Cold War Tensions (Chapter 30 Quiz)
What were the military and political consequences of the Cold War in the Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States? After World War II ended, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers. They engaged in a Cold War that involved most of the world for the next 40 years.
The Soviet Union and the United States engaged in a deadly arms race. Both sides had nuclear weapons by 1949 and hydrogen bombs by 1953. Each side hoped that the threat of mutually assured destruction would deter the other from launching its weapons. The arms race fed a worldwide fear of nuclear doom.
Around the world, the two superpowers confronted each other indirectly by supporting opposite sides in local conflicts. (Proxy wars)
Cuba became a communist nation in the 1950s. Castro took power in 1959, allied with the Soviet Union, and nationalized businesses. U.S. President John F. Kennedy wanted to bring down the communist regime and supported the Bay of Pigs Invasion by U.S.-trained Cuban exiles, which failed. Why was this not a proxy war?
The Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to Cuba in 1962, sparking the Cuban missile crisis. Why would this be a threat to the U.S.? (pg 784) President Kennedy blockaded Soviet ships and demanded that the Soviets remove the missiles. As the threat of nuclear war loomed, the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed and the crisis was over.
During the Cold War, the United States pursued a policy of containment. The United States worked to keep communism within its existing boundaries. It supported any government facing communist invasion.
Life in the United States during the Cold War was marked by a fear of both nuclear fallout and communism within. Americans worried there were communists in the United States. Senator Joseph McCarthy - This red scare led to many false accusations and ruined lives including loss of jobs. Who did McCarthy accuse of being communist?
The United States led a United Nations force to defend South Korea. UN forces stopped the North Koreans at the Pusan Perimeter and then advanced north toward the Chinese border. Mao sent a huge Chinese force to help the North Koreans. Most of the UN gains were lost.
Cold War China and Korea
Communist forces led by Mao Zedong won a civil war in China in the wake of World War II. Mao won the support of peasants by redistributing land. People were also tired of the corruption in Jiang Jieshi s Nationalist government and his reliance on support from the West. Communist forces took Beijing in 1949 and proclaimed a new communist state.
Mao s leadership led to major changes in China. China became a one-party totalitarian state. Mao called for collectivization of land and labor. In 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to purge China of the bourgeois. Educated people were made to do manual labor.
China s conversion to communism seemed like a victory for the Soviet Union and a defeat for the West. In fact, the two were uneasy allies. The Soviets withdrew all aid from China in 1960 due to border clashes and other disputes. The United States saw some value in cooperating with China and set up formal diplomatic relations with the communist nation in 1979.
Vietnam War and Southeast Asia
Vietnam was divided into two countries at an international conference in 1954. Ho Chi Minh and his communist regime controlled North Vietnam. A noncommunist government under Ngo Dinh Diem ruled South Vietnam, supported by the United States.
American foreign policy leaders developed the domino theory. They believed that if Vietnam fell to communism, other Southeast Asian nations would follow. The United States sent military advisors to aid South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, who wanted to unite Vietnam under communist rule, supported the efforts of the Viet Cong against the South Vietnamese government.
American military involvement in Vietnam escalated under President Lyndon Johnson. South Vietnamese forces raided North Vietnamese islands in 1964. North Vietnamese attacked a U.S. Navy ship, believing it had helped in the raids. Johnson asked Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing the use of force in Vietnam.
The Vietnam War became a major Cold War battleground. Eventually, more than 500,000 American troops served in Vietnam. American troops patrol the jungles of South Vietnam. To support North Vietnam, the Soviet Union and China sent aid, but no troops.
The United States officially withdrew from Vietnam in 1973. North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam in 1975. Vietnam was reunited under communist rule and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Communists imposed harsh rule in the south. Hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese refugees fled the country in small boats. Recovery was slow due to lack of resources and an American trade embargo.
End of the Cold War
The Soviet Union began to decline due to flaws in its system. Collectivized agriculture was not productive enough, so Russia had to import grain. Soviet consumer goods were inferior to those of Western market economies. There was inefficiency, waste, and a huge bureaucracy that chose to produce unneeded goods.
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1985 and was determined to bring about reforms. He pulled the Soviets out of Afghanistan and signed new arms control treaties. He called for glasnost, or openness, and perestroika, restructuring of the government and economy. Gorbachev also moved the Soviet Union toward limited private enterprise.
These reforms led to unrest and soaring prices. Eastern European nations seized the period of unrest to declare their independence. Soviet hard-liners staged a failed coup. Gorbachev resigned and the Soviet Union broke up into 12 independent nations in 1991.
Since the 1950s, revolts against the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe had been common. Eastern bloc countries demanded freedom and resented Russian rule. Hungary slowly built a market economy in the 1970s and introduced reforms in the 1980s. East German leaders resisted change. When Hungary opened its border with Austria, thousands of East Germans fled through Hungary and Austria to West Germany.
Poland s surge of resistance helped pave the way toward Eastern European independence. Lech Walesa led striking workers who formed the Solidarity labor union in 1980. This organization demanded political changes. Under pressure from the Soviet Union, the Polish government outlawed Solidarity and jailed Walesa. He became a national hero. Polish-born Pope John Paul II visited Poland and spoke out against communist policies.