The Cold War and its Aftermath
Origins, Events, and After Effects
Origins: The Treaty of Brest Litovsk, the 1st Red Scare and Yalta
The Treat of Brest-Litovsk was negotiated in secret between Germany and the newly formed USSR (signed in March, 1918). The treaty allowed the Soviets to leave the war "early", while their allies were still fighting. It also allowed Germany to take troops off of the eastern front, where they had been fighting Russia, and concentrate troops on the western front.
The German re-positioning of troops hurt Great Britain, France, and the United States. Brest-Litovsk taught young western politicians (e.g., Churchill and FDR) to distrust and hate Communists.
The 1st Red Scare (1918-1920) was a paranoia that gripped the nation believing that a Communist (Bolshevik) attempt to overthrow the government of the United States was imminent. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer ordered a series of raids (Palmer Raids) to root out Communist agents in the Untied States. Although there were bombings and other serious terrorist acts no Communist plot was discovered.
At Yalta (1945) the big three decided to allow the Soviets to liberate Eastern Europe, promising free and fair post war elections, which never happened. Thus, many site Yalta as the creation of what Churchill would later call the "Iron Curtain".
Characteristics of the Cold War
2. Proliferation of ever more powerful and effective atomic weapons (e.g. hydrogen bombs, MIRVs)
3. Escalation of military spending
4. Client wars (e.g. Korea and Vietnam)
Immediate Post World War II
Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift (1949)
President Truman then ordered an airlift ("Operation Vittles") through which the British and US supplied all needs of West Berlin until the Soviets lifted the blockade.
Truman Doctrine, Greece and Turkey (1947)
In both Greece and Turkey, the Non Communists won. We took that to men that we could intervene in domestic fighting and determine the outcome, a faulty evaluation. We should have took it to mean that, with aid, competent Non Communists can defeat incompetent Communists.
George Kennan (1946), Domino Theory, and Brinskmanship
The Domino Theory claimed that we could not let any single country "fall" to Communism lest we allow all countries contiguous to it to fall also (e.g. South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia).
Brinkmanship was the strategy created by Ike's Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that we could push a country to the "brink" of all out war and then that country would back off.
Domestic Issues and Communism
Taft-Hartley (1947) and McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)
The McCarran Internal Security Act "...required Communist organizations to register with the United States Attorney General and established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate persons suspected of engaging in subversive activities or otherwise promoting the establishment of a "totalitarian dictatorship," either fascist or communist. Members of these groups could not become citizens and in some cases were prevented from entering or leaving the country. Citizens found in violation could lose their citizenship in five years. The Act also contained an emergency detention statute, giving the President the authority to apprehend and detain "each person as to whom there is a reasonable ground to believe that such person probably will engage in, or probably will conspire with others to engage in, acts of espionage or sabotage." (Wikipedia)
Rosenbergs, McCarthy, Nixon and McCarthy's downfall
Josephy McCarthy fueled the 2nd Red Scare with hearing from his House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Joseph McCarthy's lies were eventually exposed by lawyer Joseph Welch and TV newsman Edward R. Murrow. McCarthy was censured by the United States' Senate.
As a young congressman Richard Nixon established strong Anti-Communist credentials by proving that former state department official Alger Hiss lied under oath.
These strong, Anti-Communist credentials were crucial in the future for Nixon to be able to open relations with the People's Republic of China (1972 visit to China as president) and to pursue detente with the USSR
(e.g. SALT).
Duck and Cover (1952) and Blacklists
Blacklists were use to stop Communists and more importantly suspected Communists, or people who would not answer questions about Communism (the Hollywood Ten) from working.
Client Wars (Proxy Wars)
PRC (1949) and Korean War (1950-53)
While the USSR was boycotting Security Council meetings the United States proposed sending troops to South Korea to fight North Korean Communists, thus began the Korean War.
Eventually, China unofficially intervened on behalf of North Korea and the war ended in a stalemate with the two countries split at the 38th parallel.
Today, Korea is still split into a Communist north and Non Communist south.
Origins of Vietnam War
Ho Chi Minh led an independence movement that forced the French out of Indochina.
Through the Geneva Accords of 1954 Vietnam was split into two nations, a Communist north and Non-Communist south, that were to be reunified by popular elections in 1956. When it became almost certain that HO Chi Minh would, defeat Ngo Dinh Diem in the elections, South Vietnam, with US approval, backed out of the elections. Hostilities ensued.
President Eisenhower and Kennedy sent increasingly large numbers of advisers to train the South Vietnamese army.
Vietnam War
Despite a massive escalation in US troops the war effort was not successful during the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.
The Costs and Consequences of Taking Sides
Iran and Mossadegh, the Shah, the Ayatollah, and the current nuclear negotiations
The Shah ruled as a brutal dictator until overthrown in a religious coup in 1979, led by the Aytollah Khomeini. When the Shah was allowed into the US for medical treatment, the US Embassy in Iran was stormed and its inhabitants taken hostage.
Since the coup and the hostage crisis the United States and Iran have had very difficult relations. Currently, 2015, Iran and several western nations including the United States are trying to ease tension through an agreement that would lift western economic sanctions against Iran with Iran ending its alleged nuclear arms program.
Cuba
In 1961, CIA trained exiles failed in an attempt to overthrow Castro's government (Bay of Pigs).
In 1962, the USSR attempted to station permanent nuclear missiles in Cuba (Cuban Missile Crisis).
For decades the Untied States and Cuba have had extremely strained relations with US sanctions and a trade and travel embargo against Cuba.
Currently (2015) the United States and Cuba are attempting to normalize relations.
Nicaragua and Afghanistan
The Nicaraguan Communists (Sandinistas) won a bloody Civil War in that nation, with the Reagan Administration funding, at times illegally, the Contras (a group opposed to the Sandinistas).
The Unites States funded Mujahideen warriors fighting Soviet oppression in Afghansitan (1979). The Mujahideen were successful in running the Soviets out of Afghanistan. However, these holly warriors then turned Afghanistan into a oppressive training ground for terrorists.
The End of the Cold War
Nixon and SALT, Ford and Helsinki
In 1972, President Nixon negotiated a treaty (SALT) that limited the number of atomic weapons that each country could have and banned the development of anti-ballistic systems.
Negotiated by President Ford in 1975, the Helsinki Accords attempted to improve relations between the west and the eastern Communist nations. The Helsinki Accords contained an agreement on human rights.
Solidarity
The growth and success of Solidarity coincided with the fall of Communism.