 pilot Francis Powers & Soviet agent Rudolf Abel were exchanged
The Cuban missile crisis

 The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in 1962 when the Soviet Union installed nuclear missiles
in Cuba and the US refused to allow this

 After 13 tense days and many secret negotiations, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the
missiles

 This is perhaps the closest that the United States and the Soviet Union came to nuclear
war during the Cold war

 Leading up to the Crisis:

• The US had installed several nuclear missile sites in Turkey and Italy with the range to
strike Moscow
• USSR felt it needed missile sites that could strike at the United States and chose Cuba
 • The Cuban government agreed to work with the Soviet Union as it also wanted protection from the US (due to
previous US attempts at overthrowing Cuban government)

 How the Crisis Began:

• On October 14, 1962 an American U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba captured pictures of long range Soviet
missiles in Cuba

• These missiles could reach any point of the United States with nuclear warheads causing mass destruction

• President Kennedy met with his main security advisors and considered options from diplomacy to full scale
attack and invasion on Cuba

• The Joint Chiefs of Staff voted to invade

• However, concerned with the possibility of WW3, Kennedy set up a naval blockade
 The Naval Blockade:

• Kennedy put Cuba under "quarantine“, meaning that no offensive weapons would be allowed to enter

• He also said that any attack on the US from Cuba would be considered an act of war from the Soviet Union

• Crisis became more intense; the USSR wouldn’t back down

• By the 24th, Kennedy believed the US would have to invade Cuba

 Negotiations:

• The US and USSR negotiated secretly and both agreed to remove missiles from Turkey & Italy and Cuba
respectively

• The US agreed to never invade Cuba again

Nuclear test ban treaty

 Signatories:

• Signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963, by the U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk (1909-94), Soviet
Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko (1909-89) and British Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home
(1903-95)

 Objective:

• Ban all tests of nuclear weapons except those conducted underground

 Origin:

• The danger posed by atmospheric radioactive fallout produced by the aboveground testing of
nuclear weapons had become an important public issue by 1955, becoming the reason for the
origin of the treaty
 Negotiations:

• Discussions regarding ban on nuclear testing began in the mid-1950s

• Officials from both nations came to believe that the nuclear arms race was reaching a dangerous level

• In addition, public protest against the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons was strong

• Initially, negotiations were very slow

• The Americans and British wanted on-site inspections, which was vehemently opposed by the Soviets

• Negotiations improved, especially due to the reality check given by Cuban Missile Crisis about the dangers of
nuclear war

• After 10 days of discussion in Moscow, the American, British & Soviet representatives pledged conduct no more
tests in the atmosphere, underwater, or in space for an “unlimited duration”
 Restrictions imposed by treaty:

• Banned nuclear-weapons tests in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater but permitted
underground testing

• It required no control posts, no on-site inspection, and no international supervisory body

• It did not reduce nuclear stockpiles, halt the production of nuclear weapons, or restrict their
use in time of war

 Amendments in Treaty:

• The US, UK & Russia have the power to veto treaty amendments
TREATY ON THE NON-PROLIFERATION
OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
 NPT is a multilateral treaty, signed in 1968, came into effect in 1970

 Main Objectives:
• To prevent the spread of nuclear weapons (i.e., states without nuclear weapons will not acquire
them)
• Achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament (i.e., states with nuclear
weapons will pursue disarmament)
• To promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear weapons (i.e., all states can access nuclear
technology for peaceful purposes, under safeguards)

 The treaty defines nuclear-weapon states as those that have built and tested a nuclear explosive
device before 1 January 1967; these are the US, UK, France, Russia, China

 4 other states possessing nuclear weapons are India, Pakistan, North Korea, while Israel remains
deliberately ambiguous regarding nuclear weapon status
 Reason for formation:

• Formed due to concern for the safety of a world with many nuclear weapon states

• The Cold War deterrent relationship b/w the United States and the Soviet Union was
recognized as fragile

• More nuclear-weapon states would reduce security for all, multiplying the risks of
miscalculation, accidents, unauthorized use of weapons, escalation in tensions, and nuclear
conflict

• The nuclear attacks on Hiroshima & Nagasaki also became a major reason to prevent the
proliferation of nuclear weapons
 Importance during Cold War:

• The NPT was important during cold war because both the U.S. and the Soviets agreed to not use the nuclear
weapons

• This was huge for both countries because it somewhat eliminated the constant fear of being attacked or destroyed
at any time

 Criticism:

• NPT cannot stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons or the motivation to acquire them

• Difficult to distinguish between research for peaceful purposes and weapons development.

• Limited progress on nuclear disarmament because the five authorized nuclear states have 22,000 warheads in their
combined stockpiles
The Yom Kippur War

 The Yom Kippur War/the October War/the Ramadan War, or the Fourth Arab-Israeli
War

 The war was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, on the Jewish holy day of
Yom Kippur and during Ramadan and continued until October 26, 1973

 The war was launched with the diplomatic aim of convincing the undefeated Israel to
negotiate on terms more favourable to the Arab countries

 Eventually drew both the United States and the Soviet Union into indirect confrontation
in defence of their allies

 The war heightened tensions between the US and USSR

 Israel was supported by the US

 Egypt and Syria were supported by the USSR (and also by Iraq and Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and
Lebanon)

 The War:

• Thinking the Israeli would be less alert on their holy day, the Egyptians and Syrians attacked on Yom Kippur

• Initially, their attack went well

• Then the Israelis counterattacked and took back territory over which Syria and Egypt had gained control

• The Israeli Army was only a few miles away from Damascus (Syrian capital) and Cairo (Egyptian capital)

• On October 25, 1973, the 2nd cease fire negotiated by the UN was successful and the war came to an end.
 In the Context of the Cold War:

• Tensions b/w the US and the Soviet Union were high during the war

• If one of them joined a war to help out an ally, the other would join as well

• Many people felt the world was on the brink of World War III
Discussion
 THE PATH TOWARDS SINO-AMERICAN RAPPROACHMENT
1969-1972
Diplomatic hostility between the two countries went back to the 1940s. After the Chinese civil war
ended in 1949, the Communists established the People’s Republic of China on the Chinese mainland .
For the 30 years that followed, the United States recognized the Republic of China as the legitimate
government of China and had no official diplomatic relations with Communist China. In the late 1960s
and early 1970s, there were indications that the United States and the People’s Republic of China
were considering rapprochement. The escalating war in Vietnam led U.S. officials to look for ways to
improve relations with Communist governments in Asia in the hopes that such a policy might lessen
future conflict, undermine alliances between Communist countries, diplomatically isolate North
Vietnam, and increase U.S. leverage against the Soviet Union. Likewise, Sino-Soviet tension
contributed to the Chinese leadership’s desire for a rapprochement with the United States. Nixon
signaled his interest in improved relations by easing the travel and trade restrictions against China
that dated from the Korean War in the early 1950s. Nixon established a secret channel to the PRC’s
leadership through Pakistani President Yahya Khan. In Nixon’s view, Khan was an attractive
intermediary since he had good relations with the leaders of both the United States and the PRC, and
he also provided a means to circumvent the U.S. Department of State, which Nixon feared might
oppose or publicize his initiative. By late 1970, the pace of rapprochement was accelerating.