Modern History/Cold War

Cold war timeline

1945: February - Yalta conference:
Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (USA), Churchill (UK).
Plan what to do about Germany/Europe after war.
- Key Agreements – Eastern Europe Soviet ‘sphere-of-influence’
- Germany – four zones: British, French, American and Russian
- Berlin – four zones: British, French, American and Russian

July/August – Potsdam conference:
- War in Europe over; no Hitler = no unifying force
- Truman new US leader. V. anti-communist
- US notified Stalin of A-bomb
- Disagreements – Germany. Stalin wanted compensation – felt threatened, keep Germany crippled
- Truman -

1946: Churchill delivers ‘Iron Curtain’ speech
1947: The Truman Doctrine:
- Active role in Greek civil war
- Marshall
1949: NATO Treaty signed
1949: Communists take power in China; Nationalists retreat to Taiwan
1950: Korean War begins
- June 25: North Korea invaded the South in a bid to unite Korea without elections.
September 15: USA and Britain led UN troops in military intervention
November 25: 500,000 Chinese communist volunteers joined war for North Korea.
1953: Armistice ends fighting in the Korean War.
1955: Warsaw Pact is formed
Treaty of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance, was a military alliance of the Eastern European Bloc countries, who intended to organize against the perceived threat from the NATO alliance
1961: Bay of Pigs
April 17, 1961, 1300 members of a CIA-supported counter-revolutionary Cuban exile force stormed beaches of Cuba, ended in total failure. Debacle for Kennedy.
August 1961: Berlin Wall is erected, severing Berlin in two
1962: Cuban missile crisis
1963: Nuclear test ban treaty signed: USA/USSR/UK
1964: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
1965: President Johnson begins escalation of US role in Vietnamese Civil War.
1972: US withdraws from Vietnam.
- 1972: SALT Treaty signed
- 1972: Nixon visits China
1975: Vietnam internal conflict ends
1979: The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
1985: Gorbachev becomes new Soviet leader. Begins policies of "Perestroika" and “Glasnost”
1989: The Fall of the Berlin Wall: COLD WAR ENDS
1989: Tiananmen Square Massacre in China
1991: Warsaw Pact dissolved, Soviet Union collapses, Gorbachev resigns

Revision notes

Definition – describes the conflict between USSR and ‘western powers’ in period following WWII (1945-1989)

Period of tension characterised by conflict at diplomatic, economic and all levels short of direct armed conflict between principles

Communism –
Capitalism –
‘Superpower’ rivalry

Main personalities

Josef Stalin
Winston Churchill
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Clement Attlee
George Kennen
Dwight Eisenhower
George Marshall
Nikita Khrushchev
Breshnev
John F Kennedy
Fidel Castro
General MacArthur
Dubcek
Mikhail Gorbachev
Ronald Reagan

Causes/origins

End of the grand alliance
Mutual suspicion
Fear of communism
Conflict of ideals
Growth of Communism
Europe in ruins

Effects/consequences

Berlin Wall
Korean War
1956 > ‘peaceful coexistence’
Bay of Pigs
Cuban Missile crisis
Vietnam War (‘domino theory’)

Détente to 1975

Definition – peaceful coexistence, arms limitations, recognition of China

1975 to the collapse of Communism in Europe

Solidarity in Poland
Deficiencies in the Communist system
Discontent Nationalism
Gorbachev’s reforms – Glasnost and Perestroika: opposition from hard liners. 1991 coup.

Statistics

Military
Troops : NATO 2.6 million. Warsaw Pact 4 million
Tanks : NATO 13,000. Warsaw Pact 42,500

Artillery : NATO 10,750. Warsaw Pact 31,5000

Nuclear arms race

By 1961 – enough bombs to destroy the world
By 1981, USA had 8,000 ICBM’s and USSR 7,000 ICBM’s
By 1981, USA had 4,000 planes capable of delivering a nuclear bomb. Russia had 5000.
USA defence spending for 1981 = 178 billion dollars. By 1986, it was 367 billion dollars.
By 1986, it is estimated that throughout the world there were 40,000 nuclear warheads - the equivalent of one million Hiroshima bombs.
1960s – theory of MAD (mutually assured destruction): suitable retaliation = no winners