WHII.30



media type="custom" key="29541789" align="right" =Summarize the factors that contributed to the Cold War, including Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe and the differences between democracy and communism=

** Topics on the Page **

 * Causes of the Cold War **
 * Primary Sources **
 * Cold War Political Leaders **
 * The Arms Race **
 * The Space Race **
 * The Berlin Wall **
 * ** Dramatic Event Page on The Berlin Airlift and the Berlin Wall **
 * The Cuban Missile Crisis **
 * **Dramatic Event Page** on ** The Cuban Missile Crisis **
 * McCarthyism and the Lavender Scare **
 * **Dramatic Event Page** on ** The Lavender Scare **
 * ** Special Topic page on Communism and Democracy **



//**Focus Question: What were the causes and effects of the Cold War?**//
**See also USII18 and @USII.19.**

**Causes of the Cold War**
The Cold War described the shifting struggle for power and influence between the Western powers and the Communist Bloc from the end of World War II until 1989.
 * See [|Overview of the Post-War Era] from Digital History

The conflict was concerned with the ideological differences between communism and capitalist democracy.
 * ====** See Special Topics Page: Communism and Democracy **====

In 1945, just after World War II, the alliance between the United States, Britain, and the USSR ended as result of the competing forms of governmental, economic, and social organization that existed between the two superpowers. The two camps were the communist East (USSR) and the democratic West (USA, Western Europe).

It's called the Cold War because it never led to a direct armed - or "hot" - conflict.
 * The superpowers fought proxy wars, supporting their rival's opposition (Ex: Vietnam War, Soviet-Afghan War)

Click here for a[| **timeline** of important dates and events] that occurred during the Cold War from National Museum of American History



Important Primary Sources

 * Winston Churchill was first to refer to the division between western powers and the areas in Europe controlled by the Soviet Union as an [|Iron Curtain]
 * in a speech on March 5, 1946 in Fulton, Missouri. The Allies were angered that the free elections promised by Stalin at the Yalta Conference were not held and adopted a new foreign policy of containment to keep communism to the areas where it was already in effect.
 * The [|Truman Doctrine of 1947] stated that America would help any non-communist country to resist communist pressure.
 * The [|Marshall Plan] involved sending large amounts of American money to help non-communist countries to recover from World War II.
 * The Western Allies unified West Germany to form the German Federal Republic (GFR). The USSR reacted by placing a blockade on Berlin. All food and other necessities had to be airlifted to West Berlin until May 1949. The Russian zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR).


 * [|"Khrushchev's Secret Speech,"] February 25, 1956 began de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union.
 * This speech, which was delivered at the 20th Party Congress of the CPSU, initiated a brief "thaw" in the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. Nikita Khrushchev even visited the United States in September of 1959.
 * //The Kitchen Debate and Cold War Consumer Politics: A Brief History with Documents// by Sarah T. Phillips and Shane Hamilton: a book that uses American and Soviet primary source documents to explore the economic systems of both nations, as well as gender roles.

Important Cold War Political Leaders
Josef Stalin Nikita Khrushchev John F Kennedy Mikhail Gorbachev Ronald Reagan

The Arms Race
In 1945 America created and used the atomic bomb against Japan and the USSR was determined to create one of its own.
 * Both the USSR and the U.S. built up huge arsenals of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).
 * The U.S. tested a hydrogen bomb in 1952 and in November 1955 the USSR developed one too.
 * After that the U.S. moved its bombers into Europe. In 1955 West Germany was allowed to re-arm and join [|NATO].

The United States and other Western nations decided to form alliances against possible Soviet attempts to extend their sphere of influence.
 * In April 1949 the United States signed the North Atlantic Treaty. Members agreed that an attack on one of them would be considered an attack on all of them.
 * The Soviets later formed an opposing alliance known as [|Warsaw Mutual Defense Pact]with its buffer zone neighbors.

"NATO Declassified" looks at the creation of NATO and its role during the rise of the Cold War. Site includes Primary Source documents as well as videos and timelines.

A large amount of environmental degradation and negative human health outcomes attended the Arms Race between the superpowers. The construction of nuclear weapons requires the mining and manufacture of fissionable materials. Uranium mining in the American Southwest without proper safeguards has led to increased rates of cancer.
 * Link here to an article detailing some of the consequences of uranium mining on Navajo lands
 * Watch a trailer for the Return of Navajo Boy, a film concerned with the effects of uranium mining in the Southwest.

The Space Race


Link to United States HIstory II.28 for more material on space exploration

The arms race evolved into a space race as the United States rushed to launch its own satellites.
 * The space race was an opportunity for the two nations to prove their technological superiority. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite, on October 4, 1957. On November 3, they launched Sputnik II with the first living creature to go to space, a dog named Laika.


 * On January 31, 1958, the U.S. launched Explorer I, its first satellite.


 * The U.S. began its Mercury program with an 18-minute flight on January 31, 1961, that carried a chimpanzee.


 * The Soviet Union, meanwhile, had its Vostok program and on April 12, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space and completed one orbit aboard Vostok 1. In June 1963 Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.


 * The U.S. started to catch up on February 20, 1962 when John Glenn orbited the earth three times.


 * The Outer Space Treaty was proposed and then put into effect in 1967. This treated limited the claims that nation states could make upon celestial bodies, and it also forbade the installation of nuclear weapons on the moon and in space.


 * The US Apollo 11 mission launched on July 16, 1969 and Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon.


 * Click here for a timeline produced by NOVA that documents the events of the Space Race.

The Berlin Wall (see also World History II.32 )



 * At the end of WWII, at the Yalta Conference, Germany was divided into four occupied zones controlled by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Berlin was also divided into four sections. Lack of a mutual agreement on German re-unification marked the start of the Cold War.
 * When the U.S. decided to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, the USSR was upset that America had secretly developed the bomb. Churchill, Truman, and Britain's Clement Attlee were angry that Stalin had already signed a border treaty agreement with Poland.
 * By 1948 the Soviet Union had expanded to include Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and brought more tension to the Cold War.
 * The open border between East and West Berlin had permitted thousands of East Europeans to flee Soviet rule. Many of these defectors were intellectuals and other important figures. Due to the number and importance of such defectors, these events had a negative economic impact on Eastern Europe and were a political embarrassment for the Soviet Union.
 * On Sunday, August 13, 1961, East Germany blocked off East Berlin from West Berlin with barbed wire. A few days later the Berlin Wall was built to replace the barbed wire.
 * From 1961 to 1981, there were 37,800 successful escapes across the Berlin wall from the East to the West. The wall was rendered ineffective as of November 9, 1989 when East German border guards were ordered to open the border crossings. Demolition began as Berliners from both sides of the wall took it upon themselves to chip away at it with hammers and pickaxes. The reunification of Germany took place on October 3, 1990.

Click here for an interactive map of the Berlin Crisis


 * **Dramatic Event Page** on ** The Cuban Missile Crisis **

**The Effects of the Cold War**
The United States believed that the Soviet Union's expansion threatened the influence of capitalism upon the developing nations of the world.
 * In 1949 President Truman and Congress approved nearly $400 million for technical development programs in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
 * The goal of this Point Four Program was to modernize and strengthen developing nations while instituting capitalism economic practices, hence building ties with the industrialized West and discouraging the growth of communism.
 * Similarly, the USSR sought to bring developing nations under its influence and hence aided Communist revolutionaries in China, Korea, and Vietnam, among others. They directly supported Communist forces in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, while the US courted and supported the other side.

=== Senator Joseph McCarthy, from Wisconsin, took advantage of Americans' paranoia over the idea that Soviet Spies were infiltrating the United States, and began to accuse hundreds of people in the government and media of being communist spies. === To learn more about McCarthyism, explore Ellen Schrecker's //The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents//.
 * The allegations were eventually brought in front of congress, where they were proven to be false.
 * In fact, they had been conjured up my McCarthy himself in order to advance his political career at the expense of his rivals.
 * The witch hunt mentality that fueled these false allegations became known as[| McCarthyism.]
 * McCarthy famously claimed that communists had even infiltrated the State Department, in a speech that became known as the "Enemies from Within" speech.

==== **Dramatic Event Page** on ** The Lavender Scare **====


 * [|Barry Goldwater inflammatory political ad]and for comparison, see [|Lyndon Johnson "Daisy Girl" ad]
 * It should be noted that the Lyndon Johnson "Daisy Girl" ad was only shown once during his 1964 campaign for the presidency.
 * ===== [|Civil Defense children's education film "Duck and Cover"] =====

Spies and the Cold War
Spies and spying was a major component of the Cold War, which highly influenced the spread of McCarthyism and the mass paranoia. National Women's History Museum provides insight to the women spies during the Cold War!
 * Site on what types of spies were used during the Cold War: Royal Air Force Museum
 * BBC article about a Secret KGB museum: []

//**Focus Question: What are the differences between Communism and Democracy?**//

 * ** Special Topic page on Communism and Democracy **

PBS documentary, People's Century, focuses on the stories and events between 1900 and 1999. While not all the stories are focusing on the Cold War, a great number do talk about its origins and effects. BBC's 'Bitesize' undertaking/understanding of the Soviet Union's expansions into Eastern Europe and Churchill's "Iron Curtain" ideology.