I. Cold War (1945-1991)

A. Results of World War II (and The Cause of The Cold War)

1. 60 Million Dead in Europe, Asia, and Africa

a. World War II killed more people than any other conflict in world history.

b. Over half of the people killed in World War II were civilians, not

soldiers.

2. The Holocaust – the genocide of 6 million Jews, and millions of others

people, by the Nazis German government (led by Adolf Hitler) during World

War II.

a. What is genocide? – genocide is the planned killing of an entire racial,

national, political, religious or other ethnic group.

b. What causes people to plan/commit genocide?

1) scapegoating – blaming another group of people for your problems

2) to gain control of someone’s land or property

3) to gain control of the government

c. The Holocaust was the worst genocide in history, but not the only one;

these genocides have occurred during your lifetime:

1) Bosnian Genocide – 200,000 Bosnians killed by the Serbian military

in a civil war that lasted 1992-1995.

2) Rwanda Genocide – 800,000 people were killed by the government in 1994

3) Darfur Genocide– 400,000 Africans have been killed by Arabs in Sudan since

2003.

3. United Nations created– The U.N is a world-wide peace keeping

organization created by the Allies after World War II to prevent war.

a. Under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, the U.N. created the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights based on the natural rights

in 1949.

4. Nuclear weapons created

a. “The Manhattan Project”- U.S. project that created the world’s first nuclear

weapons during World War II.

b. The Manhattan Project was led by American physicist Robert Oppenheimer.

b. President Harry Truman ordered the use of atomic/nuclear bombs on the

Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 to bring an end

to WWII.

5. Cold War (1945-1989) Competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union for

world leadership after WWII.

a. Europe and the world became divided between democratic nations friendly

with the United States and communist nations friendly with the Soviet Union

(Russia)

b. The Cold War was a competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union

over two different systems; democracy and capitalism against communism and

command economy.

c. What is a “cold war”? – a cold war is a war fought using methods that are short

of actual fighting

1) methods used to fight the Cold War:

a) arms race – the US and the Soviet Union built large military forces and

and many nuclear weapons to scare each other.

b) alliance systems – the US and the Soviet Union created alliances to

protect themselves and their friends from attack.

c) proxy wars – at times during the Cold War, wars broke out between a

nation friendly to the US and a nation friendly to the Soviet Union; each

side would send money, supplies and even troops to help a friendly nation

fight.

d) propaganda – each side created and spread ideas and information that

were designed influence world opinion that their system of government

was the best.

6. The creation of “superpowers” – nations with the ability to influence events all

around the world.

a. What makes a nation a superpower?:

1) very strong military – your military can fight any where in the world; your

nation has nuclear weapons and the ability to use them (using planes or

missiles).

2) very large and productive economy – the ability to produce anything your

nation, and your friends, need.

3) very great political power – the people in your nation, and your friends,

believe that your ideas for running a society (democracy, communism,

capitalism, and so on … ) are the best in the world.

b. At the end of World War II, there were two “superpowers” - the USA and the

Soviet Union – and both nations tried to influence events all over the world

during the Cold War.

B. Events from the Cold War

1. Europe and Germany becomes divided.

a. Europe became divided – at the end of World War II, U.S. troops controlled

western Europe while Soviet troops controlled eastern Europe.

b. When the Cold War started, US troops remained in western Europe and

Soviet troops remained in eastern Europe FOR THE ENTIRE COLD WAR

FROM 1945 TO 1991.

c. Germany became divided too.

1) At the end of WWII, U.S. troops controlled western Germany while

Soviet troops controlled eastern Germany

2) Germany became divided into 2 nations:

a) West Germany – democratic, capitalist and friendly with the U.S.

b) East Germany – communist and a command economy and friendly

with the Soviet Union

d. Berlin (Germany’s capital) became divided.

1) At the end of WWII, US, British and French troops controlled the western

part of Berlin

2) Soviet troops controlled the eastern part of Berlin.

3) West Berlin became democratic and capitalist while East Berlin became

communist and part of East Germany’s command economy.

2. The Truman Doctrine (1947)– (also known as “Containment”) a policy created

by President Truman and his administration to prevent the spread of communism

into Western Europe, South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

a. The U.S. created alliances with many nations bordering the Soviet Union to

protect them Soviet invasion

b. The announcement of The Truman Doctrine is considered to be the beginning

of The Cold War.

c. The most famous alliance created by the U.S. and it’s allies during the Cold

War was “NATO”

1) NATO stands for “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” – it’s main

members were US, Britain, France, Canada, Italy, Greece and Turkey

2) France left NATO in 1967, but other nations joined during the Cold War.

3. The Marshall Plan (1947) – U.S. program to provide money and materials to

rebuild Europe after WWII.

a. Nations controlled by the Soviet Union after World War II (mainly eastern

European nations such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria) did not

accept Marshall Plan money.

b. The Marshall Plan was part of the U.S. policy of containment.

4. Berlin Airlift (1948-49)

a. During the Cold War, Germany and it’s capital city of Berlin, became divided

into 2 sections:

1) West Germany and West Berlin – democratic and capitalist and friendly

with the U.S. and our allies

2) East Germany and East Berlin – communist and friendly with the Soviet

Union.

b. In 1948, Stalin attempted to push the U.S., Britain and France out of East

Germany and East Berlin by blocking rail and road traffic into and out of East

Germany.

1) The U.S. Air Force supplied East Berlin by air for a year forcing an

end to the blockade.

2) Later, the Soviet Union built a wall around West Berlin to “prevent a U.S.

invasion of East Germany (see Berlin Wall below!)

5. Chinese Revolution (1949) – China became a communist nation under

the leadership of Mao Zedong in 1949.

6. Korean War (1950-53)

a. Communist North Korea (with help from Communist China, and the

Soviet Union) invaded democratic South Korea in 1950.

b. With help from the U.N. and the U.S., South Korea survived the invasion

after three years of fighting.

c. Over 50,000 Americans were killed defending S. Korea from N. Korea

d. U.S. troops still help defend S. Korea.

7. The Arms Race and The Space Race (1945-1991)

a. The U.S. and the Soviet Union competed to build nuclear weapons and

rockets with the ability to carry nuclear bombs.

b. Rockets developed in the Arms Race were used to send satellites and

astronauts into space.

c. The first artificial satellite (called Sputnik, 1957) and the first person

(Yuri Gagarian, 1961) to go into space were Russian.

d. The U.S. sent the first people to the Moon (Neil Armstrong, “Buzz”

Aldrin, and Mike Collins on Apollo 11) in 1969.

8. Berlin Wall (1961)

a. Many Germans left communist East Germany to live in democratic

West Berlin and West Germany.

b. To stop people from leaving East Berlin and East Germany, the

communist government in East Germany built a wall to separate West

Berlin and West Germany from communist East Germany.

9. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

a. Fidel Castro led a communist revolution in Cuba in 1959.

b. Castro allowed the Soviet Union to place nuclear missile bases in Cuba

“to prevent a U.S. attack of Cuba”.

c. The U.S. considered the Soviet missiles in Cuba to be an act of war

and threatened to attack Cuba and the Soviet Union unless the missiles

were removed.

d. President Kennedy used the U.S. Navy to blockade the Cuban coast to

all ships.

e. The Soviet Union removed the missiles to prevent a war.

f. The Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest the U.S. and the Soviet Union

came to nuclear war during the Cold War.

10 Vietnam War (1964-1975)

a. Communist North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh (and supported by

China and the Soviet Union) invaded democratic South Vietnam.

b. After 11 years, U.S. forces were unable to prevent a communist

takeover of South Vietnam.

c. South Vietnam was taken over by North Vietnam in 1975.

d. 57,000 American soldiers died attempting to prevent a communist

takeover in South Vietnam.

11. Pope John Paul II begins his reign as leader of the Catholic Church (1978)

a. John Paul II of Poland was the first non-Italian Pope in 500 years.

b. Pope John Paul II had fought against the Nazis (German) invasion of Poland

in WWII

c. He opposed communist rule in Poland during the Cold War.

d. Pope John Paul II was very popular in Poland because he fought against

the communist government; when he visited Poland in 1979 a crowd 2 million

people attended the mass he held in Warsaw (capital city of Poland).

e. The Soviet Union, and help from the communist government in Poland,

attempted to assassinate John Paul II in 1981; he was badly wounded but

survived.

f. Many historians believe that John Paul’s opposition to communist rule in

Poland led to the collapse of communism in Poland in 1989.

12. Soviet Union invades Afghanistan (1979) – Afghan rebels and Arabs aided by

the U.S. defeat the Soviet Army to prevent the formation of a communist

government in Afghanistan.

13. Ronald Reagan becomes President of the U.S. (1981)

a. President Reagan and his administration increased spending on the U.S.

military

b. He created new weapons and increased the size of the military to

intimidate the Soviet Union and to force them to spend more in order to

keep up with U.S. military spending.

c. The Soviet economy could not afford to spend as much on military

programs and by the end of the 1980’s many Russians were waiting

in lines for basic items like food and clothing.

d. Reagan also negotiated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to reduce the

number of nuclear weapons the U.S and the Soviet Union had.

e. Many historians believe that Reagan’s policies help to bring about the

collapse of the Soviet Union.

14. Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union (1985)

a. Gorbachev attempted to improve the Soviet Union and the Soviet

economy by creating two new policies:

1) “perestroika” which means to reconstruct the Soviet economy

by allowing some capitalism.

2) “glasnost” which means “openness”; Russians were allowed

more political and religious freedom and they could travel to

western democratic nations like West Germany and the U.S.

b. Gorbachev’s policies eventually caused the Soviet Union to collapse.

c. Gorbachev won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1990 for his policies in the

Soviet Union and for working with President Reagan to reduce the

number of nuclear weapons between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

15. Tiananmen Square Protests (China, June 1989)

a. Chinese college students protested against communist rule in Tiananmen

Square which is in the center of the capital city of Beijing.

b. The communist government used tanks and troops to end the protests killing

thousands of students.

c. The communist government in China has made some changes since the

Tiananmen Protests, but China still has a communist and “totalitarian”

government.

d. The Tiananmen Square Protests helped to increase the protests against the

communist governments in the Soviet Union, Poland and Germany.

16. Removal of the Berlin Wall (1989)

a. Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost, and the overall weakness of the Soviet

Union in the late 1980’s, made the Berlin Wall useless and it was torn down

in 1989.

b. Many historians consider the removal of the Berlin Wall to be the event that

ended the Cold War.

17. Collapse of the Soviet Union (1991)

a. 11 of the 15 republics (states) that made up the Soviet Union separated from

the Soviet Union to form independent nations in 1991.

b. In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as the leader of the Soviet Union;

on January 1, 1992, the Soviet Union no longer existed.

C. Results of the Cold War

1. The U.S. (and our allies; democratic governments supported by a capitalist

economy) won the Cold War

a. democracy and capitalism won the Cold War.

2. The U.S. is the world’s only superpower – the world’s economic, military, and

political leader.

a. Some nations become increasingly critical of U.S. influence in the Middle East

and on other problems such as trade and environmental policies.

b. Americans become increasingly worried about being the world’s leader; some

Americans wanted to go back to isolationism again.

3. The creation of the European Union (“The E.U.”)

a. Created by 15 European nations to prevent war and to expand trade in Europe

(many of the EU nations were part of NATO during the Cold War).

b. Will create a common money system for most of Europe (“Euro”)

c. Will create a common legal and court system for Europe.

d. The EU now includes 24 nations.

4. Nuclear Proliferation – a term used to describe the spread of nuclear weapons

(and other weapons of mass destruction) to other nations.

a. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968) – treaty signed by 189 nations to

encourage the peaceful use of nuclear power; the treaty also outlawed the

use of nuclear weapons.

b Since the end of WWII, about 24 nations have either created nuclear weapons

or have programs that could produce a nuclear weapon.

5. Development of International Terrorism –

a. Some nations and groups have become increasingly critical of U.S. influence in

the Middle East and on other problems such as trade and environmental policies.

b. Some of these nations and groups have used terrorism to fight against U.S.

policies.

c. What is terrorism? – the use of violence against civilians to achieve a political

goal.

d. Why do people use terrorism against the U.S. and our allies?:

1) No nation or group is strong enough to directly fight U.S., so they have used

other methods to attack us:

a) hijacking planes to use the passengers as hostages.

b) suicide bombs – human bombs strapped to their bodies are used to kill

Americans and people who are friendly with the U.S.

c) hijacking planes to them as giant suicide bombs to kill people and landmarks

associated with the U.S.

Review: The Cold War (1945-1991) Name:

Instructions: Use class notes and the textbook to complete each section of this review.

Vocabulary: Use the glossary to provide complete definitions for each of the following terms

iron curtain containment cold war airlift

blacklist arms race summit standard of living

baby boom materialism balance of power glasnost

perestroika

Main Ideas: Answer each of the following question in a complete sentence.

List the 6 results of World War II.
What was The Holocaust?
What is genocide?
What is a “scapegoat”?
What are the 3 causes of genocide?
List 3 genocides that have occurred during your lifetime.
What is the purpose of the United Nations?
What was the Manhattan Project? Who was the leader of the Manhattan Project?
Name the 2 Japanese cities that the U.S. dropped atomic/nuclear bombs on to bring an end to

World War II.

Define the term “cold war”.
Why was The Cold War a “cold war”? (Why didn’t the U.S. and the Soviet Union fight each

other during The Cold War?)

List the methods used by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to fight The Cold War.
Define the term “superpower”.
List the things that make a nation a “superpower”
Explain how Europe came to be divided during the Cold War.
Explain how Germany came to be divided during the Cold War.
Why is Berlin an important city in Germany? Explain how Berlin came to be divided during the

Cold War.

The “Truman Doctrine” created the policy of “containment”. What was the purpose

containment during the Cold War? Why is the Truman Doctrine considered an important event

from the Cold War?

Who was George Marshall? What was the Marshall Plan?
What is “McCarthyism”?
Describe what the “arms race” was like during the Cold War.
The “space race” was part of the arms race during the Cold War. Explain why each of the

following people and terms were important in the space race:

Sputnik
Yuri Gagarin
Apollo 11

Why did the East German government build the “Berlin Wall”?
Why is the “Cuban Missile Crisis” an important event from the Cold War? Who was President

during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Name 2 “proxy wars” fought during the Cold War.
Explain how each of the following people and events helped to bring an end to the Cold War:

Pope John Paul II
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
Ronald Reagan
Mikhail Gorbachev

In which year did China become a communist nation? Who was the leader of China when it

became a communist nation?

Describe the Tiananmen Square Protests in China in 1989. How did the communist government

in China bring an end to the Tiananmen Square Protests?

Which event is considered by historians to be the end of the Cold War?

People of the 20^th Century

Presidents During the Cold War:

Harry Truman (Cold War starts)

Dwight Eisenhower

John Kennedy (President during the Cuban Missile Crisis)

Lyndon Johnson (Vietnam War starts)

Richard Nixon

Gerald Ford (Vietnam War ends)

Jimmy Carter

Ronald Reagan

George H.W. Bush (Cold War ends)

Cold War Leaders of the USSR

Joseph Stalin (Cold War starts)

Nikita Khruschev (leader of USSR during Cuban Missile Crisis)

Mikhail Gorbachev

Cold War Leaders of China

Mao Zedong (Created the communist government in China, 1949)

Deng Xiaoping

Cold War Leaders Who Fought Against the U.S.

Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

Fidel Castro (Cuba)

Cold War Leaders Who Fought With the U.S.

Winston Churchill (created term “iron curtain”)

Lech Walesa (Poland)

Pope John Paul II (Vatican)