1. The Cold War

2. Cold War? Tension and rivalry between superpowers
U.S. (capitalist/democracy) vs.
USSR (communist dictatorship)
Not a fighting (hot) war
often very close to war (hotspots).
Berlin airlift
Cuban Missile Crisis
US/USSR avoid direct conflict to prevent nuclear war and mutually assured destruction (MAD)
Both used proxies (substitutes) in conflicts
either stop (US) or help (USSR) the spread of communism (U.S.)
Fund and arm rebels/opposition to governments aligned with other side. Examples:
USSR funds rebels in Angola, Congo, Sandinistas in Nicaragua, South America
US funds contras in Nicaragua, Jihadists in Afghanistan

3. Spread of Communism Eastern Europe (late 1940s) China (1949)
Stalin reneges on promises to hold free elections
China (1949)
causes “red scare”
“Who lost China”
Cuba (1959)
SE Asia (1975)

4. Communism at greatest extent
Keep in mind the Sino-Soviet split divides the communist world by the early 1960s
China says “peaceful coexistence” makes USSR weak

5. Key Terms Containment Mutually Assured Destruction
U.S. to prevent spread of Communism.
fears the “Domino Effect”
if one country falls to communism, then another, then another, etc.
Vietnam → Cambodia → Laos
Mutually Assured Destruction
guaranteed destruction of BOTH superpowers in the event of a nuclear war.
“MAD”

6. The Arms Race Competition to have most powerful weapons.
1945 U.S. bombs Japan
1949 Soviet A-Bomb
1952 U.S. H-Bomb
1953 Soviets H-Bomb
Later race includes delivery systems
ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles)
Submarine-based launch capability
Arms control agreements
Test ban treaties, SALT I & II (strategic arms limitation treaties), etc.

7. Hotspots Korean War (1950 - 1953)
Communists from North invade S. Korea.
U.S. forces assist S. Korea
U.N. sends 15-nation force (USSR in middle of boycott)
Cuba
Communist Fidel Castro takes power (1959)
US assists counterrevolutionary forces at Bay of Pigs (1961)
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
The U-2 Affair (1960)
American U-2 spy plane shot down over USSR.
Vietnam War ( )
French fight communists and leave; followed by U.S.
S. Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia => communist
Afghanistan ( )
Soviets invade Afghanistan to prop up communism
US supports jihadist opposition
Russia’s “Vietnam”
Various other “proxy” wars
Fueled by decolonization as superpowers jockey for influence over new states.

8. Khrushchev Era Stalin dies (1953)
New leader Nikita Khrushchev denounces the policies of Stalin.
“destalinization”
Rejects idea of inevitable war with West
"peaceful coexistence”
but still bellicose
“We will bury you”
Kitchen debates w/Nixon
Sputnik
1st man made satellite
space race begins => NASA
Kennedy promises a man on the moon by end of 1960s
US wins race (1969)

9. Sputnik II
Laika

10. THE BERLIN WALL

13. Berlin Wall
Communists construct Berlin Wall to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin.
Many people attempted to escape to the West.
86 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1990.
Propaganda tool for West
“you need to build a wall to keep your people in”

14. Leonid Brezhnev Era (1964 – 1982)
General Secretary of the Communist Party
Khrushchev replaced shortly after Cuban Missile Crisis
hostile to internal reforms
tolerates corruption
leads to “Brezhnev stagnation” a period of socioeconomic decline
Supports policy of détente w/West
But engages in massive military buildup and interventionism
military budget is 12.5% of GNP

15. Resistance to Communism in Eastern Europe
Hungary (1956)
Imre Nagy (leader) promises free elections, Soviets invade.
Czechoslovakia (1968)
Prague Spring reform crushed by Warsaw Pact forces.
“Brezhnev Doctrine”
USSR will use force to protect its interests in E. Europe
Poland (1980)
Labor union, Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa challenges communist govt.
Pope John Paul II (Polish cardinal, 1st non-Italian pope in 450 years)
gave Poles courage to demand “peaceful change”

16. Détente
Period of reduced tensions between U.S. and USSR in 1960s and 1970s.
Arms Control Treaties
Helsinki Accords
triangulation
Nixon exploits Sino-Soviet split to strengthen America’s strategic position.

17. US – Soviet Cultural and Economic Differences
West = open, free democratic, dynamic
market-based economies (consumer makes all decisions, has the power)
abundant consumer goods
free exchange of ideas
free press, ability to protest, free movement
East = closed, restrictive, stagnant
command economies (government makes all decisions, consumer has no power)
focused on heavy industry
shortage of consumer goods
state-run press, religion repressed, no protest
Life under Communism

18. Defectors Milos Forman, director Martina Navratilova
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus
Defectors
Martina Navratilova
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana

19. Ronald Reagan Mikhail Gorbachev U.S. President (1981-1989).
Ramps up U.S. arms production.
“Star Wars” missile defense program
USSR is an “Evil Empire.”
“Tear down this wall.”
Becomes leader of USSR (1985).
1st Gen’l Secretary not born under tsars
Ushered in an era of reform.
Perestroika
Economic reform- restructuring
Arms race bankrupted USSR
Glasnost
openness, allowed greater free expression and criticism
Mikhail Gorbachev

20. Ronald Reagan: “Tear Down This Wall”
Reagan Speech

21. 1989 - Fall of Berlin Wall Gorbachev renounces Brezhnev Doctrine
Refuses to intervene to crush pro-democracy movements in Eastern Europe
After massive public demonstrations in East Germany and Eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall fell.
NBC News

22. 1991 – USSR Collapses Soviet Union officially dissolved.
Russian Federation (Russia) formed.
15 constituent republics become independent states.
“New World Order”
U.S. only “superpower.”