History 11/8/2010 123 Notes
The Cold War
The seeds for the Cold War were being laid before the end of WWII. In the Cold War the Soviets and the US would become enemies, mainly ideological enemies specifically. The US and the Soviets were the prime players by 1945 and were the only 2 nations after WWII that had the economic and military power to force their will on other countries. The traditional powers, Great Britain, France and Germany were not the strongest powers to be reckoned with after WWII. These 2 new powers replacing the old, traditional powers were called the Superpowers. In 1945, the Cold War began and lasted until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. It all started with the divide of Germany. Germany was divided into 4 regions/zones of occupation:
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US, Britain, France and the Soviets
As a result of these divisions, 2 separate countries were created.
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Soviet Zone = East Germany US, British, French Zones = West Germany
Berlin, the capital, was also divided up into 4 zones and 2 countries as well. This division occurred in 1949. In 1961, 2.5 people fled from East Germany to West Germany. They would go into the capital, Berlin, where it was the easiest to cross the border and move across the city. Most of the people that fled were professionals and skilled/educated workers.
This was bad for East Germany and they realized they had a brain drain and to ensure that no more people could leave a barrier was built in 1961. This was called the Berlin Wall. The wall started as a barbed wire fence and cinderblock and then became 2 concrete walls with mines, guard towers, traps, etc between the 2 walls. It was a fortified barrier surrounding West Berlin. This wall symbolized the division of Germany and the world during the Cold War. The cold war also spread to almost the whole world and was not just between the 2 superpowers. The Soviet Union touted socialism was the most modern political/economical system of the world. The US was about capitalism and democracy and thought it was the best system. Both sides also had allies:
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1st World: Countries allied with the US
Mainly countries with parliamentary/capitalist systems and whose foreign policies lined with those of the US. Examples: Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan, etc.
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2nd World: Countries allied with the Soviets
Mainly countries with socialist economies and whose foreign policies lined with those of the Soviet Union Examples: Poland, East Germany, Hungary, China, etc.
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3rd World: Non-aligned countries
These countries were not allied with either superpower.
New concepts were created to define the terms:
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Iron Curtain: was a main term to describe the resistance of communism.
Winston Churchill did not create the term iron curtain but instead it was created by a Nazi Propaganda Minister named Joseph Goebbels in 1945.
He introduced the phrase in his speech The Year 2000 which was about what life would be like in the year 2000 if the Soviets had won the Cold War and the world was subjugated to its dictatorship. In this speech, Goebbels encouraged the Germans to fight against the Soviets. Churchill popularized the idea of the iron curtain when he made a speech in the US in 1946 (by this time he was out of office). Churchill told the Americans to remain militarily strong and get more involved. He was trying to prevent the US from doing what they did after WWI which was go into isolation. The Soviets were not happy about Churchills speech and thought of his speech as the beginning of the Cold War. This war was called the Cold War because the 2 Superpowers never fought each other but instead got involved in proxy warsKorean War, Vietnam War and the invasion of Afghanistan. In 1959 there was an adversarial debate or conflict called the Kitchen Debate. It was between Richard Nixon (who was Vice President of the US at the time) and Nikita Khrushchev (who was the leader of the Soviet Union at the time). Nixon went to Moscow for a rare exhibition of US goods that was on Soviet soil (exhibition of a modern kitchen with dishwasher, washing machine and a lemon juicer). The two leaders thought it was important to pursue a peaceful coexistence and compete with each other going without to war. In 1959, Congress had passed a resolution and the day that Nixon visited Khrushchev and the Soviets did not take the resolution kindly. Khrushchev was not happy when Nixon visited and thought Nixon was there to humiliate the Soviet Union. Khrushchev was frank and not kind to Nixon stating:
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Stinks like horse shit.
Nixon knew Khrushchev was around pigs in his childhood so he stated back:
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What stinks worse than horse shit is pig shit
This private conversation occurred before they went out to see the exhibition of the American kitchen. While they were looking at the kitchen, Khrushchev states: An average worker cant afford such a luxurious kitchen After this statement, a public debate about capitalism and socialism occurred. This debate emphasized the rift between the two superpowers and caused the two to verbally come to blows with one another. The US and Soviet Union almost came to military blows with each other in 1962 with the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1959 there was a revolution in Cuba which brought Fidel Castro to power and he still wanted to maintain the good relationship between Cuba and the US. The US wanted nothing to do with the post-revolution Cuba though because of some of the policies Castro had implemented (sweeping lands reforms, nationalized, removed US owned property, etc). He also wanted the US to buy the Cuban sugar as the US had been and invest money in Cuba as well and the US flat out refused. Castro then turned to the other major superpower for support and the Soviets agreed to buy the Cuban sugar and invest money, so the Soviet Union replaces the US. The US thought that by Cuba being supported by the Soviets, they were now in alliance with one another. Fidel was not communist but when he was faced with a hostile US and asked for help from the Soviets, he adopted some communist ways to make the Soviets happy and keep their support. By doing this, the relationship between Cuba and the US got worse. Not only did the Soviets buy the Cuban sugar, they also sold Cuba weapons and Cuba allowed the Soviets to station ballistic missiles in Cuba. The arrival of these missiles into Cuba was kept secret in 1962. Soviet technicians were installing the missiles in Cuba and spotted a US spy plane taking pictures and the secret was finally leaked.
John F Kennedy (President of US at the time) decided the best course of action was to blockade Cuba. So he sent the US navy to blockade Cuba and sent a warning to any ships approaching Cuba that they would be detained by the US Navy which sent the ships in the opposite direction. Kennedy and Khrushchev communicated and by 1962 came to an agreement saying that all missiles and sites will be removed from Cuba and Kennedy promised that the US would not invade Cuba. By the end of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis was over and resolved. Castro was upset that the Soviets just backed down against the US, especially since the missiles in Cuba could have landed anywhere in mainland United States. Spy agencies were also created during the Cold War. The Soviet Unions main agency was the Committee for State Security (KGB). It was founded in 1954 and existed until 1991. It was a big agency and its symbol consisted of the sword and shield of the Soviet Union. Its duties were comprised of those of the US: CIA, FBI and Secret Service all combined, making their duties domestic and international intelligence. This was the worlds largest intelligence agency. The KGB relied on humans more so than technology to gather their information. They would get it from allies, bribing, blackmailing and flat out stealing, basically by any means necessary. The KGB was ended just a few months before the end of the Soviet Union. The USs main agency was the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It was created in 1947 and still exists today. Its duties are to: collect information about foreign individuals/governments/organizations. It has a large latitude to carry out its functions without being public (ex: how much money is spent on people or technology-not public information). CIA hired former Nazi intelligence agents for information on the Soviets as well.