Why did the Cold War come to an end?

Document 1: Cartoon by Nicholas Garland published in the Daily Telegraph in January 1986

Document 2: Extract of a speech given by Ronald Reagan in June 1987 in Berlin

“And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.

Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace."

Why did an iron curtain descend across the Continent after WWII?

Document 1: extract of a speech given by Winston Churchill in 1946

From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. We cannot afford, if we can help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength. If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter, their influence for furthering those principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them. If however they become divided or falter in their duty and if these all-important years are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may overwhelm us all.

Document 2: 1947 political cartoon by Jay Darling

To what extent were the 1960s and 1970s a period of “détente” between the superpowers?

Document 1:

Text adapted from the NASA mission narrative for the Apollo-Soyuz flight, a joint initiative by the USA and USSR.

…Voice contact was made soon after. “Hello Soyuz!” Stafford said in Russian. Kubasov replied in English: “Hello everybody, hi to you Tom and Deke, hello there, Vance!”

All communications among the five crew members during the mission were made in the language of the listener, with the Americans speaking Russian to the Soviet crew and the Soviet crew speaking English to the Americans.

Contact of the two spacecraft, at 12:09 pm on July 17^th 1975, was transmitted live on TV to the earth, and Stafford commented: “We have succeeded, everything is excellent.” “Soyuz and Apollo are shaking hands now” the cosmonauts answered.

Hard docking was completed over the Atlantic Ocean at 12:12 pm, 6 minutes earlier than the prelaunch flight plan, watched by millions of TV viewers worldwide. “Perfect, beautiful, well done, Tom, it was a good show, we're looking forward to shaking hands with you on board Soyuz” Leonov said. (…)

Both Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and US President Gerald Ford congratulated the crews and expressed their confidence in the success of the mission.

Stafford then presented Leonov with “flags for your government and the people of the Soviet Union” with the wish that “our joint work in space serves for the benefit of all countries and peoples on the earth”. Leonov then presented the U.S. crew with Soviet flags. (…)

The hatches were closed after Brand told Leonov and Kubasov: “I'm sure that we've opened up a new era in history.”

http://history.nasa.gov/apollo/apsoyhist.html

Document 2:

1968 drawing by Opland, a Dutch cartoonist 

Six key moments of the Cold War...

Click HERE to read the BBC article!

The USA and the world: 1977 to 1991, the end of the Cold War

The 1948-49 Berlin Blockade, the 1958-61 Berlin Crisis, and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis were “hot spots” of the Cold War in which the US prevailed. However, the failure of the Vietnam War (US involvement being greatest from 1963 to 1973), the assassinations of John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963 and his brother Robert in 1968, and the shortcomings of the Nixon presidency (Watergate Scandal in 1972-74), plus the start of an economic downturn (Energy Crises in 1973 and 1979), dented the self-confidence of Americans but also tarnished the image of the USA abroad. The Soviet Union appeared powerful and the USA "weak" in comparison in the 1970s...

The greatest territorial extent of Communist states 1978 to 83

In 1977, the Soviets deployed SS-20 nuclear ballistic missiles with a 5,000 km strike capacity which threatened the US’s European allies and Israel. This marked the ending of the period of “Détente”.

The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to support the pro-Soviet regime there made the Cold War situation worse (the Red Army, having failed, pulled out in 1989).

1979 was the year of the revolution in Iran: Ayatollah Khomeini set up an Islamic republic and Iran became an enemy of the USA.

The Conservative Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister of the UK in 1979 (she resigned in 1990); she was the most active supporter of the USA (the Soviets called her “the Iron Lady” because she was strong-willed and intransigent in international negotiations).

In 1980, Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia, died (which was one cause of the breakup of the country; the Yugoslav Wars lasted through the 1990s).

In 1981, Socialist François Mitterrand was elected President of France (1981-1995). France was not a full member of NATO from 1966 to 1999. Mitterrand supported the NATO initiative to deploy medium-range missiles in Europe during the Euromissiles crisis (1977-87).

1980 presidential campaign poster

In January 1981, Ronald Reagan, a Republican, took office as the 40th President of the USA. He succeeded in making the US more self-confident, and economically and militarily stronger (which increased the US debt considerably). His intransigence against the “Evil Empire”, with the support of Margaret Thatcher, was a cause of the downfall of the USSR in 1991.

Thatcher and Reagan

In his 1982 speech to the British House of Commons, Ronald Reagan denounced the totalitarian nature of the Soviet regime. From his point of view, the USSR did not respect freedom, and was responsible for the instability in international relations (increasing the risk of nuclear conflict). He considered the Soviet system economically redundant, unlike the democratic model which ensures economic prosperity. “Free societies” means “civilization, freedom, dignity, peace”, whereas “totalitarian forces” are “a terrible political invention” associated with “barbarous…evil…closed societies”. Reagan called for democratic countries (like the UK) to fight against “totalitarian evil”. Reagan’s aggressive stance (rollback policy) increased international tension. This accelerated the arms race and spending on armament. The USA became indebted, but so did the USSR which, with a weakened economy, inevitably collapsed within a few years. Also, the USSR soon realized that its costly war in Afghanistan was unpopular too with its allies and Non-Aligned countries (though justifiable in the Cold War context since the Soviet Union was trying to counter the growing influence of the USA in Pakistan). Gorbachev withdrew the troops in 1989. By 1996, Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban  (supported by Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda).

Reagan fought Soviet influence in Third World countries, notably in Nicaragua. The government of this South America country was Sandinista, i.e. communist. Reagan, against the will of Congress, supported the counter-revolutionary Contras using the CIA. In 1986, Reagan, in a covert operation, sold arms to the Iranian regime to finance the Contras (this was called the “Irangate Scandal”). The Sandinistas lost the 1990 elections.

The Soviet SS-20s were the cause, in 1983, of what came to be known as the “Euro-Missile Crisis.” NATO deployed cruise and Pershing 2 missiles aimed at Moscow (despite wide-spread popular protests in the USA and in Europe). By 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev, the reformist new leader of the USSR, was willing to consider the deal Reagan had offered prior to 1983: no U.S. missiles, if no Soviet SS-20s.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (he resigned in 1991). In 1988, he launched Perestroika (“restructuring” of the economic and social systems) and Glasnost (“transparency”, i.e. freedom of thought). He responded favorably to the Reagan Administration’s efforts in 1986 to improve relations with the Soviet Union (which led to the Reykjavik Summit in October 1986). Gorbachev needed to reduce military spending to save the regime, so improved relations with the West were in any case necessary.

Comments on the above cartoon by Nicholas Garland (published on 3rd January 1986 in the Daily Telegraph, a British broadsheet): this is an ironic comment on the geopolitical situation in 1986; the “skies” are all but “clear”… The “clear skies for all mankind” was a new Reagan policy to show its willingness to improve relations with the USSR, for a world free of the danger of nuclear weapons (and for more transparency in their relations?). The irony is that in fact the world was full of dangers and the skies (in the cartoon, metaphorically) polluted with Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”), the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the conflicts in South America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua), and the conflicts in the Middle East (Israel invades Lebanon again in 1982, first Palestinian Intifada in 1987).

In October 1986, the Reykjavik Summit (in Iceland) between Reagan and Gorbachev resulted in the signature of the Washington Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987 (the disarmament of American Pershing and Soviet SS-20s).

Reagan's 1987 visit to Berlin

In 1987, Reagan went to Berlin; he gave a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in which he challenged the Soviet leader to "open this gate... tear down this wall!" He was continuing to put pressure on the USSR.

Gorbachev gave a speech to the UN in December 1988 (cf. the video, 1:06 to end) which shows the Soviet regime’s willingness to change radically; the USSR was now a freer society, with political, administrative and economic reforms, reduction in the size of the army and unilateral disarmament were on the agenda, and relations with Washington were better...

In 1988, Al Qaeda was set up.

In 1989, George Bush, Republican, became President of the USA (until 1993). He was careful and guarded in his foreign policy.

Berlin, a few days before the wall came down (1989)

On the 9th of November 1989, the Berlin Wall (built in 1961) came down. Bush chose to show restraint in his support of reunification of the two Germanies (so as not to provoke the nationalistic elements in Soviet Union and so undermine Gorbachev's authority).

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and, in 1991, the US successfully led a coalition, under UN mandate, to free Kuwait (Operation Desert Storm). This showed the USA has having regained its international standing (and showed up the USSR's weakness?).

In 1991, the ethnic conflicts in Yugoslavia started; they were to last ten years. The USA got involved in that war under UN mandate and, in 1999, as part of NATO forces.

TIME magazine cover, 1990

On the 25th December 1991, Gorbachev resigned; it was the end of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. Boris Yeltsin became leader (1991 to 1999) of the new Russian Federation.

The USA and the world: the American model

Pages 28-29 of the textbook: the American model (LESSON 4)

The Soviet model of society was egalitarian, with a one-party State run by and for the workers. The economy, centralized, was run by the State and geared to producing goods to satisfy the needs of the people. The USSR and other communist countries were opposed to the Western model of society; the Soviets considered their way of life better and the West, especially the USA, as decadent.

Soviet propaganda poster

Comments on document 3, page 28:

It is an extract from a speech Khrushchev gave to the 22nd Party Congress (very important meeting of the communist party) in 1961. He describes how the Soviet Union will become, by the end of the 1960s, wealthy, with a high standard of living for everyone, a communist society of plenty. He wants the USSR to become stronger and wealthier than the USA (thereby admitting that the USA is, for the while, superior). He wants production of goods, especially agricultural products, to increase. He would like the Soviet people’s standard of living to improve: “everyone will live in easy circumstances… hard physical work will disappear.” This document is interesting in that, in it, Khrushchev compares the USSR and the USA not as opposites but as two systems wanting the same thing: material comfort and happiness (but that the Soviet regime will achieve better and soon…). 

The leaders of both superpowers needed to convince their own populations as well as the rest of the world that their model was the best; the Cold War was, more than anything, an ideological conflict.

Soviet anti-American poster (1966)

During the Cold War, spies of both sides were very active. Both sides feared losing important secrets. Fear of the “enemy within” (i.e. spies and traitors) was widespread. In 1953-54, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations was used by Senator Joseph McCarthy to accuse thousands of people of being communist sympathizers. The “witch hunt” created paranoia in the USA; people suspected each other of being communists and the “Reds” were demonized. McCarthyism was about controlling the population through fear, suspicion, and accusation (methods used by totalitarian regimes…). The professions that McCarthy suspected most were in the media, Hollywood, and the universities.

Paperback book cover of the 50s

Comments on document 1, page 28:

Herbert Block (Herblock) was the principal cartoonist of the Washington Post until his death in 2001. The Washington Post is a highly respected newspaper in the USA and internationally. The “red scare” refers to people's fear of infiltrated communists and of communists generally. 1949 (the date of the cartoon) is a period of great tension for the USA: the USSR has got the Atomic Bomb and China has become communist. This goes someway to explaining the fear of communism exaggerated (caricatured) in the cartoon (President Truman also made many anti-communist declarations). Herblock accuses the employees of the “anti-subversive” committees (i.e. committees against the subversion of the American system) of being over-zealous/paranoid (of seeing “Reds” everywhere). These ignorant employees are ridiculous because they see evidence of communist subversion and anti-American activity in everybody (Jefferson was a US President!). The teacher probably does “read books”, which does not for all that make her a spy…

Advert promoting the idea that happiness comes from material comfort

Comments on document 2, page 28:

In this advert for Motorola TVs, a white, middle-class, nuclear family (mom, dad, and two kids), sits around the TV set which is what unites the family and makes it happy. This advert is also propaganda for the American way of life: the right to material comfort, family and community, safety and happiness. “America triumphant” means that the "American dream" as depicted in the advert is the best. Consumer society is the one everyone should aspire to. The first TV programmes were broadcast in 1927 in the USA. By 1956 (the date of this advert), over half of American homes were equipped with a TV set.

The wealth of the USA after WW2 was considerable (its infrastructure was intact and it had made profits from the war). From the end of the war and through the 1950s and first half of the 1960s, the USA was optimistic and wanted to spread its economic model and way of life to the rest of the world. Most of the rest of the world was more than happy to have it as a model to follow (think of the influence on French popular culture as just one example). America convinced the countries within its sphere of influence of the merits of its system through “soft power”: movies, TV, music, food, gadgets, etc. which spread the idea of US superiority (communism appeared austere in comparison!). In 1969, by being the first country to send a man to the moon, the USA showed its technological and supposed ideological superiority over the Soviet Union, and earned the admiration of the world.

Page 29: A democracy fraught with inequalities

“Fraught” means “burdened” (weighed down) in this context. In the 60s and 70s, the American way of life was contested by politicians, artists, and ordinary people too who protested against war (in Vietnam), nuclear arms, political corruption, and tried to stand up for the rights of ethnic minorities, homosexuals and women.

Hippies were part of the counter-culture from the mid-60s

Comments on document 4, page 29:

The US model in the post-war period had flaws, namely racism, which went against the American ideals of freedom and equality (cf. Declaration of Independence of 1776: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… that (they have) certain inalienable rights… life, liberty… happiness”).

Photo of Rosa Parks (centre) circa 1955

Rosa Parks incarnated the fight against racial segregation in the South of the USA. The “Jim Crow” laws date from 1865; they legalized segregation between Whites and Blacks. Rosa Parks, by refusing to give up her seat for a white person, contributed to the Civil Rights Movement. She was duly arrested and had to pay a 10$ fine. When he heard about this, Dr Martin Luther King organized a boycott of the Montgomery buses by Blacks.

Richard Nixon on TV 

Comments on document 5, page 29:

This front page of the Washington Post is a famous document, dated 9th August 1974. The Washington Post is a very important national paper in the USA (internationally respected). The headline reads: “Nixon resigns”. Richard Nixon was the 37th President (Republican) of the USA (1969 to 1974). He resigned because he wanted to avoid impeachment (possible removal of the President by Congress if the President is found to have committed a serious crime). He tried to cover up evidence that bugging devices had been placed in the campaign headquarters of the Democratic Party (in the Watergate building). This came to be known as the “Watergate Scandal”. Two journalists from the Washington Post were responsible for uncovering the scandal (informed by William Felt, number two at the FBI, aka “Deep Throat”).

This document illustrates the fact that the American model, which promotes democracy, was not perfect; there was corruption at the highest level. The Watergate Scandal shook America because it revealed that its own President was corrupt; people trusted the presidency and politicians much less afterwards, and had less faith in their system, especially as they had also lost the Vietnam War.

The uncovering of the Watergate Scandal illustrates well the role of the “Fourth Estate”, i.e. the media. In the USA, the press is relatively free and fights abuse of power (unlike in communist countries). The “Fourth Estate”, though unelected, wields great power (in the US context, the media is in a sense the fourth branch - or estate - of government; the official branches are: the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Legislative).

The USA and the world: 1960s-70s: the Détente

Pages 26-27 of the textbook: "The Détente" (LESSON 3, 1960s-70s)

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: a symbol of détente

Direct relations between the superpowers got a little easier (there was a “détente”) after the Berlin Crisis (1958-61) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962).

Progress was made on:

• nuclear tests (the Test Ban Treaty signed in August 1963 in Moscow);
• non-proliferation (the 1968 Non Proliferation Treaty);
• limiting the number of nuclear weapons (SALT I in 1972);
• improving international relations (Helsinki Accords in 1975).

Brezhnev

Khrushchev left office in October 1964 and Leonid Brezhnev took over as Party Leader (until his death in 1982).

LBJ being sworn in as President after the assassination of JFK on 22 November 1963

Lyndon B. Johnson became President of the USA in 1963 (until 1969). He was followed by Richard Nixon (1969 to 1974), Gerald Ford (1974 to 1977), and Jimmy Carter (1977 to 1981).

There were, however, conflicts (but not involving both superpowers fighting each other directly) during this period which made people question the systems in which they lived, on both sides of the Iron Curtain: the Vietnam War and the Prague Spring.

Editorial cartoon by William Papas (1963)

Page 26: An easing off in international relations…

Comments on document 1, page 26:

JFK and Khrushchev set up a means to converse via teletype in 1963: the Washington-Moscow “hotline” or “red telephone”. This was a means to keep dialogue ongoing and avoid misunderstanding so as to avoid nuclear war. The cartoon (document 1) is a satirical comment on the fact that, despite this means of direct communication controlled directly by the leaders themselves, the enormous number of nuclear weapons (symbolized by the huge missile over the heads of JFK and Khrushchev) remained a potential threat to safety which two men would not necessarily have the wisdom to not use (they are shown as babies playing with their “red telephone”); the world “feels safer”, sure, but an accident or a misunderstanding could still have catastrophic consequences…

Comments on document 2, page 26:

The 1968 Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was an attempt to stop the transfer of nuclear weapons technology to countries that did not have nuclear weapons. Of the five recognized nuclear powers, only the USSR, USA and UK signed (France and China finally did so in 1992).

Comments on document 3, page 26:

The USSR wanted to have its borders officially recognized (those of 1945). It therefore called for an international conference. The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe was held in Helsinki (Finland) in 1975. All European countries were present (except Albania) plus, on the demand of the Europeans, the USA and Canada. The Final Act Declarations (aka as the Helsinki Accords) of the Helsinki Consultations included the recognition of the USSR’s 1945 borders, and the principle of restraint in the use of force in international relations. Other principles included: equality of rights among nations, territorial integrity, human rights. These principles were not respected in the USSR or its dictatorial satellite states. Thanks to the fact that the USSR signed the Helsinki Accords, dissenters within Soviet Bloc countries could then justify their attitudes and acts against their countries’ regimes (the Accords guaranteeing people’s freedom to express their opinions and right to choose their own governments)…

Page 27: …which doesn’t preclude conflict

Though the 1960s and 1970s were supposedly a time of “détente” between the superpowers, there were conflicts…

Vietnamese victory poster:

"30-4-1975 Vietnam Complete Victory. Both the North and South move towards Socialism"

Comments on document 4:

The Vietnam War (1958 to 1975, with US involvement at its peak from 1963 to 1973) was a conflict between communist North Vietnam and US-supported South Vietnam. US combat units were sent there in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69). Probably about one million people were killed, including 60,000 US troops.

John McNaughton, Assistant Secretary of Defense, had advocated, with Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense (1961 to 1968), the massive use of bombing to intimidate North Vietnam. In this document, he admits the failure of the US military strategy and expresses his concern about the negative affect on the “American national consciousness.” The Vietnam War was a military and political failure; Americans were far less sure about their position regarding international affairs or even in the supremacy of their system after the Vietnam War. The conflict made the USA unpopular abroad too. (Read the document and answer the questions)

Comments on document 5:

Map of Czechoslovakia in 1985

In 1968, Dubček, the communist leader of Czechoslovakia, launched his “socialism with a human face” policy in his country. The Prague Spring ended when Warsaw Pact troops entered Prague. Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, wanted “limited sovereignty” and to avoid the danger of the Warsaw Pact breaking up. (Describe the document and answer the questions)

The USA and the world: 1950s and early 1960s, a bipolar world

Pages 24-25 of the textbook: "A bipolar world" (LESSON 2, 1950s and early 1960s)

The world split into two enemy blocs...

Up to Stalin’s death in 1953, relations between the superpowers were tense because of the arms race and because of the Korean War (1950-53). There was then a relative easing off of tension (because there was a “thaw” in the USSR).

The "peaceful coexistence" promoted by the new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1953-64) was undermined by:

• the USA creating its first H-Bomb (thermonuclear or "hydrogen" weapon) in 1952 (the USSR made its own a year later) which accelerated the arms race;
• the Budapest Uprising in 1956;
• the Soviets creating the first ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) in 1957 (the Americans a year later);
• renewed tension in Berlin (the Soviet leader gave an ultimatum to the USA, UK and French troops present in Berlin to leave in 1958, which lead to the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961);
• Castro taking power in Cuba in 1959;
• the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in October-November 1962.

2013 reenactment of a 1950 Korean War battle... 

Comments on document 1, page 24:

Communist North Korea attacked South Korea in June 1950. North Korea had been occupied by the USSR after WWII, and South Korea by the Allies. The United Nations (set up in 1945) condemned the invasion and sent its troops (made up mostly of soldiers from the USA) to push back the North Korean army. The Soviet Union never got directly involved in the fighting but supplied North Korea with weapons. China then sent troops to back up North Korea in 1951 and the UN forces were pushed back beyond the 38th parallel. The war ended partly because President Dwight Eisenhower threatened to use atomic weapons if the Chinese refused to negotiate. The Panmunjon Agreement (1953) imposed the militarized borders that still exist today between the two Koreas.

The Korean War shows that the USA was prepared to support a corrupt regime (South Korea) as long it served its purpose of fighting communism. Note however that the USA had not intervened to stop the USSR dominating Eastern and Central European countries, or stopped China from becoming communist. The Korean conflict was a way for the USA to again appear strong against the Soviet Bloc. Note that the Korean conflict did not, in the end, escalate, mostly because the USSR was not directly involved in the fighting. (Read document 1 and answer the questions).

Iconic photo by John Sadovy of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising

What was the Hungarian Uprising?

Comments on document 2, page 24:

The foreign policy that the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev promoted was one of “peaceful coexistence” with the West; because of this, some of the satellite states of the USSR felt that they could challenge the hegemony of the USSR. In October 1956, there was a popular uprising against the communist government in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. It was crushed the following month by Soviet troops who came “to assist… the Hungarian authorities”.

The links between the different members of the Soviet Bloc countries were political (communist one-party rule), economic (COMECON single market), and military (Warsaw Pact). The Soviet intervention in Hungary was presented as moderate though over 2,000 Hungarians were killed (read document). The Soviet Union could not accept that Hungary leave the Soviet Bloc because it would have set a precedent, destabilize the Warsaw Pact and therefore compromise the defence strategy of the USSR.

Comments on page 25: Is any dialogue possible?

Despite the different crises, dialogue was maintained between the superpowers: both wanted to avoid WWIII!

At the American Exhibition in Moscow (1959): Khrushchev, Nixon, Vorochilov

Comments on document 3, page 25:

The black and white photograph above, dated July 1959, shows Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, drinking Pepsi at the American Exhibition in Moscow. He is talking to Richard Nixon, the US Vice-President (and future President) in an “informal” but direct way (as was his habit). They are discussing the merits of their respective economic systems. The situation is somewhat incongruous because the leader of the communist system is drinking Pepsi, one of the firms emblematic of the American free-market! Khrushchev was open to dialogue and could even be affable. This photo illustrates the fact that, despite the numerous hot spots, there was indeed a kind of peaceful, if very uneasy, coexistence.

1961: the building of the Berlin Wall

Because so many (more than 200,000) East Germans fled to the West via West Berlin airport, the East German government built a wall around West Berlin in 1961 (the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the two Germanies were reunited the following year).

Comments on document 4, page 25:

Khrushchev and JFK (President of the USA from 1961 to 1963) had lengthy and constant correspondence (November 1960 to October 1963). These extracts of their correspondence, from October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis shows that dialogue avoided the escalation of the crisis into (nuclear) war. The crisis, the worst of the Cold War, was the result of the placing of Soviet missiles in Cuba (and the intention by the USSR of siting more). These were within striking range of Washington D.C., the US Federal capital. Cuba, under Castro, was a communist dictatorship supported by the USSR. The Soviets wanted to place missiles there because the US had put missiles in Italy and Turkey which were in striking range of Moscow. The crisis was resolved when both sides agreed to withdraw their missiles. Both sides were aware that, as JFK said (cf. document 4) “no country could win” a nuclear conflict, and that continued dialogue was necessary to avoid tension, to bring about a “détente affecting NATO and the Warsaw Pact” (JFK).

JFK visits the Brandenburg Gate, photo by Will McBride (1963)

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (elected in 1961, assassinated in November 1963) took a strong stance against the Soviet Union. He went to Berlin in June 1963 to denounce the erection in 1961 of the Wall. He was not against the idea of peaceful coexistence, but he did not want to compromise his anti-communist convictions.

The USA and the world: 1945-50, the start of the Cold War

Pages 22-23 of the textbook: The Cold War at its peak (LESSON 1, 1945-1950)

'Time to bridge that gulch' (1945)

Pullitzer Prize-winning cartoon by Bruce Russell

It is a moot point whether the Cold War was “at its peak” just after the end of the war... The Cold War started because of ideological differences, mutual fear and misunderstandings (each side accusing the other of wanting to take over the world, cf. the Zhdanov Doctrine) and was marked by tension, more or less great ("hotspots"), and competition between the opposing blocs for over 40 years.

According to the introductory paragraph of the textbook, the USA responded to a call for help from Western Europe to feed, clothe and house the populations and to rebuild the devastated infrastructure. Western Europe also needed military protection against the Soviet Union, seen as expansionist. Politicians in Western Europe knew there was an urgent need to rebuild quickly in order to avoid anarchy or the rise of power of communist parties (which had played an important role during the war and were popular because of the admiration the population had at the time for Stalin and the Red Army).

TIME magazine cover showing Harry Truman in 1956

Harry Truman was the US President from the death of Roosevelt in April 1945 up to 1953.

How did the USA help Western Europe and at the same time spread its influence? The answer is the Truman Doctrine launched in March 1947 (read document 1, page 22 and answer the questions). It was a doctrine of containment of communism within communist countries (to stop it spreading).

Political cartoon by Jay Darling condemning the Iron Curtain (1947)

The "Iron Curtain" was the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal itself (and its allies in Central and Easter Europe) off from the West. It was a term used by Winston Churchill.

Churchill giving his "Sinews of Peace" speech in March 1946

Like most Americans up to 1946, Truman thought that the Soviet Union could be friendly with the USA. The "Sinews of Peace" (better known as the "Iron Curtain") speech given by the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in March 1946 made Truman change his mind. Chuchill said that Moscow wanted "the indefinite expansion of its power and policies" and called for the USA (which he described as "at the pinnacle of world power"), to ensure world peace and to uphold the principles of the United Nations Organization. 

George Kennan, a US diplomat based in Moscow, also insisted, like Churchill, on the fact that the USSR was expansionist and a danger to world stability. His report to Truman on the situation in Moscow was also instrumental in elaborating Truman's anti-Soviet doctrine.

By helping countries that were being influenced by the USSR (notably Greece and Turkey) through economic aid, Truman hoped to stop the spread of communism (he considered that countries turned to communism because they were poor).

TIME magazine cover showing George Marshall (1944)

The Marshall Plan was the economic means by which the Truman Doctrine was applied (George Marshall was Truman’s Secretary of State).

The aim of the plan was to:

• rebuild Europe and its economy through US aid (food, goods, materials) and by giving and lending it money ;
• create markets (i.e. increase demand for US goods);
• contain the spread of communism by encouraging economic liberalism (prosperity > social stability > democracy).

The plan was finally approved in April 1948. Only Western European countries accepted US help; the USSR and its satellite countries of course refused. The Marshall Plan reinforced the division in two of Europe: pro-USA Western Europe, and Eastern Europe under the control of the USSR. Congress took its time in voting the funds for the Marshall Plan (cf. “Marshall Plan delay” in document 2, page 22). Document 3, page 22, is a propaganda poster which was used to explain to people the necessity of the plan. 

NATO logo

The Marshall Plan was followed by the setting up in 1949 of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, i.e. military protection of Western Europe by the USA. 

Comments on page 23

In April 1948, the Marshall Plan was voted and the ECA (Economic Cooperation Administration) created to administer the funds. Paul Hoffman was its director (cf. cartoon, document 4). The USSR blamed the Plan for smashing tariff barriers (taxes on imported goods) and for not respecting the sovereignty of Western European Nations (i.e. their independence), in other words, of making Western Europe a zone under US economic and political influence. The cartoon only mentions Western European sovereignty because Central and Eastern European countries refused US help. (Answer the questions on document 4).

It can be said that Truman became more anti-Soviet than Roosevelt (he did not really understand the Soviet view of the world) and in the end made the fight against communism the central tenet of his Administration.

US airplane landing at Tempelhof Airport (Berlin) in 1948

The Berlin Airlift countered the Berlin Blockade

Comments on the map, document 5, page 23:

Berlin is in the Eastern half of Germany, which, after the War, was under control of the Soviet Union (until 1949, when two German States were set up: East Germany and West Germany). Berlin was occupied by the Allies and divided into four: the British, American, Soviet and French sectors. In 1948, the British, American and French zones merged into what became West Berlin. Stalin tried to get rid of the Western occupying countries present in Berlin by cutting off access via roads and rail lines from June 1948 to May 1949 to blockade Berlin (the Berlin Blockade was a hot spot of the Cold War). This was broken by the ensuing American and British airlift of food and supplies to the Berliners. West Berlin remained an enclave of the West in East Germany throughout the Cold War. (Answer the questions on document 5).

Political cartoon by Cummings (1950?)

In 1949, two events increased the Western bloc's fears of the spread of communism:

1) In China, Mao set up a communist state. The USSR and China were friendly until 1960 (cf. Sino-Soviet split).

2) The Soviet Union also got the A-Bomb, making it as strong as the USA. This started the arms race (i.e. a competition as to who could have the most weapons of mass destruction as proof of military superiority and thus to dissuade the enemy from attacking).