Cold War

Cold War

1945 – 1991

Called "cold" because there was supposedly no bloodshed, just a technology race. See proxy war.

Significance: After World War II, it is Soviet Union versus the United States; communism versus capitalism – the central question is: was there a difference between the two?

Propaganda – everyone involved in the fight against communism/capitalism

The Soviet Union and the United States used the Third World as a stage to fight their battles and to wield power against the other. The Third World responds with the Bandung Conference. See proxy war for more significance.

The idea of mutually assured destruction arises as technology advances in nuclear warfare become more capable of total annihilation.

Timelines:

NEGOTIATION (1945)

1943: Teheran

1945: Feb 4-11, Yalta Conference - S.U. wants to control Eastern Europe

Aug 5, U.S. Drops Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima

1946: Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech - He’s referring to governments throughout Eastern Europe dependent on and loyal to Moscow

February, Kennan Telegram – Kennan and Novikov have identical rhetoric

September, Novikov Telegram

CONTAINMENT (1947-1950) (see containment ID for more information about events)

1947: Truman supports anti-Moscow forces in Greek Civil War

June: Marshall Plan Announced

1948: Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia

June, Berlin Blockade & Airlift (ends May 1949)

1949: July, NATO ratified

September, Communist China under Mao Zedong

September, 1st Soviet Nuclear Explosion

CONTAINMENT/COERCION (1950-1972)

1950: June, Korean War begins (U.N. as U.S. proxy)

1951: NATO expansion

1954: CIA intervention in Iran & Guatemala

KGB established

1955: Bandung Conference: the 3rd World speaks

May, Warsaw Pact established

1956: Hungarian put down by force

1957: Sputnik—The Space Race Begins (ICBMs)

1959: January, Cuba goes Communist

September, Khruschev Visits U.S. – a THAW until 1964 when Khruschev loses power; addressed social ills and more literary freedom

THAWS AND CRISES

1960: May, USSR reveals a US U2 Spy-plane was downed over USSR; the US denies this (The Soviets display the plane in Red Square and the Pilot, Gary Francis Powers, on TV) 1961: failed Cuban invasion at Bay of Pigs

Berlin Wall Construction Begins

1962: October, Cuban Missile Crisis

Increase in US “advisory role” in Viet Nam

1963: Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (above-ground)

1965: Marines fight Communist insurrection in Dominican Republic

1967: Outer Space Treaty

1968: Prague Spring

1969: Apollo Moon Landing

1970 Viet Nam War extended (illegally) to Cambodia and Laos

DÉTENTE (1972-1980)—Treaties and Diplomacy

1972 SALT I Treaty

1973: January, Viet Nam cease fire

October, USSR aids Syria and Egypt against Israel

October, US overthrows elected Chilean government (for a US-friendly military dictatorship)

1979: Sandinistas take over Nicaragua; Congress determines not to intervene

USSR in Afghanistan

CONFRONTATION (1980-1985)

1981: US backs Iraq in Iran-Iraq War

1983: Reagan proposes Strategic Defense Initiative (undermining the stabilizing global terrorism of the Mutually Assured Destruction concept of deterrence)

1985: US backs Iran in Iran-Iraq War with secret, illegal missile sales

US illegally funds Contras (counter-revolutionaries) to fuel Nicaraguan Civil War

Gorbachev comes to power in USSR

GLASNOST (1985-

1986: Gorbachev ends economic aid to satellite states

Iran-Contra Affair becomes public

1987: Reagan & Gorbachev determine to remove medium and short-range missiles from Europe

1989: January, USSR leaves Afghanistan

June, Poland independent

September, Hungary independent

November, Berlin Wall Comes Down

December, Bulgaria, Romania, and Czechoslovakian independence

1990: Lithuanian Independence

Yeltsin elected President of Russia

October 3, Germany Reunited

1991: Warsaw Pact ends