Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization

1. Communism and the Cold War

• Cold War Duration: 1945 to early 1990s
• Key Feature: Arms race between the Americans and Soviets
• Threat: Nuclear arsenals

2. Power Grab: Soviets and the Americans Want Everyone to Take Sides

• Soviet Union: Promoted communism
• Division of Eastern Europe: "Spheres of Influence" from Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945
• Berlin Blockade:
  • Soviets cut off land access to Berlin
  • West responded with Berlin Airlift

East Versus West

• Soviet Bloc/Eastern Bloc:
  • East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary
  • Formed Warsaw Pact
• Western Bloc:
  • Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, West Germany, Greece, Turkey
  • Formed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
  • Truman Doctrine (1947) for containment
• Iron Curtain: Churchill's term for East-West division
• 1955 Bandung Conference: Start of Non-Aligned Movement

Focus On: Nuclear Proliferation

• Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (1968)
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (1957)

3. China: Communists Make Huge Gains

• 1911: Manchu Dynasty fell, Sun Yat-sen led Chinese Revolution
• Kuomintang (KMT): Sun Yat-sen's political party
• 1949: Mao Zedong led Communists, established People's Republic of China

Mao Zedong: His Own Way

• Great Leap Forward: Late 1950s Marxist state creation
• Cultural Revolution (1966): Remove privileged classes

China Looks West

• Deng Xiaoping: Encouraged joint ventures with foreign companies
• Tiananmen Square Massacre (1989): Call for democratic reform, government crackdown

Division of Korea

• General MacArthur: UN progress

Vietnam

• Post-WW2: French return to Indochina
• Vietminh: Fought French, led by Ho Chi Minh
• Ngo Dinh Diem: President of South Vietnam
• 1975: North Vietnam took control

Genocide in Cambodia

• Khmer Rouge: Gained power, communist faction

4. The Cuban Revolution

• Platt Amendment: US involved in Cuban affairs
• 1956: Fidel Castro led revolt
• 1959: Castro took power
• Cuban Missile Crisis (1961): US-Soviet tensions

5. Cold War Tensions and Democratization in Latin America

• Good Neighbor Policy
• Economic Issues: Reliance on export economies
• 2000: National Action Party (PAN) won presidency in Mexico

6. The Cold War Finally Ends

• Western Europe: Improved standard of living

Poland: Solidarity Movement

• 1980: Led by Lech Walesa
• 1989: Solidarity legalized, first open elections

German Reunification

• Collapse of communism: Reunification as free-market democracy

Soviet Union Collapses

• Mikhail Gorbachev: Glasnost and Perestroika policies
• Ethnic Cleansing in Yugoslavia

Russia after the Soviet Union

• Vladimir Putin: Led from 1999 post-Yeltsin

7. Independence Movements and Developments in Asia and Africa

Indian Subcontinent

• Indian National Congress: Established 1885
• Muslim League: Formed 1906
• Amritsar Massacre (1919)
• Mohandas Gandhi: Passive resistance

Africa

• 1950s: Independence movements
• Gamal Nasser: Egypt's republic
• Algerian War: Independence from France (1954-1962)
• Nigeria, Ghana: Parliamentary governance
• Kenya: Under Jomo Kenyatta
• African Union: Formed 2001

Note the Change: Globalization and Rise of NGOs

• NGOs: Non-governmental organizations

Rwanda: Ethnic Genocide

• Tutsi vs. Hutu: Human rights violations

South Africa

• Apartheid: Racial segregation policy
• Nelson Mandela: Leader in anti-apartheid movement

The Middle East

• Post-WWI: Ottoman lands under League of Nations

Israel and Palestine

• Balfour Declaration (1917)
• 1948: Establishment of Israel
• Arab-Israeli Conflicts
• Camp David Accords (1977): Peace with Egypt

Iranian Revolution

• Reza Shah Pahlavi: Overthrown 1979
• Iran-Iraq War: 1980-1988

Oil and OPEC

• OPEC: Formed 1960, oil-exporting countries