The Cold War (1945-1991)

Timeline Cold War 1939 1945 1989 1991 USSR dissolves WWII Revolutions of 1989

What is it US vs. USSR state of tension nuclear arms race propaganda war fighting through client states

USSR / Soviet Union (1922-1991)

Origins of The cold war

Causes clash of ideologies: capitalism/democracy vs. communism power rivalry

Above: “Capitalists of the world, unite!” PROPAGANDA WAR Above: “Capitalists of the world, unite!”

Propaganda Poster (1929) “Help build the gigantic factories” Advertises state loan to finance 1st Five Year Plan

No single start date … 3 wartime conferences b/t GB, USSR, US Nov. 1943: Teheran Conference plan how to beat Germany Feb. 1945: Yalta Conference plan for postwar Germany USSR joins war vs. Japan E. Europe – free elections, pro-Russian July 1945: Potsdam Conference US demands free elections & USSR refuses Tehran - plan to beat Germany: US/GB come from west, USSR comes from east … significant b/c USSR liberated E. Europe - Churchill, Stalin, FDR Yalta – Churchill, Stalin, FDR Potsdam – Churchill, Stalin, Truman

The Big Three: Churchill, FDR, Stalin (Yalta)

No single start date … March 1946: Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech March 1947: Truman Doctrine (containment) June 1947: Marshall Plan 1948: Berlin blockade/airlift

2 alliances: NATO vs. Warsaw Pact Yugoslavia – communist but not under USSR’s thumb … Tito

The “iron curtain”

Marshall Plan

Postwar division of Germany

Major Soviet Leaders Lenin (1917-1924)  Stalin (1924-1953)  Khrushchev (1955-1964)  Brezhnev (1964-1982)  Gorbachev (1985-1991) 

Stalin (1924-1953) totalitarian central planning: propaganda 5 Year Plans collectivization / de-kulakization propaganda censorship KGB gulag

Khrushchev (1955-1964) de-Stalinization 1956 Hungarian rev. Cold War: 1961 Bay of Pigs 1961 Berlin Wall 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis de-Stalinzation: - “secret speech” at a closed session of the 20th Party Congress: attacked Stalin, revealed Stalin’s crimes - a little more intellectual openness – writers revealed Stalin’s crimes - economic reforms (ex. more production of consumer goods agri. vs. heavy industry) & subsequent rising standard of living Hungarian Revolution (1956) – USSR invaded and crushed it Cold War: - mid-1950s: relaxation of tensions - early 1960s: tensions increase, Khrushchev’s policies toward W. are unsuccessful - Bay of Pigs: US invades Cuba to try to overthrow Castro – unsuccessful - Berlin Wall constructed - Cuban Missile Crisis: USSR planted nukes in Castro, aimed at the US  JFK set up naval blockade  huge tension, but Soviets backed down and withdrew the nukes Photo: Famous image of Khrushchev banging his shoe during a 1960 speech to the UN in which he said that the US would be taken down without a shot being fired, ie. it would be taken down by its own people.

Brezhnev (1964-1982) re-Stalinization Prague Spring (1968) / Dubček Brezhnev Doctrine Prague Spring – Dubcek’s “socialism with a human face” was crushed with the Soviet invasion in August Brezhnev Doctrine – USSR and its allies had right to intervene in any socialist country when they saw the need re-Stalinization = return to tougher times, ex. strict censorship, but based more on coercion than terror some sources of stability in the early 1980s: - slowly rising standard of living - Russian nationalism – Russians support central gov’t as source of control over unruly minority groups clamoring for ind. significant changes during the Brezhnev era: more urban, educated, free-thinking population: 1. growth of urban pop. 2. growth of expert jobs (ex. scientists, specialists) 3. growth of public opinion, product of more education and freedom for experts

Vietnam War (height, 1968-1973) Vietnam War fought 1955-1975 - communist north (backed by USSR) vs. democratic south (backed by US) Tet Offensive (1968): communists’ first comprehensive attack with conventional weapons on major cities in South Vietnam  communists suffered great losses and didn’t incite mass uprising as hoped, but US critics saw this as an American loss b/c the US government had been claiming that victory was in sight, and this event proved that it wasn’t 1973: US forces completed withdrawal from Vietnam Life magazine Vol. 64, No. 10 in the 8 March 1968 issue. A photo from the Tet Offensive.

Détente (1970s) relaxation of cold war tensions Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik (W. German reconciliation w/ E. Europe) 1975 Final Act of the Helsinki Conference reaffirm Euro. borders human rights Why? - Vietnam shocked people - fear of nuclear war Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik, i.e. reconciliation w/ eastern Europe – ca. 1970 - reconciliation w/ Poland – laid wreaths at the tomb of the Polish unknown soldier and at the Warsaw ghetto uprising memorial - treaties w/ USSR, Poland, CzSl to formally accept state boundaries in return for a mutual renunciation of force - entered into direct relations w/ E. Germany – sought modest improvements rather than reunification (the latter wasn’t going to happen)  policy controversial in W. Germany but Brandt won Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 1975 Final Act of the Helsinki Conference - 35 nations signed (all Euro countries except Albania; US; Canada) - reaffirm Euro. borders – said they couldn’t be changed by force - guaranteed human rights and political freedoms for their citizens

Détente ends (late ’70s-mid 80s) Brezhnev ignored Helsinki human rights Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) Reagan calls USSR the “evil empire” Reagan ↑ defense spending

Gorbachev (1985-1991) glasnost (econ. “restructuring”) perestroika (“openness”) democratization new foreign policy: relax E-W tensions end Cold War

Boris Eremeevich Vladimirski, Roses for Stalin (1949) Socialist Realism Boris Eremeevich Vladimirski, Roses for Stalin (1949)

Western europe

1. Decolonization (& neocolonialism) Causes: - African/Asian demands for independence – began after WWI - WWII = Europeans exhausted neocolonialism = European nations maintain strong econ ties with former colonies, and continue colonialism through economic domination - ex. Europeans continue to run businesses in former colonies, continue to hold special trading privileges

2. Politics postwar – new leaders: Christian Democrats soc/com … “welfare state” US 1950s-early 80s: welfare state = heavy gov’t. spending 1980s – conservatism: Reagan (US) Thatcher (GB) Kohl (W. Germany) Postwar – new leaders: Christian Democrats – promoted democracy, European cooperation … a reaction against authoritarianism & militant nationalism. - came to power in Italy, France, West Germany socialists/communists – pushed for soc/econ reforms. - gained power esp in France and Italy - Britain’s Labour Party est. “welfare state”: nationalized key industries, increased gov’t spending, ex. on services like healthcare United States – provided $$ through Marshall Plan, security via NATO. 1950s-early 80s: welfare state = heavy government spending governments build up huge budget deficits 1980s – conservatism = reaction to huge budget deficits. Conservatives advocated free market policies and implemented austerity measures (cut government spending). GB – Thatcher (UK’s 1st woman PM) – slowed spending, privatized industry USA – Reagan – tax cuts, continued spending on social programs and military France – Mitterand – huge spending up to 1983 but then had to introduce austerity measures Margaret Thatcher, British PM 1979-1990

3. Economics postwar – rapid growth 1970s-80s – series of econ. crises Why: Marshall Plan, gov’t. stimulus, ppl. ready to work, consumer demand, Common Market 1970s-80s – series of econ. crises early 70s: US$ plummeted in value  global inflation oil shocks in 1973 (OPEC) & 1979 (Iranian Rev.) postwar – rapid growth due to: - Marshall Plan - gov’t focus on economy – governments adopted Keynesian economics, i.e. increased government spending to stimulate the economy - ppl. ready to work – for low wages - demand for consumer goods – a lot more consumer goods, such as the fridge and washing machine, had come on the market since the 1920s, and people wanted to buy them = provided room for growth in that industry - Common Market = European-wide market w/ free trade among its members = no more protectionism 1970s-80s – economic crises, punctuated by uneven periods of recovery - early 70s: by this point the US had spent billions on foreign aid and wars  foreigners rushed to change dollars for gold (feared loss of gold)  Nixon stopped sale of US gold  value of dollar fell  inflation  worldwide - 1973 oil shock – OPEC put embargo on sale of oil to US for its support of Israel in 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Worst econ crisis since Great Depression. Recovery began in 1976. - 1979 second oil shock – in response to Iranian Revolution. Uneven recovery began in 1982.

Late COLD WAR, 1968-1985

Cold war ends, 1985-1991

Revolutions of 1989 Poland 1st 1978: Pope John Paul II 1980: Gdansk shipyard strike  Solidarity forms under Lech Wałensa 1981: Jaruzelski declares martial law 1989: Solidarity legalized + free elections  Solidarity wins & begins reforms 1978: Pope John Paul II – election of a Polish pope electrified the nation 1980: Gdansk shipyard strike = 16,000 workers strike, demanding right to form unions, freedom of speech, release of political prisoners, economic reforms - Gdansk Agreement = government gave in - Solidarity forms under Lech Walensa – Solidarity had real power in negotiations b/c it held the threat of a nationwide strike 1981: Jaruzelski declares martial law = Solidarity outlawed and henceforward operated underground - why the crackdown in 1981: Solidarity had lost its cohesiveness and was becoming more radical amid economic crisis = Soviets became worried they would lose all power 1989: Communists legalized Solidarity and granted free elections - why: Poland on the brink of econ collapse in 1988 – gov’t needed Solidarity’s cooperation to deal w/ labor unrest - gov’t thought it could still keep a majority in the election – wrong! - Lech Walensa = able leader, always repudiated violence - reforms: gradual political changes (ex. eliminated secret police, Communist ministers), very rapid free market econ. reforms (“shock therapy”) – did pol. changes gradually so as not to incite a Soviet invasion a la CzSl in 1968

Revolutions of 1989 Glasnost and perestroika Hungary E. Germany Berlin Wall falls Czechoslovakia Velvet Revolution Vaclav Havel Romania only violent rev. Ceauşescu Hungary, E. Germany, CzSl all saw peaceful transfers of power – introduction of free elections that brought democrats into power Velvet Revolution – Dominated by student and other popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, it saw to the collapse of the party's control of the country, and the subsequent conversion to a parliamentary republic.[1] Vaclav Havel - was a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. Havel was the ninth[2] and last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). He wrote more than 20 plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally. Romania – Ceausescu ordered slaughter of thousands of protesters – but protesters fought back and executed Ceausescu and his wife

German Reunification (1990) E. Germans wanted better life led by W. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl Gorby agreed – Germany pledged peaceful intent + loans to USSR Kohl offered 1:1 exchange of E. German marks for W. German marks = great for E. Germans b/c their $ was worth so little E. Germany just adopted W. German constitution & laws in the unification process Germany became the most powerful country in Europe

Further cooling of E-W. tensions Paris Accord (1990): Europe, US, USSR military reduction affirmation of existing Euro. borders additional US-USSR agreements to reduce nuclear arms Gorbachev & Reagan sign an arms reduction treaty in 1987.

Boris Yeltsin, Russian pres. 1991-1999 Collapse of the USSR (1991) Gorby wanted to reform communism & keep the USSR, which pleased no one: hardline communists democrats (led by Yeltsin) Who won? February 1990: Communist party loses local elections nationwide March 1990: Lithuania declared independence (Gorby instituted embargo but no harsh crackdown – lost him the support of hardliners) March 1990: Gorby gets new constitution – broke Communist monopoly on power (again hardliners unhappy); party deputies elected him Pres. Of USSR (angered the radical reformers who wanted a universal suffrage election) May 1990: Yeltsin elected leader of Russian Fed’s parli and announces that Russia will declare ind.  Gorby attempts to keep USSR together with promise of a looser confederation, but 6 republics said no July 1991: Yeltsin elected president of Russian Fed. August 1991: coup attempt … hardliners kidnap Gorby & fam. vacationing in the Caucasus  Yeltsin rescued them Nov.-Dec. 1991: Yeltsin banned the Communist Party in Russia & declared Russia ind. Dec. 25, 1991: USSR dissolved … and Gorby’s job was gone Boris Yeltsin, Russian pres. 1991-1999

Collapse of the USSR (1991)