An overview of the Cold War

Anoverviewof theCold War

How can a war be‘cold’?

What were theHotspots of theCold War?

Cold War?

•The tension and rivalry between the USAand the USSR was described as the ColdWar (1945-1990).

•There was never a real war between thetwo sides between 1945 and 1990, but theywere often very close to war (Hotspots).Both sides got involved in other conflictsin the world to either stop the spread ofcommunism (USA) or help the spread(USSR).

After World War 2 the Cold Warbegan and caused tensionthroughout the world.

•The USA and the USSR werethe two world Superpowers.

•The USA was a capitalistsociety with a democracy.

•The USSR was a communistcountry with a dictatorship.

•Both wanted to be the mostpowerful nation in theworld.

Nuclear tensions

•The USA had shown its atomic powerwhen it exploded the A-bombs onHiroshima and Nagasaki at the end ofWorld War 2.

•The USSR was also developing atomicweapons/bombs.

•The USA and the USSR were incompetition with each other to have thebest, most powerful weapons in the world– this was called the Arms Race.

After World War 2, theworld changed!

•Many countries became communist afterWorld War 2 including:

-Czechoslovakia (1948)

-Poland (1947)

-Hungary (1947)

-China (1949)

-Cuba (1959)

-North Korea (1945)

The domino effect

•The USSR had a lot of influence overmany of the new communist countries(especially those in Europe).

•The USA was very worried that theUSSR’s influence over these countries wasmaking the USSR and communism morepowerful.

•The USA did not want communism tospread any further – they were worriedabout the domino effect (one countrybecomes communist, then another, thenanother etc)

Truman Doctrine 1947

•Civil War in Greece.

•Turkey pressure from SU

•U. S. support free peoples throughout theworld who were resisting takeovers…Wemust assist free peoples to work out theirown destinies in their own way.

•The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400million in aid...to resist communisttakeover

Secy of State-George MarshallMarshall Plan

•“European Recovery Program.”

•The U. S. should provide aid to all European nations thatneed it. This move is not against any country ordoctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, andchaos.

•$12.5 billion of US aid to Western Europe extended toEastern Europe & USSR, [but this was rejected—Sovietsaw it as ‘buying support’].