THE COLD WAR DIVIDES THE WORLD

Cold War Strategies The US, USSR, and even China often

used a variety of strategies to gain influence in the Third World

They would back wars of revolution, liberation, or counterrevolution

The US and the USSR both established intelligence agencies – the CIA and the KGB

The US gave military aid, built schools, set up programs to combat poverty, and sent volunteer workers to many developing nations

Association of Nonaligned Nations

In 1955, Indonesia hosted many leaders from Asia and Africa at the Bandung Conference

They met to form what they called a “third force” of independent countries, or nonaligned nations

Some nations, like India and Indonesia, managed to remain neutral throughout the Cold War

Confrontations in Cuba In the 1950s, Cuba was ruled by

an unpopular dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who had US support

Cuban resent led to a popular revolution, led by Fidel Castro, which overthrew Batista in January 1959

At first, many praised Castro for bringing about many social reforms, however Castro soon revealed himself to be a harsh dictator He suspended elections, jailed or

executed his opponents, and tightly controlled the press

Confrontations in Cuba When Castro took over, he

nationalized the Cuban economy, which included taking over US-owned sugar mils and refineries

In response, President Eisenhower ordered an embargo on all trade with Cuba

Castro then turned to the Soviets for economic and military aid

In 1960, the CIA began to train anti-Castro Cuban exiles

In April 1961, they invaded Cuba, landing at the Bay of Pigs Without proper US military support, the

exiles failed in their invasion and Castro easily defeated the forces, humiliating the United States

Cuban Missile Crisis The failure at the Bay of Pigs convinced

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that the US would not resist Soviet expansion in Latin America

July 1962 Khrushchev secretly began to build 42 missile sites around Cuba

In October, US spy planes discovered these sites, setting off an international crisis

President JFK demanded the removal of the missiles and announced a blockade of Cuba to prevent the further arrival of more missiles

Eventually, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles if the US agreed to never invade Cuba and to remove missiles from Turkey

Civil War in Nicaragua The US supported the anti-communist

dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza and his family in Nicaragua from 1933-1979

In 1979, communist rebels, known as the Sandinistas, overthrew the Somoza reign

Originally, the US and the USSR supported the Sandinistas’ leader Daniel Ortega, but he quickly began to support Marxist rebels in El Salvador

In response, the US gave its support to the anti-communist rebels known as the Contras

The civil war raged on for over a decade, greatly crippling Nicaragua’s economy

Conflicts in Iran Following WWII, Iran’s leader,

Pahlavi, embraced western governments and wealthy western oil companies

This clashed with the traditional Islamic beliefs and customs of many of the people

Iranian nationalists united under Prime Minister Muhammed Mossadeq and forced the shah to flee

With US support, the shah was restored following fear of Iran turning to the Soviet Union for support

Conflicts in Iran The shah continued to

westernize Iran throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including weakening the power of the ayatollahs, or Islamic religious leaders

Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, while living in exile, began to encourage revolution in Iran

The shah fled Iran in 1979 and Khomeini returned to establish an Islamic state and to export Iran’s militant form of Islam

Khomeini’s Anti-US Policies

In 1979, young Islamic revolutionaries seized the US embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 people hostage and demanding that the shah face a trial for his actions

They remained prisoners for 444 days before being released in 1981

Khomeini encouraged Muslim radicals to overthrow their secular governments, however this policy heightened tensions between Iran and Iraq where Saddam Hussein governed in a secular state

Face-off in Afghanistan For several years following WWII,

Afghanistan had maintained its independence from both the US and the USSR

However, in the 1950s, the Soviet Union began to increase its influence

In the late 1970s, a Muslim revolt threatened to topple the communist regime, so the Soviets invaded

The Soviets expected to quickly invade, prop up the communist government, and leave but they got stuck

Supplied by American weapons, the mujahideen, were able to hold off the Soviet forces

Face-off in Afghanistan President Jimmy Carter warned

the Soviets against any attempt to gain control of the Persian Gulf

To protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the United States stopped shipments of grain to the Soviet Union and boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics

In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev withdrew all of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan