IB History Cold War Essay Revision Notes

- Origins 1945-1949

• Orthodox View – Stalin & Communism are seen as responsible. Example: Eastern Europe policies, Iron Curtain.
• Revisionist View – US superiority, Truman Doctrine, Marshall aid plan
• Post-Revisionist View – Result of mutual misunderstandings and an overreaction due to fear. Security Dilemma. Shared Responsibility.
• Realpolitik View – not a question of ideology. Stalin & Hitler pact in 1939, Stalin not getting involved in Greece in 1947, US/USSR cooperation in China and Russia in the 1970s.

- As a result of opposing ideologies

• US
  • Multi-party system
  • Capitalism, market economy
  • Strong religion
  • Civil rights movements
  • Free trade
• USSR
  • Single-party system
  • Planned economy
  • Officially atheist
  • State-controlled
  • “Liberation of the Masses”

- As a result of WWII

• Victorious superpowers with opposing ideologies
• US nuclear monopoly until 1949
• Huge losses in the USSR – 20 million dead, 70% of industry destroyed.
• US economic boom, 90% increased industry.
• European power vacuum
• USSR controlled eastern Europe
• Tensions in Asia – Korea, China, Indochina

- Distrust & Misunderstanding

• Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939
• Second Front question
• Munich agreement made without USSR in 1938
• Chinese Civil war since 1929
• Russian Civil war in 1917
• US atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
• Yalta Feb. 1945 – Seen as a success
  • UN
  • USSR promised free election in Europe
  • Poland moved west
  • USSR promised assistance on the pacific front
  • 4 occupational zones
• Potsdam July 1945 – Seen as a failure
  • No reparation agreement
  • No free election
  • Division of Korea & Vietnam

- Timeline

• 1946
  • Tension in Eastern Europe – rigged election, single party states in communism – Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary.
  • Chinese Civil War
  • Vietnamese French war
• 1947
  • Truman Doctrine – containment of communism
  • Marshall plan- financial aid for Europe
• 1949
  • Berlin Blockade - Split
  • NATO
  • China = Communism = Mao
  • USSR 1^st Atomic test = Nuclear race
• 1950 - 53
  • Korean War
  • North Korean Invasion of South after US troops leave until “Pusan”
  • US-led UN force retake all until Chinese border
  • Chinese intervention
  • Cease-fire 1953 along 38^th parallel.
• 1955
  • Warsaw pact
  • Eisenhower coins Domino Theory
• 1957
  • First USSR Satellite
• 1961
  • First man in space – Gagarin
  • Cuban Missile crisis until 1962
    • Castro Revolution 1956-59
    • Bay of Pigs failure, 1500 men attempt to retake Cuba
    • USSR missile bases in Cuba
    • US bases in Turkey
    • US blockade & USSR withdrawal
    • Hot-line established
• 1964 – 77 – Vietnam War
  • Vietcong & Ho Chi Minh victorious against France split.
  • US support of South – Advisors & Aid during Kennedy
  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – USS ships attacked – War during Lyndon B. Johnson
  • Tet offensive 1968 – US win yet high casualties and loss of moral during Nixon
  • 1973 Paris Peace Accords, US withdraw, Vietnamisation

Vietcong conquer South in 1977

- The Fall of Communism in the USSR

• Soviet problems in the 1980s
  • Slowing economic growth
  • Polish situation – “Solidarity” trade union
  • War in Afghanistan
  • Military Spending 40% of GDP
  • Chinese Tensions
• Gorbachov
  • 1986 – Chernobyl
  • 1987 “Perestroika” & “Glasnost” – Economic, Political & Social reconstruction
  • 1988 Death of Brezhnev Doctrine
  • 1989 “Solidarity” in Poland take control, Hungary-Austrian border opens, mass escapes.
  • 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall
  • 1990 Free elections in Hungary
  • 1990 Reunified Germany
  • 1991 Yeltsin = 1^st President of Russia, Fall of USSR
• External Pressure
  • Closing of Missile Gap expenses
  • War in Afghanistan
  • Nationalism in satellite states
  • Oil prices
• Internal Prices
  • Failure of planned economy
  • Economic changes
  • Political changes
  • To many swift reforms