Origins of the Cold War notes

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Origins of the Cold War notes

Notes: Origins of the Cold War

The Cold War (General Overview)

Definition:

A war without direct conflict between the U.S. (democratic) & Soviet Union (Communist)
Lasted from 1945 to 1989/1990

Causes

Soviet domination of Eastern Europe
Communist victory in China

Mao Zedong and the Communists defeat Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Army (1949).
Eisenhower states “domino” theory-if one nation falls to communism, so will all the others

Mutual suspicion between United States and Soviet Union
Soviet Union angry over WWII

Destruction of country & causalities

Immediate Effects

Truman Doctrine

U.S. will help any country that is trying to resist Communism
Greece & Turkey-1947
Afghanistan in the late 1970s/early 1980s

Marshall Plan

Aid to European countries (do not want to repeat the mistake of post-World War I Europe)

East-West tensions over Berlin

The “iron curtain” in Europe
Berlin Airlift-1948 to 1949
Berlin Wall-1963

Establishment of NATO and Warsaw Pact

NATO: pact of Western European nations and U.S.- will protect each other if a country is attacked
Warsaw Pact: Mutual defense between Eastern European nations and the Soviet Union

Cultural Effects

Cold War creates an atmosphere of fear and anxiety

McCarthyism-Time period in the early 1950s when there were personal attacks on suspected communism

Named after Senator Joe McCarthy
He claimed he had lists of known communists
Alger Hiss, “The Hollywood Ten” and Ethel & Julius Rosenberg

Science Fiction books and movies

People are very fearful of nuclear war

Drills
Fall-out shelters

Wars

Korean War

North Korea (communist) invaded South Korea (democratic)
1950-1953
Troops lead by MacArthur
War ends in a stalemate

U.S. still has presence on DMZ
Major issues between N. & S. Korea today

Vietnam War

North Vietnam (communist) tried to convert South Vietnam (democratic)
Very controversial war
U.S. had to withdraw from Vietnam

Both of these wars were fought to stop the spread of Communism

Policy is known as “containment”

Long-term Effects

Two superpowers are rivals for world power (United States and Soviet Union)

Arms race between superpowers
“Space race” between superpowers
U.S. and Soviet Union compete internationally in athletics (Olympics)

Chapter 26 Vocabulary

United Nations: peacekeeping body of nations; idea of FDR

Containment: effort to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations

Iron Curtain: the division of Europe between free and communist countries

Cold War: state of hostility between the Soviet Union and the US but without military action

Truman Doctrine: US policy of sending aid to any nation trying to prevent a Communist takeover

Marshall Plan: program under which the US gave economic aid to rebuild postwar Western Europe; meant to prevent mistake of post WWI Europe

Berlin Airlift: re-supply of West Berlin by US and British planes during the Soviet blockade of 1948

Mao Zedong: leader of communist China

Korean War: war begun when North Korea invaded S. Korea in 1950; ended in a stalemate in 1953

HUAC: house committee on un-American activities

Blacklist: list of people in the Hollywood industry who were refused jobs because they did not cooperate with HUAC

McCarthyism: term used to refer to tactic of accusing people of disloyalty without producing evidence; named after Senator Joe McCarthy

Brinkmanship: willing to go to the edge, or brink of war

CIA: spy agency of the US government

Warsaw Pact: military alliance of the Soviet Union and its satellite nations

Satellite Nations: Stalin installed communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland

NATO: A defensive military alliance formed to oppose the Soviet Union

Taiwan: Chinese nationalists fled to this country

Hollywood Ten: 10 unfriendly witnesses were called to testify but refused to do so, they decided not to cooperate because they thought the hearings were unconstitutional

Ethel & Julius Rosenberg: activists in the American Communist Party, they were found guilty of being communists and were sentenced to death

H-Bomb: thermo-nuclear weapon, 67 times the power of Hiroshima

Nikita Khrushchev: was the leader of the Soviet Union, believed that communism would take over the world

U-2 incident: U.S. spy plane shot down over Soviet Union; piloted by Powers; tension between the 2 superpowers increased

Domino Theory: Developed by Eisenhower; the belief that if one country in a region fell to communism, all the countries would fall to communism.

Source : http://www.warrenhills.org/cms/lib/NJ01001092/Centricity/Domain/96/Ch26OnlineNotes.doc

Web site link: http://www.warrenhills.org/cms/lib/NJ01001092/Centricity/Domain/96/

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