Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Cold War:
1945-1960
The Ideological Struggle
Soviet & US & the
Eastern Bloc Western
Nations Democracies
•4 zones of
influence after
WWII
•Soviet Union
wanted to punish
Germany for
WWII
•US (& Allies)
wanted to rebuild
B.
George Kennan & The
Long Telegram & Article X
• U.S. ambassador to the Soviet
Union
• 1946 – writes the “Long
Telegram” and later Article X
• To Truman: the Soviets are
expanding & they must be
contained
•277,000
flights and 2
million tons
of supplies
} U. S. S. R. } East Germany
} Albania } Hungary
} Bulgaria } Poland
} Czechoslovakia } Rumania
Two Nuclear Powers
} The Soviet Union
exploded its first
A-bomb in 1949.
Hydrogen Bomb
• Both now wanted
stronger nuclear weapons
• U.S. 1st to test a
Hydrogen Bomb in Nov.
1952
• Soviet Union tested
theirs in August 1953
The Arms Race
• Both nations will now compete to
develop and create more nuclear
weapons
National Defense Budget
E.
Containment
in Asia
China: 1949
• Civil War ends
• Becomes communist under Mao Zedong
– Called the People’s Republic of China
• Seen as a major failure of containment
• Nationalists set up their own government
in Taiwan called the Republic of China
United Nations deals with
China
• Which China gets the seat in the
UN?
• ROC given the seat
• Soviet Union will boycott in protest
War in Korea
1950-1953
• Korea divided at the end of WWII
at 38th parallel
• 1950: N. Korea
invaded S. Korea
• U.S. didn’t want
containment to fail
• Pressures UN to invade
War in Korea
1950-1953
• Troops led by MacArthur
• Takes war into N. Korea
• China enters the war
War in Korea
1950-1953
• Mac wants to
use the A-
bomb
• Truman fires
him
• Negotiations
begin for a
cease-fire
• Achieved in
1953
F.
Cold War
Under
Eisenhower
Massive Retaliation
• Created by Sec. of State
Dulles
• Rejection of Containment
• 2 Principals:
1. Encourage Liberation
2. Retaliation
• Brinkmanship – being on the
verge of war
• “New Look Military”
Eisenhower scales back
army & navy in favor of
nuclear capabilities
Death of Stalin (1953)
• Nikita Khrushchev
becomes premier
• Believed in “peaceful
coexistence”
• Agreement at Geneva
Summit (1955) for “We will bury you”
nuclear disarmament
• Relations sour after
Hungarian Uprising in
1956
Sputnik (1957)
• Soviet satellite launched into space
• Showed the U.S. falling behind
technologically
• National Defense Education Act
(NDEA): rigorous education
program
– Science
– Math
– Foreign Lang.
• 1958: U.S. launches satellite
Explorer I
• NASA formed in 1958
Berlin (Again)
• 1958: Khrushchev
issues ultimatum
– Get out of W. Berlin
• Eisenhower refuses to
give in
• Send Nixon to U.S.S.R
in 1959
– Kitchen Debates
• Khrushchev visits for
2 weeks
• 2 countries agree to
summit in 1960 to
discuss issues
U-2 Incident
• U-2 Spy plane shot
down May 1960
• U.S. denied it was
spying
• U.S.S.R proved they
were
• Happened 10 days
before planned summit
• Worst U.S – Soviet
relations since Stalin
G.
Cuba
Fidel Castro
• January 1, 1959,
wrestles control
from Fulgencio
Batista
• Reason?
– Too much American
control in Cuba
• Tries to visit U.S.
– Ike refuses to meet
with him
• Nationalizes all U.S.
property
Alliance with the U.S.S.R
• Sept 1959,
Khrushchev offers
aid
• Castro accepts –
turns Cuba
communist
• 1960: U.S. begins
plotting against
Castro & breaks off
diplomatic ties
• Castro encourages
Latin America to
have Communist
Revolutions