Chapter 28

Cold War and a New Western World,

1945 - 1970

Timeline

Confrontation of the SuperpowersDisagreement over Eastern Europe

United States and Britain championed self-determination and democracySoviet forces occupied all of Eastern Europe Between 1945 and 1947 Communist governments were entrenched in East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and Hungary

Truman Doctrine, March 12, 1947Civil war in Greece and Turkey

Marshall Plan, June 1947, European Recovery Program$13 billion for the economic recovery of war-torn EuropeSoviet view

The American Policy of ContainmentContention over Germany

Soviets dismantle and remove factoriesBlockade of Berlin, 1948-1949Germany separated, 1949

• West German Federal Republic, September• German Democratic Republic, October

New Military AlliancesSoviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb, 1949North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949Warsaw Pact, 1955

Globalization of the Cold War

The Korean WarNorth Koreans invaded the south, 1950Chinese intervene when UN troops approach the borderUneasy truce, 1953

Escalation of the Cold WarPolicy of massive retaliationCentral Treaty OrganizationSoutheast Asia Treaty Organization

Another Berlin CrisisVulnerability of BerlinICBM missile and Sputnik I launchedSummit meeting in ViennaBerlin Wall, 1961

Map 28.1: The New European Alliance Systems in the 1950s and 1960s

The Cuban Missile CrisisFidel Castro (b. 1927)

Overthrows Fulgencio Batista, 1959Established a communist regime

Failed Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961Discovery by US of missile bases being builtPresident John F. Kennedy orders a blockade of CubaKhrushchev agrees to turn back ships carrying missiles in return for Kennedy’s promise not to invade Cuba

The Vietnam WarPresident Lyndon Johnson sends larger numbers of troops to Vietnam, 1965Domino Theory

If the communists succeed in Vietnam, other nations inn Asia would fall to communism

President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) vows to bring an honorable endBegins withdrawing troopsPeace treaty signed January 1973 calls for removal of all US troops

DecolonizationAfrica: The Struggle for Independence

Kwame Nkrumah; Convention People’s PartyJomo Kenyatta; Kenya African National UnionFrench in North Africa

• Granted full independence to Morocco and Tunisia in 1956• Guerrilla war in Algeria

South Africa• African National Congress• Apartheid• Nelson Mandela

Ghana was the first to gain independence, 1957Others followed

• Portuguese gave up Angola and Mozambique, 1975

Map 28.2: Decolonization in Africa

Conflict in the Middle EastEmergence of new independent statesArab League, 1945The Question of Palestine

Zionists wanted Palestine for a homelandAfter World War II sympathy grew for the JewsPresident Truman approves the idea of an independent Jewish state within PalestineIsrael proclaimed a state, May 14, 1948The move angers the Arab states

Nasser and Pan-ArabismColonel Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918 – 1970) seized control of Egyptian government in 1954Suez conflictPan-Arabism and the United Arab Republic

The Arab-Israeli DisputePalestine Liberation Organization formed in 1964Yasir Arafat (1929 – 2004)June 5, 1967, the Six Day War beginsYom Kippur, 1973: Egypt attacks Israel

Map 28.3: Decolonization in the Middle East

Asia: Nationalism and Communism

Philippines granted independence, 1946

IndiaMuslims and Hindus

Divided between Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan

Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, January 30, 1948

British grant independence to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Burma (Myanmar)

French efforts to keep Vietnam

China Under Communism

Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975)

Mao Zedong (1893-1976)Victory in 1948

Chiang Kai-shek goes to the Island of Taiwan

Collectivization of all farmland and most industry and commerce nationalized, 1955

Great Leap Forward, 1958

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976• Red Guards

Map 28.4: Decolonization in Asia

Decolonization and Cold War Rivalries

Newly independent nations caught in U.S. – Soviet conflict

Jawaharlal Nehru and Nonalignment

IndonesiaSukarno and Suharto

The Soviet Union: From Stalin to Khrushchev

Stalin’s Policies Stalin’s method for the recovery of the Soviet UnionBy 1947 the Soviet Union had attained pre-war levels of industrial productionVery few consumer goods producedStalin continued his iron rule until his death in 1953

Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)Ends the forced labor campsCondemns Stalinist programsThere seem to be a loosening of restraint Encourages rebellion in satellite nations

• Rebellions will be crushedAgricultural setbacksIndustrial decline

Eastern Europe: Behind the Iron Curtain

In 1945 Soviet Union occupied all of the BalkansCommunist governments were under the control of the Soviet UnionAlbania and Yugoslavia were the exceptions

Albania had a Stalinist type regime, but became more and more independentJosip Broz, Tito, took control of Yugoslavia

Eastern European countries followed the Soviet patternFive year plansFarm collectivization

Upheaval in Eastern EuropeKhrushchev interferes less with the satellite countriesRebellion in Poland

• Wladyslaw Gomulka , 1956, elected first secretary• Poland follows its own socialist plan

Eastern Europe: Behind the Iron Curtain: Hungary

Hungary, 1956This time dissent was directed at communism as wellDissatisfaction and economic problems creates tense situationImry Nagy (1896-1958) declares Hungary free, November 1, 1956Promises free electionsSoviet Union attacks Budapest, November Janos Kadar (1912-1989) replaced Nagy

“Blood in the Water” at

Melbourne Olympics

Eastern Europe: Behind the Iron Curtain: Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia, 1968Antonin Novotny (1904-1975) – “The Little Stalin”

• Policies alienate comrades• Late 1967 writers’ rebellion – Vaclav Havel

Alexander Dubcek (1921-1992). Initiated reforms = “Prague Spring”• Freedom of Speech/Press/Travel; curbs Secret Police

“Communism with a human face”Calls for more far-reaching reforms: neutrality, w/draw from Soviet BlocReform crushed by the Warsaw Pact

• Albania & Romania refuse to take part – Albania pulls out of Soviet Bloc• 72 Czechs/Slovaks killed, 266 severely wounded

Student Jan Palach immolates himself, Wenceslas Sq. 16 Jan 69• 2 other students follow Feb 69, April 69

Long-term consequences: Disillusionment among remaining Western European Leftists w/ Marxism-Leninism

Alexander Dubcek

“Communism with

a Human Face”

Shrine to Jan Palach

January 1969

Western Europe: The Revival of Democracy and the Economy

Europe recovered rapidly from World War IIMarshall Plan money was important to the recoveryFrance: The Domination of De Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970)• Feels he has mission to reestablish the greatness of France

Algerian crisis -- Battle of Algiers (movie)Defeat in Indochina -- Dien Bien Phu 1954Fifth Republic, 1958

• Powers of the President enhanced

Invested heavily in the nuclear arms race -- but failure to become a major world powerEconomic growthStudent riots, May 1968Resignation of de Gaulle, April 1969 

Charles De Gaulle

French

Equitorial

Africa

(1958)

Dien Bien Phu: French forces surrounded, surrender

Loss of French Indochina

Paris, May-June 1968

Western Europe: The Revival of Democracy and the Economy

West Germany: A Reconceived NationKonrad Adenauer (1876-1967) Der AlteReconciliation with France1955 Rearmament & NATOResurrection of the economyAdenauer succeeded by Ludwig Erhard.

Great Britain: The Welfare StateClement Atlee (1883-1967)

• British Welfare State• Meant dismantling of the British Empire

Continued economic problems – trade unions force wages higher than productivity allowed

Italy: Weak Coalition GovernmentPostwar reconstruction – 2nd to Ger. in destructionAlcide de Gaspari (prime minister, 1948 – 1953) – Christian DemocratsUnstable political coalitions – exclusion of Communist PartyItaly’s “economic miracle” – but: South still backward

Western Europe: The Move Toward Unity

Experience of two World Wars!1st economic, then political

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) – Fr. Ger., Benelux, Italy

1957 = EURATOM peaceful atomic energy use

European Economic Community (Common Market/EEC 1957)

No internal customs barriers = Free TradeCommon external tariff protects Eur. industry

American Politics and Society in the 1950s

Influence of the New DealNew Deal influence continued by Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson

Prosperity of the 1950’s

McCarthyism and the “Red Scare”

Decade of Upheaval: America in the 1960’s

Johnson and the Great SocietyWar on PovertyJob CorpsDepartment of Housing and Urban Development

Civil Rights MovementCivil Rights Act, 1964Voting Rights Act, 1965Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference• Assassinated, 1968

Malcolm XSummer of 1965

Antiwar ProtestsKent State University, 1970

The Development of Canada

Economic Development

Military ConcernsSupports the United Nations

NORAD

The Emergence of a New Society

The Structure of European SocietyMiddle class joined by new group of white collar workers

Further urbanization

Rising income – consumer society• Automobile: 5m 1948; 15m 1957; 45m 1960s

• NOT in Eastern Europe!

Mass tourism & leisure• ↓ Work hours; ↑ Paid Holidays

Camping on the

Adriatic coast of

Italy, 1960s

Consumer Culture:

French Refrigerator

1959

VW Beetles

1954

French Renault, 1957

East German Trabant

Advertisement for

Swiss Train

Ski Vacations

1950s

Creation of the Welfare StateHistory of Social Welfare Policies

Origins: Bismark, English Reforms

Extension of old benefits and creation of new ones

Soc. Sec; Medical Care; Family Allowances

Removal of class barriersUniversities

Increase in state spending on social services

Gender IssuesWork, motherhood, and individual rights

G.B., Ger. Discriminate against working ♀

Women in the Postwar Western WorldParticipation in the workforce declines until end of 1950s

“Baby Boom”Birth control (the “pill”) = smaller families

Increased employment in the 1960s

Feminist Movement: The Quest for LiberationRight to vote

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)• The Second Sex, 1949

Betty Friedan (b. 1921)• The Feminine Mystique

• National Organization for Women (NOW)

Social RevolutionsThe Permissive Society

Sexual revolution – Sweden 1st

Breakdown of the traditional family – ↑ Divorce Rates

Drug culture

Education and Student RevoltHigher education becoming more widespread

Problems• Overcrowding

• Professors who paid too little attention to students

• Authoritative administrators

• Seemingly irrelevant education

Student strikes in France, 1968

Protest Western society and the war in Vietnam

London Anti-Vietnam War Demonstration, March 1968

Rolling Stones Concert, London, 1969 Norway, “Hippie” Wedding

Postwar Art and LiteratureArt

Jean DubuffetAbstract Impressionism

• Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956)

Pop Art• Andy Warhol (1930 – 1987)

LiteratureTheater of the Absurd

• Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot• Günter Grass, The Tin Drum

The Philosophical Dilemma: Existentialism

ExistentialismJean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)

Albert Camus (1913 – 1960) The Stranger

The Revival of ReligionKarl Barth (1886 – 1968)

Karl Rahner (1904 – 1984)

Vatican II -- moves towards liberalization, modernization

The Explosion of Popular Culture

Culture as a Consumer CommodityLink between mass culture and mass consumer society

The Americanization of the WorldUS influence on world cultureMoviesTelevisionPopular music

“Beatle Mania” London, 1965

Fashion Models

London

1969

Discussion Questions

What factors contributed to postwar decolonization?

Compare and contrast Khrushchev and Stalin’s approach to Eastern Europe.

What prevented France from becoming the third super power that De Gaulle dreamed it could be?

What were the most important social changes of the 1970s?

Web Links

The Cold War Museum

Vietnam Online

The Women's Rights Movement, 1848 – 1998

Primary Sources: Decolonization

Cuban Missile Crisis