A look back: Yalta ConferenceFebruary 1945Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin
Purpose was to discuss Europe's post-war reorganization
The Cold WarThe Big 3’s decisions:
USSR was given control of E. Europe until free elections could be held—ha!Germany was divided into U.S., France, England & USSR zones
Results of the Yalta Conference
E. Europe never had free electionsE. European nations became satellite states of USSRGermany was split into East (communist) and West (democracy)
Iron Curtain
Term coined by ChurchillUsed to described the division of Europe
**This is an invisible curtain!!
Cold War Policy of US and the WestTensions developed:
US and USSR don’t trust each other
Soviets (totalitarianism and communism)
VsUS and West (democracy and capitalism)
US saw Soviets as a threat to spread communism throughout Europe
Domino Theory If one country “falls” to communism, soon after its neighbor will also become communistThen the next neighbor will “fall” … and so onThis was used to justify U.S. involvement in Europe
US Policy-The Truman Doctrine
1947 – Pres. Truman’s economic and military aid program to help people resist communist aggression
The Marshall PlanUS feared poor countries of Europe would come under Soviet controlMP: offered economic aid to “any country that needed it” to lessen appeal of communism
Berlin Blockade - 1948 3 democratic sides combinedUSSR cut-off all land access to BerlinUS sent in packages to help outSoviets gave in and eventually opened access routes
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Includes US, Canada and most of W Europe
Warsaw Pact – Defensive alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellites
Formed in response to NATO
Berlin – The WallAfter the split of Germany and Berlin, thousands of Germans fled to W Berlin to escape communist E Germany1961 – E Germany built a wall to stop the flowThe wall symbolized the Cold War
BrinkmanshipUS Pres. Eisenhower threatened to “retaliate instantly” to any Soviet aggressionThis led to an arms race
Both sides threatened to use all-out nuclear war
Bay of PigsUnsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba An attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro Invasion was launched in April 1961 The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the invading combatants within three days. All Cuban Nationalists were taken prisoner
Gave Soviets the feeling that the US couldn’t stop them in the Western HemisphereThis will eventually lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis
Results…
Cuban Missile CrisisA thirteen-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the United States on the other JFK vs Nikita Khrushchev The Cuban and Soviet governments secretly began to build bases in Cuba for a number of medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs) with the ability to strike most of the continental United States.
On October 14, 1962, a United States Air Force U-2 plane on a photoreconnaissance mission captured photographic proof of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba Marks the first documented instance of the threat of mutual assured destruction (MAD) being discussed as a determining factor in a major international arms agreement Confrontation ended when Soviets decided to remove missiles from Cuba and US privately removed their missiles from Turkey and Italy
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