1. Cold War

2. United Nations
in April, 1945, an international peace keeping organization had representatives from 50 nations meet in San Francisco & signed the UN Charter for the UN to be located in New York City & had 2 major bodies:
Security Council made up 11 nations: US, USSR, China, France, & Britain as permanent members & 6 countries elected for 2 yr. terms & decides political, diplomatic, & military disputes (Now 10 elected members)
General Assembly where every member country has a representative which has 1 vote is the policy-making body

3. End of WWII US and Soviet Union emerge as superpowers
Stalin wanted to establish pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe
Soviets tried to take nations on their West border as a buffer against future invasions
US saw this as a violation
by 1947, most of Eastern Europe had become communist satellites, or countries controlled by the Soviet Union
Churchill said that there was an “iron curtain” in Europe, or an imaginary split between the Communists in Eastern Europe & the free republics in Western Europe

4. Comparison Between US and USSR
Soviet Union
United States
Authoritarian Government
Democratic Government
Limits on Civil Liberties
Guarantees on Civil Liberties
Cycles of Repression and Freedom in Social and Cultural Life
Freedom in Social and Cultural Life

5. Containment
Truman Doctrine support any free nation against Communist takeover, Turkey and Greece
Marshall Plan, $13 billion of economic aid to aid for recovery
Stalin refused American aid for the Soviet Union & satellites
Alliances
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization: US, Canada, Britain, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, which expanded to Greece, Turkey & West Germany
Warsaw Pact: Soviet Union & all the Soviet satellites except Yugoslavia

6. NATO and Warsaw Pact

7. Germany Berlin Blockade (June, 1948 – May, 1949)
Germany and Berlin (capital of Germany) had been divided by the Yalta Conference into 4 zones of occupation & in June, 1948, SU decided to make all of Berlin communist since it was in the communist zone
the Soviets blockades all entrances into the British, American & French zones so that no food or supplies could get in
US airlifted supplies into the areas, thus avoiding war & USSR, knowing that they could not shoot down American airplanes without causing war did nothing

8. Berlin Wall ( )
the border between East & West Germany through Berlin caused a drain on E. Germany because of people leaving the East & the Soviets ordered that a 26 mile concrete & barbed wire barrier be built separating East & West Berlin
W. Berlin became a modern city, E. Berlin was desolate
1989: Wall came down & communism was overthrown in E. Berlin and E. Germany

9. De-Stalinization
after WWII, Stalin increased the Soviet Union’s production of war materials
in 1953, Stalin died & Nikita Khrushchev became leader of the USSR & denounced Stalin’s policies & took to help the USSR recover between 1953 – 64
he called for a peaceful co-existence between the 2 superpowers (US & USSR) in which the USSR would surpass the West economically

10. Cuban Missile Crisis
in 1962, USSR tried to test the US by installing nuclear missiles on Cuba, 90 miles from the US
they hoped to get NATO missiles out of Turkey & agreeing to the Communist government in Cuba
when US blockaded Cuba & demanded that the missiles be removed or attack, Khrushchev backed down & led to:
Removal of missiles from Cuba & Khrushchev’s removal from office;
Policy of Brinkmanship: presenting a constant threat of war toward each other
Closest we ever came to nuclear war

11. After Khrushchev
production suffered under Brezhnev, but improved relations with the US by détente, or relaxation of hatred relations
in the mid-1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev become the leader of the of the USSR & he was determined to transform the USSR by
glasnost or openness of freedom of expression by Soviet citizens
Perestroika economic reform that permitted some private ownership in agriculture and industry
by 1990, Boris Yeltsin, the president of the Republic of Russia wanted more Soviet reforms & in Aug., 1991, he overthrew Gorbachev which led Soviet republics declaring their independence & the fall of the Soviet Union