1. The Cold War - A Historical Perspective
( ) BY
Prof. Amit Bhalla
Department of Political Science
Govt. P.G College Rajouri

2. The Cold War Defined
A continuing state of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union
A Clash of two contrasting ideologies-Capitalism and Communism

3. Development of the Cold War
U.S. saw Soviet Union as threat to their way of life
USSR thought they had won WWII
Lost most lives
Wanted to gain land as prize
Saw U.S. as threat

4. Development of the Cold War
Iron Curtain-figure of speech by Churchill describing line separating free and communist Europe
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. “

5. Cold War Doctrines
Truman Doctrine-promised aid to countries resisting communism
Communist pressured Greece and Turkey
Containment- philosophy of limiting spread of communism
Marshall Plan- aid to strengthen democratic governments

6. Division of Germany Divided into four zones Berlin Airlift
West Germany free
East Germany communist controlled
Berlin Airlift
Communists forced blockade of West Berlin
U.S. , Britain flew in food almost a year.

7. Cold War Alliances NATO-North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Free nations pledged support to each other if attacked by communism
SEATO-Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
Stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, following Korean War
Warsaw Pact
Included Soviet Union and it’s seven satellite nations

8. Cold War Heats Up
1940’s-50’s Hungarian and Czechoslovakian anti-communist revolts forcefully repressed by USSR
Beginning of Atomic Age
1949 Soviet Detonation of Nuclear Bomb
U.S. begins work on hydrogen bomb
Next 50 years arms race between two

9. Cold War Heats Up Space Race Competition for space
1957 Soviet’s launch Sputnik
U.S. starts NASA
Use of Spy satellite equipment
1958- U.S. sent Explorer
1969- Man lands on Moon

10. Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1990
Triggered by flood of refugees flowing east to west through Hungary
Wall came down Nov. 1990; Germany began reunification process

11. Collapse of the Soviet Union
Stalin’s successors
Nikita Kruschev – hard line commie
Leonid Brezhnev
Practiced a policy of détente ( lessening of tensions) with the U.S.
Characterized by
Arms control talks
Cultural exchanges
Trade agreements

12. The Fall of the Soviet Union
Causes
Leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev
Glasnost-openness to democracy
Perestroika-reshaping of economy
Economic movements
Freedom Movements
Effects
Formation of Commonwealth of Independent States
Loss of role as superpower
End of Cold War
Economic Hardship
Minority Revolts and ethnic conflicts
Fall of Soviet
Union

13. Break-up of Soviet Union, 1991
1989- Poland breaks away from Soviet Union
Solidarity- movement that called for economic and political change led by Lech Walesa
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania left USSR 1991
USSR dissolved Dec. 1991
Commonwealth of Independent States, led by Russia under Boris Yeltsin
Economic, religious, and crime problems

14. THANKS