Unit 9 Flashcards
Context
-historians have debated who was responsible for Cold War, *early on: blamed Soviet Union & Stalin’s oppressive policies for stoking fear of communism
*revisionist historians: blamed US due to aggressive US policy in Southeast Asia
*more recently: more nuanced view places blame on both, both playing into European tradition of power politics
-After WW|| was over, 2 Global superpowers emerged from wreckage –> Soviet Union & US & the conflict between these superpowers known as the Cold War will define global events until the last part of the 20th cen
-Much of the conflict between these 2 powers has to do w/their political & economic worldviews
*Soviet Union organized as authoritarian communist state while US was organized as a democratic capitalist state
*Each of these powers wanted to remake the entire world into the image either of communism or democracy
–> When states & populations are in real economic trouble they might be sorely tempted to give communism a try as after-all under the dictates of a communist state everyone would have enough food & everyone would have gainful employment
The Marshall Plan
-US Allocated $13 billion in economic aid to Western nations seeking to rebuild
*US sent saur much $ bc there was a very real fear that if communism began to spread throughout Western Europe, then communism would take over the whole world
-belief that Communist feeds on economic turmoil, increased Soviet hold over eastern Europe in response
Effects of Marshall plan
-Worked phenomenally !!
|. Rapid economic recovery in Western Europe
*W/massive influx of American $$ Western euro states quickly rebuilt cities & roads & bridges now had $ to purchase raw materials that they needed –> got industrial sector humming again & factories roared back to life to produce goods needed for reconstruction
*Worked so well that by 1950 European industry on the whole surpassed its prewar output
*Poster Child of post-war recovery is West Germany (after war Germany was essentially split into two halves w/Western European states & US aiding the Western half & Soviet Union aiding the Eastern Half) Western Germany’s recovery was so profound it was dubbed an economic Miracle –> by 1955 just Western half of Germany had increased its economic output so much that it was larger than all of Germany’s output b4 the war
||. Increased importance of consumerism
*The idea that the well-being of a nation’s economy is dependent on ppl buying consumer goods
The Cold War Begins
-Big 3 (which included GB, Soviet Union, & US) met in a series of 3 conferences & in these among other things they negotiated abt what a post-world Europe would look like after their victory
*One of they key agreements was that Eastern European Nations would be allowed to choose their leaders & govs thru democratic elections (Good for GB & US but Stalin was like :’( but they still went ahead & made the agreement & finished fighting the war)
*Another one of the main agreements was that the League of nations was kind of a turd, they didn’t ever solve anything thru diplomacy as evident thru WW|| lol –> so big 3 agreed another international body ought to be created AKA United Nations to avoid another international war, however this did not keep the cold war from happening
*USSR wants to protect its western border & maintain spoils of war , set up Pro-Soviet regimes in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary
many feared another war was the only way to solve issues
-After WW|| was over Stalin decided that Eastern euro nations were not ready for self determination & instead the Soviet Union absorbed those nations into what became the Soviet bloc –> these satellite nations became communist & their economies were made to serve the Soviet Union instead of themselves -> suspicion & mutual distrust began
*To add further distrust between US & Soviet Union, handling of post-war Germany further divided the 2, after war Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones, The soviets, the french, the british, & the US each claiming one –> occupation meant to be temporary but East Germany dominated by Soviets quickly became communist, Soviets wanted to keep Germany weak so that they would be less of a threat
*Contention over Germany: Allied powers agree to divide Germany & Berlin into occupied zones , Soviet remove 380 factories from western zones before giving to western powers (also take technology from eastern zone to USSR) US, UK, France combine zones into unified western federal govt , USSR responds by erecting blockade of western portions of *Berlin : Berlin Airlift, allied powers use air force to supply 2.5 million people in west Berlin w/food, gas, coal, oil, etc. to survive for over a year, Germany was officially divided
Republic of Germany (Konrad Adenauer) v Democratic Republic
-By this point it was clear that there was significant ideological & political tension in Europe so much so that former British prime minister Winston Churchill said that an iron curtain had descended across the continent
The Cold War Begins
-Big 3 (which included GB, Soviet Union, & US) met in a series of 3 conferences & in these among other things they negotiated abt what a post-world Europe would look like after their victory
*One of they key agreements was that Eastern European Nations would be allowed to choose their leaders & govs thru democratic elections
-New Military Alliances
*USSR tests first atomic bomb by 1949
arms race: construction of more & more destructive nuclear weapons
-mutual deterrence: belief that an arsenal of nuclear weapons prevented war by assuring that if one nation launched its nuclear weapons the other nation would still be able to respond & devastate the attacker
-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), April 1949 : Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal signed treaty w/US & Canada, West Germany, Greece, & Turkey join a few years later –> all powers agree to provide mutual assistance if an one of them is attacked
-COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance for economic cooperation) –> Eastern European response to western unity
-Warsaw Pact, 1955: Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, & Soviet Union organized formal military alliance
Western Economics & Politics
-Much of what was happening in Western Europe during Cold war was intimately tied to policies of US
-NATO
-World Bank: established in 1944 in order to provide loans to countries that needed to rebuild after war (later in the cen WB shifted focus to make loans to developing nations) but regardless goal of WB was to make sure a global economic catastrophe like the Great Depression didn’t happen again
-Also in 1944 International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established
*Facilitated international currency exchange & encouraged global trade
-World Trade Organization estab. in 1995
*Responsible for generating & enforcing a set pf rules that governed international trade (Idea here namely the same as the organization it replaced, GATT, or gen. agreement on tariffs & trade, both organizations among other things aimed to reduce tariffs between member nations so that trade could flow as freely as possible between them
Soviet/Eastern Economics & Politics
-Countries East of the iron curtain aka Soviet Bloc came under military, political, & economic domination of Soviet Union
*Their answer to IMF, World Bank, & Marshall Plan was Council 4 Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) –> goal = bind soviet states into mutually reinforcing economic system which would make them all dependent on Soviet Union
*Answer to NATO was Warsaw Pact = military alliance w/satellite states of Soviet Union which would again require dependence
-Western & Eastern very similar right? Western basically dependent on US, Eastern dependent on Soviet Union right? BUT NOOO Soviet bloc nations DID NOT flourish economically like Western Europe did& was largely bc of Soviet Economic model of Planned Economies
-Planned Economies: Economic output of these satellite states were planned by a committee within the Soviet Union –> Meant each state was told what to produce, how much of it to produce & where they could sell it
*In that way States in Soviet bloc did not produce for their own benefit but rather for overall benefit of Soviet Union, often to their own hurt
-Social Welfare: *State provided for many of the needs for ppl including housing & health care but state run services were often poorly implemented
*Universal education
–> In order to achieve this level of centralization, the Soviet Union systematically removed civil liberties & individual rights of the population –> to that end Stalin created huge networks of Secret Police both in the Soviet union proper & in Soviet Bloc (Secret Police responsible for rooting out those who dissented from Communist Party’s agenda & in order to make those threats stick they were authorized to use violence & subversion to keep populations in check
-Immigration from Soviet Union severely restricted –> Example of this is construction fo Berlin Wall, so many eastern Berliners were fleeing to Democratic West Berlin where economy & individual liberty flourished so Stalin built a massive wall
The Containment Policy
-American Policy of Containment
containment: US policy against further aggressive Soviet moves
-Truman doctrine: any country that felt itself
under threat of communism could expect financial & military assistance from US
*First testing for doctrine was Civil War in Greece, two factions were communist & anti-communist, GB supported anticommunists while Soviet Union supported the communists but GB had to step back in 1947 & deal w/their own problems & so US stepped in to provide financial aid to anti-communist forces so that Greece would not fall to communism, & they win only further increasing division
How the Cold War was Waged
-Called a cold war bc two nations stood in direct tension w/one another & could go to war at any moment but ultimately they did not
|.Propaganda: Radio Free Europe broadcasts signals into Soviet territory extolling virtues of freedom & democracy & so in order to combat this soviet propaganda emphasized capitalistic greed of West & racial tension in US
||. Covert Actions: US created CIA, UK had secret intelligence service & Soviet Union had KGB –> all these agencies were responsible for sending spies into enemy territory to gather information on weapons build ups & discover what their next steps were in the Cold War
|||. Arms Race: Build up of especially nuclear Weapons, Soviets had feelings hurt after seeing US bomb Japan since they weren’t told abt such tech, made their own, US had hydrogen bomb made, so did Soviets –> point is that it was very unlikely that either superpower would ever deploy these bombs against each other bc to do so would virtually guarantee mutual assured destruction
|V. Proxy Wars: *(War in which major powers support opposing side smaller war) So US & Soviet Union never officially started firing at each other directly but they did get involved on opposite sides of smaller conflicts & therefore could fight each other without fighting each other
*Communist Revolution in China in 1949 increased US fears about spread of communist
*Korean War: after Japan was defeated in WW|| its former colony Korea was divided along 38th parallel, Soviet Union occupied North & US occupied South, in 1949 both armies withdrew & North Korea became communist while South Korea was more democratic
–> in 1950 communist north invaded the South & the US & Soviet Union almost immediately got involved w/money & troops, US gains support of United Nations to intervene & send American troops to stop invasion , UN troops march northward (past 38th parallel) to unify all of Korea under anti-communist regime, Chinese leader, Mao Zedong sent Chinese forces to push troops back fighting stalled & armistice was signed in 1953 establishing 38th parallel as division between North & South Korea, US see as win to stop spread of communism, hardens western attitudes toward China, ultimately after both sides gaining & loosing territory, war ended right where it began w/two countries divided by 38th parallel
* 1st Vietnam War: Also divided into North & South after WW|| w/more of US friendly gov on South & communist gov on North
–> fighting began in South, Vietnamese supported by US while North Vietnam was supported by China & Soviet Union, ultimately this war caused millions of lives on both sides & basically like Korea ended in a Stalemate
–> Ho Chi Minh leads nationalist alliance called Vietminh against French colonial control in Indochina, fight escalates to next “hot war”, US govt backs French forces, Chinese forces support Vietminh, French agree to peace settlement w/Vietminh at Geneva Convention (1954) & Vietnam is temporarily divided in half,
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (north-communist) v Republic of Vietnam (south-anti-comm)
*Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: in 1979 there was trouble in Afghanistan, at least from Soviet perspective as Anti-communist guerrillas were attempting to overthrow the communist gov there so Soviet Union invaded to support the Communists & while the US did not send troops they sent a whole lotta weapons to support those attempting the overthrow & this became a long & protracted war that rlly only ended w/Soviet Union withdrawing in 1989
Globalization of the Cold War
- Escalation of Cold War
President Eisenhower called for full use of American nuclear weapons in response to Soviet attack
increased US alliances (42 by mid 1950s)
CENTO: alliances with Great Britain, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey
SEATO: alliances with Australia, GB, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, Phillipines, Thailand
-Another Berlin Crisis: *Khrushchev threatened to give east Germany control of access routes to west Berlin if West did not remove forces from West Berlin
*US refused to back down & Khrushchev eventually backed down
*JFK & Khrushchev get into similar situation
*Khrushchev decides a wall is the best solution
–> Construction of Berlin walls begins August 13, 1961
*100 miles of wall w/watchtowers surrounded West Berlin
-Cuban Missile Crisis
*Fidel Castro led left-wing revolution to overthrow govt in Cuba
*US attempts to remove Castro from power in failed Bay of Pigs operation
*1962 USSR began to station nuclear missiles in Cuba →close to US
*JFK orders naval blockade to prevent Soviet ships w/missiles from entering Cuba
*JFK & Khrushchev reach agreement to avoid nuclear war
–> US will not invade Cuba
–> USSR will turn ships around
The Soviet Union: Stalin to Khrushchev
-USSR devastated in WWII, Stalin returned to method of intense industrialization he used in 1930s
*intense work, low pay, very few goods
*loss of men in war meant women had to take up most of work (40%)
*by 1947 industrial production returned to pre-war levels
-Stalin’s Policies
*industry increased at cost of people’s comfort & benefit
–> people had very few goods, overcrowded housing, poor jobs, etc.
*Oppressive policies : used suppression of political opposition to become singular leader,
continued to repress any ideas contrary to his power/the state –> education must “conform to political needs of the state”
-Khrushchev’s Rule
*Came to power in 1956 –> publicly denounced Stalin for being an authoritarian turd & began process of de-stalinization
*de-stalinization: process of undoing some of Stalin’s most repressive measures
–> More freedom granted to artists who under stalin were forced to produce art that only glorified the Soviet Union, Khrushchev released many of Stalin’s political prisoners & scaled back secret police
–>also implemented some economic policies that helped average Soviet citizens like a 40-hr work week & allowing more freedom 4 ppl to choose careers
–> allowed for more educational freedom, closed labor camps & siberian prisons
–> Part of de-stalinization program was to ease heavy Soviet influence on Soviet Bloc states, Khrushchev made it clear that more civil liberties would be tolerated in satellite states & that some limited free trade would be implemented too
–> Soviet economy entered severe recession from 1953-1964 –> so none of his promised
–> led to revolutionary movements & rebellions in satellite states–Khrushchev shut these down forcefully & began to downplay de-stalinization : ~1956 Hungarian revolution, reform minded leader named Imre Nagy demanded that Hungary have free & open elections unhindered by Soviet influence & Hungarian independence, Nagy was actually a communist (& never abandoned his ideals) ! But by this point Soviet oppression in Hungary was so profound & stifling that Nagy along w/thousands of other protesters decided revolt was best way forward & so upon announcing that Hungary would leave Warsaw Pact & seek protection of United Nations, Soviet Union sent troops to Budapest killing almost 3000 & crushing revolution
~Invasion of Czechoslovakia 1968: Another reform minded communist elected & he enacted many liberal reforms that were way out of bounds of Soviet Policy so Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, stopped reforms & strengthened more oppressive wing of Communist Party
~Also some peaceful revolutions mostly on 1989, impetus for these revolutions came as result of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbechev’s announcement in that year that Soviet Union would no longer intervene militarily in Soviet Bloc to support Communist government, w/those strictures removed Hungary for example instituted Western economic reforms that they had been trying to put in place since revolution of 1956, however this time these reforms went unopposed by Soviet Union so in 1990 Hungarians elected a gov committed to democracy & free market economics, & by 1991 Gorbechev’s policies of glasnot & perestroika which introduced much more openness & some limited free market economics into Soviet Union, ultimately led to collapse of Soviet Union (all of this is stuff for later on!!) & w/earlier Soviet oppression lifted, many bloc states experienced surge in nationalism & broke free ultimately completing process of dismantling Soviet Union
*attempted to shift economic focus to more consumer
economic reforms became a reality
*economy declined under his rule
*foreign policy failures (Cuba) led to his dismissal from party leadership in 1964
Eastern Europe: Behind the Iron Curtain
-USSR solidified “sphere of influence” in Soviet liberated/occupied states following war & established pro-Soviet/communist govts in Eastern Europe (satellite states)
-Albania & Yugoslavia
*communist states naturally evolved in these countries following war
*Yugoslavia under Tito
–> Tito (Josip Broz) was leader of Communist Yugoslavia & resisted Stalinization efforts,
~ claimed that Yugoslavia was breaking w/Stalinism, but not communism–was closer to Marxist-Leninist idea of communism
*most eastern European countries followed Stalnist policies-instituting repression & heavy industry
-1956: *Upheaval in Eastern Europe
nationalism increased after Stalin’s death & Khrushchev’s de-stalinization
–> Poland: protest inspired Polish Communist Party to follow own socialist path, but agreed to remain part of Warsaw Pact
–> Hungary: nationalist communists sought similar reforms
~Imry Nagy (Hungarian leader) called for Hungarian independence & free elections, Nov 1, 1956
~Khrushchev responded by sending Red Army to Budapest to re-establish control
–> results of these rebellions discouraged other revolts in Eastern Europe
Stagnation in the Soviet Union
-Leonid Brezhnev became leader of USSR after Khrushchev & focused on “no experimentation” (resisted reform)
*Brezhnev Doctrine: right of Soviet Union to intervene if socialism was threatened in another socialist state
-Brezhnev Years
*industry & arms production had increased but focus on heavy industry left consumer goods & agriculture behind
*corruption in government & poor harvests led to increasing issues in public
–> guaranteed employment & lack of incentives led to apathy, absenteeism & alcoholism
–> crop failures and near famine increased dependency on capitalist countries
*By 1980s USSR was falling economically & socially (high infant mortality, surge in alcoholism, deterioration in working conditions, increased corruption)
*Soviet Economic troubles
–> Organization of economy (planned economy): gov decides what is manufactured & what is not also jobs & what they made etc
–> Malaise of Workers: In planned economy there is no incentive to work harder than is absolutely necessary & since Communism was collective by nature, anyone who worked harder or innovated in any saw the spoils of that increased productivity & innovation go to everyone else in that way discouraging such work
–> Crop failures in early 70s: drought hit Europe in 1972, Soviet gov was unable to feeds its ppl –> Turned to the US (WHATTT???) US helps & lets Soviet Union buy 750 millions $ worth of grain on credit over 3 years but things were so bad they used it all in a month !
Conformity in Eastern Europe
-Protests in Poland & Hungary in 1956 set stage for further reforms in 1960s
*Poland: Solidarity Party–instituted reforms that weakened state control
*Hungary: “Communism with a capitalist facelift”
-Prague Spring
*Czechoslovakia’s new leader, Alexander Dubcek (1967) instituted several reforms that increased freedoms in Czechoslovakia
–> freedom of speech & press; travel abroad; relaxed secret police “communism w/human face”
–> euphoria of these freedoms led to a movement called the “Prague Spring” (1968) & call for further reforms & withdrawal from the Soviet Bloc
–> Soviet Union sent Red Army to invade Czechoslovakia & crush reform movement
-Repression in East Germany & Romania
*East Germany: “prosperity & repression”
–> very prosperous economy due to forced industrialization & collectivization
–> intense repression, 1 “stasi” (secret police) for every 165 people
*Romania: intense repression & strict adherence to party as well
The Second Vietnam War
-North Vietnam supported by Communists v South Vietnam supported by US
-South Vietnam: *Ngo Dinh Diem: unpopular leader of South Vietnam, seen as unable to prevent Vietcong (south vietnamese communists) from gaining power
–> US helps lead a coup to remove him from power in Nov 1963; new military govt seemed even less capable of fighting off the growing strength of Vietcong
-Domino theory: if communists succeed in Vietnam, all other countries in Asia would fall like dominoes to communism
-President Johnson & increased US involvement: *1965: Johnson begins bombing campaign of North Vietnam & sends troops to South
*Despite US military superiority, Vietcong able to prevail due to knowledge of land & support from South Vietnamese
*US support for war dwindled (especially among youth)
*France increasingly critical of US involvement in Vietnam; called US “greatest danger in world today to peace”
-In 1973, President Nixon reached agreement w/North Vietnam to withdraw forces & Vietnam was now under communist control
China & The Cold War
-US saw China as more a threat in 1960s than Soviets, more expansionist
-The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
*Mao Zedong launched a revolutionary force called the “Red Guard” 1966-1976
–> goal of eliminating “four olds”–old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits
~destroyed temples, books, jazz records, etc. → wanted to ensure that any aspect of capitalism was removed
~attacks on individuals who deviated from Mao’s thoughts–humiliated at public meetings, brutal beatings, death
-US-China Relations
*US relationship w/China in 1950s & 1960s stoked by US fears of communism
*President Nixon changed relationship when he visited Mao Zedong in China in 1970s
–> opened door to reduce tensions in Asia
–> in 1970s, Chinese-American relationship continued to improve
–> by 1980 forged “strategic relationship” to cooperate against threat of Soviet intervention in Asia
Detente
-Practice of Detente
*Detente: reduction of tensions between two superpowers
*Antiballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) (1972): US & USSR agree to limit their systems for launching antiballistic missiles
*Helsinki Accords (1975): recognized all borders established in Europe since end of WWII
–> acknowledged Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe
–> signatories must recognize & protect human rights of citizens
-Limits of Detente
*President Carter shifted American foreign policy to focus heavily on protection of human rights & increased tensions w/Soviet Union
*Invasion of Afghanistan →increased tensions
–> Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to restore pro-Soviet regime
–> President Reagan provided military support to anti-Soviet insurgents & helped create stagnate war for Soviets (much like Vietnam for US)
*Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI/”Star Wars”): create a space shield to destroy incoming missiles
Revolutionary Era in Soviet Union
-The Gorbachev Era
*Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of Communist Party & state in 1985, educated during Khrushchev’s policies of reform, wanted to continue reforms
*USSR had fallen significantly behind west, especially in technology & standard of living
*perestroika: effort to restructuring Soviet Economy by introducing some limited free-markets (for ex gov price controls on many items were lifted & there was move to allow more private property)
–> economic focus: beginning of free market & some private property
–> glasnost: openness; Soviet citizens & officials encouraged to discuss openly strengths & weaknesses of Soviet Union (under this more than one candidate was allowed to compete for office, political parties other than communist party were legalized & those who had been imprisoned for speaking negatively abt the party or the state were released
–> Chernobyl: April 1986, one of the reactors exploded & sent massive amounts of radiation into environment, under previous leaders this would certainly have never been exposed to outside world since it would communicate weakness, but under rubric of Glasnost almost daily communications about disaster were made
*competitive elections: Gorbachev announced new Soviet Parliament, Congress of People’s Deputies, representatives to be elected
–> 1990 other political parties legalized
–> created office of President (separate from Communist Party)
–> March 1990: Gorbachev becomes first president of USSR
*Increased tensions
–> USSR was intensely multiethnic (92 nationalities, 112 recognized languages)
~strict Soviet control had kept tensions under control; glasnost led to increased tensions
–> independence movements (nationalism & self-determination) erupted throught Soviet bloc 1988-1990
~Georgia (1988), Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Lithuania (1990)
Revolutionary Era in Soviet Union
-End of Soviet Union
*Gorbachev attempted to bridge conservative communist party leaders & liberal movements
*When Gorbachev invited openness plenty of ethnic minorities once oppressed began protesting the discrimination they had experienced in long years of Soviet rule, & in some cases led to violent conflicts –> wave of nationalism spread throughout Soviet Union
*Gorbachev broke significantly w/predecessors & announced Soviet Union would no longer intervene militarily in those states to prop up their communist govs –> revolts began almost immediately
–> Polish electrons of 1989, Poland had always kind of been a problem for Soviets, just didn’t submit well to communist rule & by 1989 labor party called Solidarity had large scale agitations against any attempt by Soviets to repress their freedom & in that year Soviets finally agreed to legalize their party & allow for free elections bc they thought there was no way the polish would vote out their communist leaders but Solidarity candidates won majority in elections that year & began process of dissolving bonds between Poland & Soviet Union
–>Fall of Berlin Wall: Despite purpose of wall, by 1989 so many Germans had fled to West & Soviet gov was flagged so finally the border was opened & wall came down
–> Fall of Soviet Union in 1991 officially ended Cold War & also led to establishment of capitalist economies & democratic govs throughout Eastern Europe in former Soviet Bloc countries, Germany was reunited at least, Czechoslovakia split in Czech republic & Slovakia Yugoslavia broke into several ethnically defined states & European Union was enlarged by entry of many new nations
*Boris Yeltsin elected President 1991 & resisted more conservative resistance w/backing of people grown accustomed to new freedoms
–> attempted coup by communist party leaders & hardliners to remove Gorbachev from power, failed & increased speed at which the Soviet Union dissolved
*Leaders of Russia, Soviet Union, & Belarus declared that Soviet Union “ceased to exist” in December 1991; Gorbachev resigned in Dec 25, 1991.
-Why did the Soviet Union Collapse
*historians debate ultimate cause
–> increased pressures from US v inefficiencies of system (poor living conditions) v multiethnic movements for independence
-The New Russia
*corruption & economic issues remained
*Yeltsin wanted to move toward free market economy quickly; corruption & economic inequality were rampant
*independence movement of Muslims in Chechnya drained Russian budget
*many Russians upset over the loss of power & prestige & turned to more extreme political groups
