1. Brief history of U.S.S.R & Cold War
2011
Russia Resurgence Unit
L1 class-
1)Show beginning of power point, up to slide 18, then break and do brief overview of Cuban Missile Crisis- how resolved
2)and then go into Vietnam Unit & Fog of War)
3)Then return to rest of presentation to talk about Détente, and New Cold War (already covered under Terrorism Unit)
4) Resurgence of Russia & articles and Freedman’s book- chapter 6 3)

2. Group discussions
When did Cold War start? List 2 early events in Europe that led to Cold War.
List two other major Cold War conflicts that the U.S. was directly involved?
When did détente start between the U.S. & the Soviets?
What event in Asia marked an end to détente?

3. Stalin’s U.S.S.R
V. Lenin’s ideas of communism are distorted under Joseph Stalin regime
Stalin sets up a totalitarian system government based on communist economy.
General Secretary of Communist Party

4. WWII - Uncle Joe are ally!
During WWII, after Hitler invades Russia (breaking Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact), Russia is allies with U.S. & Britain
Russian, Red Army, captures Berlin to win WWII in Europe.
Russians are hero’s of WWII.
FDR, Stalin & Churchill

5. End of WWII, Stalin becomes an enemy!
Germany was divided between allied power; Berlin was also divided- Stalin tries to take all of Berlin- Berlin Airlift
Stalin breaks the Yalta Treaty and occupies Eastern European countries at end of WWII.
Stalin seen as a threat!!
Europe divided: Western Europe is “free democracies” establish NATO, Eastern Europe “communist & controlled” establish Warsaw Pact

8. Europe is divided during Cold War

9. What was life like in Soviet Union?
Isolated to the west; Eastern European countries are also isolated.
Barbed wire surround the empire;
Winston Churchill calls a division between Eastern & Western Europe- the Iron Curtain!
Collectivized farms, state ownership of all property

10. Propaganda by 1946 Joe the Butcher
Stalin stay’s in Eastern European countries establishes communist “satellite nations”-aggression
Stalin killed over 20 million of his own people to stay in power!

11. Kolyma- most notorious region of Gulag Prison camps

12. Soviets acquire nuclear weapons!
U.S. increased U.S. military presence in Western Europe
,000 U.S. troops in Europe
Over half of our military budget was for defending Europe
Arms Race begins-400 Nukes ready by 1953

13. U.S. Response to nuclear Soviet Union under Stalin!
Air raid drills, bomb shelters in U.S.
Life Magazine runs articles on: “How to survive a nuclear attack.”
Films, The Day After, nuclear attack in U.S.
A communist killed John F. Kennedy!
Propaganda helps keep America in crisis, fear makes us irrational!
McCarthy Trials- Fear of communism!

14. Communist Propaganda

15. McCarthy Trials & Red Scare

16. Propaganda in America
Duck & cover drills
Bomb Shelters

17. Was the Soviet Union really a threat!
Both the U.S. and U.S.S.R had enough bombs to destroy the world many times over!
The Soviet threat was weak, destroying America would not have benefited the Soviets.
More of a threat in Europe. Fear against communism in U.S. helps to fund defense budget.

18. U.S.- Soviet Détente
Arms race close to nuclear war in Oct Cuban Missile Crisis.
J. F. Kennedy imposed a naval blockade and made a secret deal with the Soviets.
Vietnam and fight against communism!
By end of 1960’s, U.S. citizens reconsidered our commitment to fighting communism.
1972- Nixon visits China and Soviet Union. Salt agreements- limits nuclear weapons.

19. Collapse of détente
1976- Soviets aim new generation of nuclear missiles towards W. Europe.
1979-Soviets invaded Afghanistan.

20. President Reagan call Soviets “Evil Empire”

21. What was life like in the Soviet Union?
A workers paradise, everyone had a job
Equality- only about 3% of population were elites, but the average Soviet was told that communist leaders lived like the rest of the Soviets!
Soviet citizens knew nothing about America; isolated from the world
Ultimately shortages of goods and services, bread lines etc (near collapse of U.S.S.R)

22. Living Under Soviet Communism
Advantages
Disadvantages
Free Healthcare
Jobs for life
Free Education
Housing was provided
Security
Lack of Information
No Religion
Government control of most aspects of life

23. Collapse of Soviet Union 1989
If guaranteed a job, nobody is inspired to work
Corruption in system
Emphasis on military and defense spending over consumer goods- bread lines and food shortages
Soviet Afghan War- economically drains “satellite nations” country
Supporting “satellite nations” drains economy
Hatred among different nationalities (ethnicities) in empire.

24. Mikhail Gorbachev reforms leads to collapse of U.S.S.R
Glasnost literally openness- “opening to the press”
Whole periods of recorded Soviet history were changed by glasnost. Stalin, Brezhnev and Cherenko previously great leaders were unmasked as the brutal oppressive murders they really were. Only Lenin remained sacrosanct.
As the truth came out piece by piece the Soviet people became more and more angry at their Communist rulers.
Glasnost allowed for the first time the facts to be presented!

25. Failed Reforms did not help U.S.S.R
The Soviet economy had been in a period of stagnation for two decades and was in desperate need of reform.
Gorbachev choose to adjust the old system with a period of perestroika or restructuring in the hope of making it more efficient.
The reforms while on the right track were not comprehensive enough to overcome the sluggishness in the Soviet economy.

26. Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989

27. Commonwealth of Independent States
1990, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union agreed to give up its monopoly of power.
Over the next several weeks, the 15 constituent republics of the USSR held their first competitive elections.

28. Independence in former U.S.S.R.
1989- Communist regimes brought down in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania
1990- West & East Germany reunified after 45 years of division.
1990- Lithuania declares independence
1991- Belarus & Ukraine announced formation of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)