The Cold War

The Cold War After WWII, there was a new kind of war Countries fought this war with words and ideas, not weapons Even though the Soviet Union and the US worked together in WWII, their beliefs later drove them apart- this was known as the Cold War

Soviet Union vs. the US The US believed in capitalism which is when ordinary people and businesses control the production of goods and services The US economy is called a market economy where individuals and businesses make decisions

Communism In the Soviet Union, people lived under communism In communism, the government controls production and owns all the country’s resources The government tells people where to live and work The government also commands what will be produced

SU vs. US cont. The US has a democracy where people vote for their leaders In the Soviet Union, people had no control of who their leaders were Under communism, citizens had few rights and little freedom The government arrested people who spoke against communism

The Iron Curtain After WWII, the Allies shared control of Germany (US-western/ SU-eastern) Berlin, Germany’s capital was also divided (SU- East Berlin/ US- West Berlin) SU set-up communist governments US set-up democracies It was said that Europe was divided by an “iron curtain”- the curtain was a symbol of the differences between communism and non-communism

The Iron Curtain

NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Truman decided to help other countries protect themselves against communism Leaders of the United States, Canada, Britain, and most other non-communist countries of Europe formed an alliance called NATO They hoped the treaty would keep the SU from forcing communism on other countries

The Conflict Continues… The SU tried to take over the entire city of Berlin They blocked off all roads that led to West Berlin and hoped it would make the Allies leave the city The Allies refused to leave! To get supplies into the city, they used planes This was called the Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Wall Many people tried to escape from East Berlin to go to the western part of the city Communist leaders tried to stop them! The Soviets closed the entrances to East Berlin and began to build the Berlin Wall This wall divided the communist part of Berlin from the rest of the city

The Berlin Wall

Communism Spreads As you know, Americans were very worried about the spread of communism The Soviets gave money and supplies to a communist army in China and they succeeded in taking over the country Now the SU and China were BOTH communist

Nuclear War The Soviet Union had built their own bomb and the US was scared The US worked to develop bigger and better nuclear weapons We were in an arms race! People feared a nuclear war that could destroy all life on earth People in the US prepared for attack by building bomb shelters

Bomb Shelters and Drills

The Anti-communism Movement A movement to stop the spread of communism Senator Joseph McCarthy was a strong anti-communist He made many accusations that secret communists worked in the gov’t and were spying for the SU Although most of the claims were false, some were actually true!

Anti-communism Members of Congress began to search for communists Hundreds lost their jobs A few were found guilty, but most were wrongly accused

Nikita Khrushchev A Russian politician who served as the general secretary to the Communist Party Served as the leader of SU after Stalin Tried to make living better for the people in SU Was leader during the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis which you will learn about next unit

The UN The United Nations formed after WWII led by the US More than 50 nations joined to try and keep peace in the world One of the UN’s first challenges was with Korea Korea was divided into two parts- South Korea was a republic supported by the US; North Korea was communist supported by the SU

The Korean War In June 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea The US thought that the SU was helping them The US convinced the UN to help defend South Korea UN troops succeeded in pushing them out Then communist China sent troops to help

And the war drags on… Thousands of American soldiers died In 1953, both sides agreed to stop fighting Korea remains divided today

About 6 years later in Cuba… Communists had power in Cuba after Fidel Castro led a revolution aided by Nikita Khrushchev The US discovered that the USSR was secretly sending powerful missiles to Cuba Why would we be worried about that?

Cuban Missile Crisis These missiles could easily reach us They were large enough to carry a nuclear bomb JFK feared a surprise attack and ordered a blockade on Cuba Our warships surrounded the island and prevented the delivery of more missiles

Stand-off The Soviets refused to take their missiles out of Cuba Nuclear war seemed very possible Finally, Khrushchev decided to remove the missiles In return, JFK promised not to attack Cuba

The Vietnam War The country of Vietnam was split like Korea- the North was communist and the South was non-communist In the 1960’s, a group of communists in South Vietnam (the Vietcong) tried to overthrow the non-communist government At first the US only sent supplies to help South Vietnam fight back, but then…

The Vietnam War We sent American troops to help We had advanced technology working for us like tanks and bombers- we attacked a lot from the air However, the Vietcong were fast-moving, tricky, and practiced guerilla warfare As the war raged on, many Americans were unhappy with our involvement

Combat

The Vietnam War Many of our soldiers were dying The war was also costing us billions of dollars America was split over whether or not we should continue fighting in the war Some thought we should stay out of a war that is not ours Some thought it was our job to help stop communism

Anti-War Protests

War comes to an end Nixon became president in 1969 and started to bring our troops home from Vietnam We also reduced our bomber attacks Finally, in 1973, a cease-fire was signed Once all the US soldiers were home, North Vietnam attacked again and succeeded in taking over the country two years later