1. The Post-War World 1945 – 1989 Democracy vs. Communism

2. Objective: You will learn how the World evolved in the first 20 years after the end of World War II You will learn about the Cold War, a showdown between Communism and Democracy You will learn about the great leaders of this era and the accomplishments that took place during this time period

3. The costliest war in history was over

4. Those responsible had been punished
Newspaper announces Hitler’s death in underground bunker
Mussolini and mistress
are hung by frustrated Italians
General Tojo execution

5. At Potsdam, the United States, Great Britain, and Russia now planned for the future
Clement Atlee of Great Britain, Harry Truman of the United States,
Josef Stalin of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

6. Stalin already had plans for the lands he had captured from the Germans

7. The Soviets took over Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, then established Communist governments in Soviet-controlled East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Yugoslavia also established a Communist government but took no orders from Moscow

8. Stalin was determined to see Communism in all the nations of the World

9. President Truman was determined to contain Communist expansion in the name of Democracy

10. The Truman Doctrine gave American aid to Greece, Turkey, and any nation threatened by Communist aggression

11. In addition, the Marshall Plan, established by the United States through Secretary of State George Marshall, offered billions of dollars in aid to any European nation that needed it. The Soviets rejected this aid and also rejected help for their “satellites”

12. West Germany was under the jurisdiction of Great Britain, France, and the United States, plus all three nations had jurisdiction of West Berlin, well within the borders of East Germany

13. But Stalin didn’t see why the three Allies needed to be in Berlin, since it was surrounded by East Germany. He also expected an eventual Allied withdrawal from West Germany
When the three Allied nations begin a move to establish a democratic government in West Germany, Stalin closed their access to West Berlin

14. Stalin closed the three main travel corridors between West Germany and Berlin stopping rail, road, and canal transportation

15. Stalin had hoped to starve out the West Berliners and take over the city, but the air forces of the United States and Great Britain began an airlift that supplied 4700 tons of supplies daily to the citizens of West Berlin

16. By now it was obvious that the Soviet Union, pushing expansion of Communism, and the United States, holding to the ideals of democracy, were deeply entrenched in a Cold War

17. And now, Stalin had what he really wanted… the Atomic Bomb

18. Two Americans, Julius and Ethyl Rosenberg, were caught sharing weapons secrets with the Russians, were tried for treason, and executed

19. In China, a civil war that save for invasion by Japan had been going on since 1927, was coming to a final climax
Chiang Kai Shek (l)
led the Nationalists
Mao Zedong (r) led the Communists

20. On October 1, 1949, the Nationalist government collapsed and escaped to the island of Taiwan, with Mao Zedong declaring “The People’s Republic of China”

21. The United States and her allies only recognized Nationalist China as the true China

22. At the end of World War II, at the Cairo Conference, Japan was forced to give up Korea to the Allies. The Soviets wanted to establish a communist government but the United States wanted to establish a democracy. So the nation was split in two.

23. By the end of 1949, Soviet and American troops had been removed from Korea, with both nations now independent with Communism in the North and Democracy in the South. On June 25, 1950, troops from the North crossed the 38th Parallel into South Korea

24. The United Nations condemned the invasion but the Soviet Union boycotted the assembly because Red China was not being recognized as the true China.
Kim Il Jung of
North Korea
Syngman Rhee
of South Korea

25. While the UN sent troops to South Korea, most of the troops came from the United States under the command of General Douglas MacArthur

26. American forces were able to push Communist forces back over the 38th Parallel. Russia and China further aided the North Korean army

27. With the U.S. gaining the advantage, General MacArthur wanted to use nuclear weapons, then launch a ground attack against Red China

28. President Truman feared such moves would start a third World War
But when MacArthur second-guessed his Commander-in-Chief, he was removed from his command

29. With both sides coming to a stalemate, a cease fire was declared, and an armistice was signed on July 27, 1953

30. Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953
Joseph Stalin died on March 5, Left-to-right, Nikolai Bulganin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Yyacheslav Molotov fought to replace him.

31. Khrushchev won the power struggle, then told America “We will bury you!?

32. America had its own problems dealing with Communism at home
Whitaker Chambers, a known Communist claimed that Alger Hiss, who worked in the State Department held Communist sympathies. California Congressman
Richard Nixon would lead the move to convict Hiss

33. Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was convinced there were more Communists in the government and in the military

34. Several Americans, notably artists and performers were “Blacklisted” for being suspected Communists or having Communist sympathies
Will Geer
Actor
Dalton Trumbo
Screenwriter
Pete Seeger, Folk Singer, refused to testify
before the Un-American Activities Committee

35. After the French were defeated in Indochina, North Vietnam established a Communist government, and wanted South Vietnam as well. President Eisenhower sent military “Advisors” to Southeast Asia

36. Hungary 1956: A national revolt against the Communist government causing its collapse. The Soviets moved in to crush the rebellion and reestablish Communism

37. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Khrushchev made a pact with Egypt’s President Gamel Abdel Nasser which included construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River

38. Khrushchev and Mao shared a vision

39. A slight thaw: The United States and the Soviet Union agree to put on exhibits of cultural exchange
The Russian Exhibit in New York, 1958
The American Exhibit in Moscow,
1959

40. In the kitchen of the American exhibit, Vice President Nixon confronted Premier Khrushchev regarding their differences
Nixon: “Prosperity in America made the kitchen affordable to
the average steel worker”
Khrushchev: “Nyet!”

41. To further improve their differences, Khrushchev spent two weeks visiting the United States and seeing capitalism at its best
Mr. & Mrs. Khrushchev
With President Eisenhower
On a farm
on Iowa
Taking the train
Up the California
Coast to San
Francisco
But no Disneyland!

42. In 1959, Fidel Castro and his followers overthrew the Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista
Castro would declare himself a Marxist/Leninist,
putting a Communist government only 90 miles
from the shores of the United States

43. In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States

44. Khrushchev wanted to test the young President

45. In Berlin, residents of the Communist East were escaping to the Democratic West

46. Then, overnight in August of 1961, the Communists put up a wall

47. In October, U.S. and Soviet tanks faced each other at Checkpoint Charlie

48. No shots were fired in Berlin, but a more dangerous situation was evolving in Cuba
The Soviet Union was building and installing nuclear missile bases in Cuba

49. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba and told the USSR that any attack against a nation in the Western Hemisphere would be considered an attack upon the United States and would be dealt with in an armed response

50. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange for removing American missiles from Turkey

51. After coming so close to nuclear war, both the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to ban atmospheric testing

52. President Kennedy was assassinated by a Communist sympathizer in Dallas, Texas on November 22, On October 15, 1964, Nikita Khrushchev disappeared from public view, replaced by the Soviet Politboro

53. The new leaders of the USSR were Leonid Brezhnev, Chairman of the Communist Party, and Alexi Kosygin, Premier

54. The United States was now fully involved in Vietnam, trying to keep the Communists of the North from taking over the South
President
Lyndon B.
Johnson
Vietnam
War
Scenes

55. This was not a popular war

56. Prague Spring, Alexander Dubcek instituted liberal reforms in Czecholslavakia, but on August 21, the Soviets and other Eastern Bloc nations put an end to their attempts at freedom

57. The Soviet Union was not happy about Richard Nixon being elected President of the United States in 1968

58. Nixon expanded the war in Vietnam and expanded our nuclear arsenal

59. But Nixon also began a dialog with Red China, meeting with Chinese leaders and eventually recognizing the People’s Republic of China as the true China

60. Nixon also agreed to further limitation of nuclear weapons and a period of “Détente,” an understanding, with the USSR

61. These moves would lead to an end to American involvement in Vietnam, “Peace With Honor”

62. Two years later, North Vietnam began a final push to take over South Vietnam. America watched as the domino fell.

63. Afghanistan had always been dependent on Soviet support
Afghanistan had always been dependent on Soviet support. In April 1978, Afghanistan rebels with arms supplied by the Russians overthrew the monarchy of King Mohammad Zahir Shah. Two socialist factions, the Khalq and the Parcham fought for control with the Khalq establishing ruthless power. In December 1979, Soviet troops moved into Afghanistan overthrowing the Khalq government and putting Babrak Karmal of the Parcham’s in charge of a Soviet style government, drawing the ire of the United States and its allies

64. Détente was over. President Jimmy Carter condemned the Soviet intrusion into Afghanistan, instituted sanctions against the USSR, and boycotted the 1980 Olympics that were being held in Moscow

65. The Soviet Union, in turn, boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, but also found they had their own Vietnam in Afghanistan

66. New President Ronald Reagan adopted a “get tough” policy with the USSR

67. Communists tried and failed to gain control in Central America

68. The Soviet Union had a new leader
The Soviet Union had a new leader. Mikhail Gorbachev was nothing like his successors. He called for “Peristroika,” a time for restructuring

69. Reagan challenged Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall

70. In Poland, Lech Walesa was pushing for change

71. The people of the Eastern Bloc nations were demanding change

72. Then the dominoes fell… in the opposite direction Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, established democratic republics Yugoslavia returned to a collection of small Balkan states The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics broke up

73. In Romania, the government underwent a violent revolution and execution of its Stalin-like President, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife

74. The Wall Came Down!
November
9, 1989

75. The end of the Cold War
President George Bush and Premier Gorbachev shake hands
Today, only China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba remain under Communism