Professor MAK King-sang Head and Professor, Department of History Hong Kong Baptist University MILITARY HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR: CDI Enriching Knowledge Lecture Series: Senior Secondary History Curriculum – Compulsory Part (Theme B) Major conflicts and the quest for peace (Lecture 2) Military History of the Cold War ( ) (New) 1

Elements of War -Resources (manpower and material supply) -Organization -Leadership -Coordination of forces -Alliance and how to keep allies together 2 Please use this link to view a picture

Strategy and Tactics -Technology -Tactics: the art of organizing an army, and using weapons or military units in combination against the enemy in military encounters - Strategy: the art of organizing an army, using weapons or military units in combination, employing resources, mobilizing the people, etc. to deliver a or a part of a war plan -Art of operation -Theater strategy: a war can be, and is usually divided into several theaters. Theater strategy is an integrative concept that coordinates and operates strategies in different war theaters to achieve a war plan -Grand strategy 3

Grand Strategy -[T]he role of grand strategy – higher strategy – is to co-ordinate and direct all the resources of a nation, or band of nations, towards the attainment of the political object of the war – the goal defined by fundamental policy. -Grand strategy should both calculate and develop the economic resources and man-power of nations in order to sustain the fighting services. Also the moral resources – for to foster the people's willing spirit is often as important as to possess the more concrete forms of power. Grand strategy, too, should regulate the distribution of power between the several services, and between the services and industry. Moreover, fighting power is but one of the instruments of grand strategy – which should take account of and apply the power of financial pressure, and, not least of ethical pressure, to weaken the opponent's will.... -Furthermore, while the horizons of strategy is bounded by the war, grand strategy looks beyond the war to the subsequent peace. It should not only combine the various instruments, but so regulate their use as to avoid damage to the future state of peace – for its security and prosperity. 4

General Observations of the Cold War “During this time the purpose of the military was not to fight wars, but to prevent them by making the cost of any aggression so high that a rational state would only launch an attack if it believed its very existence was in danger.” “Divided into two rival military alliances (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw pact) the outcome was the creation of a military stalemate that endured till the unification of Germany in 1990” Nuclear strategy that relates military means to the above political ends 5

Grand Strategy with Several Theatres: Western Europe During the Cold War -Basic Principles: containment and rolling back of communism, (in Asia) encirclement of China, (in the Third World) struggle for new partners through political maneuver and economic and military assistance, and (in Europe) minimal direct involvement -Objectives before 1950: (short-term)“adequate military strength accompanied by economy of effort, resources and manpower,” “insure the ability to carry out strategic bombing promptly by all means possible with all types of weapons, without exception;” (long term) European recovery through the Marshall Plan, European Army, etc. -After the Korean War: Centralized command structure, massive retaliation: “The major deterrent to aggression against Western Europe is the manifest determination of the United States to use its atomic capability and massive retaliatory power if the area is attacked.” : The quarrel over defense expenditure; Soviet tanks roll over Hungary: the Sputnik shock -The quest for flexibility: to “defeat the aggression on the level at which the enemy chooses to fight.” 6

Stalin: Aggressor or Defender? USSR’s War Plan after the emergence of the Iron Curtain “Stalin had become obsessive about defence, and he sought to construct a series of buffer states around the Soviet Union, particularly in the West.” 7 content/uploads/2010/12/17_Communist_Eastern_Europe.png Please use this link to view a map

NATO’s Basic Strategic Framework 1949 “The Strategic Concept for the Defense of the North Atlantic Area,” 10 October 1949 The main objective was “adequate military strength accompanied by economy of effort, resources and manpower.” The USA: strategic bombing, nuclear weapons Division of labor: the member nations should “arrest and counter as soon as practicable the enemy offensives against North Atlantic Treaty powers by all means available, including air, naval, land and psychological operations” 8 Please use this link to view a picture

A new Understanding of the Marshall Plan The allies “should bear in mind that economic recovery and the attainment of economic stability constitute important elements of their security” In addition to 2,324 warships of varying sizes from battleships down to minesweepers and 3,264 naval aircraft, DC 13 called for 90 divisions in NATO’s land forces and 8,004 combat aircraft in NATO’s air forces. “to convince the USSR that war does not pay, and should war occur, to ensure a successful defence ” 9 Please use this link to view a picture

A Chain of Events In October 1949, the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In the end of 1949 the Soviet Union created its first atomic bomb In June 1950 the Korean War broke out 10 Please use this link to view a picture

The German Question Reconsidered For George Kennan, “without a revival of German production, there can be no revival of Europe’s economy.” The Division of Germany and its military implications West Germany as the frontline The redeployment of conventional forces Keeping “Germany down, America in and the USSR out.” 11 deutschland_1947.png Please use this link to view a map

The Snowball Rolled NATO planned to equip 125 Divisions The Red Army grew from 2.8 million to five million in 1953 The Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance), which turned into the Warsaw Pact in Please use this link to view a map

The Emergence of the Concept of “Massive Retaliation” (John Foster Dulles) The Expansion of NATO Eisenhower and SACEUR The Growing Strength of the East Bloc’s Conventional Forces NATO’s integration of Nuclear and Conventional Forces because “NATO would be unable to prevent the rapid overrunning of Europe unless NATO immediately employed these weapons both strategically and tactically.” 13 Please use this link to view a picture

The Evolution of Strategy $$$ Destalinization and the Relaxation of East-West tension The Review at the end of 1956 “to determine how, within the resources likely to be available, the defence effort of the Alliance and of each individual member can best achieve the most effective pattern of forces.” “Shield and Sword” reduction of conventional army to about 500,000 but the recruitment of additional 30,000 men for the air force 14 Please use this link to view a picture

Close to the Edge The “Sputnik” shock The East Berlin Crisis The U-2 Spy Crisis in may 1960 The Pig Bay Incident April 1961 The Building of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 The Cuban Missile Crisis 15 plataforma.jpg Please use this link to view a picture

From Massive Retaliation to Flexible Response After losing the edge Direct Response, Escalation and General Nuclear Response Strategic Triads: ICBMs, SLBMs, and Strategic Bombers The Role of the European Allies 16 Please use this link to view a picture

Internal Strain: France and NATO The Abortion of the EDC The Nightmare of WWII Another Nightmare in Indochina 1955 The Third Nightmare at Suez The Return of De Gaulle 1958 The Showdown in 1966 The Vulnerability of West Germany 17 Hk/NYJRUNJq2Ic/s1600/ jpg Please use this link to view a picture

Internal Strain: Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Warsaw Pact Hungarian Crisis 1955 The Prague Spring The Reaction of the NATO War Unlikely 18 Please use this link to view a picture

Reconsidering the Ostpolitik Conventional Explanation Why did the USA let go of West Germany? Willy Brandt and the Reconciliation 19 Please use this link to view a picture

The Timeline Treaty of Moscow, August 12, 1970 Treaty of Warsaw, December 7, 1970 The Quadruple Agreement, September 3, 1971 Transit Agreement, December 17, 1971 Basic Treaty, December 21, 1972 Treaty of Prague from December 11, f5c5b7/publishable.jpg Please use this link to view a picture

A New Military Balance The SS-20 Missiles The NATO lost its edge From SS-4 to SS-5 The power of SS Please use this link to view a picture

Arms Reduction before War Began Nixon and Brezhnev Agreement on May 27, 1972 Two agreements: (1) the number of antiballistic missile (ABM) sites each country could have was confined to two. (ABMs were missiles designed to destroy incoming missiles.) ; (2) the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles was frozen at existing levels. 22

Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions The three major attempts The Formation of CSCE 1974, the 25 th Anniversary of the NATO The Anti-climax in 1979 Poland in _mj_sz/images/map.jpg Please use this link to view a picture map

The Beginning of the Reagan Administration in Jan., 1981 Combating “ the Evil Empire ” Giving up negotiation Unilateralism 24 gular.jpg Please use this link to view a picture

Reaganomics To limit the growth of government spending To reduce personal income taxes to increase incentives to work and invest To undertake a review of economic regulations and change them to encourage economic growth To establish a stable and sound monetary policy To restore confidence by following a consistent long- range national economic policy 25

Behind Reaganomics Rolling back Communism Supporting Afghanistan against the Soviet Union Rebuilding military dictatorship in El Salvador Supporting the “ Contras ” against the Sandinista in Nicaragua The Grenada (Operation Urgent Fury) Incident in October Please use this link to view a picture

The Growth of the USA Fighting Capacity MX Missiles B-1 Bomber Advanced Technology Bomber Strategic Defense Initiative (The Star War System) 27

War and Peace Reagan ’ s hidden plan The SALT II in November 1981 The START in May 1982 The USSR-USA quarrel over Korea in August 1983 The Installation of Pershing II in Britain, Holland, Belgium, Italy and West Germany from 1983 to Please use this link to view a picture

A New Era The death of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev ( ) Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko Mikhail Gorbachev ’ s rise to power in March

Gorbachev ’ s Reform Glasnost Perestroika Meeting Margaret Thatcher in December 1984 Meeting Ronald Reagan in Geneva in November 1985 The US-Soviet announcement in Reykjavik in Oct 1986 Further Disarmament 30